And here is the link to the awesome YOU DID IT video on the NaNo website. (I wonder if you can only see it if you've won? Don't go look at it if you're still in that final writing stretch - it will be worth the wait.)
NaNoWriMo - I did it!!!!
I got to 50,000 words on my work-in-progress novel in one month for National Novel Writing Month! Wahooooo! Here is my badge:
And here is the link to the awesome YOU DID IT video on the NaNo website. (I wonder if you can only see it if you've won? Don't go look at it if you're still in that final writing stretch - it will be worth the wait.)
And here is the link to the awesome YOU DID IT video on the NaNo website. (I wonder if you can only see it if you've won? Don't go look at it if you're still in that final writing stretch - it will be worth the wait.)
365 Avatars in 365 Days!
Patrick Girouard just completed a year-long project of creating an new Facebook avatar every day for a year. And they're positively brilliant. You gotta see (click the image to watch the collection video on YouTube):
Small Business Saturday!
Come visit me and several other authors at The Book Exchange in Marietta, Georgia Saturday. I'll be sharing THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA at 10:30am, then A BIRD ON WATER STREET after that, and also helping to talk up other books by local authors! Show your kids the importance of supporting small, neighborhood businesses and tweet at #SmallBizSat.
Click the cover to learn about my picture book THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! Makes a GREAT teacher gift!
Don't live in Georgia? Check with your local bookseller - Sterling has a version for each state.
Click the cover to learn about my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET, winner of six prestigious literary awards!
When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
Hre are some photos of the day:
Click the cover to learn about my picture book THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! Makes a GREAT teacher gift!
Don't live in Georgia? Check with your local bookseller - Sterling has a version for each state.
Click the cover to learn about my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET, winner of six prestigious literary awards!
When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
Hre are some photos of the day:
Candy Fleming's THE FAMILY ROMANOV - Guest Post and Giveaway!
I am thrilled, thrilled, thrilled to have Candy Fleming here today to talk about her amazing new book, THE FAMILY ROMANOV. It's non-fiction at its best and deserves every bit of Newbery buzz that it's receiving. So, take it away Candy!
Thanks so much for asking me to stop by, Elizabeth. I’m so excited to talk about my new book, The Family Romanov. Today I want to share a little bit about my research. It was a journey that took four paths. The first, of course, was primary research. After all, the heart of research is the firsthand accounts and eyewitness testimonies of those who lived through an historical event. And so I read reminiscences written by the children’s’ tutors, and Alexandra’s ladies-in-waiting and Nicholas’ courtiers. I delved into the royal family’s letters and diaries and other personal papers. I read Yakov Yurovsky’s chilling account of the murders; statements from the guards; depositions from the priests and cleaning women who visited the Romanovs in their last hours. All of it was so personal, so intimate. If you think about it, it really is the height of nosiness… and probably the reason I love this sort of research so much. I get to be part detective, piecing together testimony from all that conflicting testimony, and part gossip, reporting on all the juicy details I uncover.
My second path? Secondary source material. There are hundreds of books about the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution (although almost none for young readers). Dozens of scholars have made the rigorous examination of Russia’s past their life’s work. They’ve written insightful, enlightening histories. And I read dozens of them. For months every night I curled up with books with titles like The Russian Revolution of February 1917 or The Fall of the Romanovs. There’s no denying that my book stands on the shoulders of these works.
My third research path led to experts – scholars, historians, and other writers. They are, I’ve learned, incredibly generous. All my nonfiction titles have been immeasurably improved by their time and effort. But no one was more helpful than Dr. Mark Steinberg, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. While doing research, I came to rely on Dr. Steinberg’s work – his accessible histories of Russia, his impeccable translations of documents recently released from the Russian archives, his re-examination of Nicholas’ leadership abilities, his new and brilliant scholarship on Lenin, his admiration for Maxim Gorky. Can you tell I am a fan? So as the first draft of the book neared completion I approached him tentatively. More than anything, I wanted him to read what I’d written. I wanted his opinion, his knowledge. I wrote him, explaining my purpose and my readership. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped he’d answer. He did… enthusiastically. Over the course of the next six months, he read my draft, made suggestions, pointed out errors, suggested more appropriate source material and forced me to look at the evidence in different ways. He sent along books and articles he believed would help in my work. He re-read portions of the book I’d reworked based on his comments, and patiently answered what must have felt like a tireless stream of questions throughout the entire publication process. That’s generosity!
Last, but certainly not least, my fourth research path took me traveling. I think it’s imperative to visit the places where the story happened. Landscapes speak and houses hold memories and secrets. This was especially true when writing The Family Romanov. In August 2012 I traveled to Russia where I followed in the Romanov’s footsteps, wandering the shady paths of Tsarskoe Selo and traipsing through the hallways of the Alexander Palace; visiting Rasputin’s apartment; exploring worker’s neighborhoods, Lenin’s headquarters and the dark, dank jail cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Just walking the streets and feeling the air brought my biographical subjects closer. And because of those travels, I made a surprising and important discovery – one that changed the scope of the book. It happened while I was visiting the Alexander Palace. In none of my sources had anyone mentioned how close the palace sat to the front gate. I’d assumed it was somewhere in the middle of the park, away from prying eyes. Not so. The tall, main gate with its golden, double headed eagle opens directly onto the palace’s circular driveway. Every day the family could look through its iron grillwork to the town of Tsarskoe Selo just on the other side. It gave me pause. The family was so close to it’s people. They were just on the other side of the gate. The Romanovs could look out their windows and see them. They could hear the voices of their people from the palace balcony. They could smell their cooking. They really weren’t as physically removed as sources had led me to believe. So why, I wondered, didn’t the Romanovs feel more attachment to their subjects? I mean, they were right there. The question led me down entirely new paths of thought. And it eventually led to the book’s inclusion of first hand worker and peasant accounts under the title, “Beyond the Palace Gates.”
