20% BOOK DISCOUNT

   Goosebottom Books is offering a 20% discount on Sacajawea of the Shoshone!  To access this great deal, click on the hyperlink below and pre-order the books by Oct. 1!

Save 20%! Order now!

FRIDAY FEATURES—GUEST POST BY JO MARSHALL, AUTHOR OF TWIG STORIES

Welcome to Friday Features! This is where you'll find interviews and guest blogs with and by other authors of juvenile fiction. If you're interested in being one of my guest authors, please email me.


Today's guest post is by Jo Marshall, author of an adorable series of books called Twig Stories.

Author Jo Marshall

 I’m often asked, “What are Twig Stories?” Twigs are small, stick creatures, and the stories are about how their world is changing.  Twigs showed up in our old growth forest in our back yard when my daughter, Ali Jo, first learned about climate change.  It was difficult to understand, and she felt overwhelmed.  So we made up stories about Twigs fighting to save their forests and wildlife.  In that context, climate change made sense.  Twig Stories are exciting, fantasy adventures, but each one centers on actual climate change events.  Of course we share the royalties with environmental nonprofits.

Probably the next thing people ask is, “Wow! Are you the illustrator, too?”  No, I’m not that talented!  David Murray is.  He’s a professional Disney and Universal Pictures artist.  His screen credits include Mulan, Tarzan, Curious George, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, and many others. We met when I asked him for his opinion of a publisher.  David liked Twigs, and offered to illustrate the books, and do the bookjackets, too. He also gave me the rights to his art, so Ali Jo and I can use them to make puzzles and games.  We put them up on the website.

   Another question that always pops up is, “Why write for kids?”  For many years I volunteered as a literacy tutor, reading one-on-one with elementary school kids.  Working with kids who struggled through novels they had to read, helped me appreciate what they loved to read.  So, understanding their needs helped a great deal.  I write stories kids really enjoy – wild adventures with amazing illustrations in an easy-to-read format.  An important lesson I learned about young kids, is they care so much about what is happening to our world.  So when writing a story they love to read, I wanted to share what I loved, also – the great redwoods, cedars, whitebark pine, giant sequoias, and the wildlife in our forests.  Unfortunately, this world is threatened by swarms of bark beetles, out-of-control wildfires, endless drought, and heart-wrenching floods because of a warming world.  There are less than 40 woodland caribou left in the Pacific Northwest.  They will go extinct, if not protected.  The spirit bear – a rare, white bear – survives in only one place, the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia.  Some estimate less than 200 remain.  So when I write for kids in elementary school, I know I have an audience who cares about these things.  When they grow up, I hope they will remember the world of Twigs, and make better environmental choices than we did. 

   Coming up next for Jo is Leaf and the Long Ice due to be released Thanksgiving weekend 2012, and Leaf and Echo Park next summer. 

   You can purchase Leaf and the Rushing Waters here, and Leaf and the Sky of Fire here.

To connect with Jo Marshall and to find out more about her books, check out these links:

Twig Stories website.
Jo Marshall's Facebook author page.
The Twig Stories Facebook Fan page.

FRIDAY FEATURES—INTERVIEW WITH YOUNG ADULT AUTHOR JODY GEHRMAN

Welcome to Friday Features! This is where you'll find interviews and guest blogs with and by other authors of juvenile fiction. If you're interested in being one of my guest authors, please email me.

Today's guest author is adult novelist turned Young Adult author, Jody Gehrman.

1. Tell me about your path to becoming a writer. When did you decide this 
    was something you wanted to do?

   My first "novel" was really a very long letter sent to my best friend about us riding around on our flying dogs. I was eight. We'd moved to Canada for the year and I missed our imaginary games, so I wrote about them instead. I guess writing for me has always been about delving into imaginary worlds. I still tend to think of each of my novels as long love letters—to a place, a time in my life, a person, a feeling. 
   In college I discovered playwriting, and after college I freelanced as a journalist. Both of these experiences really confirmed my commitment to writing, in part because they helped with the inherent loneliness that can become an occupational hazard. As a playwright I love working with actors and directors; as a journalist I love doing interviews. These more social aspects of writing balance out the isolation of writing novels. 

