2 Poems About Rewriting

Hello, Hello, Poetry Peeps!

Thank you, Buffy, for hosting Poetry Frday this week! (The link to Poetry Friday is at the end)

Our topic this time 'round is REWRITING, RECYCLING.

I've been crushed for time these last few weeks, navigating between getting out the vote for the California primary, a trip to see my dearest relative in Northern California (I live in Southern CA) who is going through a very difficult time, a trip to see our wonderful daugher-in-law and son (aka our kiddos) in Albuquerque, and taking off in a few days on another trip with the aforementioned kiddos!  

I'm excited...and, okay, exhausted. (Aren't we all?!?)

So, instead explaining how I rewrite, here are two poem about rewriting:

A WRITER ON HALLOWEEN by April Halprin Wayland

I push open

the heavy door.

I take out the cleaver, the machete,

the switchblade, the scalpel, the penknife,

the X-acto knife.

 

I plunge my arm into the oily black pile of drafts

and haul one out.

And though it screams a thousand deaths,

I stab it over and over and over with the cleaver,

hacking it in two.

 

Then I amputate.

I sever. I cut.

I carve.  I slice.

Finally,

I mince words.

 

I take a breath and step back to admire my bloody work.

Then…I drop it back into the oily depths,

pack away the knives,

wipe the black spots off my desk

and leave.

 

I close the heavy door.

I will come back.

Tomorrow.

To do it all

again.

©2026 April Halprin Wayland all rights reserved

The next poem is based on one session of my 10-week picture book class. That day is all about rewriting. It's my least favorite class to teach, because basically I'm showing my students that it's not always a walk in the park. As most of you know, it can be a long slog to get a book published (New Year at the Pier took nine years from first draft to publication). 

One of my favorite exercises in this class, to lighten things up (after they are stunned by how long it takes, how every detail matters, and how hard it can be), is to hand each student a can of Play Doh and give them seven minutes to make a character—human, animal or something else. 

When time's up, each student shows the class what they made. This part is fun. 

Then, every student moves one chair to the right, sitting in front of someone else's creation. Their assignment is to make one major change to the character.  I give them six minutes to do this. 

When they are back in their seats, I say:"Congratulations--you've just been edited!" 

Then each student shows us what their "editor" did, and shares how they felt when their beloved creation was changed. 

It's a fun way to think about this process.

CHANGE by April Halprin Wayland

I pinch a pink pig,

gash a green grape,

coil a coral curl,

roll a red rope,

bend a blue bow,

swerve a cyan swan,

then share what I make!

 

But...

hey, don't change that!

No pig wears a hat!

No swan puts rouge on!

Oh, wait—that's a squid.

I like

what you did.

©2026 April Halprin Wayland all rights reserved

Here are three questions for you:

>Do you love or hate to rewrite? 

>How does your critique group help you make a manuscript or poem better? 

>How many times did you revise this week's blog post?

I can't wait to read your answers.

Thanks again, Buffy, for hosting!

posted with love and a little help from Sadie, our hilarious pup:

catching some zzzs with her favorite suffies, Peacock and Skull

"C'mon," she says, on our hike

"Stop posting so we can play!"

#toobusy #rewriting #poemaboutrewriting

1 Way I Play: Poem Making!

 Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! 

In this round, we TeachingAuthors are tossing around the idea of PLAY.  Carmela started us off Playing with Poetry Snowballs; Zeena took a look at Play Deprivation During the Pandemic; Bobbi introduced us to a fascinating book called Story Engineering in My Kind of Play; Mary Ann writes about what's been taken away during the pandemic in I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic (Creative) Blues Again; and now it's my turn.

We had house guests last week! It was SOOOO good to see my longtime friend, Bruce and his wife Alene who have been sailing around the world for over 15 years! It hasn't been 15 years since we've seen them...but it was the first time my husband and I have lived with other people for over two years...

At first it was weirdly scary. Gradually, very gradually, was fine. One night, we brought out the 1960's edition of GO TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS (remember that game?)...

I choose the token of the red-headed boy named Butch.

...and laughed our heads off at the antiquated questions. 

What a relief play provides.

I build play into my 10 week beginning picture book class, especially the class on rewriting, because it's the session I dread teaching the most. Why? Because I lift the curtain to reveal the long, painful path some picture books trudge. Using my book NEW YEAR AT THE PIER as an example, I show them its depressing nine-year timeline.