GIVEAWAY
Random House has kindly agreed to send a free copy of THE FAMILY ROMANOV to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below.
Thanks so much for asking me to stop by, Elizabeth. I’m so excited to talk about my new book, The Family Romanov. Today I want to share a little bit about my research. It was a journey that took four paths. The first, of course, was primary research. After all, the heart of research is the firsthand accounts and eyewitness testimonies of those who lived through an historical event. And so I read reminiscences written by the children’s’ tutors, and Alexandra’s ladies-in-waiting and Nicholas’ courtiers. I delved into the royal family’s letters and diaries and other personal papers. I read Yakov Yurovsky’s chilling account of the murders; statements from the guards; depositions from the priests and cleaning women who visited the Romanovs in their last hours. All of it was so personal, so intimate. If you think about it, it really is the height of nosiness… and probably the reason I love this sort of research so much. I get to be part detective, piecing together testimony from all that conflicting testimony, and part gossip, reporting on all the juicy details I uncover.
My second path? Secondary source material. There are hundreds of books about the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution (although almost none for young readers). Dozens of scholars have made the rigorous examination of Russia’s past their life’s work. They’ve written insightful, enlightening histories. And I read dozens of them. For months every night I curled up with books with titles like The Russian Revolution of February 1917 or The Fall of the Romanovs. There’s no denying that my book stands on the shoulders of these works.
My third research path led to experts – scholars, historians, and other writers. They are, I’ve learned, incredibly generous. All my nonfiction titles have been immeasurably improved by their time and effort. But no one was more helpful than Dr. Mark Steinberg, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. While doing research, I came to rely on Dr. Steinberg’s work – his accessible histories of Russia, his impeccable translations of documents recently released from the Russian archives, his re-examination of Nicholas’ leadership abilities, his new and brilliant scholarship on Lenin, his admiration for Maxim Gorky. Can you tell I am a fan? So as the first draft of the book neared completion I approached him tentatively. More than anything, I wanted him to read what I’d written. I wanted his opinion, his knowledge. I wrote him, explaining my purpose and my readership. Then I crossed my fingers and hoped he’d answer. He did… enthusiastically. Over the course of the next six months, he read my draft, made suggestions, pointed out errors, suggested more appropriate source material and forced me to look at the evidence in different ways. He sent along books and articles he believed would help in my work. He re-read portions of the book I’d reworked based on his comments, and patiently answered what must have felt like a tireless stream of questions throughout the entire publication process. That’s generosity!
Last, but certainly not least, my fourth research path took me traveling. I think it’s imperative to visit the places where the story happened. Landscapes speak and houses hold memories and secrets. This was especially true when writing The Family Romanov. In August 2012 I traveled to Russia where I followed in the Romanov’s footsteps, wandering the shady paths of Tsarskoe Selo and traipsing through the hallways of the Alexander Palace; visiting Rasputin’s apartment; exploring worker’s neighborhoods, Lenin’s headquarters and the dark, dank jail cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Just walking the streets and feeling the air brought my biographical subjects closer. And because of those travels, I made a surprising and important discovery – one that changed the scope of the book. It happened while I was visiting the Alexander Palace. In none of my sources had anyone mentioned how close the palace sat to the front gate. I’d assumed it was somewhere in the middle of the park, away from prying eyes. Not so. The tall, main gate with its golden, double headed eagle opens directly onto the palace’s circular driveway. Every day the family could look through its iron grillwork to the town of Tsarskoe Selo just on the other side. It gave me pause. The family was so close to it’s people. They were just on the other side of the gate. The Romanovs could look out their windows and see them. They could hear the voices of their people from the palace balcony. They could smell their cooking. They really weren’t as physically removed as sources had led me to believe. So why, I wondered, didn’t the Romanovs feel more attachment to their subjects? I mean, they were right there. The question led me down entirely new paths of thought. And it eventually led to the book’s inclusion of first hand worker and peasant accounts under the title, “Beyond the Palace Gates.”
GIVEAWAY
Random House has kindly agreed to send a free copy of THE FAMILY ROMANOV to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below.
Friday Linky List - November 28, 2014
The Top 10 Words Invented by Writers from The Guardian via PW
From Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Query Question: Now that I have an agent, what mistakes can I avoid? Good!
At The Abundant Artist: 5 Art Pricing Lessons I Learned the Hard Way (EVERY artist/illustrator should read this!!!!)
For those doing NaNoWriMo, a great reminder on plotting from the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Click the image to go listen to their trick of using "but" and "therefore."
This is a lovely poem at poets.org: Gate A-4
From Kirkus: Best Children's Books of 2014 (Great list, although I think they're missing on of course.)
At BoingBoing: Richard Scarry's Busy Town in the 21st Century - OMG!
From Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Query Question: Now that I have an agent, what mistakes can I avoid? Good!
At The Abundant Artist: 5 Art Pricing Lessons I Learned the Hard Way (EVERY artist/illustrator should read this!!!!)
For those doing NaNoWriMo, a great reminder on plotting from the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Click the image to go listen to their trick of using "but" and "therefore."
