Are Children Getting eReaders?

Date: 2011.12.29 | Category: Publishing, Uncategorized | Response: 1

With the price of eReaders coming down below the $100 mark, I had a feeling that they would become the hot gifted item this holiday season. And if my local Barnes and Noble is any indication, I was indeed correct. I stepped into the store on Dec 28th at about 8:00 PM. There were probably 200 people attending the free “how to use your Nook” class. They were offering three simultaneous sessions in different parts of the store because there were so many people.

And this was just one small sampling. One random Barnes and Noble on a random Tuesday night. I can only imagine what’s been happening around the country since Christmas.

I even saw young children attending the workshop. As a middle grade writer, to me this is very encouraging. I’ve been thinking of self-publishing my book on Amazon and BN.com. I know adult books are doing amazingly well selling as eBooks, but what about kids books? Would parents by eBooks fort their children?

I think the answer is yes.

Anita Laydon Miller, self-published author of the middle grade book Earthling Hero and YA book A Scary Good Book, reports that she sold 100 eBooks since Christmas morning – way to go Anita! So you see, parents are buying eReaders for their children. They are buying eBooks. This is encouraging news for young readers and aspiring authors like me.

Did you get an eReader for the holidays?

Where have I been? Tales from NanoWriMo

Date: 2011.12.01 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 1

You may have noticed that I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for quite a while. Did you miss me?

It’s not because I wasn’t writing. On the contrary. I was writing. A LOT!

In November I was one of the 250,000+ participants in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Participants start writing on November 1st. The goal is to write 50,000 words (about a full  length book) by November 30th. If you reach 50,000 words, you win! What do you win? Mostly glory. But you also get some goodies from Nano sponsors.

So what does it really mean to write 50,000 words in 30 days? A commitment to write 1700 words per day, every day. For me this meant writing 2-4 hours a day.

Since I have a day job and a family to take care of, the writing for me did not begin until after the kids were tucked in bed. Usually I would write from 8PM until I passed out, face first, into my laptop keyboard. But even if I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about writing.Traditionally, when writing a book you have time to let the story simmer in your brain. With Nano, there is no such luxury. The story needs to be microwaved on rapid speed. For me, this meant thinking about my characters and plot points always and everywhere; while driving the kids to school, eating dinner, going to the bathroom…you name it. Needless to say, I was extremely distracted in the month of November.

What did all this mean to my family? Cooking? HA! No time. Cleaning…. nope. My poor husband took the brunt of the pain, picking up a ton of slack around the house.

So, how did I do?

Here it is…..

YIPPEEEE!!! Happy Dance!!!!

So, what’s the book about? I’ll tell you in a future blog post, but I have to say that I really love this book. The characters are really interesting and the plot has some really nice twists. But for now, here’s the Wordle:

Doesn’t  it look awesome!!!!!!??????

Who do I write for?

Date: 2011.10.12 | Category: Kids, Publishing, Writing | Response: 0

What reader do I think about when I write?

These readers!

My own three boys.

When I craft a story I think about whether my boys would enjoy it. Does it have enough to keep their interest? Would they like the characters I’ve invented? Would they want to keep reading? I think this is why my writing is so boy-focused. As the mother of three boys, I wouldn’t have a clue how to write for a girl reader.

But I also consider my children when I think about the content of my story. Is the subject matter appropriate? Would I approve of this book as a parent? Does it send a positive message?

Which is why I am amazed by some of the books that have been published.

Recently, my 4th grader completed an author study on Roald Dahl. My son selected the book George’s Marvelous Medicine for his study.

If you are not familiar with this book, here’s a brief synopsis: George and his family live on a farm with a cranky grandma. One day George decides he can’t take it anymore and decides to swap Grandma’s medicine with his own concoction – a cocktail of poisons around the house. Grandma takes the medicine, causing her to grow into a giant. Mom and Dad come home and see what happened to Grandma, but rather than get angry with George for trying to poison Granny, Dad decides to recreate the medicine for his own personal gain. If they can give the medicine to the farm animals and produce giant chickens, they’ll be rich! But George can’t remember the exact recipe. Eventually, mistaking it for tea, Grandma drinks one of the failed recreations.The resulting overdose causes her to shrink into nothing. The family decides that losing Grandma finally removes a nuisance from their lives.

WHAT??

Lets put aside for a moment that George feeds POISON to granny (for real?). There isn’t a single good character in this book. And the family celebrates when grandma is gone! Huh? I called my mother and told her she better be good to her grandkids because they might just make her a special medicine! But seriously, what kind of message does this send?

For the record, my son actually liked this book. He thought it was funny and “magical”. Okay, but I’m still  not a big fan of the book’s negative message.

George’s Marvelous Medicine was published in 1981. Do you think such a book would be published today?

Reading with an Eye For Editing

Date: 2011.08.03 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

Now that I am knee deep in editing my book, I wonder if I will ever be able to enjoy another book again without an editor’s eye.

I was really really looking forward to reading this particular book. I am not going to mention the name of the book, because…let’s just say, the author is BIG TIME, and I am a NOBODY, and being that I am a NOBODY I certainly don’t want to piss off BIG TIME author before I am even published. So I am not going to mention the title of the book or the author, but all you need to know is that  this book is huge…made for TV kind of huge.

Anyway, due to all the hype around Unnamed Book I couldn’t wait to read it. But now that I am about a quarter of the way done with it, I have to admit, I am pretty disappointed. The story is just fine, but I am particularly annoyed with the stylistic problems in the book. Repeatedly I have found myself yelling at the pages, “How did an editor let that pass!”

And I’m not talking about spelling or grammar mistakes. I’m talking about things like overuse of ‘ly’ adverbs, use of the passive voice, confusing POV shifts… the basics of good writing!

Example:

“She began to rise from her seat and looked at her mother standing in the doorway.”

Yes, that was really in Unnamed Book (well…I might be paraphrasing a little since I am going by memory – but you get the point). We smart writers know to replace that sentence with something like:

“She rose from her seat.  Her mother stood in the doorway.”

You see how that puts us in the action by using stronger phrasing? That’s better writing.

Anyway, there are dozens of examples I have come across in Unnamed Book which make me cringe. So I wonder: Will I ever be able to read another book again without criticizing over-analyzing the writing? Is it possible to squish the inner editor in me and just enjoy a book?

The Daily Prophet: WiziLeaks!

Date: 2011.07.13 | Category: Harry Potter | Response: 0

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that this week I am talking about all things Harry Potter in honor of the release of the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II.

Yesterday I talked about Severus Snape, and why he is the best Harry Potter character.

Continuing with Snape, today I have a funny little fan-fiction piece to share with  you.

Some background…. When my uber-obsessed Harry Potter child turned 8, we threw him a Harry Potter birthday party. As part of the party, we created a customized Daily Prophet where he was the headline star wizard.  I wrote the below piece as part of the Daily Prophet.

You will need to click on each of the images below to read the piece. Sorry I couldn’t figure out a way to post this in full size nicely on the blog. But please click on the images below… IT’S WORTH IT!