So, how’s the book doing?

One of the most common questions a pre-published author gets asked is:

I’ve never been exactly sure how to answer that, since so much of writing—especially in nonfiction—isn’t actually “writing.” There’s the brainstorming, researching, outlining, and, eventually, the revising. I spend a lot of time in each of those other phases, and the actual writing phase is a small fraction of the overall work. Still, as long as I’m making forward progress on a project, in any phase, I’ll typically answer, “Great! I’ve been doing a lot of ______________ lately.” On the other hand, if life or other things are getting in the way and I’m feeling less than productive, I might say instead, “Not so great lately. I’m hoping to get back on track as soon as ______________.” I think those are satisfactory, honest answers.

Since BE A CHANGEMAKER has come out, though, the question has changed. Now the most common question I get asked is:

I’m having a much harder time coming up with a satisfactory answer to that one. First of all, what does that even mean: sales figures? reviews? press/publicity? awards? Amazon ranking? speaking gigs? fan mail? There are so many ways to measure a book’s success. Which yardstick should I use to measure how the book is doing?

Second, how’s it doing… as compared to what, exactly? All books have a unique place in the market, and that market is constantly changing. A rather dismal Amazon ranking may be just great for a niche market book, while a rather fantastic one may be disappointing for a well-known author or series. Even within my book’s categories, the other books have obviously been out longer, so those comparisons don’t make much sense to me either. And the way these numbers fluctuate? It’s hard to distill any meaning whatsover.

Third, we authors don’t really know too much about how a book is doing quantitatively. True, Amazon’s Author Central gives us some useful numbers, but it’s not the whole picture, and it’s hard to know just how complete and up-to-date the information is. What’s the reporting delay? Which sales are counted in those numbers and which are not? It’s an indicator, sure, but I’ve yet to figure out just how important an indicator it is for me. The more important metric is whether or not a book is performing as well as the publisher expected it to. But those numbers seem to be impossible for authors to come by (which is probably for the best all around, don’t you think?).

Finally, there’s the issue of timing. Should any of us be worrying about how our book is doing so soon after publication? Yes, we put a lot of time and energy into the pre-launch, launch, and immediately post-launch phase, and we know books aren’t given a very long runway on bookstore shelves these days, but still, doesn’t it typically take quite a while for a book to find its audience? Is how the book is doing a week or a month after its publication date necessarily all the relevant to how it will be doing a year or two from now?

Clearly, I don’t have satisfactory answers to any of these questions, and frankly, I’m not really sure I want to. I just hope no one is offended or thinks I’m dodging the “How’s the book doing?” question when I answer honestly with:

In closing, I’ll leave you with this lovely quote from Martha Graham:

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

— Martha Graham

Keep on marching.

---

Laurie Ann Thompson’s debut young-adult nonfiction, BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, was published by Beyond Words/Simon Pulse in September, 2014. She also has two upcoming picture books: EMMANUEL’S DREAM, a picture-book biography with Schwartz & Wade/Penguin Random House (January 2015), and MY DOG IS THE BEST, a fiction picture book with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux/Macmillan (May 2015). Please visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and like her Facebook page.

One Glittery Star In A Constellation

It all felt meteoric. Or stratospheric. Or whatever it is when there is a whoosh of propulsion behind you and you think you are finally on the path to fulfill a great destiny. First, there was the call from the agent. Two months later, there was the call from the editor. Four months later, the manuscript was off to copy edits. My star was rising and it felt all glittery and singular.

And it was.

Sort of.

Except what really happened on September 16, 2014 was my debut novel EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN took its place among a whole constellation of books. It was not a solo star, glittering in the heavens.

On that same day, three other authors I knew well had their books published: Laurie Thompson’s Be A Changemaker, P.J. Hoover’s Tut: The Story Of My Immortal Life and Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun. I do not know how many other books were released that day.

My book’s arrival in this twinkly constellation was its destiny but it wasn’t alone in the heavens. Nor was I, as its attendant author, drifting solo like some celestial firefly.

What happened on September 16, 2014 was I became a part of a beautiful Milky Way of story tellers whose books are cradled by our readers late at night, reading page after page, resisting sleep until they can’t anymore. Then they dream and our stories leak into their dreams conjuring who knows what. Whatever it is, it wakes them. They aren’t afraid but they feel different inside. As if their cells had rearranged themselves a bit. They sit and look out the window, through the tree branches at the stars beyond. They wonder about their future, about what’s going to happen, about who they are going to be. There, in the quiet of the deep night, they make a wish.

I made such a wish once upon a time.

When that wish comes true and your book joins the constellation of stars you wished upon, it feels nothing short of miraculous. Meteoric, even.

