Be My Guest, Mona Pease!

Here we go again! I have another wonderfully talented pre-published author friend that I can’t wait for you to meet.  I was lucky enough to be in a critique group with Mona a little more than one year ago, and we soon became Facebook friends.  That group has since fizzled out but she and I have stayed connected, continue to swap stories and are even participating in a book study together! She’s a very talented non-fiction writer, but don’t let her fool you! I’ve read a super sweet and silly story of hers that is all made up and such a delightful little read!  She was even one of Susanna Hill’s Holiday Contest winners and graciously agreed to come down here (figuratively speaking of course) for a cup of English tea to talk about the highlights of her writing journey.  (She also took me ‘around Robin Hoods barn’ a time or two!)

Without further ado… Mona Pease!

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            I’m really pleased to be here and share some of my writing thoughts with you. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m a chatterer. Sometimes I run out behind Robin Hood’s barn and come back talking about something different!

            So, my first thought was to write a post called, How Did I Find My Writing Tribe? To do that, I’d have to start with the first step of my journey. I decided to write children’s books. You’ve heard that before! Then, I decided that I wanted to attend the NESCBWI conference I’d been reading about online.

            In the meantime, there happened to be another writer from right here in Maine who was posting that she was looking for someone to join her in going to her first conference. We wrote back and forth, decided we’d go, and room together. It wasn’t until about the week before we were to leave that we shared phone numbers and our full names!

            My husband thought I was nuts, going out of state to “sleep” with a complete stranger. Her mother worried she might be going with an axe murderer! Thankfully, we bonded and have remained good friends. This happened just before Rules and it was my lucky day when I met my first and dearest, writing friend, Cynthia Lord, whose a name I now know!

            Not only did I meet my first tribe princess at that conference, I got the writing “bug” and the start of my writing education. I love learning and I hope that you do too, because I just stepped out behind Robin Hood’s barn and have to share my thoughts about the educational opportunities we have before us as children’s writers.  There are classes, courses, and workshops all over the place. This is an amazing, sharing, community we belong to, so let’s do a little window shopping.

            SCBWI (Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators) is a good place to start the writer’s journey. It’s our organization and we’ve been invited to join.  If you can afford to go to one of the conferences, do it. There are several regional events too. New England is “my” conference. Can you imagine listening to, taking workshops, or being critiqued by the likes of Jane Yolen, Cynthia Lord, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jo Knowles, Erin Dionne, Kate Messner, Kwame Alexander, Jeannine Atkinson, Harold Underdown, just to name a few- yes, a few! And, then there’s a never-ending parade of participating agents and editors who are willing to hear from you.

            Falling Leaves on Lake George in New York, is another amazing event. It’s put on by the Eastern New York chapter. You have to apply with a written piece to be accepted because space is limited, but it is amazing!

            Be a web surfer. Be a site stalker. If you live in the boonies like I do, you can wiggle around the web like a worm in rich soil.  There are valuable groups and classes that you join. Some are free and others you have to pay your dues. I would love to take all of them,but have to pick and choose because the dollars (or lack of)!

            *Kid Lit College www.kidlit.org has an annual fee for members. Nonmembers can attend webinars presented by fabulous agents and editors for very reasonable fees. Jodell Sadler has organized this for us. Check it out. Try taking just one of the webinars and you may be hooked!

            *Rate Your Story is another of my favorites. This one has a fee too but there are the perks. Submit a manuscript every month for a professional critique. Then look for your rating of the story. A 1 rating says it’s time to submit! Look for their occasional free submission days if you didn’t join.

             *Aree Chung’s StoryTellerAcademy.com   offers step by step for creating your picture book. His first class is especially valuable for the author/illustrator. And he’s offering other classes for children’s writers. Again, there’s a fee, but a never-ending access to class or webinars with the addition of any webinar in the future. There’s a community of students that bond to discuss classes or to form critique groups.

            *Sussanna Hill’s, Making Picture Book Magic will really help you write magical words.  SusannaHill.com  Susanna will help you make your own words and sentences sing!

            *12X12 in another place with an annual fee. Monthly webinars. Golden Book members have opportunities to submit to agents every month. Try Julie’s free newsletter while you wait for the new sign-up year.