Then, to dispel the nasty fog of despair in the room, my students play...with Play-Doh! 

Can you remember that Play-Doh smell?

In an older post, I included a step-by-step description of the Play-Doh exercise. To my surprise, this exercise also works well on Zoom, so I also describe how to modify it for a virtual class.

But how do I personally play these days?  Well, not so much with Play-Doh, and for the time being, not with my folk music friends and my fiddle in our cozy livingroom. :-(

Most days I'll either exercise, hike with friends and dogs, or walk by the beach. But every day I take my vitamins and every day I dive into Poem-Making (I borrowed this word from my mentor Myra Cohn Livingston's book of the same name.)

Some days I try different poetry forms, some days I write adult poems or poetry on a particular topic. Other days I'll goof around with In One Word poems...or simply play.  Here's an example of playing with a poem I sent to Bruce in 2011. He sends me a poem every day, too.. Below the poem is the backstory I included when I sent it...and his comment.

CAMERON SCAMPER

Cameron Scamper

baked glue-crayon cake.

“Yum,” said his brother.

“Yawn,” said the snake.

 

Cameron Scamper

taught their dog how to fly

“Wow,” said his brother.

The snake closed its eyes.

 

Cameron Scamper

stopped talking for weeks.

“Gosh,” said his brother.

The snake went to sleep. 

Cameron Scamper

hid the dog in a drum.

“Oooh!” said his brother

The snake said, “Ho-hum.”

 

Cameron Scamper

made soup out of dirt.

“Yum,” said his brother.

Snake said he much prefered chocolate yogurt.

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I sent this backstory to Bruce:

Always listening for odd names, I thought I heard "Cameron Scamper please report to Gate 14" at the Los Angeles International Airport...but later I heard it as a slightly tamer name.

I played with it below...and played and played and ran out of steam! 

Bruce replied: We liked this poem a lot… except for the last line (which, as you said, did run out of steam). Fix it and keep it.

====================================

Writing and sending a poem a day for the last 11 years has made us even closer friends than we were before. Try it and see: gGrab someone you love who loves to write and dive in!

Thank you, Linda at TeacherDance, for hosting Poetry Friday this week!

posted by April Halprin Wayland (before I've written today's poem) with the help of  Meredith and Derek our 10-month-old tortoises, Sheldon, our hibernating 28-year-old tortoise, Kitty, our most excellent pandemic adoptee, and Eli our elder statesman dog. (for pix of them scattered among other posts, see FB or Instagram)

The Other Side of the Rainbow--Patience, etc in the Publishing World

In our recent series about the three P's--Patience, Persistence and Perseverance--my fellow TA's have talked about them in the writing process. I'm going to a different area of the writer's world--publication--where the Three P's are every bit as essential to survival.

 By nature, I am not patient, persistent or persevering. However, I told myself that if I just kept practicing those virtues, I would some day be a published author. It took twenty years of consistent effort (and an MFA from Vermont College) but I finally sold my first book. Yay! 

May 2000, talking to my editor

Now I had an editor and a publisher. Smooth sailing from here on out, right? Wrong!

When I sold my first book in 2000, I had certain romantic notions of publishing, mainly about editors.  I had read the biography of Max Perkins, the legendary editor of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Wolfe and every other major American writer of the 1920's-40's. In general,I thought editors were Herculean beings like Mr. Perkins. Perkins was not just an editor, he was a "writer wrangler." He carved books from the massive manuscripts Wolfe presented him. He served as a surrogate father to Hemingway, whose gigantic ego masked deep insecurity. He never lost faith in Fitzgerald, no matter how chaotic that writer's life became. Unsurprisingly, I decided that editors were equal parts loving parents and literary magicians.

My editors have all been lovely, creative, intelligent people, who managed to find in my manuscripts insights I never suspected. But gone are the days of signing on with an editor for life (or at least until one of you becomes disenchanted.) With one exception, not one of my acquiring editors was around for the actual publication of the book. Some of my books have had as many as four editors shepherding it through the various stages of publication.

How did this happen? I might've taken it personally, but I realized that editor is a young person's job. There are still a few old school editors who spend their careers with one company they, but VERY few. A "newbie" editor (like mine) work punishing hours, and if they aren't asleep, they are reading. They job hop, from publisher to publisher. Some of them flame out and go into another line of work. One went to rehab. Some become agents. And some of them do things that don't allow for reading twenty hours a day. Like get married, have kids. Things like that.

