Upcoming Holidays

It was Hilde's turn to post, but she's opted out till school ends. Between the classes she is taking and the classes she is teaching, she's finding almost no time to sleep, less write.
I haven't got a post in my head, so here is a list of Holidays, should you be searching for a topic of conversation. I took the from two different sites, so you can choose.
The first Calendar is from Holiday Insights
They failed to mention that April 19th is the anniversary of the Battle of Concord and Lexington. But

 

I forgive them because of Mother Goose Day.  What's your favorite strange Holiday?

Saturday April 23	Talk Like Shakespeare Day Duh. It's Shakespeare's birthday. Shoot him a card.
Sunday, April 2	Hug an Australian Day
Monday, April 27	Babe Ruth Day
Thursday, April 30
Friday, May 1	Mother Goose Day
Sunday, May 3	Lumpy Rug Day
Monday, May 4	Star Wars Day
Wednesday, May 6	No Diet Day
Friday, May 8	No Socks Day
Monday, May 11	Eat What You Want Day
Tuesday, May 12	Limerick Day
Wednesday, May 13	Frog Jumping Day
Thursday, May 14	National Chicken Dance Day
Friday, May 15	National Chocolate Chip Day
Saturday, May 16	National Sea Monkey Day
Sunday, May 17	Pack Rat Day
Monday, May 18	Visit Your Relatives Day
Thursday, May 21	National Waiters and Waitresses Day
Monday, May 25	National Tap Dance Day
Sunday, May 31 The Next list is From Holiday Insights 18 International Juggler's Day - also applies to multi tasking office workers 18 Newspaper Columnists Day 18 Patriot's Day - third Monday of the month 19 National Garlic Day 20 Look Alike Day 20 Volunteer Recognition Day 21 Kindergarten Day 21 National High Five Day third Thursday 22 Girl Scout Leader Day 22 National Jelly Bean Day 23 Lover's Day 23 National Zucchini Bread Day - they hold this at a time when you are not sick of all that zucchini. 23 Take a Chance Day 23 World Laboratory Day 24 Pig in a Blanket Day 25 East meets West Day 25 World Penguin Day   26 Hug an Australian Day 26 National Pretzel Day 26 Richter Scale Day 27 Administrative Professionals Day (Executive Admin's Day, Secretary's Day) -  date varies 27 Babe Ruth Day 27 National Prime Rib Day 27 Tell a Story Day 28 International Astronomy Day 28 Great Poetry Reading Day 28 Kiss Your Mate Day - guys, do not forget this one. Kiss her, then read her some poetry. 28 Take Your Daughter to Work 4th Thursday 29 Arbor Day  -last Friday of month 29 Greenery Day 29 National Shrimp Scampi Day 30 Hairstyle Appreciation Day 30 National Honesty Day	World Tobacco Day

First Lines From the 2015 Cybils Plus . . .

This is supposed to be first lines from the 2015 Cybil Awards and wouldn't you know, the first book had no lines. This would seem to be a good year for wordless picture books. I don't love all of these first paragraphs. Why should I? We all have very different ideas of what we want to read. What's the best first line or paragraph you've read this year?

Fiction Picture Books

Sidewalk Flowersby JonArno Lawson
Groundwood Books
Nominated by: Hannah DeCamp

A distracted dad and his daughter take a walk home in this beautifully illustrated, wordless picture book. The story unfolds through a unique combination of graphic novel style format and traditional full-bleed or framed art. While the city seems drab and dark in the beginning, the little girl finds beauty around every corner. Details invite the reader to linger and pause over the pages, discovering along with the girl on her walk through the neighborhood. As she matter-of-factly shares her appreciation for things around her, color begins to spread beyond just the people and places where she distributes her finds.  Readers young and old alike will be charmed by this story of a little girl’s ability to stop and notice the weeds and her natural willingness to spread kindness in a busy, fast-paced world. The wordless aspect of the book makes it accessible to everyone, no matter what language they read or speak. 

Easy Readers

Ling & Ting: Twice as Silly (Passport to Reading, Level 3: Ling & Ting)by Grace Lin
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Nominated by: Heidi G.

Story 1 The Garden

Ting is in the garden. "

What are you doing?" Ling asks.

"I am planting cupcakes," Ting  says.

'Ting!"  Ling says. "You cannot plant cupcakes."

Early Chapter Books

Dory and the Real True Friend (Dory Fantasmagory)by Abby Hanlon
Dial Books
Nominated by: Sara Ralph

My name is Dory, but everyone calls me Rascal. This is my family. I have a mom, dad, big brother, and big sister who are just regular people. I also have a monster and fairy godmother who are not regular because only I can see them,

Elementary/Middle Grade

Fiction

The Blackthorn Keyby Kevin Sands
Aladdin
Nominated by: Melissa Fox

I found it.

Master Benedict says he wasn't the least bit surprised According to him, there were several times over the past three years when he was sure I'd finally discovered it. Yet it wasn't until the day before my fourteenth birthday that it came to be so clearly, I thought God Himself had whispered in my ear.

