Books Read in 2009

It’s time to close the excel spreadsheet on my computer titled ‘Books Read in 2009’. Yes, I am one of those geeky writers who keeps a list of every book I read with author’s name and sub-genre/target age group. Reading over the list at the end of the year makes me smile when I see the name of a favorite.

Just a few of my favorite reads this year:

KidLit:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (all four books in the series) by Jeff Kinney
Swindle by Gordon Korman
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman

Teen Fiction:
Hope was Here by Joan Bauer
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Books for grown-ups:
Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

Favorite Re-read:
Holes by Louis Sachar

As a writer and reader, I am always looking for new books by new authors to try. Care to share your favorite books of the year? Book recommendations are welcome in the comments section.

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.

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.

Dragon*Con Report by Lara Hansen

My friend, Lara Hansen, attended Dragon*Con 2009 in Atlanta recently. She graciously agreed to share her experience by answering a few questions for my blog.

1. What is Dragon*Con?

The exact definition from the Dragon*Con website is: The largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the US. My definition is...an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals (people who love the same crazy stuff as me), see some amazing (and frightening) costumes, listen to music, see spectacular art & comic book artists in action and STAND (or sit, lounge or shuffle) IN LINE. Hours and hours and hours and miles and miles and miles of lines! Our saying for the weekend..."It's not Dragon*Con without lines." or better yet, "Hey, what's this line for?" (Normally this statement was made after standing in line for a while.) I heard later fans started lining up to see Patrick Stewart from Star Trek 7 hours before his panel.

2. What is the craziest costume/person/thing you saw at the convention?

There is all kinds of craziness going on all 4 days. You never knew what you're going to see when you round a corner, step off an escalator or walk through a door. I saw a man dressed like Elasti-Girl from The Incredibles - platform boots, body suit, bobbed wig and boobs! He actually looked pretty good...as far as costuming was concerned. There were some people who stretched the Georgia state laws on nudity to its limit. Hundreds of stormtroopers, several women dressed in Princess Leia's slave girl outfit, tons of members of Star Fleet and a great group of Spartan Warriors from the movie 300. Whew! They were hot! *fans self*(And a set of Spartan Warriors that had no business letting their hairy beer bellies hang over their leather underpants.) My favorite costumes by far were the Steampunk fans. They were amazing. Each costume looked professionally custom made and so incredibly intricate. I wish I had been bold enough to ask to take their picture. But by the time I was so bold they seemed to have disappeared. I later found out they had a Steampunk Ball Friday evening and they had all wore their costumes that night.

3. What was your favorite thing/event?

Jason Momoa! I must preface this by saying I went to Dragon*Con solely for the Stargate Multiverse Panels/Events...and those events gave me the opportunity to get my photo taken with Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa. His character, Ronon Dex, is my favorite from the series. For those who don't know, a Panel is the opportunity for the fans of a TV show or Movie to ask questions of the Stars. The actors sit at a table at the front of a large ballroom and participate in an hour long Q&A. I attended all of the Panels with members of the Stargate Atlantis cast. To get the best seats in the house, it is necessary to get in line at least two hours early. In those lines, I met a group of fellow SGA fans who quickly became close friends. We helped each other get that elusive 'best picture' of our favorite stars and relived the best moments after each panel was finished. (Oh and I attended a couple of writer workshops as well...at least I sort of tried to learn something while I was there!)

Jason Momoa & Lara

4. This was your first trip to Dragon*Con. Was it your last?

Yes, this was my first trip to Dragon*Con. Is it my last? NO WAY! I've already booked for next year. I'm going to stay in one of the host hotels so I'm in the middle of all the action. I never dreamed I would have as much fun as I did. Dragon*Con is something - if you’re a SciFi or fantasy fan - you have to experience. As my new Dragon*Con friends say, "Post-Con letdown bites." The excitement and sensory overload keeps you going over the 4 days of bad hotel food and lack of sleep but reentry into reality is a serious letdown.

Thanks so much, Lara!