Why am I going on about editors? Because the constant turnover in editors requires great amounts of the 3 "P's". Patience when your book is "orphaned" by the acquiring editor, and you wait to hear from the new editor, who has been "assigned" your book. Persistence in asking for updates on publication, as your book is pushed back from one year to the next. Perseverance as you ask...and ask...and ask again if an illustrator has been found for your picture book. And patience again as you learn where your book has landed on the illustrator's calendar. 

For example, I was beyond thrilled when the fabulous illustrator E.B. Lewis agreed to do my first picture book. SO thrilled...that I never thought to ask WHEN it would be published. My editor left for another house right after the final copy edits, so I not only didn't know when...I didn't know WHO to ask. A year later, I learned through a conversation with an agent, that Mr. Lewis had projects lined up for years...and that it would be at least five years before my book rose to the top of this schedule. Actually, it was four years... and well worth the wait!

Currently, I am dealing with THE longest wait of my writing life. I banged out a book in 2010. Sold it within 3 weeks. A new record for me! Yay! Did the edits, go paid my partial royalty (the rest to come at publication) all within six months. "I'm getting the hang of this writing thing," I thought. 

And then...nothing. 2011. I write my editor and learn she has gotten married and quit the biz. 2012. 2013. I am reassigned to an editor. 2014. New editor says they have a hot prospect for an illustrator. 2015. Illustrator thinks about the book...and decides it's not for her. 2016. I ask the publisher if they still plan to publish my book. The same in 2017, 2018 and 2019. At the end of 2019, I am on the verge of mailing back my royalty and asking to reclaim the manuscript...when...my interim editor writes me that I've been assigned to a NEW editor. Literally....one right out of school who turns out to be younger than my daughter. We get together and talk. All goes well. New editor has some good new ideas. I incorporate them into the manuscript. New Editor has a hot prospect for an illustrator. (Hmm...where have I heard that before?) I turn in the final edits, March 6, 2020. It was a Friday.  The following Friday, the President announced a national emergency due to COVID-19. We all know what happened after that.

A year passes. In February, I hear from my editor again. Like everyone else, editor has been working from home. Good news...the illustrator is starting work on my book. Um...OK. I thought she had ALREADY started. So that means....yep...the publication date, which was supposed to be Fall 2021, is now Fall 2022. In other words, everything that could possibly happen to this book...has happened. I'm just happy that in the past 10 years this manuscript has stayed alive through multiple editors, illustrators...and national emergency. 

Even Max Perkins could not have done more  in a time of  pandemic.

Have a great summer everybody! Go out and chew some clover!

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Student Success Story and Book Giveaway: Vincent X. Kirsch: Illustrator-Poet-Author-Puppeteer-Amazingness

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Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! (an original poem, the link to PF, and instructions on how to enter our drawing for an autographed picture book are below)

Look! Someone's climbed our ladder and is knocking at the door of the TeachingAuthors tree house right now!

Campers, I'm proud to introduce you to a dear friend.

But first, a confession: I feel a bit sheepish posting this interview as part of our continuing series, Student Success Stories, since he tiptoed into my Picture Book class undercover, without revealing he'd written and illustrated many wonderful picture books before landing in my class. But...he was my student...and man, oh, man, is he a success! So...he qualifies, right?

Welcome, Vincent X. Kirsch and Ogbert! (I'm sorry that the utterly adorable Scout Pippins, Vincent's other pup, couldn't join us today)

Author-Illustrator Vincent X. Kirsch and Ogbert
photo courtesy of the author

Have a glass of fresh lemonade and take a load off, Vincent, then please tell us how you found your way into writing and illustrating children's books.

One of my favorite behind the scenes story is how my first book came to be. I had been pursuing work in picture books for over fifteen years without any success. I had given up at a point in my life when a lot of my friends were getting book assignments without any effort at all. Over the same fifteen years, I had been doing a monthly illustration for The New York Times Book Review. I was told in August that the art director was leaving and the new art director wanted to start with his own team of illustrators. It was rather sad because I had been doing it so long and I hated to see that door shut. For my very last illustration, I drew two young Italian brothers on a scooter going in opposite directions. The illustration was published one Sunday in October, 2006 and the following Thursday, an editor at Bloomsbury USA called to say that she loved the illustration in The Times and wondered if I was interested in doing picture books? A new door was suddenly thrown wide open! She was thinking of me as an illustrator but was delighted to discover that I was also a writer. The result was my first book NATALIE &NAUGHTILY. So, all of that work over all those years paid off somehow. 

