ARRIVAL IN NEW ORLEANS!

In New Orleans for the American Library Association (ALA) conference! I love this city: the great food, fabulous jazz, exquisite balconies and distinctive character of the French Quarter.


I'm here with Goosebottom Books publisher, Shirin Yim Bridges and editorial assistant, Ann Edwards. We'll be setting up a booth for Goosebottom Books tomorrow. Should be a packed, but fun-filled weekend. 


The flight was uneventful, and after catching a little well-needed snooze, I did manage some research for my Sacagawea book. We made a brief refueling stop in Los Angeles where I met and chatted with Jay Asher, the author of the controversial Thirteen Reasons Why at Starbucks (where else?) He's presenting at ALA.

Editorial Assistant Ann Edwards (L) and
Publisher Shirin Yim Bridges perusing the menu
at Cafe Amelie

Once on the ground, we dropped off our bags at our hotel in the French Quarter, then strolled around and found an outdoor cafe for dinner. Hmm...crab cakes and chicken gumbo in a pretty courtyard—can't beat that for a first night in New Orleans!


We found a bar with some great jazz playing—Jamil Sharif and his band. They were awesome! I bought his CD to bring home. Nothing like a little New Orleans jazz to spice up the evening.

The Jamil Sharif jazz band playing at
Maison Bourbon on Bourbon St., the bar
with the self-proclaimed "Best Jazz in town"

Shirin and Ann on our stroll around the
French Quarter

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

Sometimes, when people find out I'm a writer, they ask, "So, where do you get your ideas from?" Call me weird, but I like to browse the sheriff or police log in my local paper. The advantage of living in a small town is:

1. Rush hour traffic is rare
2. You run into people you know all the time at the post office, grocery store, library, coffee shop.
3. Crime is minimal

And the criminals are stupid. Seriously. Truth is stranger than fiction. You can't make this stuff up. 


Like the guy who recently stole a bunch of stuff from a store , and when chased by the police, ran into Starbucks and locked himself in the bathroom. Now, anyone who's a frequent customer of Starbucks, like I am, knows that their bathrooms don't have windows. There's one way out of there—through the door. Talk about painting yourself into a corner! It must have been one of the easiest nabs for our guys in blue.


Then, there's the guy who shoplifted from the grocery store, and tried to make his getaway in a...wait for it...motorized shopping cart. Yep, you know what I'm talking about. The sit-down cart with the basket in the front that goes putt putt down the grocery aisle at two miles per hour. And when the cop walked up to him, and told him to get off the cart, he leapt off and attacked the officer! Now, he's charged with shoplifting and assault. Go figure.


If this doesn't end up in a play or story somewhere, it was at least good for a few hearty chuckles.

PLAYING WITH KNIVES AT THE PEGASUS THEATRE

Playing with Knives has just been selected for the Tapas Short Plays Festival at the Pegasus Theatre in Rio Nido. Performance dates are Aug. 26 to Sept. 25.

CIXI, THE DRAGON EMPRESS

   My picture book biography, Cixi, The Dragon Empress will be released in October 2011. 

The last empress of China, Cixi, fought ruthlessly to isolate her country from the West while cloistered inside her lavish Forbidden City, ignoring the needs of her people. But was the Dragon Empress evil or just out of touch?

Gorgeous illustrations and an intelligent, evocative story bring to life a real dastardly dame whose ignorance brought a centuries-old dynasty crashing down, ending the imperial system that had ruled China for millennia.

Take a peek inside the book: Cixi Facebook page

Post a comment on this blog post and earn a chance to win a free signed copy! 
(Winner will be picked at random and selected in August).


Everybody else will get a 10% discount off the retail price of the book.

I'M GOING TO THE SCBWI L.A. CONFERENCE!

