Writing for the Peanut Butter Crowd

Here's me in Ephraim at the Author's Extravaganza doing what I love most. Teaching. Teaching has always been my first love. I guess that's why I love public speaking and school visits.

I taught two writing classes at the Conference. Writing for the Peanut Butter Crowd was a primer for picture book writing. We had so much fun that they asked me to keep going, while the administration was knocking at the door and telling me to STOP.

I also taught about Writing on a Sensitive Topic and share some of my experience writing and publishing Some Secrets Hurt. Another topic I never tire of.

Friend-husband and I went early and did some school visits. We taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders about the writer's voice. I used my unpublished manuscript Grudge Rock and it was a hit. Some of the kids showed up at the conference, and asked where they could buy Grudge Rock. I think I'd better call my publisher.

If you love to read or write, stop by here tomorrow and join the Easter Hop. It's a chance to do a little blog hopping and win cool book prizes. It starts at midnight, tonight. Tell all your friends.

Linda Garner.

Awake, Dang it!

It's 1:15 a.m. and I'm awake. Awake! I'm supposed to be asleep. Did you hear me? It's 1:15. A.M. I'm really tired, but my little eyelids just keep popping open. It's a weird combination of excitement, stress, creativity, and for good measure...a runny nose.

The excitement is about Writing For Young Readers Conference (or whatever it's called). Today was fabulous, and I can't wait for tomorrow. The stress is about the piece I decided to revise one more time tonight at 10:00 p.m. and the subsiquent discovery that my printer is out of ink. The creativity is about all those ideas dancing around in my head. I love you, ideas, but could we just go to sleep.

Now I'm more stressed because it's 1:20 a.m. and I need to get up at 6:15 a.m. and find a copy store and make my lunch and shower and eat breakfast, and...

By the way, what are you doing up? You should be in bed too? Is it your runny nose? Try some vitamin C.

G'nite. I'm going back to bed. I've got a big day tomorrow.

Linda Garner

Prepare, Prepare and Repeat.

Hi guys! So, I just got back from a fun (busy) day with my kids and realized it was my day to post. So...I'm reposting a post from last year when me and my critique buddies went to WIFYR (because we are going again next Monday! Woo hoo! And someone forgot to pack...so I must prepare myself of an awesome week of writing.) Here is my advice on what you should pack and new notes (in blue) for what is happening this year)! Have a great week everyone. =)

Today, an abundance of people (including myself) shall be at our first writer’s conference of the year (actually my second this year).

Am I excited?
Oh, so much!

I have been packing my backpack for weeks (um...day...that's one day) with the essential must haves:

-M&Ms (because I have a noisy stomach and really, no one wants to be startled by that thing!) (still very true, but I need to pack more than one bag, because I ate those things in one day...maybe I'll bring those new pretzel M&Ms. They are so good.)

-Pencils (even a pen, because I have broken a pencil a time or two and writing with plain wood just doesn’t work well. I did try to chew off the wood, but I had wood shavings stuck in my teeth for a week!)

-Paper (To write on… and make spit wads to launch at people who are making me jealous). (j/k I would never do that, and that incident in New York last year - Not me.) (I've still never been to New York, so you can't blame me. Although, I'd love to visit the Big Apple...I'll leave my spit wads home.)

-Tissue (For crying into because I’m still revising my book and want to show it off). (LOL! I'm revising a different book. How funny! Will I ever be done?)

-Crackers (Please see MnM’s above).

-Notebook (At the conference last year I brought home piles and piles of notes! I expect the same today). (Still the same. Love those notes!)

-Deodorant (this one is pretty self explanatory).

-Couple of chocolate bars (because chocolate is the magical food made by tiny magical creatures from a magical land *sigh * and it’s so, so good!)

-A little extra coinage (for silly things like, food, bottled water, gas – stuff like that).

-Antacid (There is a funny story behind this, I promise, but just not enough time to disclose. So sorry, and if you’ve heard the story * head hung low * you have my deepest sympathies). (I totally forgot about that story! It was so funny! I can't stop laughing...remind me to fill you in later.)

So there you have it! My list of stuff that I am at this very moment (next week) dragging through the halls with other devoted writers, breathing in the fumes of excitement and hope. If you see me, feel free to ask for a handful of M&M’s, hopefully I haven’t eaten them all yet (yeah, I did...sorry about that), but it is very possible that I still have a few good sheets of paper left for spit wads.

Trimming the Fat

Cut here. Snip there. It's best to use a scalpel, not a machete. This is delicate work. Is that blood? Did I nick an artery? Could I get a little oxygen?

I’m talking about dejunking my writing.

