The point -- or a point

It's easy to get discouraged in this business -- and it IS a business, that's one of the discouraging things! But there are many others, so many that sometimes I wonder what the point of writing for children is.

And then something happens that reminds me. Last week was my birthday,


and the Internet and phones were down on my end of the island, so I couldn't talk to or even email anyone from home (which much as I love it here is still America and always will be!)....and then I remembered that if I walked to the telephone exchange at the top of the hill, I could get a WIFI signal there (thanks to someone who told me a secret password). So I did, and read all the emails and messages on FB (thank you all!)....the view is where I was sitting when I read them.

One of the people who posted on FB was a child (WAS a child, now she is in college!) who read my book Blow Out the Moon and wrote to me about it all those years ago. And she still remembers me and it.

THAT is the point, or a point, of writing for children, and I hope I remember it the next time I'm discouraged. If any of you have things that you find encouraging, I'd love to hear them!

A Better Story from CNN

An interesting article from CNN last week on the subject of getting published: A better story than J.K. Rowling's

BYE BYE CEO

I can't say that I'm sad to see him go. 

Ha! That rhymes. 

I'm it (Grace tagged me -- see below)

   

1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?

Tibbie Macgregor and the Scottish King

--a partly true story

2. What genre does your book fall into? 

Middle grade novel.

3. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

I can rarely remember much about first drafts. They happen pretty unconsciously. I THINK I started this sometime in 2011 but I’m not sure – I know I worked on it while I was in Scotland last summer,  and rewrote it when I came back. I am now on what I hope is the final draft -- at least until my agent submits it.

4. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I'd be honored if people compared it to The Hobbit which  children on the  Isle of Barra told me – perhaps completely inaccurately – was inspired by the landscape of these islands. The language the Elves speak is like Gaelic (pronounced Gallic in Scotland and related to, but not the same as, Irish Gaelic); the runes the Dwarves write in are like the runes on stones here.....and I know it  may sound weird to mix such different books, but I’d also be honored if the cozier, more girlie bits reminded people of Ballet Shoes and the way the heroine relies on herself and figures things out  reminded them of Harriet the Spy.

5. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A trip I took to the Western Isles of Scotland in 2011 and a legend I read about a box that was given to someone to keep for the true King of Scotland – without telling anyone he had it, without opening it. I started to retell that -- but almost immediately abandoned that idea and wrote my own story instead, keeping the box.

In my story, which is set in the future after all Europe has been taken over by a group of international bankers, the box was given to the heroine's ancestress,  to be passed down from mother to most-trusted daughter until the rightful king needs it.

I tag Anna Alter.

Next Big Thing Global Blog Tour

So, I was tagged by Ann Downer to participate in this blog tour. It's chain-letter tour of sorts where I answer questions about my books and then pass it off to other author/illustrator friends. I actually don't usually participate in these types of things (I always feel like I don't have anyone else to tag) but I am trying to get my baby-filled world a little more balanced with work and I thought this might help get me back into the right (write?) mindset:

1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?

 My most recent book is Starry River of the Sky (companion book to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), which came out last fall. My next book is  Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday, a sequel to my first early reader  Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same. It comes out in the fall. 

2. Where did the book idea come from for the book?

I guess I will talk about the book that is upcoming, Ling and Ting Share a Birthday.

In general, I want the Ling and Ting books to address the unique experience it must be to be a twin. I, myself, am not a twin (I did long to be one when I was younger) so I interviewed a half dozen set of Chinese-American twins when I was writing the first book. During one interview, one of the mothers mentioned something about making two cakes for one birthday and even though I didn't know how I was going to use it at the time, I knew it was something to remember. Slowly, I realized that sharing a birthday is an experience pretty unique to twins and decided to make the next Ling and Ting book about that. 

3. What genre does your book fall into? 

early reader

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I'd definitely want it animated with an unknown voice actor.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Ling and Ting share a twin-tastic birthday!

6. Who is publishing your book?

Little, Brown & Company

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

3-6 months. But early readers are HARD to write. They are faster for me to write than novels (which take me 2-3 years), but they are brain- squeezing-like-the-last-bit-of-toothpaste hours. Novels are like marathons, picture books are like sprints and early readers are like running hurdles. 

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I'd be honored if people compared my book to Frog and Toad or George and Martha.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, I've written about the inspiration of Ling and Ting before, but I will repeat it. 

Just like how Year of the Dog was an homage to the Betsy books, this early reader began as an homage to the Flicka, Dicka and Ricka books I used to read.

