Any bibliovideophiles out there?
I’m blogging about middle-grade book-to-movie adaptations over on the Mixed-Up Files website.
Come check it out! 
I’m blogging over at THE MIXED UP FILES…OF MIDDLE-GRADE AUTHORS! a brand new blog about all things middle-grade.
Today? Audiobooks!
I am so pleased to be a contributing member of a new blog for middle-grade book readers and writers:
From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors
“Welcome to From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors. This group blog and website is dedicated to bringing attention to middle-grade books and the people who write them. And we hope to have a little fun along the way, too.”
Please pop by for a visit and a chance to WIN 9 middle-grade books (including ACADIAN STAR) as we launch this new, exciting site.
Wow! 140 people, food, fun, prizes and tons of KIDS WHO LOVE BOOKS! It doesn’t get any better than this!
And thanks to all my friends, old and new, who came to help celebrate. I hope you enjoy KEEP OUT!
Jill Murray, author of BREAK ON THROUGH, has started a brand new venture which I think is a long time coming, called Y-Eh!~ Celebrating Canadian young adult and middle-grade books online.
Bop on over and say ‘hi!’ and make sure to add her blog to your Google reader. I have a feeling she’s got a lot of great Canadian YA and MG news to share. Good luck, Jill!
It’s been a lo-ong time since I’ve posted and I’m feeling like a vewwy bahd blogguh, so I thought I’d pop in to debrief.
Summer’s been busy with a whole lot of travelling, kid-related activities, book-related activities and good ole’ fashioned fun. I spent a month in Nova Scotia, visiting, and managed to pop into a couple of bookstores to introduce myself and my new book coming out this fall (have you heard??) If you’re ever in Halifax, and you should go, I mean now!!, well not really now, you can finish reading this post first, if you want, and then I guess you should pack, and you should fly PORTER. Really! Great airline!
But if you should find yourself in Halifax, dew drop inn to see my new friend Lisa (I missed owner Trudy) at WOOZLES book store.
What a total gem of a children’s bookstore and the staff are super, super nice. They even knew me (well kinda) and had heard of my book (ACADIAN STAR for those who are coming into this conversation a bit late, welcome, welcome, grab a chair, oh wait, I’ll shove those toys and books over, there, comfy? Good.)
Been working on a few projects. A couple of picture books keep tugging me back so I’ve been trying to polish those until they sparkle. Got a lovely note about an early chapter book concept that will now be revamped as a longer chapter book for another look. Was struck by an idea for a secondary plotline that will do just nicely (tank you vedy mulch). Meanwhile, my YA is waiting in the wings and will probably have to sit tight until the chicklets are back in school before I can give it some much needed attention.
Fabulous news on the ACADIAN STAR front. I’ve turned in everything from my end, the layout has come back from the designer and looks A-MAZ-ING! Nimbus has done a fantastic job, turning all my pixels into a really great looking book. So now, it’s off to the printer and I’ve been told that I should be receiving my author copies some time in October.
So guess what????
I will be having contests, baby. Oh yeah!! As soon as I have those books in my hot little hands, I’ll be giving them away, right here!! I can’t wait. So stay tuned and in the meanwhile, FLY Porter*, SHOP Woozles** and enjoy the rest of your summer!
*How many times do you have to link to an airline before they offer to sponsor your trip for your first ever book launch? Heehee…
**Linking to an amazing independent children’s bookstore is just plain fun and my good deed for the day
I talked about waiting in my last post. That anxiety-ridden state of indecision, with all its dangly loose bits and paralysing angst. Is there anything worse than having a carrot dangled in front of you and not quite being able to reach it. Worse yet, having it snatched away?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to want things. Right now, our household is waiting for two Very Important Events. Little M’s going to be 5 in exactly ten days and Little C is going to be 7, seven days later. You can imagine the planning, pontificating and pining that’s been happening here! But really, isn’t that part of the fun? Isn’t making the invitations, planning the party games and choosing the menu all part of the build up for the special day(s)?
