I an excited to announce my debut picture book FREE TO BE ME!

My editor is Chris Krones with Clarion Books at HarperCollins.

The Illustrator is the amazing Robbie Cathro. Check out his work here.

Until now my writing life has been in the pre-agent years. Years of writing, learning craft, reading kidlit books, finding ideas, building community, and participating in kidlit activities.

Also years of submitting. Researching hundreds of agents to see who I wanted to work with, getting my work as ready as possible, and sending it out into the world.

It was work! Lots and lots of work. BUT, that phase is over. I have an agent!!!

I will be working with Kaitlyn Sanchez at Olswanger Literary. Kaitlyn is fairly new to agenting, but that’s okay. I’m new too. I’m so happy to be starting our careers together. We will both grow and learn and make beautiful books. I couldn’t be happier with my current state!

I have a feeling the hard work has just begun, but now I have a partner to help me get closer to my goals of publishing. It’s an exciting time.

I just received word that I have been awarded an honorable mention for the 2020 SCBWI Ann Whitford Paul – Writer’s Digest Manuscript Award for most promising new picture book manuscript. Read the announcement here. The manuscript has gone through many critique partners, so I have a lot of people to thank. It takes a village. I’m glad I have a large, smart, loving one.

In the past years I have had the opportunity to travel the world – seventy countries visited with no end in sight.

Until last March.

When the pandemic hit, I was on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. Borders closed, disease spread, and I found myself in a mad rush to return to the United States. Travel life has been put on hold.

My husband and I had given up our home, so we now find ourselves in one of his mother’s spare rooms (a renter (stranger) resides in the other). Instead of planning for India and Nepal, we scour the want ads. I have full faith that we will one day return to a life of travel, but for now we wait patiently.

One advantage to this change of pace is I now have a writing routine. Although I have always written a lot, sitting down at the same time everyday is a game changer. I have new rules and goals and discipline. Work gets done, and I find I stress less about the work. I should have self quarantined long ago.

Here is what I’m doing. Every week I am wring two new poems. One for each of two anthologies I am working on. Then on alternating weeks, I am either revising an old project, or wring something completely new. In between those I work on networking, reading, studying craft, and critiquing.

My schedule is simple. I wake between 5:30 and 6:00. I limit my activities to writing (or sometimes drawing) until 9:00. From 9:00 to 11:00 I add activities such as networking, emails, and critiquing. After that I can do whatever I want. Often, I find myself engaging in writing related activities the rest of the day.

This wasn’t so straight forward at first. I was having trouble sitting down to write and I think it all had to do with the wording of my new rules. Originally I said, “I must write until 9.” But I found myself playing on Facebook and You-tube. Then I rethought my rule, “I cannot use my computer for anything except writing before 9.” Somehow this change of thought worked. I’m not exactly sure why, but now I write and don’t feel like I’m missing out on other activities. I think I had too many options.

Now to see how long I last. The productivity is keeping me motivated. So far, so good.

As a constant traveler, my schedule rarely lines up with the rest of the world’s. Years seasons, months, days, hours are all often a mystery to me. As my current home is in an Ecuadorian rain forest, February feels nothing like February. Luckily I always have a Susanna Leonard Hill writing contest to anchor me. I know that Valentines day is on it’s way only because it’s time for The 5th Annual Pretty Much World Famous Valentiny Writing Contest!!!

This year the theme is – curiosity. The night before the theme was announced, I had a dream about an item. The theme plus that dream came together in…

–

THE KEY

Valentine’s Day wasn’t Valentines Day until Aggie opened her daddy’s gift. Every year it was the same wonderful thing…

Jewelry!

This year (like most years) she couldn’t wait.

Aggie snuck into her daddy’s study, and peeked around. And under a heart shaped box of chocolates (probably for her mom) was an envelope that simply said, Vday – Aggie.

This had to be her gift. She tore into envelope.

A key?

Hmmm. Aggie loved a mystery.

Challenge accepted! From attic to basement, garage to backyard, she tried the key in anything with a keyhole – a safe, a chest, a music box, a door, a desk.

Nothing!

She needed more clues. She crept back to her daddy’s study for a second look. “Good Morning! I see you found your gift.”

Oops!

“No luck,” she said.

Her daddy pulled a chain out of his pocket. He slipped the key onto the chain, and fastened it around her neck.

“What’s that for?” she asked. “Do we have to take the key somewhere else?”

“Did you look at the key?”

She took it in her hand. She hadn’t noticed how pretty it was.

Aggie turned it over.

An inscription read, You are the key to my heart, Love Daddy.

Mystery solved!

Aggie gave her daddy the biggest hug ever.

–

Thanks for reading. Now, go have a look at all of the other wonderful entries at Susanna’s blog.

I have never been a huge fan of Halloween. I don’t enjoy dressing in costumes, and I’m not fond of creepy/scary/gross things. BUT there are aspects of Halloween I do enjoy. First, fun sized candies. Second, Susanna Leonard Hill’s annual Halloweensie writing contest. This is her 9th year, and it is as fun a challenge as ever.

The rules are that is must be a children’s story that contains some form of the the words potion, cobweb, and trick. Oh yeah, and it must be 100 words or less. Quite the challenge, but one I’m am happy to take on.

Billy and Buddy’s Epic Halloween

Billy and Buddy’s Halloween was epic!

They had ditched their sister Maggie, played some pranks, tricked little kids out of their candy, and now their sacks were brimming with treats.

“Enough?” asked Billy.

“Enough!” said Buddy.

They spun around to walk home when…

WHAM! They turned smack into an old woman with wispy, cobweb-like hair.

“Give me candy!” she cackled. “Perfect for potions!” She snatched their sacks and scurried away.

“A witch!”

They ran home crying.

Their story fascinated Maggie. “It must have been scary.” (She tucked a cobwebby wig behind her back.) “Would you like a piece of candy?”

Thank you for reading. Go here to read all of the other entries.

I love writing challenges! They get my creative juices flowing, and who doesn’t love juice? Delicious!

Anyway, I just found one that is brand new to me – Kidlit Fall Writing Frenzy – A contest by Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez at her blog, MATH IS EVERYWHERE. What fun. We were challenged to write a kidlit story or poem inspired by one of thirteen different images.

I chose image # 11 with two crows in a spooky old tree.

FRIGHT THROUGH THE NIGHT

–

We took to the trees as the wind changed it’s course.

Below we heard shouting – not sure of its source.

Then ghosties and goblins began to appear.

Next witches and boogeymen brought up the rear.

–

They each held a sack as they begged door to door,

never contented they clamored for more.

Caw Caw Caw. Fright through the night.

A frenzy of mayhem and shrieks of delight.

–

Bounding from bushes, chasing a cat,

snatching a pumpkin and smashing it flat.

Caw Caw Caw. Fright through the night.

We hoped it would stop before morning’s first light.

–

They flung rolls of paper up into our tree.

We ducked and we dodged from their riotous spree.

Caw Caw Caw. Fright through the night.

The madness dragged on, we were forced to take flight.

–

Caw Caw Caw. Fright through the night.

Those Halloween creatures were most impolite.

–

Thank you for reading, and go take a look at all the other wonderful entries.

For being a writer, I am surprisingly into numbers. I love counting things! It helps me keep my stuff in order and my thoughts organized.

This year I accumulated some pretty significant numbers.

As part of Julie Hedlund’s 12 Days Of Christmas For Writers, we were challenged make a list list of our successes for 2018. Then we were asked to post those results for the world to see (brag).

Here are mine. The numbers first, and then a few extras at the end.

Ideas. This grew out of Tara Lazar’s Storystorm. She challenges writers to come up with 30 ideas in the month of January. This year I took it to the next level. I kept it up the entire year. In the end, I had 435 ideas. And since I decided to start early (Dec. ’17) I actually have a list of 478 new ideas.

Books read. I studied All sorts of kidlit books this year. Many were old classics I hadn’t picked up before. 17 Young Adult. 8 Middle Grade. 18 Chapter Books/Easy Readers. 5 Miscellaneous. And 1032 Picture Books. That’s 1080 kidlit books read.

Writing. I challenged myself to write a new picture book first draft every week. I also wanted to participate in Paula Yoo’s Picture Book Writing Week. In total, I ended up with 58 new stories written.

Conferences/Classes – 4, including the big SCBWI Conference in Los Angeles.

Critiques – I have several critique groups and individual critique buddies. With them I had 10 stories critiqued. I also had the opportunities for professional critiques with agents, editors, and published writers. 9 critiques with them. 19 times, I went through the critique process.

Awards/Challenges/Contests. With scholarships, art contests, writing contests, poetry challenges, twitter pitches and other opportunities all around, I entered 12 challenges.

Other accomplishments.

I actively submitted to agents, and a few publishers when requested.

I received some amazing praise for my work, both art and writing, from some highly respected individuals.

I got a new job as a youth librarian, where I made an eight foot wide snowflake.

I received a grant from the Nevada Arts Council to help further my career.

Overall, a pretty exciting year!

I love picture books.

They are the perfect marriage of text and art.

Throw in a bit of heart, or humor, or invention, and it becomes something truly special.

I read 1032 picture books in 2018. Most of them were very good. But with so many picture books out there, it is hard to stand out. For me, a stand-out is usually the one I remember. The one I find myself thinking about long after it’s been read.

The following are those books. The titles that are bolded are my top 11 favorites. (All books are listed in the order I read them last year.) The second column is the author, the third is the illustrator.

MY FRIENDS MAKE ME HAPPY	Thomas, Jan	Thomas, Jan
THE RABBIT LISTENED	Doerrfeld, Cori	Doerrfeld, Cori
THE BOO-BOO THAT CHANGED THE WORLD	Wittenstein, Barry	Hsu, Chris
THE WORD COLLECTOR	Reynolds, Peter	Reynolds, Peter
THE TIPTOEING TIGER	Leathers, Philippa	Leathers, Philippa
HONK! SPLAT! VROOM!	Gott, Barry	Gott, Barry
IT’S SPRINGTIME, MR. SQUIRREL!	Meschenmoser, Sebastian	Meschenmoser, Sebastian
THE BIG UMBRELLA	June, Amy	Bates, Juniper
THE LITTLE RED FORT	Maier, Brenda	Sanchez, Sonia
A FIRE TRUCK FOR CHUCK	Dunklee, Annika	Cathon
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAB	Fliess, Sue	Bouloubasis, Petros
DON’T BLINK	Rosenthal, Amy Krouse & Paris	Roberts, David
VINCENT COMES HOME	Bagley, Jessixa & Aaron	Bagley, Jessixa & Aaron
IF WENDELL HAD A WALRUS	Mortensen, Lori	Phelan, Matt
GROW	Platt, Cynthia	Holden, Olivia
LITTLE BROTHERS & LITTLE SISTERS	Arnaldo, Monica	Arnaldo, Monica
THE TRUTH ABOUT BEARS	Eaton, Maxwell III	Eaton, Maxwell III
MY PET WANTS A PET	Broach, Elise	Barclay, Eric
BITTY BOT’S BIG BEACH GETAWAY	McCanna, Tim	Carpenter, Tad
CAN I BE YOUR DOG?	Cummings, Troy	Cummings, Troy
JULIAN IS A MERMAID	Love, Jessica	Love, Jessica
SUMMER COLOR!	Murray, Diana	Persico, Zoe
SHEEP 101	Morris, Richard T.	Pham, LeUyen
SQUARE	Barnett, Mac	Klassen, Jon
SOMETIMES YOU FLY	Applegate, Katherine	Reinhardt, Jennifer Black
BROWN BEAR CAN’T SLEEP	Cai, Yijun	Cai, Yijun
A HIPPY-HOPPY TOAD	Archer, Peggy	Wilsdorf, Anne
FLOATY	Himmelman, John	Himmelman, John
LITTLE ROBOT ALONE	MacLachlan, Patricia & MacLachlan Charest, Emily	Phelan, Matt
A HOME FOR LEO	Vogel, Vin	Vogel, Vin
TWO PROBLEMS FOR SOPHIA	Averbeck, Jim	Ismail, Yasmeen
OVER ON A DESERT SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD	Berkes, Marianne	Dubin, Jill
LET’S GO ABC	Greene, Rhonda Gowler	Kirk, Daniel
ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT FLUFFY	Boldt, Mike	Boldt, Mike
TOO MUCH! NOT ENOUGH!	Perry, Gina	Perry, Gina
PRINCE GEORGE GOES TO SCHOOL	Hart, Caryl	Anderson, Laura Ellen
OFF & AWAY	Atkinson, Cale	Atkinson, Cale
PRETTY KITTY	Beaumont, Karen	Laberis, Stephanie
BLUE	Seeger, Laura Vaccaro	Seeger, Laura Vaccaro
LENA’S SHOES ARE NERVOUS	Calabrese, Keith	Medina, Juana
MABEL AND SAM AT HOME	Urban, Linda	Hooper, Hadley
LOST IN THE LIBRARY	Funk, Josh	Lewis, Stevie
INTERRUPTING CHICKEN AND THE ELEPHANT OF SURPRISE	Stein, David Ezra	Stein, David Ezra
CRASH, SPLASH, OR MOO!	Shea, Bob	Shea, Bob
GIRAFFE PROBLEMS	John, Jory	Smith, Lane
SNOW PONY AND THE SEVEN MINIATURE PONIES	Trimmer, Christian	Sima, jessie
NIGHT JOB	Hesse, Karen	Karas, G. Brian
THE VISITOR	Damm, Antje	Damm, Antje
MONSTER & MOUSE GO CAMPING	Underwood, Deborah	Chapman, Jared
ROCK WHAT YOU GOT	Berger, Samantha	Kerascoet
BABY’S FIRSTS	Day, Nancy Raines	Emberley, Michael
HOW DO YOU TAKE A BATH?	McMullan, Kate	Hanson, Sydney
FLY WITH ME	Yolen, Jane & Stemple, Heidi E. Y. & Stemple, Adam & Stemple, Jason	–
ALLIE ALL ALONG	Ruel, Sarah Lynne	Ruel, Sarah Lynne
BENJI, THE BAD DAY, AND ME	Pla,Sally J.	Min, Ken
THE WALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK	Agee, Jon	Agee, jon
PENGUIN & TINY SHRIMP DON’T DO BEDTIME!	Berry, Cate	Santoso, Charles
THE EYE THAT NEVER SLEEPS	Moss, Marissa	Holmes, Jeremy
THE REPTILE CLUB	Fergus, Maureen	Ellis, Elina
OCTOPANTS	Senior, Suzy	Powell, Claire
BEST FRIENDS IN THE UNIVERSE	Watson, Stephanie	Pham, LeUyen
BUSINESS PIG	Zuill, Andrea	Zuill, Andrea
MEET THE LATKES	Silberberg, Alan	Silberberg, Alen
THERE’S A DINOSAUR ON THE 13TH FLOOR	Bradford, Wade	Hawkes, Kevin
NIBLET & RALPH	OHora, Zachariah	OHora, Zachariah
IS THAT YOU, ELEANOR SUE?	Tusa, Tricia	Tusa, Tricia
PEACEFUL FIGHTS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS	Sanders, Rob	Schorr, Jared Andrew
LOVELY BEASTS	Gardner, Kate	Smith, Heidi
THE DAY YOU BEGIN	Woodson, Jacqueline	Lopez, Rafael
ME AND MY FEAR	Sanna, Francesca	Sanna, Francesca
WATER LAND	Hale, Christy	Hale, Christy
WE DON’T EAT OUR CLASSMATES	Higgins, Ryan T.	Higgins, Ryan T.
LOVE, Z	Sima, Jessie	Sima, Jessie
HAROLD LOVES HIS WOOLLY HAT	Kousky, Vern	Kousky, Vern

With the back to back holidays, come the back to back Susanna Leonard Hill writing contests. This holiday season the entries are all about HEROES! I can’t wait to read them all. They’re bound to be packed with inspiration. What better way to start the season? Read all about the contest here.

Now for mine:

SNOOZY

Sing along, HERE COMES SUZY SNOWFLAKE, DRESSED IN HER SNOW WHITE GOWN…

We’re all familiar with the heroic Suzy – tapping on windows, building snowmen, providing sleigh rides with an ultra smooth glide. Christmas isn’t Christmas without her.

Unlike Suzy is her brother Snoozy.

Snoozy never floats to the ground on Christmas. He stays tucked in his cloud… sleeping.

“Will you help this year?” Suzy always asks.

But he just yaaaaaawns, and rolls over.

One Christmas after Suzy flitted to the ground, Snoozy’s crystals began to tingle.

He opened one eye. Naughty winds were chasing away the clouds.

The sun blazed down.

Without the clouds, all things Christmassy would melt…

…including Suzy!

Snoozy bounded across the sky.

First he gathered the little clouds, tying them together with bits of rainbow.

Next, the medium clouds. These guys were fast.

The most difficult were the big clouds. He tugged and tugged but the winds tugged the other way.

The sun sweltered. Those troublesome winds had to go!

With all his strength, Snoozy zigged and zagged and looped in circles around the winds.

Annoyed, they finally gave up, and blustered away.

Then for hours, Snoozy heaved, hoisted, hefted, and hauled until every last cloud was in its place.

When Suzy returned that night, Snoozy was sound asleep.

“Sleep well, Brother. Maybe you can help next Christmas.”

But the next Christmas…

…Snoozy slept in.

I still think he deserves a verse of his own, HERE LIES SNOOZY SNOWFLAKE, WRAPPED IN HIS SNOW WHITE CLOUD…

*****

 

Thank you for reading!