This is a lovely poem at poets.org: Gate A-4
From Kirkus: Best Children's Books of 2014 (Great list, although I think they're missing on of course.)
At BoingBoing: Richard Scarry's Busy Town in the 21st Century - OMG!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you have a lovely day full of gratitude and good food. But if the kiddies get antsy - remember I have Thanksgiving-themed coloring pages. CLICK HERE or the image to download them for free!
Molly Idle's FLORA AND THE PENGUIN - interview and giveaway!
I've been a Molly Idle fan since I saw her first pieces through my Picture Book Artists Association message board. It took the rest of the world a short time to find her too, and award her a Caldecott Honor for FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO - which I interviewed her for HERE. Well, Molly and Flora are back, and this time it's winter with FLORA AND THE PENGUIN!
Q. So I heard a story that the idea for this story was almost serendipitous - it began with a light conversation between you and your editor?
A. I would say it was entirely serendipitous! We were talking about how I was drawing the reflections in the water in Flora and the Flamingo, and Amy, my art director, said they reminded her of a reflected sheen on a sheet of ice. And I said something like, "Oh, if it were ice she'd be dancing with a penguin... " And then there was this prolonged pause... And then we both started talking at once: "The penguin would come up through a hole in the ice!" "The book could be all blue!" "They'd be ice skating!" Then we calmed down a bit and Amy said, "But first, let's finish THIS book."
Q. This is such a different color palette. How did working with an entirely different set of colored pencils affect your general mood?
A. The colors of a book don't affect my mood nearly as much as the characters' expressions do. My mood tends to shift along with theirs. If Flora is smiling, I'm smiling while I draw her... If the penguin is completely grumpy, so am I. Brow furrowed, mouth turned down... Yesterday afternoon I was drawing yawning bunnies- I could barely keep my eyes open!
Q. Was it difficult to work with such a cool color palette after the warm one in FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO?
A. Only at first. At first I would look at a finished piece and think, ridiculously, "It's not pink." I mean, of course it wasn't pink! But it took a while for me to warm up to the new palette [e: Ha! Warm up - no pun intended!] and feel like the pieces looked right in their cool blue hues.
Q. Flora seems to get in a bit of a bad mood in this book. Where did that come from?
A. Well, don’t we all from time to time? And I thought if was important for Flora to be a really real little person. I mean, it would have been easy peasy to write a story where she's this idyllic child who's always cheery and never cross... But have you ever met anyone who is actually like that? I haven't. Even the best people loose it from time to time. We make poor choices. Do unkind things... We're human. But then, if given the chance, a good person will do their best to make right their wrongs. I think that’s the best part of our humanity.
Q. Obviously she gets over it and makes a lovely new friend. Was it difficult to work out this story?
A. Yep. Though we had all these wonderful ideas that set the making of the book in motion, working out the source of Flora and the Penguin's conflict and resolution took me a while...
Q. It’s such a perfect winter book. How are you going to celebrate it?
A. With the perfect winter treat- hot chocolate and marshmallows! Although, if you're a penguin, you'll probably prefer celebrating it with mackerel..
Q. I hope FLORA AND THE PENGUIN does as well or better than FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO - not a bad goal considering the Caldecott honor. What was it like to get the call?A. Oh wow... That was an awesome thing. Actually made me a bit weak in the knees... I remember holding onto the kitchen counter after I hung up the phone. Positively faint with happiness!
CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN! Check out this adorable book trailer for FLORA AND THE PENGUIN:
.
GIVEAWAY!
Candlewick has generously offered to send one free copy of FLORA AND THE PENGUIN to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US or Canada to win - enter below.
Getting Rid of Stuff
With our impending move to Scotland, we're going through everything we own and starting to get rid of things. Downsizing in a big way. It's turning out to be a much bigger deal than I ever could have imagined, so I thought I'd document it.
Stuff. Who knew I had so much of it? Collections from a lifetime. Some which I inherited from others, some from our own fancies and general journey through life. It's all got to go. Stan and I are streamlining, making ourselves more mobile. But some of these things are difficult to part with. So, we have a new hobby...
Each weekend we choose another drawer, closet, nook or cranny to filter through and disseminate. Options: Trash, Consignment, eBay, Craigslist, future garage sale, donation. I'm already on a first name basis with the manager of my local consignment shop. Why? This past week was Christmas decorations. We have some lovely things - truly. But they don't ship well, and they take up a lot of storage space. So the big question has become, "Would you rather have this stuff, or take a weekend trip to (insert country name here)?" Guess what wins.
Sometimes I can take a picture to remember the items that hurt to part with. Sometimes I can keep one small thing out of three if its symbolic of a set. The point being, I don't have to keep all of it for it to make me happy.
Last night's project was a box of photographs. I went through three boxes and got them down to one. It wasn't as hard as I thought. There were a lot of duplicates, candids, photos of people I don't remember. Outta there! And I'm doing it in stages. I still have too many photos, but that was round one. Get rid of the obvious ones that don't need to stick around. Round two will be harder, I'm guessing. But that's where scanning will come in. My online photo albums will become much more thorough.
I like the advice given at Houzz: 10 Steps for Saying Goodbye to Sentimental Objects. It says to never keep something that dredges up bad memories. I like that.
And the big advice I use for all of this is a joke by Stephen Wright... He said something along the lines of "I have a very vast seashell collection. Perhaps you've seen it. I keep it scattered across the beaches around the world." The point being, I don't have to own something to make it special. Sometimes it's good enough that the thing just simply exists in the world.