(I had to paint Ling and Ting in the same dotted dresses!)

But even though my vision was for identical girls, I felt a tad uncomfortable-- would I be encouraging that whole "All Asians look alike" stereotype? So I put the story away and let the idea sit and sit. For years.

And then in 2005, a group in Portland, ME put on a play of the Ugly Vegetables. There, I met the cutest Asian twin girls I've ever seen. As I watched them share cookies but eat them in completely different ways, a light went off in my head. Suddenly, I knew how the book should be written and that I needed to give the early reader another shot.

So I went home and scratched and rewrote and resketched, with a different outlook. The shift was subtle, but important--as it finally justified (to me) why the characters had to be identical.

Because, whereas the theme of many of my other books have been how even when people look different, there are many similiarities--the theme of this book is how when people look the same, there are many differences. This is a theme that I continue in Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday. 

10. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
I'm working on a third Ling and Ting book! Right now it's called "Ling and Ting:Twice as Silly!" It is a little less about Ling and Ting being twins and more about them just having fun as twins (though I resisted the typical "switching places" story line). I'm hoping this can be a series!

So now I'm suppose to tag someone else...and I tag BRG Libby Koponen, whose newest book, Mmm, Let's Eat! is one of Rain Dragon's new favorite books:

Island diary -- or, the less romantic parts of life on a remote island

4.00 a.m. Hear ba-ing and think, even in my sleep, that it’s not on the road but in my garden.

4.02 run to door (can’t look out window because they are all blacked out with my “panels” – more on those another time) – yes, sheep in garden. Run out.

4.03 sheep (single, one semi-grown lamb) leaps over fence – later in day, someone (staying on hill on opposite side of village, about half a mile away!) says . when topic of sheep-chasing comes up, “I saw you outside in your pajamas this morning and wondered what you were doing.”

4.04 – 5.30 or so – go back to bed, try to get back to sleep but mind is racing with gardening and other plans. Today is the day Roy is going to fill in the holes he has dug around my hut (so it won’t blow away), and finally, I can really plant my garden. Plus he has promised me timber for the raised beds (boards are hideously expensive and hard to get here) and someone else has promised to help me make them.....but of what use is any of that if the sheep break in and get it all?

5.30 – decide to hang fishing nets over all the places where the stone wall is broken....in the one place I have done this, it has worked. So I cut the net I have, manage to make it stretch over other gaps:

8.30? – go in for tea, morning pages, begin planning garden

9.00—people deliver their children to school. I see friend, run out,

“Sorry to waylay you – but do you have any rylock [very good wire fencing, keeps rabbit, sheep out of garden] I could buy?”

He doesn’t – needs it all for HIS garden. Own lambs ate entire mint crop. Smiles delightedly as he says how much he is looking forward to eating said lamb.

“With mint sauce!” I add.

“The bit he didn’t get.”

We look at my stone wall, more of which falls down each day,  he shakes head.

“You’ll never keep them out.”

Sheep are owned by sole crofter on island, who prides himself and them on being aggressive – just HOW aggressive they are constant topic of conversation. Friend and I discuss it, difficulties.

He suggests dry wall mender, I say he has already promised to do it, but –

 “He didn’t commit to when,” friend finishes for me. I say I don’t like to nag, he gets that, but says I don’t want to be overlooked, either. Suggests I say something like,

“Am I moving up your list?”

work in progress: the new studio

One of the caveats of our move was that I had to have a new studio. And what was more, the new studio had to be dream studio, a new oasis...or at least better than my old one.

So, when I saw the top floor of our house, I was smitten. The previous owners used and staged the room as a master retreat:

But I knew it was made to be my workplace! All it need was a change of paint:

And some bookshelves...okay, a lot of bookshelves:

my favorite storage idea--the staircase bookshelf! Idea stolen from HERE (thanks, pinterest!)

with a window seat! this helps take the sting out of leaving the old bookshelves

 and my favorite anthropologie knobs:

I like the bird ones the best!

And the studio transformation has begun. Stay tuned for more...

the maintenance year

travelers on our own journey!

So, this is the time of year when publishing world is all abuzz with their national conferences and award ceremonies--none of which I will be attending. As I read my friends' and colleagues' facebook feeds and twitter streams, I do feel slight twinges of envy. However, the emotion I feel in spades is anxiety. I wonder if somehow my work, my books, are being forgotten, left behind--that all I have tried to build is fading away.

