The Lost Crown of Apollo

Climb aboard for the boating adventure of a lifetime!

A bad luck magnet on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Elias Tantalos gets stranded on a ruined Greek island with his kid sister and a sneaky old archaeologist. A (former) soccer star, Elias faces a tough decision when he finds he must give up the golden leaves of Apollo—a crown that promises lucky victories to its owner—as bait. Will it work to save his sister from a band of thieves robbing Greece of its ancient treasures? Or will the Crown of Apollo be lost to the world for another two thousand years?

The Lost Crown of Apollo by Suzanne Cordatos is set in the magical Greek islands and will be sailing your way next March through Sunpenny Publishing of the United Kingdom. Check them out! www.sunpenny.com

www.thelostcrownofapollo.wordpress.com

Little Free Library

That's a GREAT idea . . .

Little Free Library Movement

http://littlefreelibrary.org/

I stumbled across the Little Free Library Movement when searching online for a simple yet clever (world-changing) idea for my daughter's new club at Bacon Academy, her high school in Colchester, Connecticut. Erica joined a volunteer club this year which helps with local projects and wanted to make a bigger impact. With a friend she initiated a new club called International Causes. Their group aims to raise funds and participate in projects that will help various causes around the world. I am very proud of the hard work Erica is doing!

Started by someone in South Korea, the Little Free Library offers access to books for children and adults living in inner cities, towns, rural and remote locations around the world. The Little Free Library website offers pdf guides to download plans to build an official small take-one/leave-one library of your own. All that is needed is some recycled material, download info to make it "official" with a library steward, and you can register your Little Free Library's Google map online. Give it your own special, creative twist! Little Free Library also accepts donations toward building a library for a place in need in Africa. Check out Little Free Library's map of locations to see if one is near (or needed) near you!

Have you ever come across a Little Free Library? 

Thankful for . . . Writer Rejection

Now that we have come off our pie high by now (or shopper’s high, whichever is the closest to your Thanksgiving ritual)—and before we finish decorating for the holidays—let’s take a minute to reflect on our Thanksgiving thank-you list. Good health, check. Family and friends, check. No hurricane Irene or Sandy pounding the northeast in 2013? Check. 

Thankful TV commercials 

for Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over? 

Check.

I’ve got one more item to tick, but if you are the type of writer whose first drafts are snatched up by publishing houses you are excused from reading what comes next: I am thankful for writing rejections.

Writing is both a talent and a craft. Generally speaking, when one finds something easier to perform than others do without trying too terribly hard that thing becomes known as their talent. Singing, playing a sport, painting like Monet . . . skills can be developed, but some individuals have the basic knack from the get-go. 

On the other hand, activities such as following a recipe, folding origami, and crafting children’s hand- and footprints into angels or Rudolphs can be learned by anybody and done well after practicing with a good teacher. (By the way, if anyone wants tips on the angel or Rudolph, simply drop a comment!)

Truth is I’d be mortified if an editor or literary agent had actually taken me up on the earlier drafts of my work that I prematurely mailed with such eager beaver confidence. Most writers produce better work after several drafts, followed by suggestions from a critique partner or group, and then more editing for good measure until the writer would rather give up coffee than change a comma. Working hard to improve my craft has resulted in books that I will be proud to promote.

This year, I'm very thankful that a wonderful, growing Christian publisher in the UK, Sunpenny Publishing, is willing to take a chance on me. Look for The Lost Crown of Apollo to become a published novel for middle graders sometime within the next two years! Most thankful that Sunpenny is also taking on my twin sister's novel for kids, Bon Voyage, Sophie Topfeather, and our dream of promoting books together has a very good chance of coming true!

Need Characters?

Need Characters?

Attend your Summer Reunion!

If you are a writer holding an invitation to a reunion, what are you waiting for? RSVP YES!

Not only will you reconnect with old friends or family, but your attendance will be rewarded with a surprising roster of characters to add to your writing power!

I recently attended the staff reunion of a wonderful camp I worked for when I was a teenager. Those were the years in which we ran along the brink of life, deciding the biggies: what we wanted to do with our lives, where we would attend college, what values we stood for, who we wanted to love. They were exciting summers of goofy, spontaneous fun and deep conversations. Together, we enjoyed endless days of lakeside fun and evening songs to guitar-playing around bonfires.

A gold mine 

At the reunion it was a personal thrill to see those beloved faces and hear voices that remained familiar even after three decades of absence, but as a writer, it was a gold mine. When you see people daily, or yearly, changes are not so obvious. At a reunion, however, you have a clear picture in your mind how people were “back then” – and your writer’s mind can easily conjure the stories that might have happened "in between" when you see them in the "here and now." There were many surprises; those "most likely to succeed" weren't necessarily the ones who did. 

Personalities did not change; we slid into our old personas and friendships with very little difficulty (aided by the fact most of us didn't bring our kids!) What changed most was everyone's level of self-confidence. We had made those big, tough choices and knew ourselves pretty well, by now, even if lives were still in stages of transition or challenged in different ways. 

As a writer, I was fascinated by everyone's life choices. Most fascinating to me was how the common ground we had shared at camp remained a driving force in our lives. The smallest moments shared back then--even specific jokes--were recalled. It made me realize that every interaction we have with others might have a long-lasting impact that we cannot possibly imagine. 

Brainstorm your cast of characters

The next time I plan the cast of a new novel, I plan to think about where those characters have been, and where they want to go. Even if the story doesn't cover that long range of time, just knowing characters that well will help add details and depth to the book.

 Did you glean any new characters from your reunion trip?

On Butterbeer

Quick. Name something that exists on planet Earth solely because someone—a writer— dreamed it up. 