Stuff. Who knew I had so much of it? Collections from a lifetime. Some which I inherited from others, some from our own fancies and general journey through life. It's all got to go. Stan and I are streamlining, making ourselves more mobile. But some of these things are difficult to part with. So, we have a new hobby...
Each weekend we choose another drawer, closet, nook or cranny to filter through and disseminate. Options: Trash, Consignment, eBay, Craigslist, future garage sale, donation. I'm already on a first name basis with the manager of my local consignment shop. Why? This past week was Christmas decorations. We have some lovely things - truly. But they don't ship well, and they take up a lot of storage space. So the big question has become, "Would you rather have this stuff, or take a weekend trip to (insert country name here)?" Guess what wins.
Sometimes I can take a picture to remember the items that hurt to part with. Sometimes I can keep one small thing out of three if its symbolic of a set. The point being, I don't have to keep all of it for it to make me happy.
Last night's project was a box of photographs. I went through three boxes and got them down to one. It wasn't as hard as I thought. There were a lot of duplicates, candids, photos of people I don't remember. Outta there! And I'm doing it in stages. I still have too many photos, but that was round one. Get rid of the obvious ones that don't need to stick around. Round two will be harder, I'm guessing. But that's where scanning will come in. My online photo albums will become much more thorough.
I like the advice given at Houzz: 10 Steps for Saying Goodbye to Sentimental Objects. It says to never keep something that dredges up bad memories. I like that.
And the big advice I use for all of this is a joke by Stephen Wright... He said something along the lines of "I have a very vast seashell collection. Perhaps you've seen it. I keep it scattered across the beaches around the world." The point being, I don't have to own something to make it special. Sometimes it's good enough that the thing just simply exists in the world.
Coloring Page Tuesday - Owl Cook!
CLICK HERE for more Thanksgiving coloring pages! And be sure to share your creations in my gallery so I can put them in my upcoming newsletters! (Cards, kids art, and crafts are welcome!)
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! Makes a GREAT teacher gift! Click the cover to learn more!
Don't live in Georgia? Check with your local bookseller - Sterling has a version for each state.
Learn to Create Children's Picture Books!
There are still a few openings left in what will be my last "Creating Children's Picture Books" class at the John C. Campbell Folk School for a while (since we're moving to Scotland!). CLICK HERE to read about this special long-weekend class, which runs December 3rd-6th, and which they only do once a year.
Here's where you can learn about the class at the John C. website: CLICK HERE. And you can read about past classes by clicking on the year: 2012, 2011, 2009, and 2008. It's a 4-day long intense class on a gorgeous campus in the North Carolina mountains with fantastic family-style meal times. Camp for adults!
Ursula K. LeGuin at the National Book Awards
Ms. LeGuin wowed the audience at the recent National Book Awards - it's worth your time to watch (click the image to go watch at NPR):
CLICK HERE to see PW photos of the night's banquet, including authors with their editors.
CLICK HERE to see PW photos of the night's banquet, including authors with their editors.
Lynn Cullen's MRS. POE - Guest Post and Giveaway
I have a surprise for you today - an adult book, MRS. POE by my dear friend Lynn Cullen. Lynn has also written books for the younger set, like I AM REMBRANDT'S DAUGHTER and MOI AND MARIE ANTOINETTE. So, I'm thrilled to have Lynn on today to help promote her latest book, although it's been selling gang-busters. Lynn shares a touching story with us about reading to her children. Take it away Lynn!
I’m all about books. I read them every spare moment I have, which these days is generally only when I’m not writing them. I got my affliction from my dad, who so loved reading that he always kept a Reader’s Digest in the glove-box of the car, on the toilet, and in his coat-pocket, so he would never be caught without a story to peruse. My favorite activity as a kid was to ride my bike a couple miles to the library and load a paper grocery sack—the big size—with fictionalized biographies of Abe Lincoln, Helen Keller, and Daniel Boone, as well as every last book in the Little House on the Prairie series. I’m one of those people who cannot sleep without a nightcap of turning the pages of a novel before bed. Whenever I pass a bookstore, be it in an airport, shopping center, or strip mall, I look longingly at all the lovely spines and wonder what I’m missing. I’ll willingly sacrifice gazing at the scenery for reading while riding in a car.
But as addicted as I am to consuming the written word, for a few short years there was time when reading was not quite a complete and utter pleasure. There was a time when I dreaded it almost as much as changing a tire: the years when my kids were small.
Granted, this brief anathema to reading came only at their bedtime. And it increased with the ratio of kids to mom, especially after throwing the birth of three kids in four years into the equation. But after doling out three home-cooked meals a day, plodding along under the weight of kids and their bags of gear to the park, a museum, or the library, and then scrubbing three wiggling, chattering monkeys and pinning them down to brush their teeth, I was the one who was cooked.
A photo of Lynn in one of her fave writing spots and with her dog, Rosie.
Yet I never considered the possibility of NOT reading to them. It was almost as if I thought their vulnerable brains might melt without a dose of nutritious reading each day. I knew how important infusing their minds with story construction and ideas and laughter had to be for them. What I didn’t know was how good reading to them would be for me.
Now that my girls are grown, when I look back over their childhoods, what comes back to me most vividly is reading with them each night. I can still smell their damp hair, soap-scented skin, and young breath as they lie in the crook of my arm. I can still feel the delicate wings of their shoulders and the rise and fall of their narrow chests. I can hear their baby voices and the funny construction of phrases unique to each as we talked about the stories. More than the trips, the meals, the baths or anything else, I remember the bond with and the awe for each of these wondrous souls as we turned the pages together.