Evidence for Connection

In one of his lectures on the craft of writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts, the great Tim Wynne Jones said that the only place for a coincidence in a story is at the very beginning.  Random events, coincidences—fate—can set a story into motion. But to bring in a coincidence to resolve the unruly details of a complex plot is a cheap trick. That is unless a book’s theme is built around over the top coincidence as in Uma Krishnaswami’s brilliant The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. By chance, or was it design, Lindsey Lane, was in the room listening that day. In her fantastic debut, Evidence of Things not Seen, Lindsey finds a novel way to use coincidence, fate, and random connection: as the premise of a novel, in which a chance event connects a series of lives that might not otherwise be intertwined.

To celebrate the role of fate and coincidence, we’ve gathered up coincidences that have shaped our books and our lives. Where books start and life begins is not always clear as this coincidence story from Megan Morrison demonstrates:

A long time ago, I co-founded a Harry Potter web site. After a few years of running the site, I became less involved and rarely posted anymore – until one day, when I saw a post written by someone whose username I’d never noticed before. The post was snarky and hilarious; it was something I’d been dying to say, but as a founder of the site, I felt that my saying it would be inappropriate. Still, it was so satisfying to see someone else give voice to my schadenfreude that I privately messaged a thank-you note to the snarky stranger – something I had never done before. Now, the internet is a big place… but what do you know? It turned out that the snarky stranger lived just a few subway stops away from me, in Brooklyn. So we met up for a drink on July 30th (Neville Longbottom’s birthday, for you HP nerds). Nine happy years and one son later, I’m pretty glad that I randomly replied to that post!

Donna Bowman Bratton also found her partner though literacy and coincidence:

I once replied to a two week old casting call for a mystery fundraiser to benefit our local Literacy Council. There was to be a play. On a stage. Now, I’m sure my parents considered me a drama queen, but I had never been in theatre. Yet here I was, in my twenties, answering this ad. What the heck was I thinking? Lo and behold, all parts were cast, except one, the director explained by phone.
      “You wouldn’t happen to be in your twenties,” she asked. “And, by any wild chance, do you have long blonde hair?”
      “Um, yeah,” I stammered, In the most theatrical voice I could muster.
I showed up for rehearsal and learned that my character, Lotta, was to be murdered, strangled, by her “husband” over a winning lottery ticket. Between rehearsals and performances, I died at least thirteen times, falling to the floor with a flourish. And, each time, my gentlemanly “husband” ensured that my skirt didn’t billow up to reveal too much of, um, me. That last part is what got me.
        A few years later, I married my murderer. Yep, falling in love was murder.
Fast forward a few years and we had all but given up hope of having a baby. Until one very memorable day when, in an hugely unexpected way, I discovered I was pregnant. It was Valentine’s Day!

Friends matter every bit as much as partners. Jennifer Chambliss Bertman believes that fate brought one of her best friends into her life:

I’m never quite certain about the difference between coincidence and fate, but I suppose I could chalk one of my best friendships up to coincidence. Katherine and I knew each other peripherally as undergrads. Then, by chance, we attended the same small MFA Creative Writing program—so small, she and I made up 25% of our class! I initially worried that we wouldn’t get along. I am quiet, introverted, and not comfortable with all eyes on me. Katherine is vivacious, talkative, and not self-conscious about being loud. I didn’t think we had much in common, which is hilarious to me now, given how much it turns out we actually do have in common. We both double majored in English and Dance. We’re both from northern California. We both have brothers. We’re both crafty. We have a similar sense of humor. We have both spent a lot of time working with kids. Of course we both love to read and write. We both have a lifelong love of children’s literature. Our MFA program was challenging in ways I hadn’t anticipated, and I don’t know if I would have hung in there that first year without Katherine’s friendship. And that was just the beginning of one of the most enduring and meaningful friendships of my life. Now that’s a coincidence to be grateful for.

Coincidences give us faith. They are signs that we are on the right path as Tamara Ellis Smith found with marbles:

So I signed with my agent, Erin Murphy, primarily for the middle grade novel that became my debut, Another Kind of Hurricane. At the time it was called Marble Boys, because a big part of the story is that one of the main characters, Henry, has a lucky magic marble that he trades back and forth with his best friend…and then loses…and goes on an adventure to find. Shortly after we began working together Erin sent me an email that went something like this: “You’ll never guess what happened! I was digging in a new garden plot, and guess what I found way down deep in the dirt? A marble! A magic marble! A sign!”

Since then, this has happened a few more times with kids in my neighborhood. They have found marbles in their gardens too! I don’t know, but I’m thinking magic marbles grow, like sunflowers or irises…

Laurie Ann Thompson shares how coincidence brought her book to life!