But truly, my biggest fear is not that I've been unable to promote or network. My biggest fear is that I will never be able to do my best work again. For creating a book--at least for me-- is a very selfish  endeavor. It needs great chunks of alone time--thinking time, goofing time, as well as writing time.  It also needs very focused brain power.  All of which has been in short supply since Rain Dragon's arrival. Which is why my plans for novel #3 have remained just that--plans. No drafts, no outlines, no sketches.  My ambitions have been forced to take a backseat as the most I could manage this past year was keeping afloat!

I read somewhere that working moms should shift their attitude towards their careers for the year (s?) after their baby's birth. Instead of trying to achieve ambitious promotions, they should, instead, look at this time as "maintenance."

Even though I know I would've cringed at those words last year, I now embrace them.  It's much more comforting to chalk up this past year to maintenance instead of facing the possibility that I've peaked. 

 And if it was a maintenance year, then that also gives me the power  to decide that it's is over. We're now moved into the new house, I've hired a babysitter to help out and the studio is almost in a working state. Hope springs eternal, and hopefully this spring (er, summer) I can start everything anew. Cross your fingers for me!

The tax collector comes to call

   



Normally I would post this only on my personal blog, but since not much has been posted on BRGs lately for various good reasons, I thought I'd post it here.

I was having breakfast awhile ago--while it was still raining hard all day every day -- when there was a knock at the door. It was the tax collector, over on the boat to inspect my hut and see what sort of tax I owed. Scotland is NOT like the US, and I asked if he would mind taking off his shoes (standard here) and he did, setting them neatly by the door before stepping inside. Then I offered him a cup of tea, which he accepted (also standard here).

Then he told me that I wouldn't owe any taxes at all -- there is no tax ever on "unimproved land" in Scotland, nor is there tax on properties producing less than £10,000 income (this is to protect small businesses in remote places especially), or worth less than a certain amount -- I forget how much.

This good news settled, he proceeded to ask me how much I had paid for my land, and marvel at the bargain I had got.

Scotland has many agreeable and unusal, to me, laws:

• there aren't any tresspassing laws -- anyone can walk anywhere, always

• if your dog chases someone else's sheep, the sheep owner can shoot the dog...though I've never heard of anyone doing this, and the one time someone was tempted, he remembered that the dog belonged to a bedridden little girl. When I exclaimed at this, he muttered, embarrassed, "I probably would have missed anyway -- I'm an awful shot." In my experience, the Scots are kind.

• if an ancestor of yours owned a now-derelict or empty building, and you live in it for a year, it's yours. This applies even to castles!

This last may figure in my next book (not the one I'm writing now, the one after that).

Rain Dragon's reading corner

I am trying to raise a reader! I'm hoping the reading corner I set up in Rain Dragon's room helps:

the leaf canopy is from IKEA, it reminded my of My Neighbor Totoro!

What do your favorite reading corners look like?

(see more of Rain Dragon's room at my personal blog!)

Lucky Destiny Birthday Party!

If you've read my book Year of the Rat , you'll remember how one-year old Max has a Lucky Destiny party.

So, we had a Lucky Destiny Birthday Party for Rain Dragon! It was themed in red, for the luck:

As well as dragons:

first time I baked in the new house!

But the big event  is the destiny choosing! In The Year of the Rat, Max chooses his destiny at his birthday party. That is a real Chinese custom!  A one year old is presented with a variety of objects, each one symbolizing his/her future vocation.

We had Rain Dragon choose from money (finance manager), wrench (contractor),  computer mouse (computer programmer), book (author/librarian), thermometer (doctor), paintbrush (artist), ball (athlete), spoon (chef/baker), solar lamp (new energy engineer!).

After much hesitation, she chose....

she was a little overwhelmed by all the attention

The spoon!

maybe she will fulfill my cupcake dreams!

Yay!  Rain Dragon is going to be a chef!

Well, even if her lucky destiny isn't quite accurate, at least we know she had a very lucky  birthday party!

everyone clapped, so she clapped too!

I hope you have a Lucky Destiny Party with your one-year-old (or two, or three)! It's great fun!

WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH MY BOOK AT BN

Well... still no word from BN corporate. What's worse is that today I checked to see if there was anything new with my new book at work - and lo and behold - yes there is!