2. You are fairly prolific as a writer. Where do your ideas come from?

   Ideas are never the hard part for me; finding the time to pursue them all is much more difficult. Inspiration seems to strike whenever I’m doing something that requires minimal concentration, like driving or taking a shower. Occasionally I’ll wake from a dream and scribble ideas like mad. I try to keep all my ideas in notebooks in case I ever run out of inspiration and need to wade through old ones, but generally I find the most promising premises are the kind with teeth; they sink their fangs into me and won’t let go.

3. What are your writing habits.? Do you have a daily word count? Have a set 
     writing time each day? Or do you write only when inspiration strikes?

   In general I write every morning. I tend to push myself much harder when I’m not teaching, sometimes writing up to ten hours a day if I get in a groove and want to keep the storytelling momentum up.

4. You started out as an author of three published adult books, how did you get 
     into writing young adult fiction?


My first YA novel, Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, just felt like a story that had to be told from the perspective of a teen character. It's a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing set in a drive-through espresso stand. As soon as I got the idea, I knew the characters would be in their 
   teens; thus a new YA author was born! Once I tried writing from a YA point of view I realized how right it felt, so I've stuck with that audience for the last few books. Youth culture fascinates me, and YA literature these days is in the midst of a true renaissance; I love being a part of that world. I also feel very inspired by the emails I get from readers. Teen readers are so fresh and open; they don’t judge books based on stiff, pretentious ideas they’ve acquired about “great literature.” They’re eager to get lost in stories, and their imaginations are still vivid. That’s a demographic I can embrace.

5. You seem to be able to capture the teenage voice of your protagonists very well. 
     The concept of Voice can be very elusive to many writers. Do you have any tips
     on how to develop an authentic young adult Voice?

   Even if you choose to write your story from the third person POV, I'd suggest journaling in the voice of your character to get to know them. You can interview your character as well, though journaling can be very useful because it feels more intimate. I often ask my characters to journal about specific issues, not just ramble on, so it's kind of a two-for-one exercise, because your characters help you work out plot points while also revealing their unique way of speaking and seeing the world. I tend to "cast" my characters, either with real people I've met but don't know very well, or with actors. This literally gives me a "voice" to draw from. I generally try to give my characters idiosyncratic expressions that are all their own. For example, Natalie from Babe in Boyland tends to swear in German.

6. If you’re asked to give three main tips for aspiring writers, what would they be?

One: Write on a regular schedule.
Two: Surround yourself with people who support your writing dreams
Three: Know that external validation (getting published, getting praise) can only take you so far. You have to love the process itself, savor it every day. That’s where a writer’s true pleasure lives.

7. You are the author of 6 traditionally published books, your young adult novels   
are published by one of the Big Six publishers, and you have agent representation, why did you decide to go the self-publishing route with your most recent YA Audrey’s Guide to Witchcraft? 

   I decided to publish this latest book independently for a few reasons:

a) TOTAL CREATIVE CONTROL: While authors occasionally get to offer input into book design and marketing strategies, more often we're sidelined or not included in the process at all. With Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft, I hired my own model and sketched out my own vision for the cover. We transformed my writing studio into a photo studio and my husband David went to work. We obsessed over fonts and poured over Photoshop tutorials. We've had a blast making it our own. I'm now attacking every aspect of marketing with the same gusto. It's liberating, taking control in this way.

b) MASSIVE INCREASE IN ROYALTIES: I'm not totally naive. I know I'll have to sell a lot of books to earn anywhere near the advances I got with my first two book deals. Still, considering that I'll be going from an average of 10% royalties to approximately 70%, even a moderate success has the potential to work for me financially.

c) NO WAITING: Ask any writer and they'll confirm that the waiting process is endless and creatively draining. You have to wait months for editors and agents to get back to you, your pub date gets delayed, your project is on hold until you can get more feedback. It goes on and on. With this process, publishing happens when I say it does. 

d) IT'S FUN: I'll probably be singing a new tune if my marketing falls flat and I join the fifty percent of self-pubbed writers who earn less than $500 a year at their craft. After living with the disempowering lack of involvement I often felt with traditional publishing, though, there's a real skydiving-esque thrill to all of this. I'm taking the plunge. The outcome is uncertain. Wish me luck.