Speculative Fiction

The Fog Diverby Joel Ross
HarperCollins
Nominated by: PLCarpenter

After a long morning searching the woods, I spotted a school bus through the Fog. The broke windows looked like rotten teeth as I edged closer, hoping to salvage hubcaps or engine parts.

 

Young Adult 

Fiction

Every Last Wordby Tamara Ireland Stone
Disney-Hyperion
Nominated by: Jennifer Donovan

Lane three. It's always lane number three. My coaches think it's funny. Quirky/ A thing, like not washing your lucky socks or growing a rally beard. And that's perfect/ That's all I want them to know.

Speculative Fiction

The Walls Around Usby Nova Ren Suma
Algonquin Young Readers
Nominated by: Esther Braithwaite

Amber

WE WENT WILD

We wen wild that hot night. We howled, we raged, we screamed. We were girls - some of us fourteen and fifteen; some sixteen and seventeen - but when the locks came undone, the doors of our cells gaping open and no one to shove us back in, we made the noise of savage animals, of men.

Non-Fiction

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam Warby Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Brook Press
Nominated by: Benji Martin

Cold Warrior

What could Daniel Ellsberg possibly have done to provoke such wrath - to be seen as such a threat? The story begins twenty-six years earlier, as World War II came to an end and the Cold War began. Ellsberg was just starting ninth grade at a prep school near Detroit, Michigan.

Sheinkin does it again. He's also the 2016 YALSA award winner. I read his book Bomb. The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon and adored it.

I still didn't have a picture book first line for this post. When I checked out the ALA Awards page, I fell in love with a title.  It won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award (best translation from another language.)
The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy (2015)

By Alemagna, Beatrice

I loved the title and the description and I went to LAPL tonight and placed a hold on it. (Why is my computer suddenly putting everything in title caps? I wish I could do that on purpose.)

Since I still didn't have a picture book first line from the Cybils. I am including one from the last picture book I read. A delightful read.

Han and the Mysterious Pearl by Barbara Bockman, illustrated by Carl Kocich.
Long ago in the part of China where giant finger mountains rise above the morning mist, a boy named Han lived with his mother in a little house beside the Li River. 

I am also interested in your favorite title of the year. Please feel free to comment. Write on!

Dispatch #50: Dream Trap

Fifteen Miles Across Los Angeles

by Lupe Fernandez

I am trapped in Downtown Los Angeles; I know I'm dreaming, but I can't walk myself up. I can't find the subway; I decide to walk out.

I worked in Downtown LA for twenty-two years; I moved to Northern California four years ago.

I am trapped in Downtown Los Angeles near the financial district. I know I'm dreaming. The Pershing Square Metro Red Line stop isn't available; I decide to walk out. There's a woman walking next to me. I can walk out; It's a dream, I can do anything. It's fifteen miles from downtown to my apartment in North Hollywood located in the San Fernando Valley.

It's a long walk; I decide to fly. I spread my arms, lift my feet and fall face flat on the pavement.

I walk up in a panic, bed sheets up to my chin. I reassure myself the dream isn't real. I'm not stranded in Downtown Los Angeles. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is not an alternative reality.

Or is it?

When I'm 102, will I be able to tell the difference?

Not to worry. The differences are sensory details.

Eye-burning car exhaust. Onions sizzled on aluminum trays heated by propane tanks, mounted in grocery shopping carts. Squeal of Metro bus brakes. Random shout of a wandering man. Burble of suited men discussing the Lakers. Crunch of fractured walk under my shoes. Throp, throp of an LAPD helicopter overhead. Greasy touch of a revolving office building entrance.

Protestors chanting.

I am trapped downtown, but it's not real. I wake up the next morning shaken. I tell myself I don't have to go back there. I look out my bedroom window at soft rolling hills surrounding Mt. Diablo.

I write. My daytime preoccupation is imagining places I've never been and describing them in detail.

When I'm 102 years old, will I be able to tell the difference? How about tonight?

Next time I get stuck downtown, I'll seek out someone with rank body odor. If I recoil, I'll know the difference.

New Book? How do you get reviews?

by Susan J Berger.

Last week a second edition of Earthquake was published. Earthquake 2nd Edition has new material, new factoids, updated emergency supplies list,  and a tactile exercise to find the meaning of the numbers on the Richter Scale. Earthquake Second Edition is also available as a PDF for your eReader from Guardian Angel Publishing. Price is $5.00
The original edition was published in 2009. It got honorable mention in the Green Book Awards, and some very nice comments from FEMA and the USGS.  In seven years things changed. FEMA's delightful kid's page no longer exists. We've had some big earthquakes. Cell phones became a way of life. The book was revised. New material added. The Earthquake Book website has been updated..

 Next step get reviews and publicize it. What is available to an indie author?

SCBWI Book Launch Party? Nope. Not till September or October. When it reopens, it will be available for all books published this year. Sounds like a great resource.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. SCBWI has a booth and is offering signing opportunities for PAL authors. I booked a fifty minute slot for Saturday April 9th from noon to 12:50. Come see me. Will I make money? Festival goers mostly come for the swag and the chance to meet major authors.Unlikely. But it's a good opportunity to get it out there.
  Classroom visits?  Alexis O'Neill is the Queen of Classroom Visits. Her page is an excellent resource. I would love to be her intern and follow her around.