Many coincidences resulted in my third book, My Dog Is the Best, coming next June. After workshopping it for a couple of years, I learned that people either loved the manuscript… or hated it. When I submitted the manuscript that became Emmanuel’s Dream to agent Ammi-Joan Paquette in 2011, she replied saying she liked it and wanted to see what else I had. I sent her the manuscripts that would become Be a Changemaker and My Dog Is the Best. She responded with an offer of representation! We quickly got to work getting Be a Changemaker and Emmanuel’s Dream ready for submission, but she never said anything about My Dog, so I just assumed she hated it. Two years later, Janine O’Malley happened to casually mention to Joan that she was looking for a cute dog story. Joan remembered filing My Dog away for just the right editor—one who would love it—and she sent it to Janine. Janine loved it! She had a particular illustrator in mind who turned it down, but a few days later author/illustrator Paul Schmid just happened to be in New York handing out postcards, one of which landed on Janine’s desk. She thought his style was a good fit, and he got the job. This book truly wouldn’t have come together without the numerous coincidental intersections between Joan, Janine, Paul, and me. It feels like it was meant to be!

Coincidence and fate shaped my book life too. In August of 2012, on my way from my home in Vermont to spend the year in Yerevan, Armenia my flight from Newark to London was cancelled. As a result, I was sure to miss the once a day flight from London to Yerevan. The folks at United suggested that I just stay put in beautiful Newark for the next 24 hours and take the same evening flight one day later to London. But to be sure not to miss the flight again, I insisted instead that they put me on the early morning flight to London. I was completely unaware that the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) annual meeting was just wrapping up in London at that very moment. I arrived well into the evening, got some take out Indian food, and a decent night’s sleep. The next day, I boarded the tube to return to Heathrow. At the tube stop after mine, a woman struggled to board the train with a number of heavy bags. I helped her get in and settled. Her modest dress, beautiful dark eyes and high cheekbones made me wonder if she, like me, might be heading to Armenia, so I asked her. It turned out that Sahar Tarhandeh, was the Bookbird Correspondent of the Children’s Book Council of Iran and a juror for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize. She had come to London to attend IBBY. Our friendship began with an hour-long magical conversation about children’s literature and the power of books to transcend political boundaries and to promote peace and connections across the globe. A few months into my stay in Yerevan, when Ammi-Joan Paquette sold my verse novel, Like Water on Stone, to Delacorte Press, it was especially sweet to know that Sahar cheered me on from a land just to the east of where my story is set.

In Armenian we say that our fate, jagad a kir, is literally written on our foreheads. Do we write this ourselves or do these events just happen? Whether they are about marbles, books, long lasting friendships, or love, these events, like Lindsey’s Evidence of Things Not Seen, affirm our fundamental human connectedness.

BE A CHANGEMAKER: A Tool for Change

I borrowed this synopsis of Laurie Ann Thompson’s book, BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, from Beyond Words/Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

“Do you wish you could make a difference in your community or even the world? Are you one of the millions of high school teens with a service-learning requirement? Either way, Be a Changemaker will empower you with the confidence and knowledge you need to affect real change. You’ll find all the tools you need right here—through engaging youth profiles, step-by-step exercises, and practical tips, you can start making a difference today.

This inspiring guide will teach you how to research ideas, build a team, recruit supportive adults, fundraise, host events, work the media, and, most importantly, create lasting positive change. Apply lessons from the business world to problems that need solving and become a savvy activist with valuable skills that will benefit you for a lifetime!”

The book sounds incredible, doesn’t it? You may be wondering how one book can offer all of this. Well, Laurie’s book does. I’ve read it and was amazed, not only with the information, but with the way in which Laurie presented it.

When the publisher says, “You’ll find the tools you need right here—”, they mean it.  And the information is presented with a simplicity that isn’t overwhelming.

Want a peek? Click HERE for a short excerpt from the Event Planning Boot Camp chapter. You will see how Laurie’s easy-to-follow tips will walk you through planning an event by considering your goals, taking a look at your financials, and evaluating staff for your event team.

HERE you can view the first 25 pages of BE A CHANGEMAKER. This glimpse will be inspiring and empowering. You will see how this book’s straight-forward approach is a tool for change.

BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO S TART SOMETHING THAT MATTERS debuts next Tuesday, September 16th, 2014.

You can get your own copy of BE A CHANGEMAKER from your local independent bookstore (find one here), or order it from your favorite national or online retailer such as Simon & Schuster, Powell’s, B&N, or Amazon.

And please comment here–or on any post this week–to be entered to win a signed ARC of BE A CHANGEMAKER by Laurie Ann Thompson!

 

 

 

 

BE A CHANGEMAKER: Celebrating with Quotes!

We are continuing the celebration for Laurie Ann Thompson’s debut Be A Changemaker, which will be published on September 16. Inspirational quotes are peppered throughout the book, and so we Emu’s decided to share quotes that have been meaningful and motivating to us. We’d love to hear your favorite quotes too!

And remember, comment on any post this week and be entered to win a signed copy of Be A Changemaker!

 

 

From Donna Bowman Bratton:

This quote by Ben Franklin has been posted above my computer for years. It obviously speaks to the writer in me, but it hints, too, at taking conscious actions for change.

