MY 2014 WRITING VISION BOARD

   A couple of posts ago, I talked about creating a digital vision board. So, here's mine for 2014. I'm going to have it blown up poster-size and tacked on the bulletin board in my office. I'll review my progress mid-year and at the end of the year to see if making my goals visual will better keep me focused and on track. What are your writing resolutions or goals for the year? Do you have a vision board to share?

GOLDY LUCK AND THE THREE PANDAS BLOG TOUR BEGINS!

 

Arriving in bookstores Jan. 7
Click here to pre-order the book

   Three more days till Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas' official release! My guest post on Jan. 3 on Charlesbridge Publishing's blog, UnAbridged, kicks off the January Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas blog tour! The post, "Goldy Luck's Arduous Path from Vision to Reality" talks about this picture book's nine year journey to publication and all the hands it passed through — hands that have helped mold the story into the book that will be released to the world on Jan. 7.

Writing may be a solitary endeavor, but publishing is not

   Here's the rest of the blog tour schedule:

Jan. 7 - Smart Books for Smart Kids blog, http://www.smartbooksforsmartkids.com -  

            Interview

Jan. 8 - Smart Books for Smart Kids blog, http://www.smartbooksforsmartkids.com - Book

            review

Jan. 14 - The Write Chris blog, http://thewritechris.blogspot.com - Guest post

Jan. 20 - Word Spelunking blog, http://wordspelunking.blogspot.com - Book review and

              Interview

Jan. 22 - Wrapped in Foil blog, http://blog.wrappedinfoil.com - Book review

Jan. 27 - Susanna Hill blog, http://susannahill.blogspot.com - TBA

Stop on by for a chat. I would love to hear from you at each of these blog stops.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS GO DIGITAL

A Vision Board

    Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. We were late, late, late this year—didn't finish wrapping our presents till…Christmas morning. Well, that's one more thing on my New Year resolution list: 1) Don't put Christmas off till the last minute, along with 2) Don't wait three months between blog posts…
   Speaking of which, I just heard of something called a digital vision board. Basically, it's a visual version of a New Years' resolution list. Like the latter, you make a list of goals you want to achieve for the next year — or the next five years, if you wish. Using Photoshop or Power Point, you can create a digital board of images, photographs, artwork, musings, quotes, anything that inspires you towards those goals. You can print out your board and make it into a poster that you can put up on your wall. You can also go low tech and use a poster board and old fashioned glue or tape or just pin images to a bulletin board.
   Want to know how to create a digital vision board? Click here. And check out these samples of Vision Boards on Pinterest. Once I have mine done, I'll post it. 
   Do you have a Vision Board, visual or otherwise? Let us see it. It might inspire us to create our own.

GOLDY LUCK'S LONG, ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO PUBLICATION

Perseverance is the Name of the Game in writing and publishing. Check out Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas' long and arduous journey to publication:

TheWriteChris - On Writing: Persevering Beyond Rejections: Guest Blog by Natas...: As authors one of the biggest writer's block we have to deal with is handling rejections from publishers. Nothing can kill a creative ...

SACAJAWEA OF THE SHOSHONE GIVEAWAY!

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month all month long, I'm giving away one free signed copy of Sacajawea of the Shoshone to those who post theirs or their ancestor's story in a comment here or on Sacajawea's Facebook page. Winner will be selected by random.org. Want activities for your classroom? Click here for teacher resources.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOLDY HAS BEEN SELECTED BY THE JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD!

Yay! Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas has been selected by the Junior Library Guild for their 2014 premier reading list! What a lucky start for Goldy!

CHANNELING CATHERINE DE MEDICI AND EMPRESS CIXI OF CHINA

 The day of the Sonoma County Book Festival dawned grey and dismal. By mid-morning, at the SCBWI Green Gulch Writing Retreat in Marin County where I was enjoying a quiet weekend tending to my muse, the rain pelted the windows in sheets. Things did not look good for my outdoor stage performance on the children's stage. Author Janie Havemeyer (Catherine de Medici, The Black Queen, Goosebottom Books, 2011) and I had been invited to present our books for the festival. 