   If only publishers were so speedy in their responses. I mailed my application for an SCBWI grant that would help fund the cost of attending the annual SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles on Friday, April 29. The application had to be postmarked by May 1. I received an email on Monday or Tuesday, informing me that I was one of 3 recipients for this $750 grant. Yipee! So, I'm all registered and booked on a flight to L.A. in August. Unfortunately, the flights were pretty expensive, so the grant didn't cover all the transportation costs, and to save money, I'm staying a my brother Jason's pad in Santa Monica. He won't be there, but he offered me the use of his car too.
   "So," I said. "Do I get to drive the porsche then?"
   "Er..Let me clarify...you get to drive the station wagon."
   Oh, right. Still...it's a BMW wagon which beats my soccer mom mini-van anyday.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

    I have two articles out this month. "Horses Helping Others", my non-fiction article just appeared in the May issue (Horsing Around) of Appleseeds magazine. Appleseeds is a social studies magazine for kids 8 - 11.

and my article, "Curtain Call" about Mendocino College's annual New Plays Festival appeared in the Spring issue of Mendocino Arts Magazine.

It's always great to see your name in print!

REDWOOD WRITERS' PLAY FESTIVAL AND MENDO. LITFEST

   May Day weekend was a busy weekend for me. On Friday, April 29, my husband, eleven-year old daughter, and I met up with my sister in Cotati at the small, but intimate, home theatre of Linda and Harry Reid to watch the first Redwood Writers' Ten-Minute Play Festival. My ten-minute play, "Offing the Witness" was first in the line-up. Directed by Lennie Dean and featuring a talented cast of Guy Slater, Saskia Baur, Paige Picard, and Alana Raymond, the actors nailed their lines, the pacing sparkled, the audience laughed in all the right places, and everyone looked like they had fun to boot. So gratifying! 
   This was a fundraiser for the Redwood Writers, a branch of the California Writers' Club, started in 1909 by Jack London and a couple of friends. The price of the tickets included hor d'oeuvres and drinks provided in the Reids' lovely well-manicured backyard which made the whole event feel like an English garden party.
   Saturday, April 30, was the Mendocino LitFest, a literary event held on the campus of Mendocino College in Ukiah. It offered a round-robin poetry reading and writing workshops. I co-taught a workshop with my friend, novelist Jody Gehrman called From Picture Books to YA: the nuts and bolts of writing and publishing for children. We had around 20 workshop participants, but it's challenging to say the least to try and cover the whole range of children's book publishing in 50 mins. We had fun though!

FINDING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

I sent a picture book manuscript to my agent a couple weeks ago. She thought it was a "darling" story, but told me that in today's market, it wasn't enough anymore for a story to be good and well-written. Editors want to know: Who is your target audience? She wasn't sure who the target audience was for this book.


Which got me thinking. Picture book. Kids, 4 - 8? Isn't that who the target audience is? Not anymore, apparently. Now, writers have to narrow their audience more specifically. Is it for boys or girls? Disabled kids? Kids who are bullied? Kids who live on farms? So, how do you decide who your target audience is and finding the right publisher for your manuscript?


Here are some links on the issue:
  Finding the right publisher for your children's book
   Publicize your Book: Target Audience


If anyone finds any other sites that are helpful in determining the target audience of a children's book, please let me know or post a comment.

PLAYING WITH KNIVES, SHORT+SWEET SYDNEY

Here is Short+Sweet Sydney's Production of Playing with Knives.

FROM THE DOLDRUMS TO THE PEAK

      It's amazing how the publishing world can turn on a dime! On March 15, I received an email from Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency declining to represent me. I then sent my manuscript to agent Karen Grencik, who's impressive in her response times, and how quickly she replies to emails. She said she thought the story was adorable, and by March 21, I had signed my first agent contract!
   In the meantime, I received an email from Alyssa Pusey at Charlesbridge Publishing, and she's very interested in Goldy Luck and the Three Chans. She had some editorial suggestions to develop the story further for "acquisitions", so we've been tossing some ideas back and forth, and I'm currently revising the manuscript. But if all goes well, I may have found a new home for Goldy Luck after Random House unceremoniously abandoned it.
   However, based on that experience, I shouldn't let myself get too excited until I actually see the book in print! 

