Hanging on to Hope...

In 1973, a man named Mr. Nadeau wrote beloved children’s  book 

author E.B. White requesting inspiration about humanity’s future. 

Mr. Nadeau’s world view was bleak and hopeless.

As Maria Popova wrote in her Marginalian blog’s introduction to 

the letter, which follows, Mr. White’s response “endures as a 

spectacular celebration of the human spirit.”

North Brookline, Maine

30 March, 1973

 Dear Mr. Nadeau:

 As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one 

compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the

scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in 

a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the 

clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the 

weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our 

human society — things can look dark, then a break shows 

in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather 

suddenly. 

It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer 

mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably 

harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time 

waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s 

curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity 

have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that 

these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind 

the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

Sincerely,

E. B. White

                        

Alas, hanging on to Hope is easier said than done, in our Real 

World as well as in our Children’s Book World.

A group effort is oft required.

With that truth in mind, I invited five children’s book writers I’ve 

had the honor and Good Fortune to coach and teach to share 

One Golden Nugget that kept them keepin’ on… until they 

secured this past year representation by a literary agent.

Look for each of their names on an upcoming children’s book 

cover!

 ·    Becky Hohensee, represented by Essie White of the

     Storm Literary Agency, lives in Houma, Louisiana and 

     writes picture books. 

            Becky wishes she’d spent less time revising one manuscript 

            for several years, even though it was the one story she needed

            to tell.  “It zapped my creativity for a long time. Write a story,” 

            she advises, “share it when you believe it’s ready and let it go. 

            Work on something new. Exercise your writing muscles. And 

            don’t forget to reward yourself every now and then.”

·       ·   Chicago-area picture book writer and middle grade novelist        

            Sonya Kenkare signed with the 75th agent she queried,  

           Jackie Kruzie of Focused Artists.

            “Never give up,” she shares, “and keep batting at the fences.  

            All the rejections should be worn as a Badge of Honor. 😊”

 ·      ·   Sara Crowe of Sara Crowe Literary represents Christal Presley 

           of Abingdon, Virginia, and her bounty of picture books.

     “Whatever genre you’re writing in,” Christal shares, “spend 

     equal time READING in. For reading in the same genre shows 

     you all the possibilities!” 

·    Melanie Uteg lives in Lake Forest, Illinois, writing chapter 

     books, plotting a middle grade book and reviewing bi-monthly 

     on her blog picture books, chapter books and middle grade 

     books that feature the best of science, humans, nature and 

     communities. She recently signed with Tina Schwartz who 

     founded The Purcell Agency.  

     “I believe all children matter,” Melanie responded. “Their 

     hearts. Their minds. Their voices. I believe getting to that core 

     is important as you pursue your path towards publishing. Get 

     out there and meet people – share your story and share your 

     purpose.” 

·    Fiona Wong of Los Angeles, represented by Ellen Goff at 

    HG Literary writes picture books, chapter books and middle 

    grade. 

    “Be curious,” she shared.  “Take opportunities to learn from 

    industry professionals, even if they’re discussing genres, craft 

    topics or age categories outside your focus. Hearing diverse 

    opinions and experiences can enrich your understanding of your 

    own craft, purpose and journey as a writer.” 

·   And how could I not invite my fellow TeachingAuthor blogger 

   and writer of fiction and nonfiction, Carmela Martino, to 

   share her Golden Nugget?! She, too, secured literary 

   representation this past year with Anjanette Barr of Dunham, 

   Literary, Inc.

         Carmela admitted it was “a stubborn belief that the stories I was 

         working on were worth sharing, and that they deserved to be in 

         the world, one way or another.”

         She confessed she was “so relieved and heartened to finally find 

         an agent who agreed with her!”

 

fe    I offer buckets of Hoorays! and Hurrahs! to our fellow 

       children’s book creators for both keepin’ on AND sharing a 

       Golden Nugget to keep US keepin’ on.

       Hoorays! and Hurrahs! hasten Hope.

   I  IMHO: Second Chances help us hang on to that Hope.