 I love this quote by Charles Lamb because it so simply speaks to the heart of any good deed, large or small.

 

Of course, the ultimate quote for any changemaker comes from Mahatma Gandhi:

 

 

 

 

 

From Jennifer Chambliss Bertman:

This quote reinforces my belief that even our smallest actions can make a difference, even though we may never witness the impact, and reminds me that I want to be someone who brightens the day for others, rather than tarnishes it.

 

 

From Christine Hayes:

You can probably see why, as a writer, I find this quote inspiring. 🙂 I usually substitute “people” for “men” in my own mind, and I’ve seen that done all over the web as well, but I’m guessing the version below is the correct one. On the days when I feel especially short on talent, this quote keeps me going.

 

From Amy Finnigan:

 

From Penny Parker Klostermann:

Dr. Seuss is kind of my go-to guy for a laugh or for a quick reminder that I’m in charge of doing the work it takes to reach my dreams.

From Lindsey Lane:

What I love about this quote is that Goethe was born in 1749 and I’ve experienced the ‘truth’ of his observation time and again. If I don’t begin, nothing happens.

 

 

From Mylisa Larsen:

Usually when you see someone making something look effortless, it’s because they spent thousands of hours mastering whatever they’re making seem simple and inevitable. This is a quote that gets me back to my desk to put in some more hours.

 

 

From Joshua McCune:

This quote adapted from Emerson’s poem “Merlin’s Song” reminds me to not just live life to the fullest, but to live it as myself, to open myself to new experiences, and to do it with joy. It’s that last part that’s hardest for me. Scowl, and the world scowls at you. Smile, and the world smiles with you. The world could use more smiles.

 

From Megan Morrison:

This idea is at the marrow of my personal belief system. Success requires two things: a clear vision and the will to carry it out, and this is true whether you want to change your wallpaper or change the world.  The first part is tricky, because it requires that we are honest with ourselves about what we want and what we are willing to do. The second part is grueling, because it requires consistent action over a long period of time, and that action must be sustained even during times of doubt and lack of inspiration. But commitment is its own reward. Nothing is more satisfying than to look back after many months and years of climbing a personal mountain to see how far you’ve really come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Rebecca Van Slyke:

I like this quote because I was so, SO close to that ‘give up’ point, but a friend sat me down and pointedly told me that I needed to keep going, fire my current agent, pursue a different agent, and keep writing. A few months later I had 4 books in contract.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Dana Walrath:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get your own copy of BE A CHANGEMAKER from your local independent bookstore (find one here), or order it from your favorite national or online retailer such as Simon & Schuster, Powell’s, B&N, or Amazon.

And please comment here–or on any post this week–to be entered to win a signed ARC of BE A CHANGEMAKER by Laurie Ann Thompson!

BE A CHANGEMAKER: Words of Wisdom

This week, we’re celebrating a powerful new arrival on the youth nonfiction scene: Laurie Ann Thompson‘s BE A CHANGEMAKER, a guide for young people who want to make positive changes in the world. Laurie’s book grants its readers two great gifts: first, the courage to believe they can be agents for change, in spite of all apparent obstacles, and second, a practical roadmap to making that belief a reality. That’s inspiring stuff in a world that so often tells us we’re crazy for trying.

Inspiration is a funny thing; it has to be genuine in order to move our hearts and make us strive, and yet we know we won’t reach our goals if we sit around waiting around for it to strike. Instead, we have to learn how to tap in to inspiration every day. Since that’s not easy, it helps to have a few pearls of wisdom stored away for the days when we need a little extra fuel to keep our fires burning.

And so, to honor BE A CHANGEMAKER, the EMU mob has decided to share the things that help us to get inspired, stay inspired, and keep striving no matter what.

Great Advice

First, here’s some of the advice we’ve come to rely on:

 

Motivational Quotes

Next, some of the quotes that empower us:

 

The Advice I Wish I’d Gotten 

Finally, Christine Hayes gets real about the things she wishes someone had told her, at the beginning of the journey:

 

I loved putting this post together, not only because I am passionate about telling everyone how great BE A CHANGEMAKER is, but because watching and editing these videos has given me an inner glow that’s going to last for weeks. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, EMUs – and thank you for sending your tremendous book out into the world, Laurie Ann Thompson. Congratulations on your launch. You are an inspiration.

Please comment here–or on any post this week–to be entered to win a signed ARC of BE A CHANGEMAKER by Laurie Ann Thompson!

 

Welcome to the World: BE A CHANGEMAKER by Laurie Ann Thompson!

This week at EMU’s Debuts, we are celebrating the launch of Laurie Ann Thompson’s debut BE A CHANGEMAKER, which will be published on September 16. Part how-to manual, part confidence builder, BE A CHANGEMAKER empowers youth to create the changes they want to see in their communities and around the world through real-world examples as well as personal reflections by Thompson, who volunteered with Youth Venture, an organization that supports teens with big ideas.

