Setting the Scene's Season

When you start writing (or reading) a new book, do you know what season it is set in right away? If it is a holiday story, the obvious answer is yes. If not, this may not be important to you at first. What if the story is set in a place where temperatures vary only slightly year-round? Will a reader notice which season the characters are in if only subtle hints are added? If a story is set in a place where there are four distinct seasons, weather is a detail that will probably make its way into the story.

I started thinking about this when the topic of seasons came up in my critique group recently. Last week I took a drive on the Natchez Trace to see the colors of the fall leaves. It was raining that day, which made some of the paths slippery. A rainy fall setting might provide a few changes from the spring road trip setting where my Natchez Trace novel is set. Take a look at the photos below. Do you see any differences?

Spring Photos

Fall Photos

Top 10 Best Things about the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference by Hannah Dills

The Rutgers Council on Children’s Literature sponsors the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference each year to help aspiring children’s book authors and illustrators. My friend, Hannah Dills, attended the conference this year. I am pleased to have her share about the experience.



Welcome to the blog, Hannah! What is the Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference?

Thanks! It’s great to be here!

The Rutgers Conference provides authors with a unique opportunity to receive individual feedback on their work directly from one of nearly eighty industry professionals. The list of the 2009 Rutgers mentors, including editors, agents, and published authors, may be found at: http://www.ruccl.org/mentors_2009.html. Authors start the day with an individual one-on-one session. I was extremely lucky – my session was with Bloomsbury editor Caroline Abbey and she was fabulous! Caroline reviewed the first few pages of my manuscript, a synopsis and query letter. Her suggestions helped me enhance the materials that are key to catching the attention of an agent or editor.

Authors also get to participate in a five-on-five session with their mentor and four other publishing experts. I was excited to meet and hear advice from Shauna Fay (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), Annette Pollert (Simon Pulse), Alison Weiss (Egmont), and Becca Stumpf (Prospect Agency).

The day also includes a panel about trends in the publishing world and author guest speakers. Lunch provides yet another opportunity to personally meet and learn more about publishing professionals. The conference is held at Rutgers University in New Jersey and makes a fun fall trip.

How can someone sign up for the conference?

Information about the registration process for the Rutgers conference may be found online at http://www.ruccl.org/One-on-One_Plus_Conference.html. Interested authors should complete the application and mail a three page sample of their work to the appropriate contact for one of the three categories: Picture Books, Middle Grade, or Young Adult. The application deadline was in early July this year and notifications were made for successful applicants in early August. The conference was held October 17th.

What was the best thing about the conference?

The best thing? That’s a tough question! How about the top ten best things : - ) ?

1. I really appreciated the individual feedback on my work; Caroline Abbey provided some fabulous input that helped enhance my query, synopsis and first pages of THE GUARDIANS: DESTINIES REVEALED that I hope will someday turn me into a Rutgers success story…
2. I loved the Success Story author, Karen Rostoker-Gruber, who inspired all of us at breakfast with her account of how she became a published author as a result of the Rutgers Conference…
3. I was happy to meet several of the wonderful Rutgers Council members who devote countless hours to making this event possible every year, including Marcie Aboff, Caroline Abbey, Courtney Bongiolatti, and Samantha McFerrin…
4. My five-on-five session (mentioned above) was entertaining and informative…
5. Little Brown editor Alvina Ling introduced me to one of my favorite middle grade authors, Wendy Mass in person (big fan!)...
6. I met authors from across the country and shared their hopes…
7. I traveled with a great group of writers from Nashville’s Mid-South SCBWI chapter – Sharon Cameron, Jessica Young, and Howard Shirley (or should I say the Charlie’s Angels : - )?)...
8. The trip to New Jersey was fabulous – we got a fall leaf tour of the northeast included in our conference trip thanks to Sharon’s navigation skills…
9. I was excited to see Candlewick editor Kaylan Adair (a fabulous critiquer) and Nancy Gallt agent Marietta Zacker again only three weeks after meeting them in Nashville…
10. And, the dream that Rutgers makes seem possible…that someday I may get my book published!

Would you recommend it to other writers and illustrators?

I would highly recommend the Rutgers Conference to my fellow writers. It is one of the best conferences I’ve ever had the opportunity to attend! I am very fortunate that one of my favorite fellow writers recommended this conference to me…thanks Rae Ann!!!

Thank you Hannah!