       And GOOD NEWS! The Andrea Brown Literary Agency is 

      offering such an opportunity – the ABLA Second Chance!

    “At ABLA we take pride in our collaborative approach to 

     agenting and we often share queries internally when we 

     believe a colleague is a better fit for the material.

     However, if a creator would like another opportunity to have 

     their project considered by ABLA after their first choice agent 

     passes, we invite you to submit your work to the 

     Second Chance Inbox. All our agents have access to this 

     inbox and will regularly look through it to discover new 

     material! If an agent finds something they are interested in, 

     they will reach out to that  creator directly.”

 Click here to learn the details so you can grab this Do Over. 

 

Thanks to former fellow TeachingAuthor blogger Laura Purdie 

Salas for hosting today’s Poetry Friday at Poems forTeachers. 

Laura, too, deserves an Hooray! and Hurrah! for her newest 

picture book– Line Leads the Way (Capstone, 2024).

Here’s to Hope and our hanging on! 

Esther Hershenhorn

Beautiful OOPS Day--Mistakes into Masterpieces

.
Howdy, Campers!

Happy Poetry Friday (link at the end, original poem's in this post)...and make sure to enter our latest Book Giveaway of Sherry Shahan's Skin & Bones (which ends February 6th)!

If you follow this blog, you'll remember the day we spent with author/illustrator Barney Saltzberg and his marvelous book, Beautiful Oops! (Workman). Well, guess what?

Now there's a worldwide Beautiful Oops! Day!

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you've wrapped the gift for your friend Julie, sealed it in a box, stuck stamps on it and then, as you're listening to the Beatles sing "Hey Jude," you address the package... to Jude. OOPS!

Now what?  Well, if you're Barney, you'll make a weird-looking cartoon heart over the word "Jude"...which sprouts legs and arms, a top hat and cane, and suddenly there's a host of fabulous creatures framing Julie's mailing address...a veritable celebration.  That's a Beautiful Oops...a mistake made beautiful.

The point of this book is to encourage all of us to allow "the magical transformation from blunder to wonder," and as schools all over the world celebrate Beautiful Oops Day (in any month, on any day; a school could decide to celebrate Beautiful Oops Day each month), I wish we'd celebrated it when I was in school!

The Beautiful Oops Day website includes project ideas shared by teachers from all over the world to get you started.  And here's a 1:41 minute video of Barney sharing with young students:

How does this translate to writing?  I just happen to have a perfect example.  Here's a new poem author Bruce Balan sent me just this week; beneath it is his "mistake" backstory:

THE PLAINTIFF CALL OF THE WILD
by Bruce Balan

I submit to the court
that this species
has ignored the proper protocol:
They’ve decided that it’s all
for them
and no one else;
Not fish nor elk
nor tiny eels.
Their ills are real.
They spoil and take
break and forsake
and maul
every spot and plot
and it’s not as if
they don’t know…
They do!
They just ignore,
which underscores
my call.

Please dear Judge,
I do not intend to fawn,
but
I pray the court
will look kindly on my call
before my clients all
are gone.

(c) 2015 by Bruce Balan. All rights reserved.

Bruce (whose newest book, The Magic Hippo, is available at the iTunes store, B&N, and Amazon) explains: "I was going to write a poem called The Plaintive Call of the Wild (it just popped into my head), but I misspelled plaintive and so ran with it…"

Perhaps today's Beautiful Oops lesson is RUN WITH IT!

So, thank you, Barney Saltzberg, for gifting us the space to make mistakes; to be human.Campers, stay tuned: next week, Barney will share a Wednesday Writing Workout (link goes live on February 4, 2015) on this very blog!

Poetry Friday's at Paul Hankin's These 4 Corners today...thanks, Paul!

 

posted with inevitable mistakes by April Halprin Wayland

A Winning Writer's Jump-Start: Lee & Low's New Voices Contest

Today’s post not only officially restarts our TeachingAuthors blog after a brief Summer Hiatus.
It jump-starts our writers’ engines with a winning opportunity: Lee & Low’s New Voices Contest.
That’s right: jump-starts.
IMHO, a Writing Contest serves as the perfect external battery to get any writer goinggoinggoing and moving forward.

