"How to Milk a Dinocow" Book launch!

Do you remember when we sent Critter around the world last year? Critter met all kinds of writers and illustrators and then was auctioned off for St. Jude.


Critter's mega-talented creator, Ian Sands, has his first humorous middle grade book coming out on December 10th.

If you're in the state of NC . . . .“How to Milk a DinoCow” will be released December 10, 2011. The publisher and the Halle Cultural Arts Center, located on Salem Street in downtown Apex, NC will be co-hosting the launch event which is open to the public. The event will take place from 3-5PM. But you can pre-order it here

Don't forget to become a fan on Facebook too!


Go on! Reserve your copy. You know you want to!

You never know who you'll meet. More SCBWI LA

Remember my crazy-canceled/delayed flight from DFW to LAX? ( previous post) Well . . . there's more.

You see, at first, when I got on the original (canceled flight) I was supposed to have a window seat. I ADORE window seats (despite the bathroom dilemma) I like the view and I like having a surface to lay my head and snooze. What can I say? A moving plane is like a rocking cradle to me.

Anyway . . .

I approached my coveted window seat. I saw a man, a woman then and baby. A cute, friggin' baby sucking on a pacifier (in my seat). uggggghhhhh!!!!

"Would you mind switching seats with me?" said the man.

Crap! Now I'll be sitting in the Hell-of-all-middle-seats! "Of course. It's no problem." If only I was the angel in my thoughts like I was the angel of my words.

I would've been a heartless soul to refuse. I couldn't. The angel of words won. The angel of thoughts repeatedly stabbed the back of my eyeballs.

So. I settled in between a nice woman and a young lad several rows back. (in the middle seat)

I blew up my inflatable travel pillow. Adjusted my i-pod. (in the middle seat) Did I mention middle seat?

The nice woman next to me snapped her head in my general direction and said, "Stop it!"

Stop it?

OK. So, I wondered if maybe Critter was up to some of his Critter-tricks. He's a bit ornery, you know.

But then she says (in the most adorable Texas twang) "I'm so sorry, hon. I'm not talkin' to you. My son is traveling with me and he's pokin' me from behind."

awwwwww! She was so adorable! I wanted to pinch her cheeks! But I didn't. I have some self control, don't cha'know.

"That's funny stuff." I replied. Truly relieved that I wasn't sitting next to a stuffity'uppity window-seater, and thankful for the comedy relief. I liked this woman from the very start.

But then, the flight was canceled.

We reboarded 3 (or more) hours later.

I sat next to the nice lady with the Texas Twang once more. But that was OK, because I already liked her.

We giggled at the loud-mouth braggard sitting in the row in front of us. What can I say? We were loopy from the plane delays and flight changes. We must've been easily amused.

I liked her, even though I didn't know her. We talked, but about nothing in particular. Simply pleasant company.

Fast forward to the hotel. . . .

I'm standing in line to check into my room for the SCBWI LA conference and who do I see? It's the nice lady with the twang from the plane.

"Oh!" She said, "If I had known you were coming here, you could've shared a cab with me and my son!"

Nice! Such a nice lady. Wow! We were at the same conference. How amazing. What a small world.


Fast forward once more to the next morning:
. . . I'm sitting in the opening session of the conference. The faculty of SCBWI is introducing themselves on stage.

Who do I see introduce herself as one of the faculty authors? You guessed it!!!! The nice lady with the twang, the one who sat next to me on the plane and whispered "stop it!" in my general direction (although not directed to me)

We spoke several times throughout the conference. Her name is Jill S. Alexander (BTW) She's sweet as pie. I swear, children's literature people are the nicest people on the whole entire earth!

Consequently, I bought her book, The Sweetheart of Prospect County, and I read it in 2 nights. That's a big deal, seeing that I read it during the conference. They keep you going at conferences like this, so it was no easy feat to stay up in order to read a book. However, I read Jill's book. I laughed. I cried. I stayed up way later than I should have. As a matter of fact, I bought a book for myself and I bought an extra to use as a book giveaway, here! On my blog! Might I dub Jill as the Sweetheart of Children's Literature? She deserves it!

Prepare for a book giveaway! Not today, but in the near future.

Not only has Jill agreed to do a future interview, but she will also be a Critter host as well. Stay tuned.

More to come.