So, based on your experience, how would you encourage someone banging her head against writer’s block...or someone who's depressed about ever getting anything published?

Things never happen when we think they will happen. The greatest reward for working in any creative area is the work itself. To sit down and create is a treasure that nothing else in life can match. 

I often say: The greatest reward in life is to put a part of yourself down on paper. Enjoy the work. Be in the present moment.  Don’t compare and don’t compete. No one has the same life story or superpower. It’s what makes you who you are. Also, don’t forget to love as much as you can, it is all really take with you when you leave this world.

For Writer’s Block: Take a break. Take a vacation. Stand on your head. Look at the world from a new perspective. Read BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott. Then, go back to work and look at your own work with new eyes.

Vincent's inspiration cork board
photo courtesy of the author

The cork board in your studio is filled with images that encourage you to dream. If you could be anything in the world except an author/illustrator, what would you dream of becoming?

An urban planner. A film director. A playwright. A scenic designer. A puppeteer. Or a job that I actually had and loved, a visual merchandiser for a line of luxury food shoppes.

(Campers...the thing about Vincent is that he will probably actually DO all these things--stay tuned!)

I know the story of how you wrote your newest book ~ could you share it with our readers, please?

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I was enrolled in your class at UCLA Extension. One week you asked us to rethink an existing project that we had worked on in the past. One of my favorite books titled FORSYTHIA & ME had recently gone out of print. I loved the book but thought I could do a better job if I gave it a bit more of an emotional tug at the heart.

I went back to a list I had made of remembered things from my childhood that stood out. Two that jumped out at me were: my fear of climbing trees and the memory of how heartbroken I was when my childhood friends would move away. So, I blended the two, addressing both of these feelings that had bedeviled me and somehow comforted myself in dealing with those memories. Since the class was a poetry driven class, I first wrote the book as a poem. I surprised myself at the end, since I really didn’t know how I would end it until inspiration wrote the final sentence for me.

The book came out exactly two years after my first draft in class. It is called HOW I LEARNED TO FALL OUT OF TREES by Abrams Books for Young Readers.

I love that story (of course I do!) and also way you so beautifully intertwine two different ideas, both in words and illustrations...and so do critics!  "A primer on both getting up into the leaves and coping with the loss of someone you're attached to. Kirsch elegantly makes the connection with affirmations that work both ways: 'Hang on tight with both hands'; 'take it one branch at a time'; and, inevitably, 'letting go will be the hardest part!' . . . A well-cultivated story that plants a seed about the value of friends and what they leave with us, even when they're gone" ~ Kirkus Reviews

How can teachers and parents use HOW I LEARNED TO FALL OUT OF TREES?

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I imagine it will be a very useful book to share with listeners and readers if they have lately experienced a loss of some sort, (such as when a friend/fellow student/relative moves away, dies or in no longer near). This book shows that even though someone might not be there anymore, they have left you with something of value that can be held on to. What might that be?

Yes. I can see myself giving it to an adult friend who's going through loss. You recently spoke to my class right after your beloved mother died...and choked up as you began reading it aloud. A student continued reading the book for you. It was a very touching moment.

Tell us about your mother.

I come from a rather large family of five children. I was second and am very much a second child. I was very close to my Mom. She was my greatest fan. Everything I did amazed and delighted her. I used to love to call her with good or bad news. She was always a voice of confidence. I have a terrific family by birth and another marvelous family of close friends. They now take turns being my Mom’s voice when I need to hear encouraging words.

Dapper, young Vincent X. Kirsch. photo courtesy of the author

Did your family celebrate holidays? What's your favorite?

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I adore everything about Christmas. I always have. I was Santa Claus’s greatest fan. At a very early age, my parents discovered that I was very good at wrapping packages. So, one holiday season when I was still very young, they sat me down and explained that Santa was not a real person but a very good idea. There were no elves. I needed to help. Then, they put me to work wrapping presents for my siblings and relatives. I remember crying my eyes out, that first day.