            There’s tons of free stuff going on. Get yourself a big fat notebook and start stalking. There are blogs, websites, challenges and contests.

*StoryStorm at TaraLazar.com  A professional post each day in January to help us boost our ideas. If you read and post a comment each day, you’ll be in the drawing for -Prizes! Prizes! Prizes!!!

*ReFoReMo – Carrie Charlie Brown’s Reading for Research is a March challenge. Read, read, read, children’s books, read the daily posts, then comment, and you’re eligible for prizes here too! This is an amazing way to find mentor texts for your own stories

*Not only does Susanna Hill offer classes, she has weekly blogs and annual contests that are free and fun with more prizes. I know, I recently won a 2018 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market!

*KidLit 411 is another place to find the news, and the weekly updates give you insight to what’s going on in the industry. This place is like an encyclopedia for children’s writers!

*Check out author, Vivian Kirkfield’s page. She presents author interviews, book reviews, and books to give away!

            Honestly, those are only a few of the gems you’ll find here on the internet. And now, for another trip around Robin Hood’s barn to take you back to where I started.  Along the way, on my journey, I have found friends! Some I’ve met in person and others I only know from here, but you are comrades, friends, critiques, cheerleaders. This is my tribe!

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Hands down, my favorite line? … “you can wiggle around the web like an earthworm in rich soil.”  Yes, yes, yes! I’m so grateful that I’m a picture book writer in the age of technology and social media, so much of what we need to learn is right at our fingertips! I’m lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends to call my own, Mona included…even though I missed her birthday! How does that even still happen in a Facebook world! Agh!! Mona, I’m sorry! I hope your day was delightful! Thanks for having me as a part of your tribe, my friend, and taking a leap of faith to join me here today!

 

Thanks for reading, come back anytime!

-JP

 

 

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Thank you note.

Dear Hivemind,

I stepped away from my microwaving bowl of oatmeal to say a quick “Thank You.”  I hope you know who you are, but if not, I’m talking to the 900+ 12×12 members who make up one of the most welcoming, active and engaged group of picture book writers on the planet.  All it takes is one glance at our Facebook page to see the constant stream of support that you’ve shown not only me, but anyone who stops by to ask a question.  Thanks to the community that’s been created, we have a safe place to share everything from important, thought provoking conversations to our own individual victories, be they big or small.  I hope that right now each one of you has found your reason for dancing (it IS the dance party after all!) My reason this week is the list of 88 words that you all helped to compile.  I’m dancing because you took the time to help me bust through my own ‘brain block’ by sharing your own creative energy.  I’m dancing because of the exciting new direction my WIP is taking, boosted by so many of my friends here, not to mention our fearless leader.  Taking it back a week, I was feeling insecure about my blog and took a moment to share my suspicious. Within a matter of minutes, a few of you with a better understanding of the internet, spammers and all shed some light on my confusion and put my fears to rest (or at least helped me to see that it’s nothing to be afraid of.) I’m dancing because I’m grateful for all you (and the fact that I still have 10 days to get my April draft on paper.) At the risk of sounding redundant, thanks… again.  I hope to return the favor one day soon!

                                                                                                                        Sincerely,                                                                                                                                                                           The girl with a burnt bowl of oatmeal.

(Because that’s what happens when you accidently set the microwave to 10 minutes instead of 1 minute and completely lose yourself in a blog post.  Plus, I’m a writer… when the words need to get out, sometimes it happens at all cost. But since I’m writing to writers, I feel safe that I’m not being judged here.  Truth be told, I’ve done a lot worse than burn breakfast while my fingers are flying across the keys of my laptop.)

PS-I don’t want to leave out the other incredibly helpful groups that I’m a part of.  In fact, they’ve each played a big part of helping me along this journey and definitely deserve their own thank you note… ReForReMo’s came back in October, Susanna Hill’s Would You Read It? series and the faithful following she’s gathered inspired a post in November and I summed up my wonderful Storystorm experience here in early February. 