How about reviews?

I Googled  Reviewers? Where can an author get a non fiction children's picture book reviewed?
Results:
 Midwest Book Review?
There is a charge of 50.00 for reviewing eBooks, but I think print books may be free. I could send either. I will query them.
Kirkus Book Reviews? Don't think so. Cost starts at $425.
Publisher's Weekly Yes. I submitted a PDF for review.
Booklist online.  This looks possible. I will follow up.

Blogger tours? Pricy and probably for a non fiction picture book,  not helpful.

Marketing

I suggest you read this wonderful post by MJ Rose on the difference between publicity and marketing.
M. J Rose founded AuthorBuzz which includes KidsBuzz. Marketing plans vary in price. Lowest price I saw was $495. Is it worth it? If you are planning to write more books and make a career in the writing business, yes. In case you did not feel like clicking the link to M.J. Roses post, I will quote from it.
5. What to spend? The advice I give everyone, and follow myself, is to keep your day job or a freelance job and spend as much as you can on selling your book. I’ve worked with authors who spend $985 and others who, between my services and other efforts, spend $250,000. One way to decide: if you are going to look back and regret spending the money, don’t do it. But if you are going to look back and say, “If only I had tried maybe the book would have succeeded,” then do it. Nora Roberts said you should spend 10% of your advance. For years, James Patterson spent all of his on advertising and kept his job.

How about you? If you have an indie book out, where have you gone for reviews? Are you planning any marketing?
 Oh and if any of you would like to review Earthquake, 2nd Edition, I would be happy to send you a PDF. Just leave your contact information in a comment.
Write on!

Reminder: This Thursday, March 17th is PITMAD. Here a post on the Art of the Pitch Tweet. If you use Tweetdeck or Buffer, you can set your pitch up ahead of time.

I just found this: SCBWI 
Summer Reading List

We are putting together our 1st ever SCBWI 
Summer Reading List to promote our published authors. You are invited to feature one of your 
books on our premiere list. 


All you have to do is select one book of yours to be on the list. Send us the title, author (you!), and a book description of 25 words or less. Separately, indicate the rough grade level, genre, and your state/country of residence. (Choose from one of these genres: Adventure/Mystery, Humorous, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Non Fiction, Poetry, Picture Book, Series Book) 

We will assemble the lists by region (same regions as used 
for Crystal Kites) and organize all the books by grade level 
and genre. 

All the SUMMER READING LISTS will be made available to schools, libraries, bookstores, and consumers via digital download and hard copy distribution. We will promote the lists and support them with a robust marketing plan (more to come on this!). 

DON'T MISS THIS FREE SCBWI OPPORTUNITY TO GET YOUR BOOKS INTO THE HANDS OF THOUSANDS OF READERS THIS SUMMER! It's another way SCBWI is supporting your work and spreading the word about excellent books for children and young people. 

E-mail your information to readinglist@scbwi.org by 
April 1, 2016. 

Dispatch #49: The Grief Scale

by Lupe Fernandez

I read a memoir called The Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp. She chronicles her grief over the diagnosis of her son Ronan from Tay-Sachs disease. I was struck by her concept of grief hierarchy. Are some personal losses more important than others? My grief is deeper than yours and therefore more deserving of sympathy, empathy, etc…? The flip side, she writes, is that your grief isn’t worthy of tears and rage so get over it.

I’m walking from home Burbank Elementary school and my watercolor painting in my hand flies off. I chase after it. The paper tumbles on the sidewalk, almost within my grasp, but the wind hurtles the painting into the street. I’m not supposed to go into the street; I lost the painting and I’m sad.

I’m in the sixth grade and standing in line on the black top for something important – I don’t remember what – and Christine Hills cuts in front of me. I protest. She punches me and I cry. My best Ramon Vasquez asks if I’m crying. No, I got dirt in my eye. Sure, he doesn’t believe.

Loss and humiliation. Where do these do these feelings place on the grief scale?

1 is Amusing Laugh

10 is Psychiatric Hospital Admission

Not the same as terminal illness.

My brothers and I were playing softball on the front lawn. Somebody – I’m not naming names – hit the ball and shattered my parent’s bedroom window. We knew our father would be furious. Trouble was a cannonball in my stomach. I cowered against my dresser, tasting tears and snot rolling across my lips. Or my teen years when I never knew what mood my alcoholic father would be in when I came from school.

Where am I on the scale?

I limit these recollections to childhood and adolescence as I middle grade and young adult fiction.

Nobody close to me died – my father left his mortal coil during my first quarter at UCLA, thus falls out of the purview of Children’s Literature.

In my stories, characters suffer emotional trauma and some of them die. Their grief never happened in this world, so why would the reader care? It’s not memoir.

But writing fiction – aside from being a part of my depression management – allows some characters fall in love, participate in great adventures and become better people.

And they get to grief however the hell they want.