Years later, when I started as the window designer at Bergdorf Goodman, the store did very little for the holidays. No special windows. No fancy interior elements. Just a few cursory holiday touches. I was aghast and offered to take on the assignment and direction of holiday decorations. It meant much more work and planning for an already busy me. But I believed in festive holidays. I started the traditions of holiday windows, ornate interior decorations and wreaths hung on all of the windows outside the store. I did it for Santa Claus, not the person, but the idea.

You are always willing do extra work, and you're endlessly curious and multi-talented, Vincent. So, where will your abundant energy and enthusiasm take you next?

I have just begun artwork on my next picture book as author and illustrator. Hopefully it will be called FROM A. TO Z. It is about two little boys who can’t find the perfect words to express how they feel about each other. It is a very upbeat celebration of love and friendship. It will be out in Fall of 2020 from Abrams.

Then, I have started work on my second early reader/search-and-find book with Holiday House to be titled CAN PUP FIND THE PUPS? It is a sequel of sorts to the first book in the series, a Junior Library Guild selection for very young readers, CAN YOU FIND PUP?  about a little artist and his fun-loving, dare-devil pup. 

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Wow~ I can't wait to read FROM A. TO Z. It sounds like a life-changing picture book. 

And finally, do you have a poem to share for Poetry Friday? 

Years ago, I wrote a fairy tale about a little girl on an island who is given the gift of a dragon as her teacher. At the start of the story, I wrote this poem. It expresses something that I truly believe.

Each person changes the world.

Some for the better.

Some for the worse.

Someone might build a wall

to keep others out.

Someone else might build a house

for others to come home to.

Someone may step upon a flower.

Someone may plant a garden.

A cruel word might be spoken.

A poem might be written.

Someone might start a war.

Someone else might start to sing

a song that passes

from person

to person

to person.

by Vincent X. Kirsch

poem (c) 1998 Vincent X. Kirsch. All rights reserved.

illustrations and photos (c)2019 Vincent X. Kirsch. All rights reserved.

Vincent, thank you--I needed to be reminded that each person does change the world. And thank you for passing your inspiring song on to all of us. I hope you'll come back when FROM A. TO Z. comes out. (Campers! I urge you to read more about Vincent--or at least feast your eyes on oodles of his illustrations--in this 2016 interview)
And thank you for offering to sign and send a personally autographed copy of HOW I LEARNED TO FALL OUT OF TREES to one of our lucky Readers! (to enter the drawing, see directions below)

Campers ~ checkout Vincent's short and sweet Wednesday Writers' Workout!

And don't forget Poetry Friday! 

This week's roundup is hosted by Jone at DeoWriter  Thanks, Jone! 

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PS: Campers ~ there's still a seat for you in the one-day class, WRITING A PICTURE BOOK AND GETTING IT PUBLISHED I'm again teaching on Saturday, July 13, 2019 with illustrator and author Barney Saltzberg, from 9:30am-4:30pm, through the UCLA Extension Writers Program

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TO ENTER THE DRAWING for a chance to win an autographed copy of  HOW I LEARNED TO FALL OUT OF TREES written and illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsh, use the Rafflecopter widget below. You may enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options.

If you choose option 2, you MUST leave a comment* on TODAY'S blog post below or on our TeachingAuthorsFacebook page. (If you haven't already "liked" our Facebook page, please do so today!)

*In your comment, tell us what you'd do with the book if you win our giveaway--keep it for yourself or give it to a young reader or a teacher (...or?) ?

(If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Email subscribers: if you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to access the entry form.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA THE WIDGET BELOW. The giveaway ends July 26th and is open to U.S. residents only.

P.S. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, here's info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address. 

A Rafflecopter giveaway

posted with affection by April Halprin Wayland, and Eli (who loves every breathing being he meets.)

The Poetry of US ~ Grateful for Poetry Anthologies and Anthologists!

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Howdy, Campers and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to PF and my poem are below)

This month, TeachingAuthors posts have been about the things we're most grateful for in the world of words. (Except for Wednesday's post, which includes a hot picture book writing prompt called "Dialogue is Sriracha Sauce.") Bobbi is grateful that each of us has a voice, Mary Ann is grateful to her family of storytellers,  Carla gives thanks for primary source documents which bring her research to life, and Carmela gives thanks to readers who make a huge difference in the life of a book.