   

Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft is available on Smashwords.
Connect with Jody on her website.
You can purchase Jody's books here: 


Tune in next Friday, Aug. 10, for author Jo Marshall's guest post about how she came to write Twig Stories, a series of children's books about how climate change affects nature, illustrated by Disney and Universal artist David Murray.

NPR'S TOP 100 YA BOOKS EVER WRITTEN

   Congratulations to Mendocino Coast author Ginny Rorby (and one of the judges of the Redwood Writer's Club Young Adult Fiction Writing contest) for having ALL four of her novels nominated for NPR's top 100 list of the best young adult fiction ever written . Ginny's books are among the 225 finalists. Read NPR's article and vote for your favorite titles. Everyone gets 10 votes. NPR will announce the books that made the top 100 in a few weeks.

MONDAY MUSINGS—BLOGGER BEWARE!

   The internet can be a writer's boon...or bane. Today's Monday Musings will focus on the issue of re-posting copyrighted information. Unless you took the pictures yourself, or the photographs are very old—say from the 19th Century—assume they're copyrighted, otherwise it could get you into a lot of hot water as romance novelist Roni Loren found out the hard way. Read her blog post here and learn what you should and should not do when searching for and posting images from the internet.

May the Muse Be with You!

GET A SNEAK PREVIEW OF SACAJAWEA OF THE SHOSHONE—LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT

 
   Sacajawea of the Shoshone will be released in Oct. 2012. Click on the Books tab to hear an audio excerpt of the book!

WIN A TEN PAGE MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE!

   Announcing the Redwood Writer's Club Young Adult Fiction Writing Contest! We have fabulous judges and fabulous prizes, including a 10-page manuscript critique by agent extraordinaire Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. So, channel your inner teen and submit your best ten pages! To find out more about this contest and the Redwood Writer's Club, check out their website.

"FLAVOR OF THE MONTH", BRISBANE-BOUND!

      My ten-minute play "Flavor of the Month" (re-spelled "Flavour of the Month" for Aussie audiences) is in production in Brisbane, Australia for the Short+Sweet Ten-Minute Theatre Festival! It will be staged on Aug. 18, 7 pm., at The Loft in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, and performed by the Australian Actors' Network. 
   The Short+Sweet is an international theatre festival with 11 venues in places like Singapore, Auckland, Mumbai and various cities in Australia. One submission fee will enter your play in all of its festivals. There are several festivals still open for submissions including Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore, so dust off those ten-minute plays, and submit them here.

TRAVELING WITH MY MUSE

Channeling Sophia Loren

  I've had a three week hiatus from blogging while my family and I had a truly terrific vacation in Italy with my parents, brother and sister. We then flew to Ireland for my brother's wedding at an Irish castle in Waterford, south of Dublin. Needless to say, that means I didn't get much writing done either. But just because I didn't get much down on the computer or on paper, doesn't mean my muse was dormant. My travels around bucolic Tuscany with its vineyards, medieval walled cities set high on hillsides, and the hustle and bustle of busy Florence begs for a travel article to be written. My brother's wedding in an ultra-romantic setting on the grounds of a centuries-old castle could be a piece on romantic weddings or Irish weddings or a focused article on the location—Waterford castle. Inspiration is everywhere!