Now when I read to my grandchildren, I notice my daughters hovering nearby, relieved to give up their duty for a switch but also not quite comfortable with resigning from their usual place behind the book. I understand. These precious moments are finite in their number. But little do my children know that even as I am delighting in their babies, I am savoring, oh, I am savoring, the sweet memory of cradling them.
Lynn Cullen's newest novel, Mrs. Poe, examines the fall of Edgar Allan Poe through the eyes of his lover, poet Francis Osgood. A National Bestseller, Mrs. Poe has been named a Target Book Club Pick, a NPR 2013 Great Read, an Oprah.com "Books That Make Time Stand Still," an Editor's Pick at The Historical Novels Review, an Atlanta Magazine Best Books 2013, and an Indie Next Pick. Lynn is also the author of The Creation of Eve, named among the best fiction books of 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and as an April 2010 Indie Next selection. She has written numerous award-winning books for children, including the young adult novel I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, which was a 2007 Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and an ALA Best Book of 2008. Her novel, Reign of Madness, about Juana the Mad, daughter of the Spanish Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, was chosen as a 2011 Best of the South selection by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and was a 2012 Townsend Prize finalist" and was just chosen as a "Book That All Georgians Should Read" by the Georgia Center for the Book. Her newest picture book for children, "Dear Mr. Washington" will be released by Dial/Penguin Books for Young Readers in early 2015 and is a Library Guild Selection. She is currently working on a novel about the women in the life of Mark Twain."
GIVEAWAY!
Simon and Schuster has generously offered to send a free copy of MRS. POE to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below:
I’m all about books. I read them every spare moment I have, which these days is generally only when I’m not writing them. I got my affliction from my dad, who so loved reading that he always kept a Reader’s Digest in the glove-box of the car, on the toilet, and in his coat-pocket, so he would never be caught without a story to peruse. My favorite activity as a kid was to ride my bike a couple miles to the library and load a paper grocery sack—the big size—with fictionalized biographies of Abe Lincoln, Helen Keller, and Daniel Boone, as well as every last book in the Little House on the Prairie series. I’m one of those people who cannot sleep without a nightcap of turning the pages of a novel before bed. Whenever I pass a bookstore, be it in an airport, shopping center, or strip mall, I look longingly at all the lovely spines and wonder what I’m missing. I’ll willingly sacrifice gazing at the scenery for reading while riding in a car.
But as addicted as I am to consuming the written word, for a few short years there was time when reading was not quite a complete and utter pleasure. There was a time when I dreaded it almost as much as changing a tire: the years when my kids were small.
Granted, this brief anathema to reading came only at their bedtime. And it increased with the ratio of kids to mom, especially after throwing the birth of three kids in four years into the equation. But after doling out three home-cooked meals a day, plodding along under the weight of kids and their bags of gear to the park, a museum, or the library, and then scrubbing three wiggling, chattering monkeys and pinning them down to brush their teeth, I was the one who was cooked.
A photo of Lynn in one of her fave writing spots and with her dog, Rosie.
Yet I never considered the possibility of NOT reading to them. It was almost as if I thought their vulnerable brains might melt without a dose of nutritious reading each day. I knew how important infusing their minds with story construction and ideas and laughter had to be for them. What I didn’t know was how good reading to them would be for me.
Now that my girls are grown, when I look back over their childhoods, what comes back to me most vividly is reading with them each night. I can still smell their damp hair, soap-scented skin, and young breath as they lie in the crook of my arm. I can still feel the delicate wings of their shoulders and the rise and fall of their narrow chests. I can hear their baby voices and the funny construction of phrases unique to each as we talked about the stories. More than the trips, the meals, the baths or anything else, I remember the bond with and the awe for each of these wondrous souls as we turned the pages together.
Now when I read to my grandchildren, I notice my daughters hovering nearby, relieved to give up their duty for a switch but also not quite comfortable with resigning from their usual place behind the book. I understand. These precious moments are finite in their number. But little do my children know that even as I am delighting in their babies, I am savoring, oh, I am savoring, the sweet memory of cradling them.
Lynn Cullen's newest novel, Mrs. Poe, examines the fall of Edgar Allan Poe through the eyes of his lover, poet Francis Osgood. A National Bestseller, Mrs. Poe has been named a Target Book Club Pick, a NPR 2013 Great Read, an Oprah.com "Books That Make Time Stand Still," an Editor's Pick at The Historical Novels Review, an Atlanta Magazine Best Books 2013, and an Indie Next Pick. Lynn is also the author of The Creation of Eve, named among the best fiction books of 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and as an April 2010 Indie Next selection. She has written numerous award-winning books for children, including the young adult novel I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, which was a 2007 Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and an ALA Best Book of 2008. Her novel, Reign of Madness, about Juana the Mad, daughter of the Spanish Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, was chosen as a 2011 Best of the South selection by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and was a 2012 Townsend Prize finalist" and was just chosen as a "Book That All Georgians Should Read" by the Georgia Center for the Book. Her newest picture book for children, "Dear Mr. Washington" will be released by Dial/Penguin Books for Young Readers in early 2015 and is a Library Guild Selection. She is currently working on a novel about the women in the life of Mark Twain."
GIVEAWAY!