To honor and promote this exceptional book, some changemaking clients of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency have agreed to share their own experiences. To be fair, these five are but a few of the amazing writers and illustrators at EMLA who are committed to making change in their communities and the world.

Please join us in welcoming BE A CHANGEMAKER to the world. And if you want a signed arc of BAC, comment on any post this week and you could be a winner!

Chris Barton

As a picture book writer, Chris Barton had a vague notion about the need to make the general population more aware of the bounty of great contemporary picture books. But when he read by the New York Times essays “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?” by Walter Dean Myers and “The Apartheid of Children’s Literature” by Christopher Myers, the vague notion became a more urgent issue. Barton approached the Austin independent bookseller BookPeople to create the Modern First Library program, which makes it easy for parents, grandparents, and other gift-givers to select not only classic picture books but also new titles that reflect the diversity of today’s world.

“I already had a great relationship with BookPeople,” says Barton, “But I was nonetheless surprised by how receptive they were to my idea — I didn’t have any bookselling experience or other particular qualification, but sharing my idea rather than keeping it to myself felt like the good-citizen thing to do, and the store’s welcoming response reinforced that impulse.” This experience has taught Barton that one key to being an effective changemaker is to disseminate rather than dismiss your own ideas for making things better, and he has been reminded by BookPeople’s example that it’s equally important to be open to changemaking ideas even though they may come from an unconventional source.

Ann Braden

When the federal government failed to pass legislation that does a better job of keeping guns out of the wrong hands, even after the horrific murders of first graders in Newtown, CT, Ann Braden helped start Gun Sense Vermont because it was clear to her that the only way we could bring balance back to our gun laws was to act at the state level. In 18 months, membership has grown to 5,000 members, and they are working to pass universal background checks during the upcoming legislative session.

At the beginning of her changemaking journey, Braden encountered that small fringe group of extremists who are determined to keep gun laws from being passed no matter how sensible they are. “It was like I had to hold on tight to the sides of my boat as they tried to capsize it and make me give up. But after a while, I realized that my boat was stable and I wasn’t in danger of capsizing at all. That’s was when it occurred to me that I could stop holding onto the sides and just paddle forward.”

Braden was inspired by Wangari Maathai, who mobilized huge numbers of women in Kenya to plant trees and start a green revolution. Though Maathai died too soon, she managed to plant seedlings of activists around the world who, like Braden, approach life with the same ‘I-can-do-this’ attitude that inspires people to come together for a common purpose. “If you leap,” says Braden. “A net really does appear. And that net is made up incredibly supportive people.”

Braden believes a willingness to jump makes an effective Changemaker. “I joke that I ended up getting into to this just because I said ‘yes’ a whole bunch of times in a row.  Can you start an online petition? Yes. Can you help organize a group to deliver the petition to the statehouse? Yes. Can you speak at a press conference at the statehouse? Yes.” Even though she hadn’t done any of those things before.

Which is why Braden also advises changemakers that focus is really important. “If we try to fix everything all at once, we’ll end up in a fetal position in a corner somewhere. Zero in on what is achievable and what will be effective, and then put your head down and go.”

e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

When e. E. Charlton-Trujillo embarked on a narrowly self-funded, hybrid book tour for her third novel FAT ANGIE, she did not know she was going to be a changemaker. “I packed my belongings into storage and drove from Cincinnati, Ohio, across America to hold creative writing workshops and discussions for youth on the fringe, at no cost to their programs.”

Trujillo’s inspiration comes from activist Amanda J. Cunningham, children’s author Linda Sanders Wells, her brother Kurt, and music. “Mozart to Eminem, Krudas Cubensi to Mazz Swift, or John Coltrane to Beyonce. Music feeds the soul and no doubt invigorates my passion to rock the word.”

And rock the world she did. Not only did Trujillo change kids’ lives, she changed her own life. “Working with kids taught me that the darkness of my youth was actually a strength. I was able relate to and work with any kind of kid. I get to be my unwrangled-hair, hoodie-wearing, tattoo self and inspire others. Talk about invigorating . . . I am constantly amazed how simple and powerful it is when you show up and say, ‘I believe in you.’ Empowering and inspiring others ignites awareness and understanding for something outside of yourself. That is such a crucial thing for me. It keeps me humble and genuine and curious.”

For Trujillo, the most important quality of being a changemaker is authenticity. “Never underestimate the potential of authenticity. Being real and honest and shedding the layers that allow us as ‘adults’ to be acceptable is some work. Young people need to have a person stand in front of them with healthy boundaries and the excitement to share creative space with them. I can promise you showing up has currency!”

From her experience, Trujillo created Never Counted Out, to empower young people through creativity and discussion. She believes that harnessing their tenacity and talent of youth through spoken word by taking their strength from page to mini-stage. She also filmed the documentary At-Risk Summer to capture the impact of a creative mentor and redefine how we talk about ‘at-risk.’ Her website is BigDreamsWrite.