Today I am grateful for poetry anthologies and the anthologists who create them. These works are a gift both to the poets in each collection and to their readers.

I've been honored to work with many of our finest anthologists. Today I'd like to bow deeply to a "well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist," (and, may I add, a really fun guy),  Paul B. Janeczko who just this month won NCTE's Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

This award, established in 1977, honors a living American poet for their aggregate work for children ages 3–13. Take a deep dive into his website and see what a remarkable writer and person Paul is.

photo of Paul B. Janezko courtesy of Candlewick Press

Thank you for all you have given us, Paul--you are deeply loved and you soooo deserve this award!
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And speaking of anthologies: National Geographic just published an anthology by another well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist, former Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, THE POETRY OF US: More than 200 poems that celebrate the people, places and passion of the United States (National Geographic)

In 2015, I was thrilled when Pat asked me to write a poem about San Diego Zoo for this book "(perhaps include some of its exotic species)?" So after correspondence with and phone calls to the zoo hoping to get a free behind-the-scenes tour or interview with an animal keeper (wouldn't you think?), I convinced my husband that for our wedding anniversary we needed to go on a two-hour $89/per person behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. And so we went. (Yes, he's a keeper.)

What a fun day!

It's both exhilarating and terrifying to write for an editor. Many of my attempts are stiff, lifeless. Nonetheless, I sent Pat nine poems. One was about two pandas getting married (we saw part of a wedding at the zoo), one was from the POV of a child lost in the zoo (I was six years old), two were about an elephant getting a manicure (we saw this on the tour--it's an actual thing!), a poem titled GOD DISCOVERS THE SAN DIEGO ZOO (about the S.D. Zoo Corps program for teens), one about a surprise date at the zoo (art reflecting life), a take-off of Robert Frost's The Pasture set in the zoo ("you come, too"), a quick and quirky poem about the first female zoo director, and a more serious poem about the same director.

Pat picked the last poem. Anthologists are editors, parent figures, therapists, task masters, mentors and more. Pat is one of the most patient editors I've worked with, watering and weeding poems I didn't even know were growing inside me...and then showing me how to clean up their meter and meaning.

Over a period of months, we changed phlangers into wombats, we took zebras out of their stalls (they've never lived in stalls in the San Diego Zoo, according to the zoo's historians) and more. Here is my poem as it now appears in this marvelous (and visually delicious) collection:

Belle Benchley
by April Halprin Wayland

I was the bookkeeper, that's all.

At noon I'd watch the zebras loll

I'd study wombats eating lunch

I really did not know that much

about the zoo.

I saw the llama wasn't well—

how did I know? It's hard to tell.

I pointed out a listless gnu

(for I read volumes about zoos.)

Some people swore our chief was rude—

depends upon your point of view.

(Recall he built this cageless place

which opened 1922).

It may be Dr. Wegeforth’s rage

that drove three zoo leaders away.

He marched to my desk, bent down and said:

"You try and run it—go ahead."

And so I did. 

poem (c) 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

Thank you for hosting PF at Carol's Corner today, Carol!

posted with gratitude by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, Monkey and Snot.

That Perennial Agent Question PLUS Book Giveaway!

That perennial Agent Question.

We’ve all been asked it, in some variation, while speaking at the podium or on a panel, and heard it asked while seated in an audience.

(Indeed, I’ve posed it myself in the middle of the night, in the throes of self-doubt.)

“Do I need an agent in order to publish?”

The variations are sure bets, too, in the following order.

“So how do I GET an agent?” - and - “Can you share YOUR agent’s name and contact info?”

Like JoAnn, whose CWIM 2017 article “Be Your Own Literary Agent” sparked this blog conversation and Book Giveaway, I too am un-agented.  I submit my work, when appropriate, to editors with whom I’ve worked and/or connected via previous submissions, conference contacts and networking. My literary attorney oversees my contracts and is also available to negotiate on my behalf.

After a very long residency in the Children’s Book World that began with Jimmy Carter’s election (!), I now wonder if instead of asking that one Agent Question, writers might be better served by asking these six.

(1) WHEN is a writer ready to consider and/or query an agent for representation?

The esteemed Dorothy Markinko of McIntosh and Otis said it best. I’d won a conference competition at which she was presenting and she offered me representation! “Why now and not before?” I asked, reminding her I’d unsuccessfully queried years earlier.  She smiled wide.  “You weren’t soup yet."

