PiBoIdMo Idea Cards

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Photo by L. M. Quraishi, © Words Like Rain, 2015

Photo by L. M. Quraishi, © Words Like Rain, 2015

Thanks to author Carter Higgins, PiBoIdMo guest blogger, for her brilliant suggestion about picture book ideas. She urges us to ask ourselves, What is this book about?

Not a synopsis, but an about about.

Authors, agents and editors all focus on this question as they create pitches to sell completed manuscripts, but Higgins suggests wrestling with “the about about” much earlier in the process, at the genesis of an idea. Author Kathryn Otoshi described this as identifying the heart of a story at the May 2015 SCBWI North and East Bay Picture Book Intensive.

After three Novembers of participating in Tara Lazar‘s Picture Book Idea Month challenge, I’ve added Higgins’ idea to my Picture Book Idea Notecards, completing the system I use for logging and developing my picture book ideas.

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Gems from Oktoberfest

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CC Image by Torbakhopper

CC Image by Torbakhopper

As a children’s book writer, I’m lucky to be in the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) North & East Bay Region. Every October, our chapter hosts a conference featuring inspiring craft advice and a chance to meet established authors, agents and editors in the field.

In her closing comments to the conference, our indomitable Co-Regional Adviser Colette Parrinello advised us to avoid letting conference notes decay for months. Instead, she suggested going back over our materials immediately to select just three action items, and plan to accomplish them this week. Here’s my list:

  1. Write a blog post giving a taste of the riches of craft and industry knowledge offered at this conference every year.
  2. Schedule and post my writing time from now until the end of the year (see Gennifer Choldenko’s advice below).
  3. Make a plan to follow through on the submission opportunities this afforded by the SCBWI North & East Bay Oktoberfest conference.

 And here are a few gems from the seven (out of a selection of twenty) sessions I attended this weekend:

Gennifer Choldenko – Award winning author of Al Capone Does My Shirts and Chasing Secrets – Find the Beating Heart in Your Work

“Every day I get a little gift of creative energy, but it doesn’t accrue. 

If I don’t use it, it’s gone.”

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Choosing Your Story: Shelf Research Points the Way

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Photo by Dean Hochman

Photo by Dean Hochman

I’ve got picture book ideas–and the sticky notes, crumpled napkins and scribbled notebooks to prove it. I’ve got manuscripts–some crappy first drafts, some overworked revisions and some that look pretty good. But which story to focus on next?

This summer, I’m gratefully participating in Mira Reisberg and Kelly Delaney‘s Children’s Book Academy course on the Craft and Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books on a Yuyi Morales scholarship. For this online course, participants choose one story to hone over five weeks. How do I go about choosing just one story?

After two rounds of Tara Lazar‘s Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), I’ve learned a few tricks that help me make these kinds of choices. One of my favorites is SHELF RESEARCH. Continue reading →

A Newbie Gets Ready for SCBWI LA 2015

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I’m committed now. I’ve sent in the money and registered for my very first trip to the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Annual LA Conference.

It was nearly impossible to choose from the great selection of intensive workshops. Because I’m the type of person who thrives on assignments with deadlines, I’ve decided that between now and the start of conference, I will do the homework for ALL the intensives, perhaps garnering some of the benefit from those sessions I will have to miss.

I’ve been a member of SCBWI for almost three years now, and feel I’ve just graduated from beginner status to young apprentice. I’m facing the very hardest part of my early career–the sucky middle. I know enough to know what I don’t know, but not quite enough to know how to figure it out. Enter practice. Continue reading →

Getting Ready for #PitMad (with downloadable checklist)

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Word Cloud by David Oarr

Thinking about joining in #PitMad this quarter? A twitter party dedicated to matching manuscript pitches to agents (and hosted by the incomparable Brenda Drake), this event merits your attention even if you don’t think you’re quite ready to hook up with an agent. Simply going through the steps of getting ready for #PitMad or dipping your toes in the #PitMad stream will up your game.