Corinne Duyvis

Corinne Duyvis is the co-founder of Disability in Kidlit, a blog that discusses and dissects the representation of disabled characters in MG and YA novels. The bloggers analyze stereotypes, talk about their own experiences as disabled people, and review character portrayals from a disability perspective. “All three editors of the blog and all contributors identify as disabled, which is incredibly important because disabled people–just like many other marginalized groups–are often erased from conversations that supposedly center about us.”

Before founding Disability in Kidlit, Duyvis followed initiatives like Diversity in YA, Angry Black Woman, and other discussions of marginalization in YA and science fiction and fantasy (SFF) novels. “While disability is often included in these discussions, just as often, it’s ignored entirely. Over the years, I became more and more aware of this lack. I discussed it with friends, tried to counter it in my own fiction, and sighed every time I saw people call for more diversity while glossing over the existence of disabled people and the need for disabled characters. When my friend and fellow YA author Kody Keplinger approached me about organizing a “Disability in YA” event, everything crystallized. Kody and I had the ability, knowledge, and desire to address those problems.”

Since they began, the website’s influence and content has grown. Not only does it help disabled people find realistic portrayals of characters, librarians and teachers use it to find books for their patrons and students. Because of the site, readers are beginning to think more critically about disability portrayals.

In addition to connecting with many wonderful, smart people who are just as dedicated to disability representation as she is, such as her fellow Disability in Kidlit editor Kayla Whaley, Duyvis has spoken with authors who said the website encouraged them to include disabled characters in their next work, or who said the site changed their approach to tackling these characters so that they are portrayed more accurately and respectfully.

Duyvis is astonished at how much she has learned in the year since she founded this blog. “I thought I was savvy before, but between reading new books all the time, maintaining the site, being in regular contact with some brilliant contributors, and keeping an eye on disability-related content on Tumblr and Twitter, I’ve doubled that knowledge. Of course, it’s also helped me realize how much I still have to learn!”

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

In a way, Lynda Mullaly Hunt was destined to create the Book Train. Not because she was teacher. Not because she is a writer of children’s books. She created Book Train because when she was in sixth grade, her teacher gave her a book that changed her life. It was a novel by Judy Blume and she devoured it. For the first time, she cared about the character and wanted to know what happened to him. For the first time, she invested in her book report. For the first time, her teacher was proud of her. For the first time, she felt self-esteem. One book.

When she began writing for children, Hunt met many kids who lived in the foster care system or in shelters. She became aware that few of them owned their own books. It bothered her. A lot. After one particularly hard visit to a teen homeless shelter, she wondered what small thing she could do for kids like this. “I’m a big believer in the domino theory of changemaking. I think there are people out there who change the world for the better every day – in small ways that are not perceptible at first but send rings of change into the world the way a rock thrown in the water does.”

“I found myself brainstorming ways to get books to kids. Not just my books—all books in all genres for all ages.” One night, she was tweeting with a few teachers about how to get more people on the love train for ONE FOR THE MURPHYS. The 70’s song, Love Train by the O’Jays, popped into her head. After a flurry of tweets, Book Train, was born. Since its beginning, thousands of brand-new books have been hand-delivered to foster children, ages newborn to eighteen. Their names are in the front and those books belong to them. Forever.

To be a changemaker, Hunt believes you have to be able to think BIG without holding yourself back and thinking about what’s realistic. “When people have told me an idea I had was unrealistic, it motivated me to work even harder.  I absolutely love the quote, ‘The people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.’ Yup. There’s a lot of truth right there.”

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You can get your own copy of BE A CHANGEMAKER from your local independent bookstore (find one here), or order it from your favorite national or online retailer such as Simon & Schuster, Powell’s, B&N, or Amazon.

And please comment here–or on any post this week–to be entered to win a signed ARC of BE A CHANGEMAKER by Laurie Ann Thompson!

 

Following the Bird in Flight when it Comes to the Debut Author To-Do List

Like Lindsey (see her excellent post from a couple of weeks ago, Debut Author To-Do List), I’m a list maker. Unlike Lindsey, however, I am rather *cough* obsessive about it. My debut author to-do list is a spreadsheet. Okay, that might not sound so bad, but my spreadsheet has an embarrassing 135 rows, sorted chronologically, spanning from more than a year before the book’s release to more than two years after… and that’s just for one book. Yes, it’s totally ridiculous overkill, to be sure. I knew when I built it that I wasn’t going to be able to even come close to doing everything on the list. I put in every possible thing I could think of, anything I might want to remember to even think about doing when the time came. I knew I was going to have to pick and choose, prioritize, and, yes, let go of some (okay, a whole bunch) of the things on the list.

I got off to a fairly good start, at least.