Here's a picture of Jill, Critter and her debut novel, The Sweetheart of Prospect county.

I'll blog more about the book, but for now, I have to marvel at our unique meeting. How often does that happen?

I'll tell ya . . . it made the flight delay well-worth it. If you're ever going to get stranded in an airport, Jill is the lady to get stranded with! :0)

The way things work out sometimes . . . it's amazing!

It's a Blogabration!!!!! Let's hear it for The Emerald Tablet by P.J. Hoover

Whooooo Hooooo *\o/* It's a blogabration for P.J. Hoover and the release of her YA novel The Emerald Tablet. It just came out, so I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

You can purchase a copy on Amazon (click here)

Visit P.J. at her blog by clicking here

and watch the book trailer posted below! As if I wasn't interested in the book already, the trailer intrigues me all the more.

Let's here it for P.J. and the Emerald Tablet!!!!

Yay!!!!

Tales from the conference: I wanna know your take on it!

Not only is Alan Gratz a talented author, he also makes a spectacular table-topper! (as pictured above. (sorry Alan. I couldn't resist.)

In Lieu of Alan Gratz's new release, I thought this also might be a good time to bring up Alana's break out session at the SCBWI Carolina's conference this past September. His subject: What makes a book young adult VS. middle grade?

His answer was pretty simple:

1) Age of protagonist: MG is usually 8-12 an YA is 12 and up.

2) subject matter/ The nature of the conflict

After 2 mintues he was ready to dismiss. ;0)

Actually, he did have some great advice on what concerns MG have VS. YA, but here's one thing he brought up. Alyssa Eisner Henkin brought up the same thing. They both said that while we want to be original we should be familiar with what is on the New York Times Best seller list and what is on the shelves at Barnes and Nobles. These places will tell us what is selling. What's hot.

As a preface, I must say I completely agree. But here's the thing. The buzz question around the conferences was "WHY?" if you want to be original why care about what is fad?

I have my own theories, but I want to hear it from you. What good does it do to be up to date in current trends?

Personally, I think it's good to know what publisher are into what topics. Who is publishing what. In addition, I've been shocked at how few original idea's there are. There have been at leat 3 changes I've had to make in my current WIP because I've read a book and somebody already wrote something similar to it!!!!! Can you believe it! They stole my idea before I even wrote it!!!! So I had to change it so I could seem more original. So, being up -to-date not only lets me know what is hot, but also helps me realize that I'm not as clever as I would like to think. :0P

What's your take on it? Why does it help you to be up to date on current MG and YA trends? Inquiring minds want to know!

Tales from the Conference: Writers are really Good Fairies! Good Fairy 101.

Remember in the movie Pinocchio when the Good Fairy floats through the window in her sparkly blue gown with her handy-dandy magic wand in tow? And POOF! She turns Pinocchio into a real boy.

Guess what!? That's us! Writers have a magical power. The power to breathe life into our characters.

My first break-out session at last weeks SCBWI Carolina's conference was with author, Stephanie Green. Her session was titled CPR FOR WRITERS.

I couldn't help but imagine my characters running around as little paper dolls looking up at the first bright light of evening (aka my computer screen) crying out "I want to be a real _______ (girl, boy, bad guy, etc.)" And with my trusty pen I point, aim and POOF! My paper dolls inflate like a balloon, their flesh fill out and voila! The Characters are no longer flat. They have been given life!

So, here's Good Fairy 101. Giving shape and life to your paper dolls:

Stephanie's major point was "motivation with emotion." Motivation is everything and it has to be strong and sincere.

ie: if your character wants to be popular. . . Why does she want to be popular? What is her motivation and the emotion behind the motivation. She has to have a good reason in order to be believable.

Stephanie gave a great writing exercise to help us conjure up emotions from our own childhood so we can use them in our writing. She suggested that we take 20 minutes (or whatever allotted time we choose) and write down memories from our childhood. Dig deep, try to find things forgotten and associate the emotions that go with those memories. Even things that may have seemed insignificant. You might be surprised at the results.

I was surprised to remember Christmas time, my cousin always brought a gift, year after year, with a tag labeled "To: Aunt Cecil"

I never met aunt Cecil. Aunt Cecil never can to our family gathering, yet my cousin always brought a gift. This Aunt Cecil was always a quiet mystery to me. Who was she? Why didn't she come? This wasn't an major part of my life, but it still stirred a great deal of curiosity within me. An air of mystery at Christmas time.

