• Books. Books. Books.,  Editing,  Picture Books,  Querying,  Rejection,  Writing

    The Waiting Game Begins: Query Writing (Part Three)

    / November 17, 2018 / 0 Comments

    I got a wonderful response from my last blog post about Picture Book Writer Musings: Cutting Characters, so I thought I’d do another post for those interested in becoming a writer, or for those curious on how books get from the writer’s hands to the shelves.

    Spoiler Alert: It’s not as easy as it looks!

    When I’m asked what I do, as in what job I do, saying that I’m a writer and an illustrator brings about curiosity. The first question asked, like clockwork, is “Anything I would know?” but once I’ve made my way through that one, the other questions follow:

    What do you write? How did you know you wanted to be a writer? What are your stories about? What do you do after you’ve written a book? Do you go online and sell it yourself? Do you find a publisher?

    Those are just a few of the questions I’ve been asked in the past eight years since beginning my writing journey. The first three are easy ones. Those are related to my personal journey of becoming a writer, to which you can find out more about that

    here

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  • Books. Books. Books.,  Illustration,  Interviews,  Misc. Fun!,  What I am Working On,  Writing

    Get to Know Me!

    / August 22, 2018 / 4 Comments

    #Boostmybio for #PitchWars 2018

    I love the idea of magic and whimsy both of which led to my story, Wishweaver.

    There was a day last summer, when a neighbor came by, and she noticed a spiderweb with several milkweed wisps caught in its sticky threads. She said, “She’s catching wishes.” Little did my neighbor know at the time, but she’d inadvertently sparked a story inside me, and it would percolate for a year before getting to where it is today. A Middle Grade Fantasy story called, Wishweaver.

    My Book

    WISHWEAVER

    In the forests of Weyburn, there has always been a Wishweaver—a spider with the magic to grant wishes—but for many years, wishes have gone unanswered, and Whimsy Spider is determined to find out why.

    Whimsy has questions, and lots of them: What were they continuing on the Wishweaver traditions for, if there was no Wishweaver? What really happened to the last one? Why hasn’t a new one come to take the other’s place?

    With the help of her milkweed wisp friend, Flit, Whimsy will go on a journey to the old Wishweaver Oak in search of answers, but the answers she seeks are buried deep in Weyburn’s past and she’ll have to face her fears in order to find out how to change their wish-less future.

    About Me

    I spent some of my best career years as a Library Clerk in the Santa Clara County Library system. This brought every possible book to my fingertips and I grew an even larger appreciation for the art of storytelling. With the support of my colleagues, I continued editing Adeline and the Mystic Berries and even participated in

    NanoWriMo 2015

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  • Adeline and the Mystic Berries,  Books. Books. Books.,  Illustration,  Picture Books,  Querying,  Writing

    Seattle Writer’s Workshop – Pitching to Agents

    / June 26, 2018 / 0 Comments

    So, I did it… I went to my first ever writer’s workshop/conference!

    The short version of how the conference went…it was amazing!!!

    Now, if you’d like to know more, here we go.

    My mom and I went on this journey together, as I took my first steps in the outside world introducing myself as a writer/illustrator. We left for Seattle early enough to stop in Olympia for lunch and to see a bit of the town. We both agreed, the capital of Washington state is a beautiful place to visit!

    We continued our journey up to Seattle, and made it to the hotel just before check-in, the night before the conference. We ate our meals at the hotel in their Cascadia Grill restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

    There was plenty of time to scout out the next day’s event locations and everything was very straight forward at the hotel. When Saturday came, I was ready.

    I had my book dummy in hand for my first alliterative picture book, Benny the Bookworm, and had plans to pitch one agent that day, in-and-amongst going to five different workshops on being a writer and the business of writing (See post on second alliterative picture book, Wishweaver here).

    I mingled at the event. I met one of the event coordinators, Brian Klems, and introduced myself. I got to meet several other writers of various genres and we exchanged our business cards.

    Mingling…check!

    The first class I took was: Book Marketing from your Couch: Social Media 101 and I found it very informative. I was trying not to be nervous for my pitch that was taking place right in between that session and the next, but no such luck. As much as I love my story, and I am excited to pursue my career as both a writer and an illustrator, it was nerve-wracking to put myself and my work out into the literary world.

    Would my illustrations be up to par with other illustrators in the children’s book market?

    Would my writing catch the interest of others besides just my friends, family, and critique group?

    What if I completely forget my pitch in the worst possible moment?

    The doubts of we creatives can be high. They often call it “Imposter Syndrome” or that feeling of inadequacy because you haven’t “made it” yet in whatever it is you are trying to “make it” in. In the writing world, it’s feeling odd calling yourself a writer and/or illustrator when your credentials haven’t been built up yet. Saying you are an illustrator but not having had any illustrations printed in anything of major consequence.

    I now have some illustration publishing credits with the

    Theodore and the Enchanted Bookstore

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