   Festival readings are often challenging because they tend to draw a younger crowd than our books' target age range (9 - 13). So, Janie and I developed a brilliant plan. We would dress up as our characters, Catherine de Medici and Empress Cixi of China and call our presentation, "A Conversation with Two Dastardly Dames". You can't go wrong with costumes for a younger audience. We met a few times prior to the book festival to write the script and spent several hours the day before at Green Gulch rehearsing our roles. We were ready to roll. But the children's stage was supposed to be outdoors, and who would come out to the book festival in the rain? Despite the nervousness associated with a public presentation, when you put in a lot of time and effort to craft that presentation, you'd like to perform to an audience of more than—one.
   As it turned out, the rain was quite a bit lighter in Santa Rosa, only a misty drizzle by the time we got there, the children's stage had been moved under a covered area, and families with kids did turn out to enjoy the event. Author Mac Barnett presented before us, which put us in a good spot, because he ALWAYS draws a crowd. 
   Janie and I changed into our costumes and by the time we took the stage, parents and kids had filled the seats. Phew! The microphone helped to broadcast the performance, and very soon, it was standing room only.
   Now, I'm not an actress and I was definitely outside my comfort zone. Janie slipped into her role as Catherine much more easily than I did trying to channel Cixi, but you know what? We had a blast. The audience seemed engaged. And, it was a great way to tell the Dames' stories through (what we hoped was a witty) repartee. And we'd do it again!
  

Authors Janie Havemeyer as Catherine de Medici,
The Black Queen, and Natasha Yim as Cixi, The Dragon Empress
at the Sonoma County Book Festival, Sept. 2013

MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL

   One of my favorite Chinese festivals—the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Autumn Moon Festival) is coming up on Sept. 19. In the Chinese calendar, it occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month. This is the day when the moon is supposedly at its brightest and fullest. As a child, I loved this festival because we got to eat moon cakes (round pastries shaped like the moon and filled with lotus seed paste and the yolk of a salted duck's egg), and we went lantern shopping for the Chinese lanterns that we would carry on our evening walks around the neighborhood. In those days, you could still find lanterns made in the shapes of animals—dragons, rabbits, cats, fish—and choosing your animal lantern was a big deal. I still remember orbs of light bobbing up and down as children spilled into the streets with the animals they've chosen to celebrate this day!
   Today, the lanterns you find are plainer—no animal shapes, and in my small-town American neighborhood, my kids are the only ones carrying lanterns around. When they were younger, I'd get lantern painting kits and we'd decorate our own lanterns. My oldest (who's 13) has now outgrown even that tradition. We've made our own mooncakes a few times, but unlike my turnip cakes, they're not as good as the store-bought ones and quite labor-intensive. In spite of this, the tradition lives on and we'll make some moon cakes, enjoy some store-bought ones, and take our evening walk with lanterns in hand.
   This Sunday, Sept. 8, I will be in San Mateo at the San Mateo Autumn Moon Festival, signing Cixi, The Dragon Empress at the Asian American Curriculum Project booth. It promises to be a fun event with Chinese dancing, acrobats, lion dancing, arts and crafts and lots of vendor booths. If you're in the area, visit this fun family event, stop by the AACP booth and say "hello." Would love to see you there!

CAN YOU USE ILLUSTRATION NOTES FOR YOUR PICTURE BOOK MANSUCRIPT?

   I'm currently working on another picture book project. Now, that the first draft is done, I'm in the revision stage and really trying to look at the manuscript visually and envision what text can, if (and should) be replaced by illustrations. I found several pages where illustrations can very easily, and perhaps more engagingly, show what the words are telling the readers. This requires the use of illustration notes, otherwise the text doesn't make much sense. I've heard conflicting opinions about authors using illustration notes in the manuscript, but I've found a very helpful post on this subject, so check it out and let me know your thoughts or experience on illustration notes.

Kidlit · Should You Include Illustration Notes in Your Picture Book?