Simon and Schuster has generously offered to send a free copy of MRS. POE to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below:
Friday Linky List - November 21, 2014
Ferguson 'Hands' Together: Artist Aims to Unite Community at NBC. How's THIS for an argument to fund the arts? Art isn't just to make our world more pretty - it can be a movement for peace. YES!
From Emma Dryden's Our Stories, Ourselves: The Entrepreneurial Spirit: "Dare Greatly!" The Road from Reformed Lawyer, Investment Banker, and Mother of Three to Author and Publisher - the story of MY publisher at LITTLE PICKLE PRESS. (After you read, you'll understand why I chose to go with LITTLE PICKLE PRESS!
From Bustle: In Case You Forgot, William Steig is One Of Your Absolute Favorite Picture Book Authors From Childhood
From Pub(lishing) Crawl: A Reminder to Actually Write by Susan Dennard
Also from Pub(lishing) Crawl: Expectations vs. Reality by Jodi Meadows
At Emu's Debuts: So, how's the book doing? by Laurie Ann Thompson - fellow EMLA peep!
From BuzzFeed Books: 19 Unbelievably Laughable Book Fails - HA!
At the NY Times: On Elite Campuses, an Arts Race - and yet with no focus on the arts in the lower grades. Hm.
From PW: AAP, Authors Guild Discuss Author-Editor Process - interesting
Neil Gaiman via Shelf Awareness: 'Closing Libraries is Endangering the Future' (!!!)
At Nerdy Book Club: It's Okay to Write Terrible Stories by Julie Falatko - every beginning writer should read this!
From Forbes: 27 Pre-Written Templates For Your Toughest Work Emails - Hmmm! (Until they start showing up everywhere.)
From Emma Dryden's Our Stories, Ourselves: The Entrepreneurial Spirit: "Dare Greatly!" The Road from Reformed Lawyer, Investment Banker, and Mother of Three to Author and Publisher - the story of MY publisher at LITTLE PICKLE PRESS. (After you read, you'll understand why I chose to go with LITTLE PICKLE PRESS!
From Bustle: In Case You Forgot, William Steig is One Of Your Absolute Favorite Picture Book Authors From Childhood
From Pub(lishing) Crawl: A Reminder to Actually Write by Susan Dennard
Also from Pub(lishing) Crawl: Expectations vs. Reality by Jodi Meadows
At Emu's Debuts: So, how's the book doing? by Laurie Ann Thompson - fellow EMLA peep!
From BuzzFeed Books: 19 Unbelievably Laughable Book Fails - HA!
At the NY Times: On Elite Campuses, an Arts Race - and yet with no focus on the arts in the lower grades. Hm.
From PW: AAP, Authors Guild Discuss Author-Editor Process - interesting
Neil Gaiman via Shelf Awareness: 'Closing Libraries is Endangering the Future' (!!!)
At Nerdy Book Club: It's Okay to Write Terrible Stories by Julie Falatko - every beginning writer should read this!
From Forbes: 27 Pre-Written Templates For Your Toughest Work Emails - Hmmm! (Until they start showing up everywhere.)
John Rocco's BLIZZARD - Interview and Giveaway!
John Rocco has a new book out called BLIZZARD - a mostly light book because of all the snow. It’s a wonderful follow-up to his Caldecott honor-winning, mostly dark book, BLACKOUT, which I also adored and talked to John about HERE. In BLIZZARD, John relays a story from his own childhood when forty inches of snow buried Rhode Island back in 1978. I can so relate to this story because of my own similar experience… an ice-storm in Georgia in the 70s that left me and my family sleeping by the fireplace where we cooked our food, boiled our water, and kept warm for days before things got back to normal. So, I’m thrilled to have John back to talk about his latest picture book...
Q. Hi John, You’ve done it again! You’ve taken a quiet little moment of life and made it big and beautiful - congratulations!
A. Thanks so much Elizabeth! I think the quiet moments are the most interesting.
Q. Truly, you’re creating a niche of pulling those odd little moments from life, a blackout, a snowstorm, and turning them into something magical. How do these stories develop for you?
A. Well, with Blackout, the story was developed through interviewing many people in Brooklyn and New York City about their individual experiences during the blackout of 2003. What was interesting to me were how many of them had similar experiences, and that became the thrust of the book. Blizzard on the other hand had developed from my daughter continually asking for stories about my childhood. This was one of them. This book is almost a diary of that week when I was little. When I told my father about the new book I was working on, he shipped me all the newspapers from that week in 1978. He had actually saved them!
Q. I love the contrast of the dark book versus the light book. Was that intentional?
A. Well, I guess I could have called it WHITEOUT, but I like the fact that they both begin with B. But yes, almost everything is intentional in my books. The things that aren't are usually the best. You know, those happy accidents? I do think they make a nice pairing for story time though. In Blackout, the main character goes through an emotional arc, from being bored, to scared, to curious, to surprised and happy. I tried to use color, and the lack thereof, to help amplify his emotions. With Blizzard I was dealing with an event that most adults at the time did not find fun at all. In fact, it was a pretty big ordeal. But us kids thought it was fantastic and magical and…and…THERE WAS NO SCHOOL FOR A WEEK!
Q. I’m sure the lighting in BLACKOUT was a challenge. Were there any particular lighting challenges in BLIZZARD?
A. The biggest challenge for me with Blizzard was to figure out where and when to let the white of the paper feel like the snow, and where to use watercolor washes to indicate some atmosphere. I think finding that balance was the most difficult.
Q. Was it truly you who made the trek through the neighborhood on snow shoes fashioned out of tennis rackets to get to the store and purchase emergency supplies?