If an agent is to sell your work, it must be ready.  Think: a good story, finely-crafted, appropriate for its format, its audience, the marketplace, able to distinguish itself from the competition and/or fill a niche. 

It’s foolhardy to send off work not quite ready for Prime Time, or work that doesn’t showcase our talent, our professionalism, our uniqueness and heart.

(2) WHAT is agency representation and (3) WHY might it matter?

As Carla shared and April poetically underscored, agency representation is NOT a ticket to fame and fortune.

Agent-interested writers can certainly check out the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc. and their Canon of Ethics.

However, not all agents are AAR members.

I like former Curtis Brown Ltd. agent and author Nathan Bransford’s agent job description, from determining likely editors and houses, pre-submission editing, negotiating contracts and subrights and tracking the publishing process  to career-shaping and ultimate advocacy.

Given today’s fast-changing publishing world, it’s advantageous to have an invested partner watching out for you, over you, eyeing your back.

Here’s another way to answer the above questions, especially once you’re offered representation: check out these suggestions from AgentQuery. 

(4)WHO might best serve my manuscripts, my career and me?

Lists of likely literary agents abound.

There’s SCBWI’s The Book, CWIM 2017 (Writer’s Digest), Chuck Sambuchino’s GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS 2017 (Writer’s Digest), Chuck’s agent blog, AgentQuery and Manuscript Wish List, as well as Cynthia Leitich Smith’s CYNSATIONS blog and Darcy Pattison’s just released list of Top Agents in 2016.

It goes without saying, writers must delve deeply into each agent’s agency, interests, authors, represented books, sales record and online interviews to determine a comfortable fit.  Google is your friend. Do your homework.  

Here’s another friend: Publishers Weekly’s Rights Report that appears each Tuesday and Thursday, for free, as a part of the Children’s Bookshelf.  This is the listing from this past Thursday.

Tracey Keevan at Disney-Hyperion has acquired, in a four-house auction, Captain Superlative, J.S. Puller's debut middle grade novel. In this mystery, a quiet outsider becomes obsessed with the eccentric and enigmatic Captain Superlative, a masked superhero who runs through the halls of their middle school, performing radical acts of kindness. Publication is scheduled for fall 2018, Brianne Johnson at Writers House did the six-figure, two-book deal for world rights.

Which agents are selling books like yours – especially in format and genre?  Or, which editors/publishers are buying books like yours?  Note, color-code and record the editor/publisher, the one-sentence book description (your pitch) and the agent listed in each report.

 (5) HOW do I best connect with an agent?

Even more plentiful than lists of literary agents are instructions for how to query an agent and/or editor.

Check out Chuck Sambuchino’s blog. 

Knowing your one-sentence pitch is essential.

Here’s a link to Nathan Bransford's post on how to pitch.

Remember, though: successful querying and/or pitching often leads to a full manuscript request.  Make sure your query/pitch makes a promise your manuscript delivers. J

(6) WHERE are the best opportunities for connecting with agents?

Authors interviewed in JoAnn’s CWIM 2017 article share Conference success stories. Check out SCBWI – local, regional, national, international, Big Sur and The Rutgers One-on-One Children’s Literature Conference, to name a few.

But what about online?

CWIM 2017 also shares Lisa Katzenberger’s article “Pitch Agents Through Twitter.”

BrendaDrake offers Pitch War opportunities.

Don’t forget Manuscript Wish List.  

Chuck Sambuchino also offers Dear Lucky Agent Contests. Tomorrow is the deadline for thriller and horror mss.!

So, think about the WHEN, WHAT, WHY, WHO, HOW and WHERE of seeking an agent.

Take plenty of B vitamins.  (The response time can prove stressful.)

And keep the Faith!

In the PW Rights Report above, I know for a fact the debut author, a former student, queried 106 agents before successfully gaining representation by the 107^th.  And that agent was mentored by the first agent she’d ever queried; the two share an agency.

Faith – in yourself, your story, your writing, is essential.

Faith, as in my 2016 Chicago Cubs who Saturday night won the National League Pennant after a 71-year wait!

If both you and your manuscript are ready for prime time, I believe you can make today your someday.

Good Luck, no matter which submission a(venue) you choose!

Esther Hershenhorn

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Now, speaking of Winners, let’s make today the someday you enter our Book Giveaway to win a copy of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market 2017.