Inspiration (and fun) at the Southern Festival of Books

The Southern Festival of Books was held this month in Nashville. The highlight of the festival for me was hearing Kate DiCamillo speak. She is the Newbery award winning author of Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux and other fabulous books. The path to publication must have been easy for her, right? Wrong. She received 470 rejection letters before her first book sold. Four HUNDRED seventy. She talked about the importance of learning to write by reading good books. She also emphasized the importance of persistence in writing. To summarize in my own words: Keep writing and don’t quit.

I also attended the Sisters in Crime panel discussion, Researching the Mystery, talked to writer friends, and bought books. Since this book festival is held in Nashville, there is also music. I enjoyed some music at the Café Stage by Will Kimbrough and author/musician Tommy Womack.

For more info on the festival, click here.

[photo by John Parker]

Meriwether Lewis Commemoration Ceremony

This week marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Meriwether Lewis, co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Meriwether Lewis died at Grinder’s Stand on the Natchez Trace on October 11, 1809. He died without family and friends at his side. Some say he was buried where he fell. Lewis never had a funeral. Last week, that changed.

The Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Foundation and guests gathered on October 7 to honor Meriwether Lewis in a ceremony “Undaunted Courage: The Final Journey”. It was a beautiful ceremony with music from the 101st Airborne Infantry Band, dedication of a bust of Lewis that will be displayed at the Parkway headquarters, and words from descendants of Lewis and William Clark. There was a reenactment of Meriwether Lewis’s arrival at Grinder’s Stand followed by a procession to his gravesite with flag bearers carrying state flags of every state Lewis & Clark traveled through on the Corps of Discovery. Cub Scouts assisted in a wreath laying ceremony and also presented plants that Lewis discovered on the expedition.

For more information on the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and the Lewis & Clark Expedition, click here. To see the photos on the Foundation’s Flickr page of the commemoration ceremony, click here.

Interview with Author Shauna Roberts

I am pleased to welcome my friend, Shauna Roberts to the blog today to celebrate the release of her third book and first novel.

Shauna, congratulations on the publication of your first novel!

Thank you so much, Rae Ann, and thank you also for inviting me to visit your blog.

Like Mayflies in a Stream is a historical novel set 4,700 years ago in Sumer, in what is now southern Iraq. How did you choose this unusual setting?

I have been fascinated by Sumer since high school. Imagine building civilization from the ground up, without any previous civilization to draw on, without even knowing if it was possible! The ancient Mesopotamians invented so many of the basics—writing, accounting, literature, schools, laws, beer, mass production, the pottery wheel, irrigation, the big city—the list goes on and on. Look around today, and you’ll see little in our culture that is original or new. In Sumer, everything was.

As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, I often went to and from my anthropology classes by walking through the galleries of the University Museum. I lingered in the gallery displaying artifacts from Ur (a Sumerian city) and can still picture the bull-headed harp, the queen’s headdress and jewelry, and the matching silver and gold fluted cups

When the opportunity arose to write for Hadley Rille Books’ new series of novels related to important archeological eras, I jumped at the chance. I had recently reread the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” so the idea of retelling the story from a woman’s viewpoint came immediately to mind.

It must be a challenge to research a society in the distant past. What type of research did you do for the book?

My first move was to dig out 30+-year-old notes I took in undergraduate classes on ancient Mesopotamia. (Yes, I’m that much of a pack rat.)

Next, I read the “Epic of Gilgamesh” yet again. After I had an outline for my novel, I noted what I would need to learn more about and started searching the Web and ordering books, a process that continued until the end. Actually, it continued beyond the end, because I was so fascinated by what I was learning.

As I’ve done for other topics, I bought a children’s book on ancient Mesopotamia. It was a wonderful source of color pictures and basic descriptions that didn’t appear in scholarly sources.

One surprisingly useful resource was a dictionary of Sumerian that I downloaded from the Internet. It came in handy in many ways. If I wanted to know whether a particular animal or plant was known to the Sumerians, I checked to see whether they had a word for it. By searching on “beer,” I was able to make a list of several of the numerous types of beer they had. I based menus on foods listed in the dictionary. The dictionary also gave me insight into how the Sumerians ordered their world; for example, they had more than a dozen words for “sheep,” showing the importance of sheep in the economy.

What advice do you have for unpublished writers?

First, I believe anyone who wants to be a genre writer should join the Romance Writers of America as early as possible and attend the yearly conferences. The organization is an unparalleled resource for learning about every aspect of genre writing at every level, from the basics of storytelling to making book videos. I could never have written a salable story or novel without what I learned in RWA.

