Picture of Critter are up!

Bish just put up picture of Critter on her blog! Go check'em out and be sure to leave a reply to let her know that you stopped by! Just click here.

What do you say to an agent or editor when you don't have credentials?

First of all . . . we must have our priorities. Critter is in the Virgin Islands. He's traveling for the sake of St. Jude, so please follow him during his travels and let others know about Critter's cause. He'll be auctioned for St. Jude when his adventures are complete. Did you know that St. Jude operates mostly on donations alone. And that their DAILY operating costs are 1.5 million dollars per day!!!!! Yowza Yikesers!!!! So . . . spread the word about Critter and his cause so that we may be more likely to reach those who have the heart plus the resources to help the children of St. Jude.

In other writerly news . . . this is an awesome blog re: what to include in a query if you lack credentials. http://askaliteraryagent.blogspot.com/

Critter is this weeks Featured Sweetheart!

Critter was interviews by authors PJ Hoover, Jo Whittemore and Jessica Lee Anderson on the Texas Sweethearts blog. Go, Critter, Go!

He was also featured over at Cynsations, on Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog.

In other news, I haven't been blogging much or visiting blogs much for a really really good reason. I've had a request for a full manuscript and I've been working hard at tightening it up once more before sending it out. Wish me luck! :0)

Doing the Happy Dance!

I will temporarily cease doing my happy, arm-waving, boo-tay-shaking dance (the kind that would embarrass my kids) so that I may share my exciting news.

For Mother's Day, My hubby told me that I was going to SCBWI LA summer conference. ~squee!~
I must confess, I hadn't asked to go. Quite honestly I never thought that I could justify the expense when I didn't have a published book yet.

But do you want to know what my darling man said to me? (this is more a gift than the conference expenses.)

He said that I am talented and as long as I'm persistent, I will be published. He said that I needed to live as if I were already published. Not just with consistent writing times, but by going to conferences and doing things that I would do if I were already published. I must add, that my hubby doesn't let go of family $$$$ easily unless it's justified. It took him 3 years to decide if it was worth the money to buy an ipod. True story. So, if he didn't really believe in me, he wouldn't so easily send me out to LA for 5 days.

I gotta say, it feels good to have someone believe in me that much.

Consequently, I also feel more motivated to keep going, because I don't want to disappoint. :0)

Give me a holla if you're going to be there. We'll have to meet up and have coffee and chat.

Now, if you will excuse me I have more bootie-shaking-happy-dancing to do. Oh, and I have more writing to do too. :0D

Jennifer Rees, editor at Scholastic, talks about "Voice"

SCBWI Chapel Hill Writing Retrea

Numero uno: Jennifer Rees is an top-notch, classy editor.

Numero two-ish: Jennifer Rees is cute as a button . . . isn't she?

Numero Three-o: She also has an AWESOME pair of boots! The girl has it ALL! Brains. Style. Cutie-pie-ness . . . is there anything more?

Editors and agents stress the importance of "voice" in a manuscript. Writers strive to find their "voice" and yet there are no easy definitions for this monster they call VOICE. I love listening to different professionals in the industry share their thoughts on what "Voice" is. After years of listening and digesting this info, I think I'm finally starting to catch on. No. I don't have a clear and easy definition. However, I will share the basic 10 points that Ms. Rees mentioned as being the elements that influence your voice.

1) Character
2) Manner of Expression
3) Narrator
4) Dialogue
5) Setting
6) Perspective
7) Tone
8) Genre
9) You
10) Story

In attempt to digest the things Ms. Rees said about each of the 10 elements, I came home and tried to find a small section of a book that I thought embodied all 10 elements. It's not that easy to do. There are some books that are easy to hear voice. Books like Savvy and Dovey Coe. I wanted to find a section that wasn't quite as colloquial. One where the voice doesn't come from accent or regional flare. Finally, I settled on The Hunger Games. I thought it fitting since Ms. Rees was the editor for this book. Here's a short scene that I love and see as including all of the above influences.

This is a scene from Chapter 5 when Katnis first meets with her prep team for her makeover.

Venia and Octavia, a plump woman whose entire body has been dyed a pale shade of pea green, rub me down with a lotion that stings but then soothes my raw skin. Then they pull me from the table, removing the thin robe I've been allowed to wear off and on. I stand there, completely naked, as the three circle me, wielding tweezers to remove any last bits of hair. I know I should be embarrassed, but they're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet.

The three step back and admire their work. "Excellent! You almost look like a human being now!" Says
Flavius and they all laugh.

I force my lips up into a smile to show how grateful I am. "Thank you," I say sweetly. "We don't have much cause to look nice in District Twelve."

This wins them over completely. "Of course, you don't you poor darling!" Says Octavia clasping her hands together in distress for me.

"But don't worry," says Venia. "By the time Cinna is through with you, you're going to be absolutely gorgeous!"

"We promise! You know, now that we've gotten ride of all the hair and filthy, you're not horrible at all!" Says Flavius encouragingly. "Let's call Cinna!"

They dart out of the room. It's hard to hate my prep team. They're such total idiots, Ad yet, in an odd way I know that they're sincerely trying to help me.


So, How does this one section envelope all 10 elements?

First I see how the Characters, their perspectives of each other, the manner in which they speak, their actions, the setting the tone they use w/ one another . . . it all blends together making this scene vivid in my minds eye. The tension. The contrast of how each side sees the other as barely being human at all. We are in the narrators head, so we know what she is thinking, however, we don't have to be in the Prep teams thoughts to get an idea of how they think and feel. Their actions and dialogue are clear. Though we see human flaws in each of the characters we also see glimpses of good intentions.

Second, the genre and Suzanne Collins unique story line and her story telling skills all add to the flavor of the voice.

So, make a mental note: editors don't see voice as simply being an accent. That may be only one part of your voice, if it fits the story.

INSIDER INFO ALERT!!!!: Ms. Rees shared a little info about the earlier MS of The Hunger Games. She said that at first the story was written in past tense. However, that didn't seem to work. It tended to cut down on the tension which is so crucial to the story line. So, Ms. Collins rewrote the story in present tense and Voila! That goes to show . . . don't be afraid to rewrite in a different tense. You never know what will work best until you try.

If you have anything to add to share how you view the "voice" in this section, I'd love to hear it. I'd also love to hear any insights on what you think about "voice" outside of this section as well. It's a wild beast to master!

REfreshed, REfueled, REtreated!

Uh-huh, oh yeah! That's right! I'm a new girl now. My writing confidence has been lower than a tick on the belly of a worm. But this weekend . . . Well, let's just say that I'm still flying high from being refreshed and refueled. It also doesn't hurt that Jennifer Rees, (the editor of The Hunger Games) critiqued my work and had very nice things to say about it. Things that will keep me going for quite some time.



The guest speakers in attendance were: Jennifer Rees from scholastic, Bruce Hale, Author of the Chet Gecko series among other books, and Stacy Cantor from Walker books.

It was an amazing retreat, restful and yet productive. Pure nerve-soothing, confidence-boosting fabulousness.

As I digest the things that I learned, I'll post about them here. So many great things. Enough to possibly give me blogging material for the rest of the year! In addition to Critter postings, of course.

Critter in his element!

I'm so stoked! Rena took Critter on an awesome outting!

Check it out at Rena's blog.


YaY, Critter!