 Up next for me?  I’m excited to share another Be My Guest! post from my dear friend Mona Pease next week.  I’m also gearing up for NaPiBoWriWee in early May. I had a great time with it last year, in fact 4/7 stories that came as a result of that week are projects that I’m still working on. That’s better than 50%! I’d call it an inspired week for sure.  I’m still working on Paper People (see my most recent interview here.)  I fell behind and now I’m out of sync with my library, but I hope to get back on track by late May or June.  There were so many fantastic debut picture book authors to celebrate from 2017, I definitely have no shortage of options.  What a great problem to have!

 

Thanks for reading, come back anytime!

-JP

Submissions & Admissions

I did it. For the first time, in way too long, I hit the submit button. And get this, I did it not once but five times. Obviously, I didn’t literally hit submit five times: two were sent via US Mail with an enclosed SASE that I hope to never see again, two were via email and only one was an online submission form with an actual SUBMIT button. But the point is, I did it. What’s more important is that I managed to do it at the tail end of a very intense writer’s slump. Let me tell you, it was a helluva slump too. If I’m being honest, it actually felt like a hangover. I’m from south Louisiana, remember, I know a good hangover when I see one and THAT was a hangover… a conference hangover.
Everyone talks about the burst of energy that follows a good writers conference, and after last month I know exactly what they’re talking about it. The weekend was brilliant and the following week I had enough energy to tackle to publishing world. I had a vision for each WIP, I felt good about my chances, and I was writing often and feeling inspired…until I crashed. I crashed into a fit of overwhelming, exasperated self-doubt. All of my works in progress came to a screeching halt, my blog suffered and I grew quiet in my communication with critique partners. I was spiraling and it all happened so fast! Surely, I’m not the only one who’s experienced such a thing? Almost every ounce of my well-intentioned inspiration and energy evaporated, then it got worse. My mood was awful. My house was a mess. My laptop lay untouched, and the laundry piled up. It was the pits I tell you. Luckily, it was ALMOST every ounce of my creative energy… key word, almost.
So, there’s this book study I’m apart of, and our assignments are due every two weeks. I didn’t hit the deadline, which is very out of character for me, but I showed up in the best way I could; a day late and a dollar short. Our assignments are usually due once every two weeks, except this time we already agreed on a one-week extension and I STILL turned it all in two days late. But the important thing was, I finished. (Shout out to my Bookish Studies girls!) In the midst of all of this I also had a major pep talk with myself via the dusty laptop. I sat down with a blank (electronic) sheet of paper and just wrote. I wrote about my struggles, I wrote about my concerns, I wrote about what excited me, made me anxious or just plain scared me. I wrote about my expectations, both the realistic ones and those that aren’t. In the words of Brene Brown, pounded out a SFD, figured out the ‘story I was telling myself’ and how off-kilter it was. (All this is thanks to RISING STRONG, see footnote.)

I still have a couple more confessions… none of which matter to any of you in the least bit. But to keep my self accountable I have to spell them out, so please bear with me.

1. I missed the opportunity for an April edition of Paper People. I’m working on getting back on track for May… stay tuned, there’s more good things to come I hope.

2.  I declared that I would blog about picture books, except that feels really limiting and I think I unintentionally pigeon-holed myself. What I’m really passionate about is living a creatively and authentically. So, I might give myself that chance to start writing about that too… but carefully, because I’m no expert…

Also, this is no confession, but a PSA… you should read Brene Brown. Doesn’t matter which book, just pick the one that speaks to you and read it. I though that DARING GREATLY changed my life, and it did, but let me tell you, RISING STRONG just took things to a whole new level, and I’m only halfway through. Whether you’re a writer, reading, thinker, dreamer or doer, you should read her work. If you’ve experienced disappointment, shame, embarrassment, grief, or doubt, any and all of her books will speak to you. I could go on and on… I won’t because I’m very close to finding myself on a soapbox here. (Plus, I’ve hit my ellipses quota for the week.) Trust me, if you’re human you should read her books.

So, I think that’s all for now. I’m not sure where I’ll take things next week (and I hope that I don’t have any rejections to report!) I do have another Be My Guest post coming up, which is exciting and keeping me on schedule. Thanks for humoring me, like you always do, and as always… (oops, one more!)

 
Thanks for reading, come back anytime!
-JP