From what I gather, the consensus seems to be: use illustration notes if you need to, but use it sparingly.

Happy Writing!

71 WAYS TO PROMOTE AND MARKET YOUR BOOK

   I've been thinking a lot about promoting and marketing lately. Well, actually, I think about it all the time. I'm still learning and exploring ways to promote SACAJAWEA OF THE SHOSHONE, like participating on a panel of Redwood Writer's Club children's authors reading our books at Copperfield's Books in Santa Rosa on July 31st. 

From L. to R.: Natasha Yim (Sacajawea of the Shoshone), Helen
Sedwick (Coyote Winds), Nina Tepedino (If you Lived in Sam's Neck),
Sandy Baker (Dead Butterflies Diary)

   With GOLDY LUCK AND THE THREE PANDAS coming out though, I've been wondering what I haven't tried and what other creative ways there are to promote. See the red banner at the top of this blog boldly announcing Goldy Luck's release date? That's from HelloBar and you can create your own HelloBar for free. That, by the way, is one idea I got from YourWriterPlatform blog. So, check out some of their marketing tips. You may just find one you've never tried before. I'll also be posting some of my trials and tribulations of promoting and marketing in future blogs. I'd love to hear what your ideas, flops and triumphs are. Let's share the journey!

71 Ways to Promote and Market Your Book | Your Writer Platform

SACAJAWEA'S SONG

   Here's a catchy tune about Sacajawea by Jonathan Sprout. Apparently, it's been around for awhile, but I've just discovered it. If anyone knows of any other Sacajawea music, I'd love to hear it. Composer Phillip Glass was commissioned a few years ago to write a piece for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition entitled "After Lewis and Clark". It's in 3 movements. The second movement, "Sacajawea", features a Native American flute. I'd love to listen to it but can't seem to find a recording anywhere.

Sacajawea's capture by a Hidatsa warrior, Sacajawea of the
Shoshone (Goosebottom Books, 2012)

WHO BUYS CHILDREN'S BOOKS -- SOME INTERESTING STATS.

Here's some interesting statistics on book buying habits:

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

A FEW THINGS ABOUT AGENTS...

   From the date of my last post, it's obvious that Summer vacation is here. Which means kids are out of school and my writing time has shrunk to very brief chunks usually at unGodly hours. With that little time to spend on writing-related activities, current projects haver priority and blogging and social media stuff takes a back seat because, you know, they can be a real time suck. 
   So, now that I'm back (sort of. It's still summer vacation), I have a goody for you from the Writer Unboxed website about what makes a good author/agent relationship. 

How to Maintain a Healthy Author/Agent Relationship | @scoopit http://t.co/01v96xNQ80
— Natasha Yim (@natashayim) August 3, 2013

   Speaking of agents, check out my blog post on Chuck Sambuchino's Writer's Digest Column: How I Got My Agent in which I talk about my journey and challenges to finding my wonderful agent Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of SACAJAWEA OF THE SHOSHONE.

THE JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTS "GOLDY LUCK AND THE THREE PANDAS" FOR ITS 2014 READING LIST

   I received some wonderful news yesterday, Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas (Charlesbridge Publishing, Jan. 2014) has been selected by the Junior Library Guild for their premier reading list of 2014! The JLG only picks several hundred books out of about 3,000 submitted every season. What a terrific start for a book that's 7 months shy of its release date. I appreciate this honor even more so because Goldy Luck's publication is the culmination of a nine-year journey which included rejections, a revolving door of editors, and a cancelled contract with Random House/Tricycle Press. This book is my poster child for perseverance. So, to all you writers out there, I just want to say: Believe in your stories, Believe in yourself as a writer, and Never Give Up!

ARE YOU THERE, JUDY BLUME?

