I was reading a blog post on Color Online, which lead me to an interesting SLJ article, Straight Talk on Race: Challenging the Stereotypes in Kids' Books by Mitali Perkins. I found it to be a fascinating read. As the demographics of the United States continue to change, it's more important than ever to create more diversity in children's literature. What is the importance of describing a character's race? If you don't describe them at all in your novel, is the default white? In the … [Read more...]
Future Me
May 1, 2009 Read Comments
One of my co-workers told me about this site, www.futureme.org, where you can send an email to your future self. Obviously, I’m a little late to this since this site has been around since 2004. The site has many “anonymous” letters and I’m nosy so I read a few of them. Funny, serious, and thought-provoking. It got me wondering, what would I write to my future self? Hmmm… Dear May 2010 Novelista: First of all, thanks so much for hanging in there with the GIK novel … [Read more...]
How to Land an Agent: Step 7
May 1, 2009 Read Comments
This is the conclusion of my week-long theme of my workshop, HOW TO LAND AN AGENT: STEP BY STEP. You've done it all. Manuscript finished. Check. Query letter/Synopsis. Complete. Research. Checklist. Tiers. Done. Done. Done. You're getting feedback from agents. You're revising. But still no agent. What should you do now? Let's discuss our last step. STEP 7: Start on new Work Sometimes seeking an agent for a particular novel is not a charmed experience. Maybe you've come close but you … [Read more...]