Think Motivation – i.e. publication, prize money, a publisher’s attention, for example.
Think Focus – i.e. a specific format, theme or subject matter.
Think Opportunity – i.e. a guaranteed reading and audience!
And don’t forget DEADLINE – in this case, September 30, 2013.
(Deadlines excel at keeping writers writing.)

For those unfamiliar with this independent publisher, Lee & Low Books focuses on diversity, specializing in high quality multicultural children’s books.  The company’s mission is “to meet the need for stories that all children can identify with and enjoy.  They pride themselves on books about everyone, for everyone.

Established in 2000, the annual New Voices Award is given to a writer of color of a children’s picture book manuscript. The Award winner receives a cash prize of $1,000 and Lee & Low’s standard publication contract, including the basic advance and royalties for a first-time author.  An Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $500.

Check out these published winners that went on to win – other - awards: Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The SammyLee Story and TheBlue Roses.

Writers who have published other work in venues such as children’s magazines, young adult or adult fiction or nonfiction are eligible.  Only un-agented submissions will be accepted.

Work that has been published in any format published online or independently is not eligible for this award.

To click on the previous years’ winners and learn more about embracing this winning opportunity, click HERE. 

As luck would have it, in her recent June 27 blog post, Anastasia Suen interviewed Pamela Tuck, author of AS FAST AS WORDS COULD FLY which won the 2007 Lee & Low New Voices Award.  This debut picture book tells a story based on Ms. Tuck’s dad’s journey of desegregating the Pitt County School System in Greenville, NC in the 1960’s.

Of course, when it comes to Writing Contests and external batteries, it goes without saying: one might lose the Contest but still drive away a Winner.

Just last month, one of my students shared her Good News that while she hadn’t won the Highlights Fiction Contest this year, the magazine wished to purchase her story in rhyme for publication!

And two months ago, another writer’s Honorable Mention in a themed blog’s picture book contest kept her believing in and submitting her original manuscript.

I love sharing with Young Writers how Christopher Paul Curtis’ college manuscript became the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham which eventually lost out in the no-longer-offered Delacorte Contest.  But he did win an editor (Wendy Lamb) plus the chance to revise, allowing the book to go on to win a Newbery Honor.

So,

TeachingAuthors is up and running again!
Stay tuned for more Contests to jump-start your writing.
And be sure to check out our the new Writing Contests section on our Links page.

Good Luck!

(And keep us in the Loop.)

Esther Hershenhorn

Building A Writing Portfolio

Most of the adults who sign up for my writing classes have the same goal: to get a book published by a traditional publisher. They're usually shocked to learn what a long, slow process book publication typically is, whether they're working on a picture book or a novel. To help cope with the wait, I recommend they work on building a portfolio of writing credits they can mention in their cover/query letters. On Monday, Esther shared links to information on how to get published in Highlights magazine. Highlights is a well-respected magazine that's been around for years, and an impressive credit to include in your writing portfolio. Unfortunately, that means they receive a huge volume of submissions, making them a tough market to break into. I like to remind my students that there are other children's magazines, many of them more open to material than Highlights or the Cricket Magazine Group, which publishes high-quality magazines for toddlers to teens.

One of my favorite lesser-known children's magazines is Pockets, published by The Upper Room, for 6 to 12-year-olds. Like Highlights, Pockets runs an annual fiction contest. They also accept a variety of material, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, puzzles, and activities. Although Pockets is a Christian magazine, not all content is explicitly religious. I recall studying a sample issue years ago that happened to include a story that had won their fiction contest. It was a wonderful story about a girl learning to accept her new stepfather. I don't believe it mentioned God at all.

As it says on the Pockets website:

"Each issue is built around a specific theme with material that can be used by children in a variety of ways. Submissions should support the purpose of the magazine to help children grow in their faith, though all submissions do not need to be overtly religious." 