 When I first saw Judy Blume live and in person at the 2011 SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles, I thought she was wonderful—so down to earth, warm, and encouraging of aspiring writers. Here's another reason why she's terrific:

Judy Blume's Intervention Helps Bust School District's Book Ban | @scoopit http://t.co/Ouob8s4ast
— Natasha Yim (@natashayim) June 18, 2013

THE "SCOOP" ON SCOOP.IT AND PAPER.LI

   I have just discovered Paper.Li and Scoop.it courtesy of social media guru Frances Caballo, author of Blogging Just for Writers and Social Media Just for Writers. Frances has a new blog Social Media Just for Writers which offers some great information and social media tips. Ever feel like you've run out of interesting things to say on Twitter or Facebook or don't know what to blog about next? Paper.Li and Scoop.It will help you cull content from around the internet based on topics you choose. For example, I select topics about writing for children as that's my area of interest and that's what my blog is about. Several of my recent Twitter posts are content "scooped" from Scoop.it. Here's a great blog post from Laura Brown about how to curate information from this site. With Paper.li, you can even create your own newsletter. Check out mine below and let me know what you've found "scoop-worthy". In the meantime, Happy Scooping!

THE TRUTH ABOUT SCHOOL VISITS

  I love school visits! I didn't used to. They used to terrify me. What? Speak in front of 100 kids? But then I found out how much kids LOVE author visits. And for a writer, it's a built-in audience, unlike bookstore events, where you might sometimes get 5 people to show up and half of them are bookstore employees. Someone posted this on Facebook once.

I love the "What Kids Think I do". It's true. It doesn't matter if only your mother has heard of you and your books, if your name is on a book they've read or their teacher has read to them, they think you're a star. School visits are a writer's 30 mins. of fame. At my last school visit at Potter Valley Elementary School, the kids lined up to have me sign Cixi, The Dragon Empress bookmarks. All 60 of them!

   But that's not why I love school visits. Wait. Yes, it is. Okay, besides that...I love connecting with the kids. I love answering all their great questions. I love it when they tell me they like my book or the story. It makes me smile when they share that they have a cat at home like mine.
   School visits aren't what they used to be—the bread and butter of a writer's income. With budget cuts to schools and kids who sometimes can't even afford shoes, books are a luxury. If I sell a handful of books at a school visit, I consider that an amazing success. But I've learned that school visits are not about selling books—or selling yourself as a writer—it's about connecting with kids. It's about sharing the stories you wrote, or how you came to write them, and it's about inspiring them to write and read. My biggest joy comes from kids (or parents or teachers) who tell me that after my presentation, they want to be a writer like me.
   Like most writers, I have an author visit fee, but for the schools in my local school district, I do school  visits for free. It's my way of giving back to the community in which I live. But what I get back is so much more. And here's one of the reasons why:

If you're interested in an author visit at your school, check out my Press Kit or Author Visit info. You can email me or go to Book an Event in the sidebar.

SCBWI MAGAZINE LETTER OF MERIT!

  Yay! My article, "The Elephant Queen" (Faces, Jan. 2012) received a Letter of Merit from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) as a runner up in the 2013 Magazine Merit Awards in non-fiction. It was one of 12 Letters of Merit and 8 awards given out of more than 100 entries. You can check out the article below. Thank you, SCBWI!

I'M BACK!

   Wow! I can't believe my last post was in November. I had meant to take a short hiatus during the holidays which is always crazy time for me with 4 birthdays weaved in between the pumpkin-carving, gingerbread cookie-baking, and mad Christmas shopping. My New Year's resolution for this year? Start X'mas shopping in July!
   So, here we are: 2013. April, 2013. A quarter of the year has come and gone already. How did that happen? So, here's a quick recap so far: I started a part-time job in November which is great for the family finances, not so great for the writing. I'm learning to have to be a lot more disciplined (which is a struggle at the moment) and to settle on one huge writing day: Fridays, my only day off. March has been extremely busy as it's Women in History Month, so a lot of school visits and presentations. I've done several author visits around Sacajawea of the Shoshone which have been so much fun, a presentation in an English Class at my alma mater, Dominican University, a presentation on Cixi, The Dragon Empress at the Asian Art Museum, and one about writing narrative non-fiction at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) North Bay meeting in Sebastopol.
  Creatively, I'm working on a new picture book, my young adult contemporary multi-cultural fiction, and finalizing text and illustration edits for Charlesbridge Publishing for my upcoming book Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas (Jan., 2014) which I'm very excited about. After such a long road for this story, it will be so satisfying to see this one in print! Here's a sneak peak at the adorable cover (illustrations are by the wonderful Grace Zong).