The next event is scheduled for September 10, 2015, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. EST. Use the Words Like Rain checklist below to get your game on! 

Words Like Rain

 

 

Are You Ready for #PitMad? A Complete Checklist

Words Like Rain #PitMad Checklist

 

 

 

Not quite ready this quarter? Start getting ready now for the next #PitMad event, December 4, 2015.

Also worth reading:

How to #PitMad

What I Didn’t Do—ReViMo 2015 Recap (with Revision Strategies Checklist)

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ReviMo

Meg Miller’s ReViMo (ReVise More) online writing challenge was my exciting new discovery in January 2015: participants pledge to revise seven picture book manuscripts in seven days. A stellar list of picture book authors and illustrators offer daily motivation and ideas for revision in a series of guest posts. And of course, as in every good online challenge, those who met their revision goals were eligible for fabulous industry prizes. You can even buy ReViMo goodies (all proceeds benefit the wonderful Reading is Fundamental program—which puts actual books in the hands of kids who will love them).

So here’s what I didn’t do for this year’s ReViMo: I didn’t revise seven manuscripts. I didn’t revise even four manuscripts, the minimum to be eligible for prizes. I didn’t post updates on the Facebook group about how my amazing revision efforts were going. But I also didn’t get down on myself for my failure to meet any of my writing goals for the week.

How can I even claim to have participated in this event? What did I do (aside from nursing my children’s ear infections and pneumonia, that is)? I read every delicious post on Meg Miller’s generous blog. I revised ONE manuscript. And I did what I do best when I’m not doing what I really want to be doing—I made lists. And here they are, just for you.

List #1: a compilation of revision strategies for picture books:

Words Like Rain

 

 

 

Revision Strategies for Picture Books

(a Words Like Rain Printable)

 

 

And List #2, to help me next December, when I’m…

Getting Ready for ReViMo

  1. Tidy writing space.
  2. Choose and print out seven manuscripts for revision.
  3. Re-read the manuscripts, and then set them aside.
  4. Sign up.
  5. Read the pre-ReViMo posts to get revved up.
  6. Go!

When ReViMo ended all too soon, I felt at first that I had not met the challenge. Being a lurker didn’t qualify me for anything, in my mind. But then I re-evaluated my participation. I learned a lot, I revised one manuscript (ending up with something I’d be proud to see in print), and I gave it a try. I think maybe I will post that winner’s badge on my website after all. And next year, watch out! I’ll be ready.

How did ReViMo go for you this year? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? I’d love to hear, especially in time for petite ReViMo in February.

 

The Stories We Need

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#WeNeedDiverseBooks LogoToday is the last day to donate to the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Indiegogo campaign (click here to contribute now), run by a powerhouse group of children’s book writers, illustrators, librarians, readers, editors and agents dedicated to promoting diversity in children’s literature. Funds raised will  be used primarily as grants for authors/illustrators bringing diverse stories to the field of children’s publishing.

I am not one of the powerhouses. But I am here to tell you why we need diverse books. I grew up straddling a strange divide between the Haves and the Have-nots, a sort of Half-Star Sneetch on the beach. When my half-star caught the sun, it looked like the real thing. I was viewed and treated as a Star-Belly Sneetch by most of those who had stars upon thars. But when I met up with the other Sneetches on the beach–the ones with no marshmallows or hotdogs–most of them also accepted me as one of their own. They didn’t see my half star, but noticed instead my deeply tanned skin, my unusual eyes, the shape of my nose and lips. Look for yourself. You’ll see it if you’re paying attention.

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Sticky Ideas for Post-PiBoIdMo

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© Apple, Inc.

Like many of you, I came out of PiBoIdMo (Tara Lazar’s annual November challenge, Picture Book Idea Month) with more ideas than I can handle. Which ideas are going to stick around long enough to grow into stories? I use the Apple software Stickies to find out.

First, I rifle through my writer’s notebook for the ideas that really spring out at me, the ones that have energy, the stories that obsess and excite me.