When writing a picture book, it’s best to be thrifty with words. This has been a hard lesson for me, because I adore words. I love the sound of words and the feel of the rhythm as the words slide over my tongue and fly through the air. I love word pictures and descriptive phrases. However, in a picture book,the fewer words, the better.

Last year after attending a writer's conference, I did major surgery on three of my favorite picture book manuscripts. I learned at the writer's conference that most publishers will no longer look at picture book manuscripts that are over 1,000 words. Why? It is because they are not very marketable. Neither Barnes and Noble nor Borders will pick them up. Can you guess who drives the market? Barnes and Noble and Borders would be a good guess. Most people are looking for a quick read in a picture book. Busy parents want to shorten the bedtime routine.

I had three wonderful picture book manuscripts that were well over 2,000 words. They were beautiful. They were my darlings. Could I do it? Could I trim them down to less than 1,000. Was it possible? Where to start? I took the challenge.

First I decided to trim the fat. In a picture book , an obvious place to look for fat is description. Since half of a good picture book is pictures, make the illustrations count. Don’t describe anything that can be shown in illustrations. It was surprising how many words I could lose by making my manuscript illustrator dependent. Snip. Snip.

Still, I had a long way to go. Next I looked for details that weren’t essential to the story. No matter how clever, or delightful, if the story didn’t hinge on it, it had to go. This bought me a few words. Cut and trim.

Dialogue can breathe life into your story, but in a picture book, dialogue sucks up a lot of words. I looked carefully at dialogue. Which dialogue made the story better? Which dialogue could I do without? Where could I tighten things up. Trim here. Snip there.
This was encouraging. Maybe it was possible. Drum roll, please. Word count? Aargh. Still 150 words to go. Trim the fat. Essentials only. Can I do it? Can I?

I looked for ways to economize on words. I cut unnecessary articles, like a’s and the’s. I hit the delete key again and again. Is there a shorter way to say this? Could I find one word that could replace two or maybe three? Snip. Cut. Trim.

Would my story survive? At first, I felt that death was imminent, but I had to try. As the process continued, I grew more hopeful. Toward the end, I became passionate, exhilarated by the challenge.

At last, triumph. My story was leaner. There was no trace of fat, not even an ounce. Was it still a story? That’s what you want to know, isn’t it? Did the story survive?

I feel a strong pulse, but she’s lost a lot of blood. Time will tell, but I think she’ll pull through. Oxygen, please. Stat.

Linda Garner

Did I survive Storymakers? I Sure Did.

Last Friday & Saturday, Linda, L.T. and I spent two informative packed days in Provo, Utah attending LDStorymakers. What an experience! They had great authors, fantastic panels, and lots of water. There was a long line in the women’s bathroom.

First I want to give my thanks for everyone who made this event such a great success, the authors, the organizers, everyone. What a great conference!

For those of you who did not attend or who have never attended before, let me give you a run down of what we did.

Friday at 7:30 the three of us got to the conference and picked our tables for bootcamp. Bootcamp is where you meet with a small group of writers and a published author to critique each writers’ work. I went to the teen chic lit/ YA table with Crystal Liechty. She is so awesome! And cute. I was at the table with Cindy, Charlene, Maury, and Emily. Everyone at our table was excellent and I enjoyed everything I read. Good job guys!

After bootcamp we had breakout sessions. Everything from Annette Lyon’s Grammar and Usage to Jeff Savage’s Creating and Maintaining a Character Bible (which I am totally starting! I hate all those crazy loose ends). So many more I wish I could list.

There were panels to choose from (agent/editor panels, mystery panels, to romance panels), book signings, and even a keynote speaker, Dean Lorey, who was an extremely nice guy.

I had a pitch session with Lisa Mangum, who is not scary at all (all those weeks of preparing to meet with a fear-provoking editor, all in vain * I shake my fist and sigh with relief *). She even has her own book coming out this month. I’ve heard buzz about this book! It sounds fabulous (check out Tristi Pinkston's review). I will tell you one thing, I’m totally going to her book signing.

I meet so many incredible writers and authors, plus bloggers. It was just amazing. Josi Kilpack, James Dashner, Stephanie Black. You guys rock! Ashley, Melanie J., Nicole Giles, Kim, Weston Elliot. If I left you out, I'm so, so sorry, but I still love ya! There were just so many excellent writers and authors. It was wonderful!

I also have to give a shout out to Heidi Ashworth, the author of Miss Delacourt Speaks her Mind. She took time out of her busy get-away to meet with some of us. I have been very impressed with how kind she is on her blog (and funny), but after meeting her in person, I like her even more.