AU REVOIR, TRICYCLE PRESS

   I went to the Tricycle Press send-off party in Berkeley on Friday. Despite the sad reason for the gathering (to say goodbye to the Tricycle staff), the mood was generally upbeat. I got to meet my editor, Joanne Taylor, see writing friends/acquaintances, and meet some lovely new people, one of whom is literary agent, Karen Grencik, who I thought was very open, friendly, and warm. I'd love to have her as my agent, but I think I should wait for Ammi-Joan Paquette's response first since she's asked for more of my work for consideration. We did exchange business cards, though.
   I discovered that, depressing as my case may be (Random House cancelled my contract shortly after I signed it), there were other writers who were in a worse situation—some who received their very first publishing contract, one author's book was slated for a fall 2011 release and was just about to go into production, another whose book already had all the illustrations completed. All these were not retained by Random House.
   Ahh...so turns the cruel, cruel world of publishing...

IN SUNNY DOWN UNDER

Harbor Bridge across Sydney Harbor

     I'm out here in sunny Sydney, Australia for the Short+Sweet Ten-Minute Theatre Festival to see the production of my play, Playing with Knives, a special gift from my parents who have travelled here from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to meet me. 
    We arrived on Australia Day, kind of like our Independance Day, a national holiday, so people were out in droves enjoying the various parades/festivities, and the music venues set up along the picturesque waterfront.
   We checked into a performance at the Sydney Opera House (they're doing Madame Butterfly), but only the $300 tickets were left. Ouch! We did walk over there though, and had a dinner at a café under the opera house.

Sydney Opera House

   My dad's cousins live in Sydney, so they acted as our very gracious tour guides, introducing us to restaurants and neighborhoods not frequented by tourists. We also met up with my ex-brother-in-law, Graeme, who also lives here. We had lunch and dinner in Chinatown, and he came along with us to see my play at the Newtown Theatre.

   Unfortunately, the theatre was up two flights of stairs so my dad, who is in a wheelchair, could not get up to see it. The good thing was that Playing with Knives was the second play after intermission, so Mom sat at the outdoor café next door with Dad while Graeme and I watched the first half, then Mom came up after intermission and got to see the play. I'll have to post the play on YouTube when I get the DVD, so Dad can catch it then.  All in all, it was a well-done production/performance, and we enjoyed it. 

Flyer for Playing with Knives
They listed me under my married name though

At the Newtown Theatre 

  

BACK OUT INTO THE PUBLISHING WORLD

   Okay, my publication contract has been cancelled. I was now faced with two choices: I can get really depressed and wallow in self-pity, or send the darn thing out into the publishing world again. I figured I had done what I could do: write the story, edit it a zillion times, submit it, work with editors to edit it a zillion more times. Everything else that had to do with Tricycle Press closing was beyond my control, and there was no use harping on it. So, I made the revisions that Joanne Taylor had suggested, and sent it to my former editor, Yolanda Scott, at Charlesbridge Publishing (Charlesbridge doesn't publish many folk tales/fairy tales, but Yolanda thought the multi-cultural twist was interesting so asked me to send it on), and to three agents: Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary+Media, whom I had met at the Asilomar Writer's Conference, Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and Kelly Sonnack of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, both of whom I met (at different times) at the SCBWI Northern California Writer's Conference at Mills College.
   Stephen emailed back very quickly and said the work wasn't a match for his list. Ammi-Joan thought it was a cute story, and asked to see more of my work. And Kelly Sonnack never responded which, according to the Andrea Brown Lit. Agency website, means they're not interested in representing you. 
   I sent Ammi-Joan another picture book manuscript and the 1st three chapters of my Young Adult novel for review. 
   Sigh. More waiting...

I'M GOING GLOBAL!

   My ten-minute play, Playing with Knives, has been chosen for the Short+Sweet Festival in Sydney, Australia! They get 1500 submissions a year, and I've submitted to them before, so I feel very honored to have been included this time around. 