This is what's happening: The book has gone from "home delivery only," to "prepay only." What does this mean for my S&S books? Oh, worse things my friends, worse things. "Home delivery only" means that the buyers were not intending to carry my S&S books and would not order them in. Furthermore if a customer asked for the book we were supposed to ship it to their home, not to the store. Most books are available to ship to the store. It's a rare case that we can only "ship to home, " unless it's a print-on-demand, etc.  BUT we could still manage to order S&S books into the store and that's what was happening. Clearly the buyers didn't like this so they put a stop to it. So now books like mine are "prepay only." Usually prepay only books are print-on-demand books or books that are small press books with high price tags that we wouldn't want to be stuck with, i.e, non-returnable. So why, oh why would they make S&S books "prepay only" when they are very returnable? Hmm. I sense a is game afoot!

The question is: How will this all end?

NESCBWI, an epoch in my life

So, I have to admit things in early May were  rather stressful.  Our condo had sold a faster than expected and the packing was in full swing (which was even more challenging now that Rain Dragon was walking!). So when the NESCBWI conference rolled around, everything was in a state of chaos and I was just crossing my fingers that I didn't make any disastrous mistakes. We just made it to conference a half hour before my keynote speech and I think I gave the organizers a heart attack (sorry!).

Because I really regret not being able to partake in more of the conference. It sounded amazing and I can't believe  I missed hearing Sharon Creech speak! She (and Natalie Babbitt) is probably my favorite living author, her book Castle Corona indirectly inspired Where the Mountain Meets the Moon-- I used it to show my publisher how beautiful a novel in full-color would look...and it convinced them!

And what made it even worse is that by getting to the conference so late they ran out of her books at the store (and I was not far-seeing enough to set aside my already-owned copies of her books in an easily identified box) so I missed out on getting a book signed! Boo hoo! But I thought at least Rain Dragon and I could get a photo...and what a photo it is:

Look at Rain Dragon's face! Ha ha! I think she is feeling some professional jealousy out of loyalty to me.

However, even with my less-then-auspicious state of mind, the NESCBWI conference was (as Anne of Green Gables would say) an epoch in my life.  Because, as I've mentioned before (way back when we were having debates about talent) while I am proud of how much I've improved as a public speaker, I'd never consider myself great at it.

But somehow, in the company of fellow children's book author and illustrators and their welcoming, understanding energy, the elements combined and my speech* was  so well-received that I actually got a standing ovation.

photo courtesy of Victoria Lindstrom

This was a first for me! I was very surprised, but also so grateful. It was a lovely moment, lifting me out of the dismal gloom of moving. Thank you, NESCBWI!

*small footnote: in my speech I spoke about how an editor at Charlesbridge asked me to change an Asian girl character to a caucasian boy character because it would pigeonhole me as a multicultural author/illustrator. I'm a little afraid I might not portrayed the story with as much entirety as I intended and people might be judging the editor and the publishing company unfairly. 

-In defense of the editor (who I'll leave nameless unless he wishes to out himself online) his suggestion was his way of looking out for me, trying to make sure I didn't get branded in a way I didn't want. And, he was right.  When my second book featuring Asian characters came out, I was immediately pigeonholed as a multicultural author.

-In defense of Charlesbridge, this was over 13 years ago when they were just starting their fiction line (before that they had been mainly known for educational, non-fiction books). The entire staff has changed since then and their company policy is now known for embracing books with diversity (like Mitali Perkins' Bamboo People)--they are company anyone would be proud to be published with!

BN STILL ISN'T SELLING MY BOOK

The test continues.  I read this on an author's blog:

"I just learned that I can’t visit any Barnes and Noble store with the release of my upcoming novel , the thirteenth in the Cork O’Connor series.  There’s a spat going on between my publisher, Simon and Schuster, and the bookstore chain.  No Simon and Schuster author may visit any Barnes and Noble until further notice."

I'm trying a little experiment, but thus far no dice. BN has an email where you can write to them and it'll go to corporate (for employees only). It's supposed to be to complain about things or write  suggestions, etc. But what I wanted was for them to send my letter to the corporate buyers since I don't have their email. What I said in the email was that I'd been a bookseller for the past 12 years and kindly asked them to consider carrying my new book out this month even though there was a dispute going on between them and S&S. They wrote a "congratulations on your new book!" email, and then said they'd forward my email to the correct people (the buyers). I have not yet heard back.

This is what I want to know: does BN value their employees at all? Back in the Riggio days I think they did... but with the new regime, I'm not sure that they do. We shall see. Stay tuned.