The streets of San Gimignano, Tuscany

The main piazza in Sienna

A well-made cappuccino

Jason and Sylvia's wedding at
Waterford Castle, Ireland

BOOK REVIEW — AUTUMN STANLEY'S "MARCIE'S DAFFODIL"

      Marcie’s Daffodil, written by Autumn Stanley and illustrated by Ji Young Lee, tells the story of Marcie who brings home a daffodil bulb from the garden store one winter and eagerly follows its growth and awaits its Spring blossoming. There is a theme here somewhere (is it the cycle of life? Patience? That hope springs eternal despite disappointments along the way?), but it gets buried in narrative that’s somewhat unfocused and convoluted, and as a reader, I can visualize the path, but never quite find my way.
   Overall, it’s a sweet and gentle story, and there are moments when the cadence lulls like a lullaby. The language is most definitely kid-friendly and imagery such as the raindrops being the tears of the flower fairy is lovely. Lee’s softly muted sketches complement the story well, and lend it a serene and harmonious feel.
    However, the book seems to be more of a vignette or series of scenes of Marcie going through her daily life waiting for her daffodil to bloom rather than an actual story with a beginning, middle, and end. Characters are introduced such as her siblings and the babysitter, Mrs. McBride, that don’t seem to have much to do with the story. No interactions happen with them. Some segments, “Marcie felt like crying, and she also felt like stepping on one of Parker’s turtles” seem disjointed. It’s not clear how one thing has to do with the other. 
   At times the narrative is slowed by more “telling” than “showing” as in “Mama suggested to Daddy that he might build a small fence around the daffodil...and since the next day was Saturday, he did just that.” Why not just show him actively building the fence? Better yet, have him build it with Marcie?
   But I think my biggest contention with the book is the bombshell that gets dropped at the end. Marcie’s mom who is expecting a baby had to be taken to the hospital. “We’re not going to have baby after all,” Daddy explains, suggesting either a miscarriage or a stillborn child, but there is no resolution to this thread. What did daddy mean? Where did baby go? It’s a heavy theme to lay on kids without further discussion. Even daddy doesn’t explain it to Marcie in the book.
   The story ends sweetly with Marcie wanting her last surviving daffodil to go to her mother when she comes home from the hospital. But here too, there seems to be a disconnect as Marcie doesn’t even question or ponder the fact that the baby she’s been expecting isn’t coming home.
  There’s a certain amicability to Marcie’s tale and Ji Young Lee’s illustrations are tender and alluring. But like most self-published books, it could have benefitted from more extensive editorial oversight.

Reviewed for BookPleasures.com

PROMOTION AND MARKETING—WHAT WORKED FOR ME

    Frances Caballo, social media guru, Redwood Writers Club vice-president, and founder of ACT Communications, a site offering social media services, and some very informative blog plots on all things Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest et al. (you really ought to check out her site), interviewed me for the Redwood Writers Club blog. Check it out here: Spotlight on Natasha Yim, and find out what marketing and publicity venues I found most helpful for promoting my latest book(s)!

HOOKED ON BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT

I've been taking a break from writing and indulging in my other obsession today — watching Britain's Got Talent. Yep, those eccentric Brits know how to entertain, what with dancing dogs, farting song tunes, and attempts to break the world record for—eating Ferrer Rocher chocolates. But there are moments, when a performance shines with such heartfelt emotion and the purity of the singer's voice that it begs to be watched or listened to over and over again. For me, Sam Kelly's rendition of Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" was it.

HORRIBLE HAUNTINGS—AN AUGMENTED REALITY BOOK

   Augmented Reality books—it's the pop-up books of the 21st Century! In October 2012, just in time for Halloween, Goosebottom Books will become the first publisher to offer this innovative technology in book form with its release of Horrible Hauntings, a collection of ten ghost stories. How it works is this: you download a free app for your iPhone or android, iPad and other tablets (available June 1), then point your smart device at one of the pictures in Horrible Hauntings to see the ghost come to "life"  in 3D. It's an absolutely amazing interactive experience, and very life-like! Check out the preview here:



   Augmented Reality has the potential to become the wave of the future in book publishing, but a book like this is really expensive to produce so I'm urging all you literary connoisseurs and book lovers out there to support this project through Kickstarter. Pledges can be anywhere from $1 and up, and you'll get some free gifts.

