A few days ago I signed (with my super-fancy pen–thanks Joni Sensel!) the official contract for my first book, to be published by Schwartz & Wade at Random House, and dropped it in the mailbox. Woohoo! What a fantastic feeling. Armed with the Authors Guild’s Model Trade Book Contract & Guide, I sat down to pick my way through the legalese if only to
My lovely and talented friend Tina Hoggatt recently put out a call for participants for an art projects she is working on called Story Chairs. Basically, there are these super cool-looking chairs that she helped design that have speakers in the wings and automatically play stories when you sit in them. I submitted one of my own stories, Invasive Species,
I’ve been singing the praises of my new treadmill desk setup on Twitter recently. My first full week in action, I noticed: I logged 23 miles, without even thinking about it. Wow! I noticed greatly improved focus and concentration. I felt much more energetic, both while on the treadmill and off. No more afternoon energy slump! My aching shoulder and numb left
Okay, so this post is a little late in coming. I’ve been carefully thinking about related revision notes as well as enjoying just a little bit of basking and celebrating (okay, a lot of basking and celebrating!). Now that my feet are back on the ground, please allow me to share the official announcement… I’ve sold my first book! I
I just found this short video that Oprah recently did on Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, the subject of my manuscript ONE IS ENOUGH. I’ve been working on this story, in some form, since I first heard about it in 2005, and I still find it inspiring. I hope you will, too. An Update on Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah Three years after Emmanuel’s Gift
For various reasons (health, chronic pain, an aging pet, volunteer commitments, and the Pacific Northwest weather), I’ve spent the winter pretty much chained to my desk. Whenever I had a spare moment I tried to force myself to sit down and write—right now! As you can probably guess, I was supremely unproductive. And frustrated. You know how if you keep
On Friday, Andrew Karre from Lerner/Carolrhoda gifted a group of our region’s nonfiction writers with over five hours of his undivided attention. And, wow, was it an afternoon to remember! He brainstormed with the group and helped us hone our ideas into something marketable. He gave feedback on our short proposals and/or first pages. And he gave insight into Lerner,
Last week I posted this review of Darcy Pattison’s moving new picture book, WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS. Today, Darcy stops by to discuss it! LT: Hi, Darcy! I’m so excited to have you visit. Can you tell me how you first become interested in writing about Wisdom? DP: I have been interested in writing more nature/science related books, so a couple times a month,
Wisdom, the Midway Albatross by Darcy Pattison (illustrated by Kitty Harvill) Mim’s House, February 1, 2012 32 pages Reading level: 840L (grades 3–5) How does a bird in the middle of the Pacific Ocean survive the 2011 Japanese tsunami and other dangers for over 60 years? No one really knows, but we do know for sure that Wisdom–the oldest known wild bird in the world–has.
A few weeks ago I posted this review of Cynthia Levinson’s amazing middle-grade nonfiction book, WE’VE GOT A JOB. Now, I’m thrilled to welcome Cynthia herself here to talk about it! LT: Hi Cynthia! One of the first things I noticed about WE’VE GOT A JOB was how thoroughly researched it is. What was the hardest part of the research and/or writing