Me, I’ve been very busy lately. Been working on three non-fiction manuscripts (one down, two to go), writing a few science articles and immersing myself in revisions of a novel. And LOVING it. This is exactly what I’ve been planning for, dreaming about and working towards for the past three years since I decided to pursue a writing career. It has taken 6 picture books, 4 early chapter books, 4 novels in various stages of completion, a dozen or so articles, a dozen or so contest submissions, more than 50 rejections and ten pounds to get here. (Okay, I could have done without those extra ten pounds, but whatever.)
Point is, even though I finally feel comfortable saying ‘I’m a writer’ when someone asks what I ‘do’ at cocktail parties,(um, I don’t really go to cocktail parties, but a girl can dream), I think anyone who is putting in the blood, sweat and tears should own that distinction. You’re not a writer because you get to see your name in print on some byline or a bookspine. You’re a writer when you sit yourself down and do it.
In other news, my new niece is here!! There’s nothing quite like the feeling of becoming a mother, to be wholly responsible for another human being. But that doesn’t start when the baby is placed in your arms. Doesn’t it start right from the time you know that baby is inside you?
So whatever you’re waiting for, whatever you’re dreaming of, whatever you yearn for–let it trickle over you and revel in it. Enjoy the ride and for now, just live in the space between.
Because really, what’s more important–the journey or the destination?
My sister is about to have a baby. It could happen any day now. I’m sure this baby will be as beautiful, healthy and wonderful as her two big brothers. But the wait is killing me!
Two friends of mine are waiting for answers from editors who have requested their full manuscripts. Their novels are wonderful, engaging and beautifully written. The wait. Is. Killing. Them.
But doesn’t that feeling of waiting for something wonderful to happen make the payoff that much greater? What would life be like if you decided to have a baby one day and it showed up on your doorstep the next? (There’s a REASON why it takes 9 months. It takes that long to wrap your head around the concept. Not that you’re ever READY, per se.)
Would getting a book published without the 50 rejections, months and months of waiting and endless revision be quite as gratifying? (Um, don’t answer that…)
Being on the brink and waiting to see how things play out is a time filled with tension, hope and anticipation. It’s also the state of mind authors aspire to plunge their readers in when reading their stories. That feeling of sitting on the edge of your seat and wondering how things will turn out is what drives a reader to turn the page and keep reading.
I know the wait is excrutiating, but to my sister and my friends–you’re almost there! You’ve put in the work, you’ve given it your all and I’m sure the payoff will be sweet. Very, very sweet.
Here’s to a beautiful, bouncing baby girl and two beautiful, bouncing baby books!
Bonne chance!
Just wrote a scene where Logan is seriously p.o’ed at his dad. It’s quite a blowout. Logan pushes his dad’s buttons. There’s a heated discussion. His dad gives him an ultimatum.
Here’s the thing. I originally had Logan blow up, respond forcefully, firecrackers and all. Then I thought, who fights like that? Especially with the dynamic of a father (position of power) vs a son (subservient).
I held back, trying to maintain the tension throughout the scene with words and actions, but all the while keeping Logan on a leash, choking at his chain. The scene culminates to a climax–his father grabs his shirt. Logan is not sure what his dad is about to do. Is he intending to hurt him? Not that he ever has raised a hand to Logan before, but this feels different. Wild. Not wanting to provoke him, Logan stays quiet. He waits until his father has his say and releases him. Logan excuses himself and goes downstairs to his bedroom and waits to hear his father’s truck speed off.
Then…
All hell breaks loose…
I’ve gone through my first 12 chapters, holding as true to the vision I’ve mapped out for this book as possible. I also have the last 3 chapters written.
I’ve now entered The Great Beyond. The middle meat of the book, with a few guideposts in place and a finish line off into the distance. Now, I should be able to make some progress moving the story along instead of the push-me pull-me of revising previous chapters.
My goal is to forge ahead and try not to worry about it being perfect. I need to tell the story, start to finish and leave it on the page until after I’ve finished this shitty first draft. Being the fiddler that I am–no small task, let me tell you. LOL
Can I get it done by the end of the month? Hmm… I’d at least like to get close.