FRIDAY FEATURES—INTERVIEW WITH KAREN GRENCIK, LITERARY AGENT

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

   For today's Friday's Features, I'm interviewing my lovely agent Karen Grencik. Karen transitioned from a career as a court reporter to that of an agent, specifically to see the story Double Luck, Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan, written by Lu Chi Fa with Becky White—a project near and dear to her heart—published. And that, in essence, is what makes Karen so wonderful to work with: if she truly loves your project, she'll do what it takes to  see it to fruition.
  In 2006, Karen left agenting to "pursue adventures in the tropical forests of Costa Rica," but returned to agenting in early 2011. In the summer of 2011, she joined forces with former Tricycle Press editor Abigail Samoun to form Red Fox Literary, a boutique agency specialiazing in picture books, middle-grade, and young adult titles.
   Here, Karen shares her top 3 advice for aspiring writers, the most common writing and submission mistakes she sees writers make, and the kind of manuscripts that call to her: 

1. Tell us a little about your path to becoming a literary agent.

I became an agent because of a life story that I wanted to see published. Double Luck, Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan, written by Lu Chi Fa with Becky White, was published by Holiday House in 2000 and opened doors for me to transition from a court reporting career to a fulfilling and exciting career as a literary agent. In June 2011 ex-Tricycle Press editor Abigail Samoun and I joined forces to create Red Fox Literary and we’ve been working at top speed ever since.

2. What kind of manuscripts are you looking for?

I look for heartfelt stories that are beautifully written. I gravitate more toward literary material than commercial. A manuscript has to literally give me the chills before I can commit to it, so I look to be moved emotionally or to learn something about the world I would not have known had I not read the manuscript.

3. Can you share with us a recent project you acquired and what attracted you to the project? 

I’ve just signed an author who originally submitted to me in early 2011. She is adorable and professional and works really, really hard. She received seven offers for representation on her most recent manuscript and after considerable discussion she felt that Abi’s editorial skills and my personal skills were the best package for her. She has written the first novel of a YA trilogy that has a fresh, compelling concept and we look forward to going out with it.

4. What are some of the most common mistakes you see writers making when writing and submitting their work?

I think the biggest problem are the manuscripts submitted by people who think writing for children is easy and they don’t need to have any training. Having, myself, made many mistakes when I first started out in 1999, I am very patient and tolerant of mistakes made by people who are doing their best and simply don’t have all the information they need yet. But I devoted every possible moment to learning all I could about the industry and I would hope others would as well.

5. Are you still accepting new clients and how can writers best approach you for representation?

Unfortunately we have had to close to unsolicited submissions and we only accept submissions now from attendees at conferences where we present. I spent an average of 100 hours a month reading and responding to unsolicited submissions for an entire year before we finally closed, and I feel badly that people can’t have access to us without spending the time and money to attend a conference, but it was simply unmanageable for us. We know the attendees at conferences are serious and committed to their craft and those are the kinds of people we want to hear from.

6. What upcoming conferences/events will you be attending where writers can meet you?

I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of January; Tulsa, Oklahoma in April; and Springfield, Massachusetts in May. Abi is taking a much needed break from conferences as she adjusts to being a new mom and juggling her new responsibilities at home.

7. What is your top 3 tips for aspiring writers trying to break into the very competitive field of writing and publishing children's books?

Study, study, study, work, work, work, and...be nice!

8. What are your thoughts on e-books and the role agents play in this market?

I know that several agencies are getting into the business of assisting their authors in publishing e-books and taking the standard 15% royalty from sales, and I have no problem with that. Abi and I are not ready to transition into that market yet. We both love to see our books come to life on paper and to hold them in our hands.