On Monday, Megan wrote about “following the bird in flight” when drafting (see her excellent post, Writing in One Layer). I’ve been thinking about similar ideas lately, but more as they apply to the debut experience as a whole. I built that spreadsheet because I thought I’d be able follow the neatly organized chronological to-do list. I thought I’d be in control, evaluating and deciding what was really a to-do and crossing out the rest. Then I would just march down the remaining to-do list and the whole process would roll smoothly and efficiently along. Ha! What I’ve learned is that practically everything about the debut author experience is a surprise. Some of the biggest pieces are outside of my control. Being flexible enough to deal with shifting realities—bouncing back from unforeseen setbacks or pouncing on unexpected opportunities—is key.

I am not this flexible.

• What happens when you learn that the curriculum guide you’ve been eagerly anticipating—and promising to teachers—is not only not finished yet, but hasn’t even been started… and isn’t going to be? In my case, you come up with a plan B: figuring out how to add Common Core State Standard assignments to the library event kit that is already in progress.
• What do you do when you randomly notice that, hey, there’s a Goodreads giveaway of your ARCs, and it’s been running for three days already? In my case, you make some room in a few of your days to get the word out and help promote the giveaway.
• What do you do when you happen to see that the publisher of your upcoming picture book has put the cover—which you have never seen before—on their website? In my case, you SQUEE for joy, dance around the room for a while, hyperventilate, eat some chocolate, and then quietly sneak the image up on the Emu’s Debuts sidebar and your own webpage and hope someone notices.

I can’t wait to show you what’s inside!

• What do you do when a local private school director invites you to coffee to talk about possible collaborations, or a well-known blog invites you to do a guest post, or your publisher invites you to do a live video webinar on your book’s topic, or a thriving local startup invites you to their annual company open house as a featured guest, or a trusted youth organization approaches you about giving changemaker workshops? In my case, you say, “YES!” to all of them and start preparing (even though “live” and “video” are two words that should never be put together, in my opinion!).

None of those things were even on my spreadsheet, and I’m not coming at all close to keeping up with my to-do list. (It’s rather fitting that I missed my Thursday morning deadline for this very post, isn’t it?) I expected to be able to just draft a plan and then carry it out, but instead my debut experience seems to be all about following the bird in flight. And I’m okay with that: it’s taking me to some amazing places.

Photo from liquidnight on Flickr.

The Dreaded Author Photo, Again

I received a handy-dandy checklist from my publisher detailing everything I needed to do between the offer and the release date. It wasn’t like anything on this list was a huge surprise, but there were some parts I was looking forward to more than others. And there was one I wasn’t looking forward to at all.

Author packet checklist

Ugh. Most authors I know aren’t exactly photogenic by nature. We usually work from home, where we don’t really have to bother showering or getting dressed, let alone doing our hair or putting on makeup. I used to do all of those things every day. Now that I’m a writer… not so much. And even if I had what I needed to do all of that—and, um, could remember how—there’s still the whole matter of how much I despise seeing pictures of me. I don’t like being reminded that my hair is flat (and look, another gray!), or that my eyes are too squinty, or that there’s yet another wrinkle on my forehead, and so on. To avoid this situation, I typically try to dodge cameras and duck out of photos whenever possible. Here was one photo I wouldn’t be able to get out of.

Add to that the fact that this isn’t just any ordinary snapshot. The author photo is, after all, a selling tool. The goal is for readers to like us, to be able to relate to us. Studies show people, including readers and book buyers, are more drawn to people (and authors) who are beautiful. Gulp. At the very least, we don’t want to scare people away, right? (I wonder who decided that putting this photo of Shel Silverstein on the back of The Giving Tree was a good idea?) And, as my sweet son put it, “This picture will be on every single book you ever sell, mom. Make it good.” No pressure there, right?

The author photo is such a hazing ritual for authors that the phrase “dreaded author photo” has become cliché. I know several Emus have blogged about it here already. I think pretty much every author hates the whole idea, don’t we? And yet the author photo is something all debut authors must face. So, how to approach this scary beast? Carefully.

First, search for every blog post you can find (like I did) about how to take a good author photo. Or, save yourself a whole bunch of time and just check out this one, by Jennifer Ziegler, which came at just the right time for me and had the most helpful advice I found anywhere: Be authentic. Okay. I can do that. I think. Well, maybe with a little help.

In the end, I went with normal, comfortable clothes that make me feel like me. I let someone else handle the hair and makeup, but with strict instructions to keep it casual and natural-looking, because I’m a fairly casual and natural person.  I told the photographer I didn’t want to look too serious or stiff. And in the best decision every made about author photos, I invited a friend to join me. My friend Kim Baker mentioned that she needed to get a new author photo, too. Misery loves company, right? I knew she’d understand my pain, and I also knew she’d be able to make me smile.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. The leaves were turning. We strolled around the university campus looking for good backgrounds, and Kim and I took turns being photographed. It was all much more pleasant than I expected. And thanks to Kim and our fabulous photographer, Mary Balmaceda, I think I got a photo I can actually live with:

One more thing checked off the list. Phew!