BAD NEWS

  There are no guarantees in the World of Publishing. Not even after you've inked a contract (legally binding in most professions, but in the writing world, anything goes). After carefully (and proudly, I might add) negotiating my publishing contract with Tricycle Press/Random House, I signed it and sent it back with all the appropriate tax forms. That was on a Friday. On Monday, I received a phone call from my editor telling me that Random House had decided to shutter Tricycle Press. It was a big shock for everyone. Didn't they just move to new larger offices back in the Spring? Didn't they have an Open House a month ago? The editors received the news a week before they sadly informed their authors. At the end of January 2011, they'll no longer have a job, and Tricycle Press, publisher of beautiful, eclectic children's books for 18 years, will no longer exist. The writers whose books are coming out in Spring 2011 would still see their books in print. Everyone else was a BIG question mark. All the editors were to submit a package detailing the merits of the books they were handling for Random House's consideration. In the end, out of 36 or so books slated for publication through fall 2011, 2012 and 2013, only 2 or 3 were retained by Random House Children's Books.
   Goldy Luck and the Three Chans was not one of them. So, after three and a half years, three editors, and the excitement of an offer of publication, it's back to square one.
   

GOOSEBOTTOM BOOKS LAUNCHES "THE THINKING GIRL'S TREASURY OF REAL PRINCESSES"

   I attended the official launch of Goosebottom Books and its new series, The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses at Books, Inc. in San Francisco on Oct. 2. The turn out was decent, but not great by any means, but the books definitely generated much interest for those who were there. Publisher and author, Shirin Yim Bridges, introduced the original thinking girl who inspired the stories of real princesses—my daughter, Tiegan!—and talked about how the concept for the books took shape. A few were disappointed that there was no reading, but the limited time-frame did not allow for that. She signed books and answered questions, while illustrator, Albert Nguyen, drew princesses on demand for girls who attended the event. Boys, on the other hand, made the usual requests for spiderman pictures.
   I ran into an old acquaintance I hadn't seen for 30 years! Okay, the brother of my high school boyfriend, if you must know. And met up again with Susan McCombs, the editor at Tricycle Press who first took my manuscript Goldy Luck and the Three Chans to an editorial meeting. It was nice to chat about the book, royalty contracts, and all things literary. 
   Attendees got to munch on sushi, crackers and cheese, topped off with champagne, wine, and coffee for teetotalers like me. 
   After the event, the family and I went to dinner at Max's cafe next door. It was a very enjoyable evening, and I much admired Shirin's hardwork and efforts in promoting her new business and books.

THE GEESE FLOCK TO THE SONOMA BOOK FAIR

Publisher & author, Shirin Yim Bridges

I hung out at the Goosebottom Books booth at the Sonoma Book Fair this weekend. It was sweltering hot. Thank God, we had a nice booth location in the shade—right next to Barefoot Books. Naturally, I had to get my kids a book...or two...and spent way too much money on books...again! 


Our booth did attract quite a few passersbys. Albert Nguyen (the illustrator) did a "Draw me a Princess" activity which, naturally, was quite popular with the little girls. My friend and fellow "goose", Gretchen, and I were assigned the task of roaming the book fair and handing out postcards to girls and their parents inviting them to have a "princess" drawn. Interestingly, the activity also attracted a group of tween boys who hovered around until the last of the girls left, then asked Albert to draw them a few "boy" pictures—Spiderman, Ninja Mutant Turtles, to name a few.

Super postcard hander-outer geese,
Natasha Yim and Gretchen Maurer

Illustrator Albert Nguyen drawing a princess
for an attentive "fan"

Towards the end of the day, the rest of the Dastardly Dame ladies (the authors of Goosebottom Books' next series The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames) showed up, and we trooped off to Cabianca, an Italian restaurant in a picturesque Victorian in downtown Santa Rosa, for a fine Italian meal.