Well, there you have it. A superb weekend, a superb group, and superb gelato. What more can a girl ask for? Maybe a tube of fudge. I’m so there.

The Awesome Power of Storymakers or The Sleep I didn't get at the Conference

So, my awesome critique group and I are preparing to attend the Storymakers conference tomorrow. We’ve planned the time we will leave (meaning we have to be up at 5:15 a.m.), what classes we would like to attend, and we’ve gone over the presenters bios (so we can say, “Hey fill in name here how you doin’?” Which either will freak them out a little or will pleasantly surprise them. I'm hoping the second).

Click here to see my highly recommended list of things to bring with you when you go to a conference. Don’t forget the allergy medicine. The pollen count is a mess.

The best part about going with the group is that we are spending the night. It will be like a great big sleepover. I’m afraid I won’t be getting any sleep. L.T. makes me laugh with all her funny songs and we just have to break Linda in. I weep for her.

So if you see us there, please come over and say hi! (Oh, and if you know any good songs, let us know! We could always use a new song to sing in the bathroom. Poor Linda.)

Structure and the Cycles of Stories

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the LTUE Writer’s Conference. It was remarkable. I learned so much and got to network with other writers. Some who puzzled and bewildered me, others that astonished and stunned me. There was even one writer who scared the begeebies out of me. Really, all she had to do was look at me and I had a panic attack. (But she was saying hi to me by the end of the conference). It was fantastic (and a bit terrifying).

The days were filled with class after class about writing, podcasts, and panels. There was one class that stood out for me, it was John Brown’s class. You can see his downloads and notes at http://johndbrown.com/ He not only knows his stuff, but he was funny as well (so I didn’t fall asleep – yay!). He taught us about the story cycle…character inciting, problem, reaction, action, disaster (really, you need to go to his website).

In my college writing class, I am learning about structure (I have been doing a synopsis for each story I am working on). With the information from the two classes combined, I have found the perfect structure for a well written story (which also means I have to tweak a few things in my current book – but that’s OK, I only cried for a couple of days).

Which brings me to my point (yeah, it only took me half the morning). There is a trick to a well written story. One can’t sit down and just start writing something (which I used to think was the way everybody wrote – and the way I wrote my 1st book – big mistake). A story must not only be interesting, but the story itself must not go all over the place. It has to have a structure.

If you read a really good book or watch a really good movie you will begin to see the pattern. I highly recommend watching a few movies and picking out the different points that keep the story moving.

Here they are:

Introduction: (the sooner the action and tension, the better) Your main character must make a decision or be thrown into a situation which will take them in one direction or another.

1st disaster: caused by decision or situation.

2nd disaster: keeps the story moving, the problem is out of the main character’s control, but the character has no choice but to continue.

3rd disaster: The final disaster which brings us to the climax of the story and resolves all loose ends, bringing us to the conclusion of the book.

And that’s just the structure and story cycle! There is also character building, tension, character’s desire or goal, or there is so much to learn! That’s why a writer’s conference is so important, plus you get to meet really cool and scary people. It’s so awesome! But next time, I am buying the super gigantic bag of MnMs. I finished mine the day before the conference started. I have no self control with those things.

So, Let it Begin

Today, an abundance of people (including myself) shall be at our first writer’s conference of the year. Am I excited? Oh, so much! I have been packing my backpack for weeks with the essential must haves:

MnMs (because I have a noisy stomach and really, no one wants to be startled by that thing!)
Pencils (even a pen, because I have broken a pencil a time or two and writing with plain wood just doesn’t work well. I did try to chew off the wood, but I had wood shavings stuck in my teeth for a week!)
Paper (To write on… and make spit wads to launch at people who are making me jealous). (j/k I would never do that, and that incident in New York last year - Not me.)
Tissue (For crying into because I’m still revising my book and want to show it off)
Crackers (Please see MnM’s above).
Notebook (At the conference last year I brought home piles and piles of notes! I expect the same today).
Deodorant (this one is pretty self explanatory).
Couple of chocolate bars (because chocolate is the magical food made by tiny magical creatures from a magical land *sigh * and it’s so, so good!)
A little extra coinage (for silly things like, food, bottled water, gas – stuff like that).
Antacid (There is a funny story behind this, I promise, but just not enough time to disclose. So sorry, and if you’ve heard the story * head hung low * you have my deepest sympathies).

So there you have it! My list of stuff that I am at this very moment dragging through the halls with other devoted writers, breathing in the fumes of excitement and hope. If you see me, feel free to ask for a handful of MnM’s, hopefully I haven’t eaten them all yet, but it is very possible that I still have a few good sheets of paper left for spit wads.