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Laurie Ann Thompson’s debut young-adult nonfiction, BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, will be published by Beyond Words/Simon Pulse in September, 2014. She also has two upcoming picture books: an as-yet-untitled biography with Schwartz & Wade/Penguin Random House and MY DOG IS THE BEST with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux/Macmillan. Please visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and like her Facebook page.

The Numbers, or, How Writing a Book Is Like Giving Birth

Before embarking on a second career as a writer, I was a software engineer. I majored in applied mathematics in college. Obviously, I enjoy using the analytical parts of my brain as much as the artistic ones. So now that both BE A CHANGEMAKER (my young-adult nonfiction) and MY DOG IS THE BEST (my fiction picture book) are in copyedits, I thought I’d reflect a little on some of the behind-the-scenes numbers involved in these 2 very different creative endeavors.

I knew when BE A CHANGEMAKER was acquired that it was going to be a lot of work in a short period of time: I’d sold it on proposal as a 20,000-word book that would take me 1 year to write, but they wanted at least 45,000 words in 5 months. I was open with the publisher that I wasn’t sure if I could do it (I’m a SLOW writer), but that I would give it my best shot. I dove in and started researching like crazy.

Almost immediately, life threw me a curveball, and I lost pretty much the first 2 months to an unexpected surgery, recovery, and ensuing complications. Things began to look pretty hopeless. Because of the time constraints, I was already drafting on the fly, sending it to the acquisitions editor, and incorporating her feedback as I went along. I became a much faster writer than I ever thought possible, but I still couldn’t quite get there in time. The editor and I strategized on what the highest priority pieces were and what could be left for later. When I submitted the “final” draft on the original deadline, the manuscript was a not-entirely-off-the-mark 42,200 words, but with 10 known holes left as TK, “to come” later. I continued working to fill in the TK pieces while the manuscript moved on to a full developmental edit round.

Since it had already been through 1 round of editing and the feedback I’d been getting was that it was in pretty good shape, I wasn’t expecting the developmental edit to be overly difficult, even though I had less than 2 weeks to do it. Wowzers, was I wrong! The marked up document I got back from the developmental editor (a different person) had 570 insertions, 414 deletions, and 339 comments, most of which were something along the lines of, “Can you please add x here?—where x was a quote, an exercise, an example, etc. They were excellent suggestions, and I knew I’d have a much better book to show for it if I could do them all! But try though I did, I still couldn’t get it all done in time: I just needed a few extra days. Luckily, the publisher was willing (bless her!). So, less than 3 weeks from receiving the revision letter, I returned a clean manuscript that was nearly 60,000 words, with 100% of the TKs removed and developmental edits accounted for. Phew!

During those weeks (and, to a lesser extent, the months that preceded them), I definitely questioned both my sanity and my career choice on more than one occasion. I told myself if I survived this experience, I would never, ever write another book like that one. Afterward, I walked around the house like a zombie for a few days, barely able to function, let alone dig out from under the piles of dirty laundry and unpaid bills that had accumulated. All of this couldn’t possibly be worth it, right?

Then a marvelous thing happened. Just like the pain of childbirth fades instantly when you hold your newborn child, I soon forgot the 10- to 12-hour days, the missed meals, the cramped EVERYTHING. The manuscript was accepted: I had done it! Unicorns and rainbows, kittens and puppies, walking on sunshine—that was me. I’d brought to life something that never would have existed without me, and I was on top of the world.

Then I moved on to completing the author questionnaire about who might like the book, review the book, use the book, etc., and THE BOOK started to become a real thing in my mind, a real thing that real people would really read! Recently, the publisher sent me the cover proofs… with my name on them! And now I’m thinking about blurbs and preliminary marketing ideas. I’ve got that floating-on-air feeling again, that hopeful exuberance that comes after an offer. Maybe, just maybe, someone out there will read my book someday and it will matter to them. What was I ever thinking? Of course it was worth it, every single minute! As Adora Svitak, one of the amazing teens I interviewed for the book, said, “It’s good to push yourself. When you really go all out for something… it’s the best feeling in the world.” She is absolutely right about that. I can hardly wait for my next opportunity to do it all over again!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, MY DOG IS THE BEST clocked in at 96 words, and I just found out it went straight to copyediting with zero revisions necessary. As you can probably guess, that feels pretty darn good, too!

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Laurie Ann Thompson’s debut young-adult nonfiction, BE A CHANGEMAKER: HOW TO START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, will be published by Beyond Words/Simon Pulse in September, 2014. She also has two upcoming picture books: an as-yet-untitled biography with Schwartz & Wade/Penguin Random House and MY DOG IS THE BEST with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux/Macmillan. Please visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and like her Facebook page.