One yummy example is Harry Potter’s favorite drink, butterbeer. On tap and wildly popular in Florida, a butterbeer can foam your lips courtesy of a JK Rowling-approved recipe. After reading a scene in the books or visiting Hogsmeade in the movies with Harry Potter and friends, who doesn’t crave a butterbeer moustache of their own?

People intuitively know a good thing when they see one—or read about one. Does your book contain any powerful objects? Are you creating symbols? Or simply cool character props? How can you tell the difference?

Harry Potter was an orphan without a friend to his name until he joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His new friends reached for butterbeer whenever there was a social gathering, a weekend day off, a Quidditch win to celebrate, or a need for private conversation. Consider the butterbeer itself. It is a frothy, butterscotch-like drink, warming hands and the hearts of friends. Friendship and love ultimately gives Harry the strength he needs to defeat the villain Voldemort. It is my guess that JK Rowling designed, with great intention and purpose, thick blizzard and stormy weather conditions for student trips to Hogsmeade. By contrast, this spotlighted the warmth and comfort of butterbeer and, by extension, the important theme of friendship. Butterbeer is a powerful prop. No wonder fans make the trek to Orlando to taste it. Who doesn’t want (and need) those comforting qualities?

Consider your story’s objects:

            How necessary is the object to the scene? To the overall story?

            Are your scenes cluttered with objects? Can any be given more significance?

            Does the object represent anything else going on? Does it symbolize a theme?

Finally, is your prop grounded in humanity, no matter how fantastical its name or function? Characters come alive when they need to do things such as eat, drink, love, sleep, clean, communicate, travel and defend rights just like us. Your characters will leap off the written page and resonate with readers!

            

Lifting out of Tragedy

When the faces of tragedy are twenty angelic 6 and 7 year old babies and their six heroic school faculty, such as the world has seen from Sandy Hook Elementary School in my home state of Connecticut, our hearts bleed for them. Nothing can turn back time to help those 20 children in that terrible moment. Our prayers and gifts and wearing their school colors of green and white seem tokens only, insufficient to lessen the heavy load of grief born by all who have heard this news.

As a writer, I am reflecting back only a month or two to a conference in which I heard author Bruce Coville discuss a spiritual lack among today's kids and the responsibility children's authors have to lift them to a mountaintop. His words were, "Our work has the potential to change the world in ways we can't imagine." A ripple effect that comes from an author's character or story or single line in a book impacting a child's life in unimaginable, better ways. To paraphrase Coville's ideas, our work as children's writers is to honor and celebrate children in a way today's world simply has failed to do, a world in which media hound them as consumers and celebrate violence. Like Obama said in his vigil speech to the devastated community of Newtown, Connecticut, this must stop. Writers of literature for children have the opportunity and responsibility to lift our children, to challenge them to higher ideals, and to cause each to feel valued, treasured, and with an assurance that their life has meaning.

Think of a time in your life when you felt alone, or lonely in a crowd, or plain old disagreeable with everyone in sight. How many times did you turn to a book to fill that empty space? A book that made you feel that someone understood what you were going through? A book that took you out of your sad/angry/hard place and put you in a fantasy to escape for a while? A book whose main character became a best friend when you were sorely lacking in one?

A book doesn't solve the problems of the world by any means, but as Bruce Coville so eloquently pointed out at the Rutgers One-on-One plus Conference in October this year, even single lines in one can truly be a life-changer. He mentioned a reader telling him years later that a line or two from a single page out of a science fiction story he read as a young student caused him to seek out the Peace Corps as a career years later. 

We don't know what sparked this terrible tragedy, but I pray that those responsible for developing products for children be aware that they are shaping precious little lives with every detail. God bless those who are suffering from this and all-too-similar tragedies.

How to Choose the Best Writer Conference

Wee Willie Writer runs to a workshop

Uptown and Downtown never does he stop,

Tapping on an editor, crying through her tears,

“Won’t you look at mine, please?

I’ve worked on this for years!”

As my teenage daughter puts it, writing workshops exist for people like me to meet other “crazy obsessed writers.” Okay, I’ll admit I am in the danger zone of listening to the voices in my head and trapping them on paper. But a writing conference is valuable beyond the friendly camaraderie. It can be a key to vaulting your writing from habit to career. I have attended conferences of several different styles; each has benefits and drawbacks.

Questions to consider before signing up:

1.     Do you dream of one-on-one attention from a top editor or agent?

Consider the face-time you actually get. Is it a pricey extra? You might get a thoughtful critique on pre-submitted work—or a quick minute to pitch an idea. Is there mingling time or meals with editors/agents included? Research to avoid disappointment or unnecessary cost.

2.     Want to make friends with new fellow writers? Want to learn from published authors?  

If you crave being around people who “get” you as a writer, tap into the energy of a large networking conference. If you want to learn from experienced folks, consider a small, selective program requiring a writing sample for admission.

3.     Do you have a specific genre or interest group? Do you have specific needs (such as writing better dialogue or how to plot a novel?)

Christian writers, mystery and crime, children’s, romance and historical, to name a few, offer conferences/monthly meetings. Check online for session titles and faculty. Will your specific goals be addressed?

4.     Want alone time to actually write?

If a quiet house is your impossible dream, consider a writing retreat center or vacation destination in the company of other writers. 

5.     How much time can you commit? How far from home can you travel?

One-day workshops, weekend conferences, a week-long immersion or exotic retreat . . . there is a writing conference that fits you and your time/budget constraints.

“The agent will make me a star!”

Ahem. Reality check. Writers do break into publishing from conference connections, but most writers gain valuable constructive criticism. Armed with thick skin and your best work, you will hone your skills. 

Which writing conferences have you enjoyed?