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE CELEBRATION

   Goosebottom Books publisher Shirin Bridges and I will be presenting at the Asian Pacific American Heritage celebration at the Foster City Library this coming Saturday, May 26, from 12 pm. - 12:30 pm. The event is from 10:30 am. - 4:00 pm. and will feature Chinese music lessons, a poetry workshop, speakers/presentations throughout the day, and vendor booths. Stop by and check it out!

ALL ABOUT PICTURE BOOK DUMMIES

   Do you need to send illustrations with your picture book text to publishers? What is a picture book dummy? How do you make one? Check out my guest blog post on picture book dummies on Chris Henderson's blog, The Write Chris.

DASTARDLY DAME AUTHORS CELEBRATE CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK WITH PRESENTATION

   Four of the Dastardly Dame authors—myself (Cixi, The Dragon Empress), Gretchen Maurer (Mary Tudor, Bloody Mary), Janie Havemeyer (Catherine de Medici, The Black Queen), and publisher Shirin Yim Bridges (Agrippina, Atrocious and Ferocious) will be presenting at Book Inc. Laurel Village in San Francisco tonight, May 10, 6 - 7 pm. as part of their Children's Book Week celebration. We'll be signing books as well. If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, stop on by and say "Hi"!

SHIRIN BRIDGES, JANIE HAVEMEYER, 

GRETCHEN MAURER, and NATASHA YIM at 

Books Inc. in Laurel Village

• San Francisco Events

Start: 05/10/2012 6:00 pm

Celebrate Children's Books
Week! Come to the Dastardly
Dames panel featuring authors
of The Thinking Girl's Treasury 
of Dastardly Dames series: 

SHIRIN BRIDGES, JANIE 
HAVEMEYER, GRETCHEN 
MAURER, and NATASHA YIM.

Location: 

3515 California St.

San Francisco

, 

California

94118-1707

United States

• Calendar
 
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THE THINKING GIRL'S TREASURY OF DASTARDLY DAMES WINS IPPY AWARD!

   The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames has just been awarded a prestigious Independent Publishers Book Awards silver medal for Multicultural Non-Fiction/Juvenile Teen YA! And earlier last month, the series made Booklist's Top Ten Non-Fiction Series for Youth. 

STACIE THEIS INTERVIEWS ME ON BEACH BOUND BOOKS

   What inspired me to become an author? What were my favorite books as a child? How did Cixi, The Dragon Empress come to be? All these questions and more answered on Stacie Theis' blog, Beach Bound Books.

I NEED FRIENDS FRIDAY BLOG INTERVIEW BY SARAH M. EDEN

   My lovely hostess, historical romance novelist, Sarah M. Eden, and I chat about our fantasies of being rich and famous authors, our favorite foods, continents...and oh yes, writing...on her I Need Friends Friday blog: 

RAYCHELLE MUHAMMED INTERVIEWS ME ON THE WRITER'S BLOCK

   Wow! Some days I look back on my week and realize, that was one heck of a busy week! My interviews by Raychelle Muhammed of the Writer's Block, and Stacie Theis of BeachBoundBooks were posted. Sarah Eden conducted an interview with me via an IM chat box and posted it on the I Need Friends Friday segment of her blog. I chaperoned my daughter's field trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and attended the terrific SCBWI Spring Spirit Conference in Rocklin, California. I'll note some insights and impressions of the conference once I've had a chance to digest it all a little. 
   In the meantime, read about my journey to becoming an author, how Cixi, The Dragon Empress came to be, and how I've promoted my work on Raychelle Muhammed's The Writer's Block. I'll post the other interviews in upcoming days.