A. Yes, it was. In fact I remember that my sisters racket was a white Christ Evert model, and mine was a light blue Bjorn Borg model. Recently, at a book signing in my old home town, the woman who owned that store with her husband came by and said hello. It was surreal. I screamed out, "I JUST PAINTED OF PICTURE OF YOU!" The one big change I had made was that when the snowplows finally came it wasn't hot chocolate everyone was drinking in the street, it was whiskey. My father had told me that when the snowplows finally started up our road, our next door neighbor ran out and planted a bottle of whiskey in the snow. They stopped the plow and everyone came out for a toast.
Q. What was your fondest memory from that time?
A. I think building all the snow forts and tunnels in our front yard. My sister and I were like gophers, digging through that snow.
Q. Did working on this book bring up old memories for you? How was it to work with that?
A. It's interesting you ask that. My parents separated when I was about 18. My sister and father both moved to California shortly after that. So now, almost thirty years later, I re-created the world where we were all together again. Drawing all the details of our living room; the wood stove, the conch shell on the mantle, the Andrew Wyeth print on the wall, my mom's rocker, my dad's chair…it's all there. It was strange and fun and a little emotional for me.
Q. I know you’ve shared before, but for my readers who don’t know, can you share your illustration method?
A. First I create a tonal drawing, and then I scan it into the computer and color using a combination of digital paint and water color washes and textures that I bring in as well.
Q. We’re heading into the snowy season. Any words of wisdom to those who might have a similar experience?
A. Most importantly, I would say, stay safe and enjoy the time you get to spend with your family.
Q. Thanks and I wish you much continued success, John!
A. Thanks Elizabeth!!
Here I am with John (far right) at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville this past October:
Check out this great book trailer for BLIZZARD! (The link will take you to Vimeo.)
FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR!
Thursday, November 6 Mundie Kids
Friday, November 7 Kid Lit Frenzy
Monday, November 10 The Children’s Book Review
Tuesday, November 11 The Kids Did It
Wednesday, November 12 OC Mom Media
Thursday, November 13 As They Grow Up
Friday, November 14 Curling Up With a Good Book
Monday, November 17 Ben Spark
Tuesday, November 18 Mr. Schu Reads
Thursday, November 20 Elizabeth Dulemba
GIVEAWAY!
Disney has kindly agreed to give a free copy of BLIZZARD to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US/Canada to win - enter below.
Picture Book Month!
Librarian Yvonne has been changing out her library display every day to go along with Picture Book Month. See my calendar hanging above? She's put it to work for her patrons!
Picture Book Month has just passed the halfway mark. Around the world, schools, libraries, booksellers, and book lovers are coming together to celebrate the print picture book during the month of November. Now in its fourth year, the initiative is a viral phenomenon. How are you celebrating Picture Book Month?
#PictureBookMonth
@PictureBkMonth
Facebook: Picture Book Month
Website: http://www.picturebookmonth.com
More from the press release:
New features this year include “Curriculum Connections” by Education Consultant, Marcie Colleen. Every day, a new activity and curriculum connection is posted based on the Author/Illustrator’s book. In addition, the multi-page Picture Book Month Educator’s Guide, correlating picture books across the curriculum, is available as a free download for educators and teacher librarians.
We are pleased to also announce that Reading Rainbow has recently joined as a Picture Book Month partner. Support for the initiative continues with partners such as the American Booksellers Association, the American Association of School Librarians, the Children’s Book Council, Reading is Fundamental, and SCBWI as well as industry trade journals such as Hornbook, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. New 2014 partners also include Live In a Story, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, and Friends of Tennessee Libraries.
A downloadable promotional kit is available as well as certificates, posters, and bookmarks created by Joyce Wan. Katie Davis’ Brain Burps About Books Podcast, the #1 kidlit podcast on iTunes, is dedicating the entire month of November to Picture Book Month with new episodes airing every Friday. The PBM calendar created by Elizabeth Dulemba lists all the Picture Book Month Champions as well as the daily theme. The daily themes are used to plan story times, book displays, and blog posts.
University of Edinburgh here I come!
BIG NEWS! I have been accepted into the MFA in Illustration program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland!!!! Class begins September 14, 2015, so between now and then our lives will be radically changing. We plan to get rid of most of what we own (be looking for eBay and Craigslist links soon), sell our house, and start shaping a new life in SCOTLAND!!!
I'll still return to Roanoke, Virginia (US) each summer to teach Picture Book Design at Hollins University in the MFA in Writing and Illustrating Children's Books and Certificate in Children's Book Illustration programs - so I'll be in the US for 6 weeks each summer. But otherwise, it will take two years minimum to achieve my MFA in person in SCOTLAND!!!!!
This is the achievement of two lifetime goals: to live in Europe and get my MFA before I turn 50. As it stands, I will graduate nearly on my birthday exactly! I'm doing it!!!
I'll keep you updated as things come together. OMG!!!!
CLICK HERE and HERE to see some stunning photos of where we're heading!
Coloring Page Tuesday - Quail!
CLICK HERE for more coloring pages!! And be sure to share your creations in my gallery so I can put them in my upcoming newsletters! (Cards, kids art, and crafts are welcome!)
Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and... Please check out my books! Especially...
my debut novel, A BIRD ON WATER STREET, coming out next week! Click the cover to learn more!