So, if you're ever having writers block, or are just in the mood for a writing exercise, this is a lot of fun!

hmmm. . . I think I need to go shopping for a tiara and a pen that looks like a magic wand. After all, a Good fairy isn't complete w/o such accessories! :0)

I can hear our paper dolls crying out to us now!

Happy Good Fairying!

Tales From the Conference: The Stories behind the Stories. What I learned from Anita Silvey

Saturday morning started off with author, Anita Silvey giving us a little talk about Our Greatest Children's Books and the Stories Behind Them. First I was thinking "OK, how interesting can this be?"

Answer: VERY!

First of all, Anita if funny with a capitol PH! She could talk about how paint dries and she could make it funny or phunny. But this lady did her homework. The content, along with her speaking ability was pure delight. Here's some mini snippets from some of the things that she shared.

**** The following words are not verbatim. These are from my notes. Hopefully I wrote down the info correctly. If it's not, the error is in my note-taking, not in Anita's presentation.

1) Anne of Green Gables started out as a Sunday School story. Big publishers turned her down. When she went to a smaller publisher, they said they would publish the story, but they didn't think the story woudl sell well, so they offered to pay her a $500 flat fee. Luckily for her (and her estate), she turned them down.

2) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahm = His editor HATED the book.

3) The Secret Garden = was considered an insignificant book in its time.

4) The Story of Ferdinand was meant to be a silly book, but because it was released during the war in Spain, it was taken to be political and it was analyzed as such.

5) Curious George was written by a Jewish German living in Paris. He and his wife had to wrap up his manuscripts, and ride their bikes out of the Country with the Nazi's 36 hours behind them all the way. When they arrived at the border, a German Guard stopped them for questioning. He asked what he did for a living. He replied "I'm a children's book writer." The guard asked to see his work, looked over the Curious George Manuscript, smiled and said "my son would love this book. You may pass through." So, Curious George literally saved the lives of his creators from the Nazi's.

6) The PB "The Carrot Seed" started out at over 10,000. No, that is not a typo with too many zero's. It really did start out at over 10,000 words. Now that's cutting down!

7) For Dr. Suess, No one would publish "To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street" They all said his style was too different from the mainstream. He was about to burn his manuscript and give up writing when a chance meeting on the street brought him to the man who would go on to publish his book. He was known to say that if he had been walking on the other side of the street that day, he would have never been published and would have probably given up writing.

8) Gary Paulsen, the author of "Hatchet" didnt' put anything in his fiction that he hadn't tried himself.

9) Lois Lowry was encouraged not to write The Giver. They thought it would ruin her career.

10) Kate DiCamillo (author of "Because of Winn Dixie") was rejected over 4,000 times. Again, this isn't a typo. I'll type it again. 4,000 rejections. WOW! As a writer I don't know if I should be encouraged or discouraged!

I believe these stories (in more detail) along with many more are in Anita's book "100 Best Books for Children"


There was a lot more, but these are the ones that caught my attention the most. Anyone who was there, and would like to share anything else, please add it in the comments!

Now Accepting Requested Book Reviews and Author Interviews

Grand Opening!
I'm now opening up my blog up for requested book reviews and Author Interviews!

I love to celebrate books and even more I like to celebrate and support the authors and illustrators!


If you've written or illustrated books for children or teens, you are welcome to contact me.

My book review philosophy is simple. I like to focus on the positive aspects of a book. I'm not a critic. I love books, I love writing and I prefer to look at the good qualities that make each work unique.

If you are interested in a review of your book, or doing an author interview, you can contact me at Bevers@nc.rr.com.

Christy's Creative Space Reviews
Interview with Tina Ferraro
Author Story Nights at my restaurant

Interview with Author, Tina Ferraro

I have a very special treat today! Tina Ferraro, Author of How to Hook a Hottie and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, has stopped by my blog to answer some questions about writing and books in general. We even get a sneak peek into her book coming out in the Spring '10!!!!

Here's what Tina has to say . . . .