AT GREEN GULCH WRITING RETREAT

Aah...Green Gulch retreat! I love, no, LOVE this SCBWI writing retreat! It's in this fabulous zen setting—peaceful, quiet, you can hear birds singing in the trees and inhale the wonderful scent of Eucalyptus. I get a lot of writing done here. Over the years, I've written a 10 min. play (which was produced in Ukiah and Los Angeles), worked  on my Young Adult novel (still in progress), and revised two picture books, including Goldy Luck and the Three Chans (soon to be published by Tricycle Press/Random House). 


This time, I'm working on Cixi, the Dragon Empress (the last empress of China) for Goosebottom Books. It's a non-fiction biography for their The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames series. I've completed the research, and now it's time to pull all the facts together, and write it in such a way that's not a dry, chronology of information—that's the real challenge. I've spent all day writing though, and have made some headway, although it's fairly slow at this point. I think I'll write it chronologically, then figure out how to embellish the interesting details later.


My sister, Shirin Yim Bridges, publisher of Goosebottom Books and my friend, Gretchen Maurer, are also at the retreat. It is inspirational to be all working on the same thing at the same time (books for the Dastardly Dames series). We conducted our own mini-critique group to review each other's work and provide guidance/support. Another big plus at the retreat this time around? Internet access!! When you're writing non-fiction, it makes it so much easier to have that if you need to look up something on the web.


At home, I'm trying to snatch bits and pieces of writing time between running kids to school, fixing lunches, and soccer games, so it's nice to have a chunk of uninterrupted time. Plus, no cooking and cleaning (all vegetarian meals are provided for)—you an't beat that!

ON THE OTHER SIDE!

Well, I crossed that bridge, and got to the other side. And I survived my first contract negotiation! I did get a higher advance—not as much as I had asked for, but a higher one at any rate; I got to keep some of my subsidiary rights; didn't get royalties on cover price, but two out of three ain't bad! The question for me was: how much back and forth does one do in a contract negotiation? Do you just accept the counter? Or try to negotiate more? I decided that for my first time in this realm, once was good enough, and successfully navigating the negotiations and getting some of what I asked for is a coup d'etat in itself. There's so much else to look forward to—finding the illustrator, final revisions of the manuscript, marketing and publicity (not my forte, but it means the book's out!). So, onwards and forwards!

STANDING ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF

Okay, I'm going it alone. I sent a query to Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and received no response which means she's either really busy or not interested in representing me. So, after going through agent Kristin Nelson's very informative "Agenting 101" blogs—a must-read for all writers negotiating their own contracts—I've submitted my counter to the publishing terms Joanne Taylor offered me. I've always believed in the motto, "If you don't ask, you don't get"—well, not always. There was a time in my very shy high school years, when I didn't ask for anything—and got left behind in the dust. Let's just say, if you weren't born into the world a really assertive person, becoming a really assertive person is no easy task! It's doable though. I've learned to be a much more assertive person, especially when it comes to marketing my own books and writing—but that's a whole other blog.


Anyway, back to negotiating contracts. It's like standing on the edge of a very steep cliff, and you have to cross the swaying, rickety wooden suspension bridge to get to the other side. Why? That's not important. You could be chased by a tribe of cannibals, searching for hidden treasure, running from your ex-husband, whatever. You just have to get to the other side. Stepping on that rickety wooden bridge is terrifying. Are those wooden planks going to hold? Will you fall through and plunge headlong into the abyss? But if you don't at least make an attempt, you won't get anywhere. 


If you've never negotiated a publishing contract before, how much can/should you ask for? What's reasonable? There's a difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness. One can get you what you want, the other might lose you the contract altogether. There's no simple answer. A lot depends on the relationship you have with your editor, your publishing history (obviously writers with many books under their belts have more clout), and your own personal style.


I can tell you what I did though. I asked for a higher advance, to keep some of the subsidiary rights, and whether I can get royalties based on cover price rather than net price. Stay tuned to find out how that went!