Second, unpublished writers should make friends with other writers, published and unpublished. Publishing is a business that runs on personal connections. The more friends you have in the industry, the more breaks that will come your way. Belonging to an RWA chapter is a great way to start.

Third, at least try out a critique group or two. Critique groups are not for everyone. But they’re a great way to improve your writing and get feedback on your work before submitting to an agent or editor.

Fourth, don’t give up. I know someone whose first book hit the New York Times’ bestseller list this year within a month of publication. Overnight success? Hardly. She’d been writing for twenty years.

Thank you, Shauna! To learn more about Shauna and her books, visit her website and blog.

Blogging Live at the SCBWI-Midsouth Conference

The SCBWI-Midsouth conference takes place in Nashville this weekend. If you can’t make it but want to know what’s happening, follow along on the official conference blog. Amanda Morgan, Kristin O’Donnell Tubb, and I will be posting interviews and updates from the workshops.

Guest speakers for the conference are:
Kaylan Adair, Associate Editor, Candlewick Press
Patrick Collins, Creative Director, Henry Holt
Caroline B. Cooney, Award-winning Author
Shelli Johannes-Wells, Marketing Expert
Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor, Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic imprint)
Chris Richman, Agent, Upstart Crow Literary

You can find us at the Official Midsouth Fall Conference 2009 blog here.

Interview with Debut Author Kit Wilkinson

I am so pleased to welcome debut novelist, Kit Wilkinson. Her book, Protector’s Honor, a sweet romantic suspense, is a Harlequin release this month.

From the back cover:
AGENT TO THE RESCUE!

It’s instinct. When NCIS agent Rory Farrell hears a woman scream, he reacts. But even after he saves her from abduction, Rory can’t get the beautiful and fragile Tabitha Beaumont out of his mind. Especially when he finds a connection between Tabitha and his latest murder investigation. She needs protection—Rory’s protection—while Rory needs answers Tabitha doesn’t even realize she holds. Yet how can he find the truth without betraying Tabitha’s trust? Soon, Rory must decide what matters most—keeping his objective distance, or keeping Tabitha, in his arms and under his protection, forever.

1. Welcome to the blog, Kit! Congratulations on your debut novel. This story won RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart award in 2008 for Best Inspirational Romance before its sale to Harlequin. Your story sounds like an overnight success story, but I know it’s not. Will you share a bit of your writer’s journey?

Thanks, Rae Ann. What an honor to be on your blog!!
So…let’s see…My story, Protector’s Honor, which sold to Harlequin, was actually my third completed manuscript. But truly the first, which had any chance of selling.
It was requested through an RWA contest (the Golden Acorn, I think). I scrambled to finish the story. Sent it in and it was promptly rejected. BUT sent home with a nice letter suggesting some revision ideas.
So, I pouted for about ten minutes and then I decided to take the editor’s advice. I even wrote her a thank you note—after all, she’d taken the time to read the whole book and make comments. I entered the revised ms in the Golden Heart and began to query agents at that time. The ms was requested again, by several agents and by Harlequin. With a few more revisions, it sold. And, yes, it did all take place in one year, but it didn’t seem fast at all. It seemed like it took forever.

2. All writers dream of seeing our stories in print. What was the biggest surprise about the publication process?

Okay. There were a lot of surprises. First of all, the work is just starting when you make the sale. There are still a lot of edits to follow. Secondly, I had no idea that the editors actually title the book (yes, the author gets some say but not the final say). And this makes sense. They know more than authors about marketing. Still, I was a little surprised by that. And a third surprise would be that learning the second sale was no easier than the first. (And in my case was actually more work.)

3. What advice do you have for unpublished writers?

Well, first of all, you have to write a great story that someone will want to buy. Once you’ve done that then the next most important thing to do is network. Go to conferences and meet editors. Meet other authors—people who are further along than you and can give you advice. And finally, be flexible about your story. Be ready and willing to change it in order to make it better. In other words, embrace the editorial process. This is part of being a writer. If you don’t like it, then maybe you don’t like being a writer.

Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your journey from manuscript to published book, Kit!

For more information on Kit’s books or to try one of her fabulous recipes, please visit her website here.

I will give away one copy of Kit’s new book, Protector’s Honor. If you would like to be entered for the drawing, please leave a comment and let me know. A winner will be drawn next Tuesday.