Next, I use the Stickies app to litter my computer desktop with those ideas, so that every time I power up to write, I’m reading and rereading them. This gets the story compost going, growing stories even when I’m working on another draft or revision. I keep the compost hot by stirring every once in a while–moving favorite ideas to the top or coming up with clever titles for ideas that started with a character or situation or premise.

I write the first idea note in yellow, with a large, appealing font. By selecting “Use as default” under the Note drop-down menu, I can create new notes with the same size, color, font and format as the first note simply by pressing Command+N.

Throughout the year, I check in with my sticky ideas, using a color code to track my ideas through drafting and revision. I like to move from warm to cool colors as I progress through the writing process:

Yellow = Idea —> Pink = Outline or start —> Green = Complete draft —> Blue = Lightly revised —> Purple = Heavily revised —> Grey = Ready to submit

Using Stickies to grow ideas into stories, © L. M. Quraishi, 2014

Using Stickies to grow ideas into stories, © L. M. Quraishi, 2014

(My desk doesn’t usually look this neat–I cleaned it up just for you!)

Since I compose on my laptop and use my desktop computer for other work, I keep my sticky ideas on the desktop so that my ideas are up in the background while I write. My laptop is where I collect research, resources, information, inspiration and wisdom from my writing peers.

© L. M. Quraishi, 2014

© L. M. Quraishi, 2014

What do you do with your idea hatchlings? Where do you keep them safe? How do you feed them? How do you help them grow up into the stories they were meant to be?

Writing Activity: Author’s Bio Mad Lib

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Author’s Bio Mad Lib

I have always been shy when meeting new people. I’m the person hugging the wall of the room—watching, watching, taking notes in my head. I’d rather read the titles on people’s bookshelves and recite the names of the plants in their gardens than strike up a conversation with a stranger. My favorite party prop is a camera—I’ve gotten so good at wielding a lens that many people mistake me for the event photographer, which suits me just fine.

But nowadays, especially with online submissions, I’m required to come up with an Author’s Bio introducing myself to the world. As a writer. In the third person. Awkward.

This year, a request for an author’s bio to accompany a 12 x 12 guest-post on Julie Hedlund’s blog coincided with the start of my son’s third grade year. I’ll be volunteering every other week to teach Poetry Workshop to his class, and one of the first things I always ask young writers to do is create an author’s bio. It’s a great way to build writing community at the start of the school year, and I’ve always loved featuring bios on the classroom wall for Conferences. All year, we include the Author’s Bios and photos on children’s polished and published work, which lends great authenticity to the Writers’ Workshop. Plus the kids have a lot more fun writing Author’s Bios than I do.

For Writers

If you’re a writer, completing this activity might help you strike the right balance of vulnerability, humility and humor in your struggle to craft your own author’s bio. Skip straight to the Author’s Bio Mad Lib, and have fun!

For Teachers

If you’re a teacher, consider trying this lesson as a formative assessment of your students’ writing abilities early in the year. You can even have them revise the bios at the end of the year to include their “publication credits,” and add the “before” and “after” bios to their writing portfolios.

I suggest completing the following series of lessons over 1-4 weeks. You can combine or emphasize different portions of the lesson according to the age and capabilities of your class. Use the Author’s Bio to introduce your class to each stage of the writing process, from getting ideas to final draft, in a series of mini-lessons followed by related practice. Continue reading →

Welcome to Words Like Rain!

Words Like Rain

 

L. M. Quraishi is a children’s book writer, teacher and mom who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She writes fiction and non-fiction for children of all ages – about pelicans, magic, kung fu, being naughty, irritable zoo animals, loss, getting along, escalators, goddesses, and anything else that catches her fancy. Currently she’s seeking representation for her picture book manuscripts, and working on a middle grade novel. In her blog Words Like Rain, she explores the art and business of writing for children, reviews diverse books for children, shares tips for writers and lesson plans for teachers.