The magazine's monthly themes are listed on their website, along with a submission deadline for each issue. To paraphrase something I heard Richard Peck say years ago, "A deadline is a writer's friend." When I first learned of Pockets and their theme/deadline list, I submitted some theme-related puzzles. To my delight, they were accepted! That success led me to try my hand at writing a short story specifically for an issue focusing on "prejudice." They accepted that piece, and "The Cupcake Man" became my first published children's story. Pockets also published my first children's poem. (Is it any wonder why I'm so fond of this magazine?)

Of course, the key to success when writing for Pockets or any other magazine is to study several issues so that you can draft a submission that fits with the magazine's overall feel. You should be able to check out copies of well-known magazines like Highlights and Cricket at your public library. For smaller magazines like Pockets, you can usually request a sample copy from the publisher. Instructions for doing so are often listed in the "Magazines" section of the annual Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest Books). You may be surprised by the number and range of magazines you'll find listed there. If you're a member of SCBWI, you can also download the latest SCBWI Magazine Market Guide, which also includes general tips on writing for magazines.

Besides magazines, another good market for building your writing portfolio is the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. Their upcoming titles are listed on their website along with their submission deadlines. (Remember: Deadlines are our friends!) When Chicken Soup put out a call for the book Teens Talk High School: 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens, I submitted a poem in two voices called "Questions," which they accepted. My Writing Buddy, Leanne Pankuch, recently had her second Chicken Soup story published in Hooked on Hockey. Again, to place a story in a Chicken Soup book, it's important to study past issues, and also to carefully read their guidelines. While Chicken Soup stories are nonfiction, they must read like well-crafted fiction--with a beginning, middle, and end; action; dialogue; conflict, a theme, etc.

By the way, all the markets I've discussed today pay for your writing. While it's not exactly a "pot of gold," receiving payment for our work is affirming. And it has given many of my former students the confidence to say "I am a published author," even as they wait for their first book contract.

Don't forget: there's less than a week left to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of JoAnn Early Macken's, Write a Poem Step by Step. See JoAnn's guest post for details.

Happy writing!
Carmela

Good Ol' Opportunity: Redux

As reported in my December 5 post “Good Ol’ Opportunity,” in which I offered my Thumbs Up  review of Melissa Ambramovitz’s guide to writing nonfiction children’s magazine articles, A Treasure Trove of Opportunity, a multitude of publishing rainbows besides those first sought await children’s book writers on their road to publication.

In other words, Opportunity knocks often and loudly in the Children’s Book World.

Check out the following pots o’gold waiting for you should you answer your door:

(1)   Highlights Magazines Current Editorial Needs – for both nonfiction and fiction

(2)  the Highlights 2013 Fiction Contest

This coming year, the judges welcome stories of any genre (mystery, historical fiction, sports, humor, holiday, etc.) as long as the stories are intended for kids ages 6 to 8.
Three prizes of $1,000 or tuition for any Highlights Founders Workshop will be awarded.
Entries must be postmarked between January 1 and January 31, 2013.

(3)  The 12x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge

This is the perfect follow-up to PiBoIdMo.  
Participants will be encouraged to write one picture book draft a month, for 2013’s twelve months.
Registration is now open.
You’ll receive support, motivation and accountability, not to mention insights and instruction from authors, illustrators, editors, art directors and agents.

Please note: NaNoWriMo participants can continue learning at the challenge's blog.

Be sure to check back for the first TeachingAuthors post of the New Year when we offer our readers yet one more opportunity to work their writing muscles throughout the coming year.

Good Luck! – and – Happy Holidays!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
Don’t forget our TeachingAuthors  autographed Book Giveaway of former TA JoAnn Early Macken’s newest, Write a Poem Step by Step: A Simple, Logical Plan You Can Follow to Write Your Own Poems.

To enter our drawing, you must follow the TeachingAuthors blog. If you’re not already a follower, you can sign up now in the sidebar to subscribe to our posts via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs.

You may enter the contest one of two ways: 1) by posting a comment below OR 2) by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line.

Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your first and last name AND tell us how you follow us (via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs). If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted this way: youremail [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment.

Be sure to tell us about a book that influenced your own teaching or writing.

This contest is open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded. The entry deadline is 11 p.m. (CST) Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. I'll announce the winner on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Good luck!