When the birds return to Water Street, will anyone be left to hear them sing? A miner's strike allows green and growing things to return to the Red Hills, but that same strike may force residents to seek new homes and livelihoods elsewhere. Follow the story of Jack Hicks as he struggles to hold onto everything he loves most.
AWARDS
**A SIBA OKRA Pick!**
**A GOLD Mom's Choice Award Winner!**
**The 2014 National Book Festival Featured Title for Georgia!**
**eLit 2014 Gold Medal Winner in the Environmental/Ecology/Nature Category**
My Art in the Reading Rainbow Calendar!
I'm proud to announce that my artwork was selected to grace the new calendar for Reading Rainbow as part of their Kickstarter campaign to bring Reading Rainbow back into the schools that need it most! What an honor! If you participated in the campaign, you should be able to read more about it here. (Cick the image to see it larger in a new window.)
KidLitTV!
Wednesday evening was the launch for KidLitTV! It's about time we had our own network, don't you think? Katie Davis hosted the launch party on YouTube and there are plenty of videos to dive into including interviews from the red carpet at the Eric Carle Honors. There's already tons of fun content with more to come. Subscribe to the newsletter so that you don't miss a thing!
Read more about KidLitTV and it's host, Rocco Staino at School Library Journal where you can also access the first episode of "StoryMakers" with Roxie Munroe.
Eugene Yelchin's ARCADY'S GOAL - Guest Post and Giveaway!
I'm thrilled to have a new friend on today, Eugene Yelchin, author/illustrator of the Newbery Honor winning BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE. He has a new book out called ARCADY'S GOAL and he dropped by to talk about it...
Given the fact that I was born and raised in the former Soviet Union, and the even more unfortunate fact that I had to survive in that country until I finally left at 27 years old, it comes at no surprise that my books are a meditation on the unalienable rights — Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The pursuit of Happiness takes many forms in America. A current form that’s getting a lot of attention is soccer. Soccer is something I know about. My father was a fairly well known soccer player and captain of the Red Army Soccer Club. For years he trained me to become a soccer player until he realized that I would rather draw pictures on my soccer ball than kick it.
In ARCADY'S GOAL, a Russian boy dreams of becoming a soccer champion. “The trouble with soccer,” says Arcady, “is you can’t play it alone. Soccer is a team sport.” Being a member of a team is a problem for Arcady, who has never been permitted to be a member of anything. As a child of the enemies of the state in the pre-World War II Russia, he is excluded not only from being on a soccer team but from what most of us take for granted—being a member of a family. Family, the most essential fabric of humanity, is torn apart by the Soviet state and remade into a highly politicized entity. As a result, for Arcady and the man who adopts him, creating a family of their own let alone a children’s soccer team is extremely dangerous.
In this lies the paradox of telling young American readers stories about freedom. To them being a member of a family or a member of a sports team are basic unalienable rights. My hope is that in looking through the eyes of Arcady, they might view those rights in a slightly different light. They might become more attentive to what they inherited. They might consider that preserving those rights requires personal courage. They might not take the pursuit of Happiness so lightly. That in fact, as Arcady shows, Happiness is sometimes only achieved at great risk of both life and Liberty.
LISTEN TO AN AUDIO SAMPLE OF ARCADY'S GOAL - Click the image to listen on YouTube:
Here is Eugene with his boys:
And here are shots of Eugene's studio (click the image to see it larger in a new window):
LISTEN to a great interview with Eugene at LET'S GET BUSY PODCAST!
GIVEAWAY!
Macmillan has kindly agreed to give away a free copy of ARCADY'S GOAL to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below:
Given the fact that I was born and raised in the former Soviet Union, and the even more unfortunate fact that I had to survive in that country until I finally left at 27 years old, it comes at no surprise that my books are a meditation on the unalienable rights — Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The pursuit of Happiness takes many forms in America. A current form that’s getting a lot of attention is soccer. Soccer is something I know about. My father was a fairly well known soccer player and captain of the Red Army Soccer Club. For years he trained me to become a soccer player until he realized that I would rather draw pictures on my soccer ball than kick it.
In ARCADY'S GOAL, a Russian boy dreams of becoming a soccer champion. “The trouble with soccer,” says Arcady, “is you can’t play it alone. Soccer is a team sport.” Being a member of a team is a problem for Arcady, who has never been permitted to be a member of anything. As a child of the enemies of the state in the pre-World War II Russia, he is excluded not only from being on a soccer team but from what most of us take for granted—being a member of a family. Family, the most essential fabric of humanity, is torn apart by the Soviet state and remade into a highly politicized entity. As a result, for Arcady and the man who adopts him, creating a family of their own let alone a children’s soccer team is extremely dangerous.
In this lies the paradox of telling young American readers stories about freedom. To them being a member of a family or a member of a sports team are basic unalienable rights. My hope is that in looking through the eyes of Arcady, they might view those rights in a slightly different light. They might become more attentive to what they inherited. They might consider that preserving those rights requires personal courage. They might not take the pursuit of Happiness so lightly. That in fact, as Arcady shows, Happiness is sometimes only achieved at great risk of both life and Liberty.
LISTEN TO AN AUDIO SAMPLE OF ARCADY'S GOAL - Click the image to listen on YouTube:
Here is Eugene with his boys:
And here are shots of Eugene's studio (click the image to see it larger in a new window):
LISTEN to a great interview with Eugene at LET'S GET BUSY PODCAST!
GIVEAWAY!
Macmillan has kindly agreed to give away a free copy of ARCADY'S GOAL to one of my lucky followers. Must live in the US to win - enter below: