Some YA Highway love

Just a quick little post. One of the blogs I read on a regular basis is YA Highway. Today, there's a funny and spot-on-true post by Lelia Austin. I thought I'd pass it along if you're in need of a good laugh, need to hear you're not alone or just hate garden gnomes. Ready? Go....

HERE

I'm always on the lookout for awesome blogs to help me procrast... um, inspire me. What blogs do you read?

Comic: The Wish

Back from the SCBWI Winter Conference. Now what?

(click on image above for bigger version)

I just got back from the SCBWI Winter Conference in NYC. Whoa -- what an amazing, inspiring event. Just before the conference, I also visited my publisher at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers about I'm Bored and other projects. I'll be posting about both events in my Inkygirl blog, with (likely way too many) photos.

But the main message prevalent throughout: no matter what the format, what promoting I do, what process or techniques I use, it's the CONTENT that matters most in the end. In the end, a good story and strong characters trump all.

So while my head feels so full of all the wonderful information and advice I learned during the event, I know that most of all, I need to get my butt in my chair and do more WRITING. 

Comic: Disappointment For Billy

While going through my comic archives to tag and catalog in prep for my Inkygirl/Will Write For Chocolate comic compilation, I came across this very old comic. I still feel sorry for Billy...

Comic: "The Scream" for writers

The Scrutiny of the Teenaged Critic

My writing has grown up with my children. When they were little, they loved my picture books, which often featured them as main characters. It was fun to see them so excited about my writing. Then came the early readers, centred around their interests. They weren’t as concerned about being the stars of the stories, but they did begin to voice their opinions, telling me what they liked and didn’t like. Now that I’m writing middle grade novels, they’ve become teenagers, and my most valuable –and harshest—critics. They tell me:

- when they don’t connect with a character

- when the dialogue doesn’t work or isn’t what a kid would say

- when I need to fix a huge plot hole that’s implausible to them

- when they don’t understand the logic or what is happening in the story

These kinds of comments are all a great help. In fact, my latest manuscript is filled with pencilled in comments. Giant question marks. Underlining with notes that say “This sentence is awkward” or “This character’s a girl?” or “Not presented in the right POV.” They’ve become so picky, I’m beginning to think I liked it better when they were five and just said they liked it. Where did they learn all this stuff? Possibly I’ve raised two future editors. Of course, it’s not quite as helpful when they tell me:

- they don’t like a character’s name because it reminds them of someone they don’t like

- in a slightly sarcastic tone, “Since when?” or “I don’t think so.”

- "This whole story would never happen this way, you know" (trying to be kind)

- to hurry up and finish writing because they want to use the computer

As teenagers, they are begging me to write YA. I shudder to think what they’d say if I did. But I think I’ve found my niche. I am so over writing to please them, I’m sticking with middle grade. (Though I’m hoping that they will at least finish reading the book without throwing it down and saying “When are you going to write something normal?”)

-- Andrea

Comic: Dread and Anticipation

This comic was more appropriate when print submissions ruled. Nowadays, more editors are open to e-mail submissions. The advantage: easier to submit your writing. The disadvantage: rejections come back more quickly! Heh.

- Debbie