On writing:

So tells us, what was it like when you got 'the call" for your very first book offer. What were you doing at the time? What was it like?
Warning, this is NOT your average story. My youngest son, 11 at the time, had broken his arm in half on the school playground and required emergency surgery. I had been up all night with him in the hospital when my cell phone rang. It was my agent, telling me that she had a formal offer from Krista Marino at Random House for Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress. I was so overwhelmed with exhaustion and emotion that I could barely process the enormity of what was happening. It wasn’t until hours later, when my son was home in his own bed, that it truly hit me: I’d sold a book!

I had the honor of meeting your editor, Krista Marino, this past April. She seems like a fabulous editor. Tell me, what is it like working with Krista?
Fabulous is the right word. She’s smart, intuitive, funny, and always right!

What is your writing routine like?
No two days are the same. Some days I write like a house on fire, some days I don’t write at all. Some days I just edit or research or take notes. But usually I do my best work in the morning and when my kids are at school. In the evenings I’m more distracted and tend to do promo and blog work, and chat with writers and readers on MySpace.

How long did it take to write "How to Hook a Hottie"?
Coming up with the idea and the first couple chapters to submit took me probably three months. I had a serious case of Second Book Syndrome, wanting to follow up with something “the same, but different.” My daughter and I took long walks in the evenings, kicking around ideas, but I always came back to a girl who started a matchmaking business for all the wrong reasons. So I went with it. Once Krista approved the partial, the writing of the rest of the book took four or five months, written in big bursts of inspiration that left me exhausted.

How many revisions did you have to complete before it was ready to go to print?
Only two. Krista thought I did a good job with the storyline and the pacing, much to my relief!

What was your favorite part about writing How to Hook a Hottie?
I had great fun creating the hexagon. I thought it was possible I’d finally lost my mind, kept expecting to look back to it and be horrified. But every time, I still liked it!

What was the most frustrating part about writing How to Hook a Hottie?
Keeping the hook-ups straight. I kept charts, but it didn’t keep even me from getting confused. I ended up including that confusion into Kate’s characterization because if I was confused, it stood to reason she was, too.

What writing advice would you like to give new and aspiring authors?
I decided a long time ago to build on the adage to “write what you know,” to include “writing what you don’t know,” as well. I find that tackling projects outside my comfort zone elevates my enthusiasm and abilities. So I would encourage others to stretch themselves, to attempt writing projects that seem at first out of their reach. Because you never know what you’re capable of until you try.

Can you tell us anything about your current work in progress?
Sure! It’s called WHEN BAD FLINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD GIRLS, will be released in the Spring of ’10. Here is the work-in-progress blurb:

It took 17 years for Brandy Womack to get her life just the way she wanted it--and about 17 seconds for it to fall apart. Her well-intending best friends tell her it's time to stop working so hard and "get a life." By this, they mean a boyfriend, and they give her the summer to find one, or they're going to go hunting the halls themselves. Not realizing that adding a boyfriend to her hectic AP and robotics team schedule, she'd have zero time for them.

Away at her uncle's cabin, Brandy sets out to find a guy who will "break her heart," so she can return from summer in need of her friend's TLC, rather than matchmaking skills, and then can resume her well-planned life.

She quickly finds the perfect candidate. But hooking up with the user/loser lifeguard proves harder than she can imagine. Even with the help from his nice-guy friend who seems to have his own reasons for getting them together--and to keep them apart...

On Reading:

What is the most recent book that you have read? I almost finished with Tera Lynn Child’s Oh.My.God. TLC, as we call her at the Buzz Girls blog ( www.yawriters.blogspot.com) is a good friend, but friend or no friend, her book is a terrific read. Heartwarming, funny, and a real page turner.

What are some of your favorite books? In no particular order and with no bias because I do not know any of the authors, I have loved reading: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (assistant edited by Krista Marino, as it turned out!), the Kinsey Millhone mystery series, the Myron Bolitar mystery series, the Stephanie Plum mystery series, Austenland by Shannon Hale, Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella...



You can check out my review of How to Hook a Hottie by clicking Here

Inside the mind of Lois Lowry

I was very excited to find that two time Newberry winner, Lois Lowry has a blog! I've recently read "Gossamer", "The Giver", and I'm almost done reading "Number the Stars" (I'll probably be done today). Her work is amazing and I'm thrilled to get an opportunity to gain a glimpse into her musings via blog.

I'm looking forward to reading her other works.