New motive for BIC

   

I have been silent because I bought a tiny piece of land on a remote Scottish island and put this hut on it. The site and garden are still in progress: the hut has to be attached to the ground or it will blow away: it's that windy here!

I still can’t quite believe it’s mine....owning a house (if the hut can count as a house!) and having a garden are deeply satisfying--so satisfying that it's hard to see how people have both ever do anything but garden and decorate. I have been planning and imagining this hut for MONTHS and  love it even more than I thought I would.Here it is outside from all four angles (still a bit messy: the piles of dirt will go into my flower beds, herb garden, and lettuce patch; the solar power wires underground).

The little stone byre is mine, too, and holds all the things the hut can not -- even the solar panel. It is my dream to make it into a little house with a big bathroom, open fireplace right in the center of the room, galley kitchen, and sleeping loft. But for now:

 Bed with big storage drawers underneath-- it's high both for more storage and so I can kneel on it and look out the fanlight to the sea. There are houses out that way, too, so I wanted privacy AND the ocean view. (I'll post the views out all the windows as a separate post.)

 The wood stove and the kitchen behind it, work space and eating table to the right. The big box is for storage and slides out of sight.

Working here is hard--not only because of the charms of decorating and gardening, but because of how much fun  it is to chat with people. For DAYS before I actually started writing, I tried -- and attached signs to both gates saying

"Writing -- please, no visitors."

I felt like a fraud since I wasn't writing; but as someone kindly said when I admitted that,
"Putting up the sign is the first step."

Not that it always worked--someone else (someone I was glad to see, I am not complaining!) knocked on the door and said with a smile:
"I saw you moving around so I knew you weren't writing."

But, finally, I AM writing-- something just clicked into place and I'm back in the novel, rewriting it for what I hope will be the last time before it goes back to my agent.

And knowing that people can see when I'm not writing is actually really good. As Jane Yolen advised Jarret in a hilarious video he made about the writing life,
"Jarret. It's very simple: BIC. Butt in chair."

The sign may be the first step, but that is definitely the second.

LibbyKoponen.org

Why I've been (relatively) quiet this year

         




I just posted an update on my personal blog. I hope to get back to blogging about books and publishing again soon!

Belated Post: The Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival

So, all the way back on April 10th (you'll see why I note the specific date),  we went to the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival  in Hattiesburg, MS. Even though Rain Dragon had flown before,  this time she was much more cognizant. I think she was a bit stunned:

Luckily, when she is stunned she is also speechless so she was a well-behaved baby for most of the flight. 

We flew into New Orleans, where our guardian angel/hostess Anna met drove us to Hattiesburg...

the most hospitable hostess you'll ever meet! She even took us on a tour of New Orleans after the festival!

after a quick stop for some fried oysters:

YUM!!!

And it was in Hattiesburg that we realized that Anna's completely and amazingly warm and hospitable nature was not just exclusive to her. Everyone who was a part of the Book Festival was incredibly thoughtful and kind. They set up a conference room all full of toys just for Rain Dragon to play in!

When I first saw the room, I asked if there were other children at the festival...but it was all just for Rain Dragon!

She absolutely LOVED it. She didn't want to leave!

And perhaps because she knew everyone was so friendly that it was at the conference, right before my keynote speech that Rain Dragon decided to take her first steps! She had been stumbling and standing for days before, but it was at the conference that she finally strung together three or four steps--walking from the stage to table and grinning the whole time. Needless to say, the conference will always be a happy memory for me.

Because it really was a great honor to speak at the Festival! For those who might not know, the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival  is not only a celebration of children's literature (they give the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer & Illustrator Award), but also a celebration of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. There are so many children's book treasures there! From the amazing mural by Esphyr Slobodkina:

to sculptural studies by the Reys:

to a complete set of the original OZ books (which I admit I covet! I might have to start collecting these myself):

One of the funnest things about the Festival and the Collection is how they honor a different children's book creator every year with a special coin. The author/illustrator chose what image they'd like embossed for the back (the front is always their image). 

There was Beverly Cleary with Ramona:

Ernest Shepard with  Winnie the Pooh:

And, of course, there was Ezra Jack Keats, whose entire works (or at least most of it!) is housed at the de Grummond:

including the beautiful art from The Snowy Day which I adore (and I admit  kind of inspired these photos):

which was also  epitomized in the last of the many kindness the festival showed us. Yes, they gave Rain Dragon a Peter doll!

Though she does treat him rather roughly:

She loves him!

and now that she's walking she's impossible to get a still photo of, too!

Thanks so much!