Author: beckylevine

Becky Levine is a children's book writer, working hard to strengthen her picture-books skills. She is the author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, a book to help you get started with a critique group, learn to revise from a critique, and strengthen your own critiquing powers. She has also published two nonfiction children's books with Capstone Press. She is currently seeking representation. Becky lives in California's Santa Cruz mountains, where she spends a lot of time sitting on the couch, knitting needles in hand, thinking through the next revision. At her day job, she writes grants for a nonprofit healthcare organization.
Posted in Uncategorized

Friday Five: What’s Happening Out There?

Posted on by beckylevine

Okay, the blog’s been pretty Becky-centric this week, so for Friday, I’m scanning the blogosphere for interesting news, discussions, and events that are happening between and to others! School starts up again on Monday, so my brain (my middle-aged brain!) should be back firing on most more cylinders!

1. April is National Poetry month, and writers all over the blogs are doing some pretty cool things. If you haven’t checked out Susan Taylor Brown’s blog lately, she’s given herself an incredible challenge–to write a poem a day about the father she never know. Susan’s a friend, and I’m not a poetry expert, but true gut feeling? Every poem I’ve read has been incredible–open, honest, and lovely.

2. Kerrie Flanagan at The Writing Bug talks about the blogging “box” she found herself caught in and warns us that she’ll be busting out soon! How are you feeling about your blog these days?

3. I love this post from Sherrie Petersen about what it’s meant to her to find her critique group.

4. Laurie Halse Anderson has a few posts about MORE proposed library cuts. Page down the blog a ways and catch them all, in order.

5. Jane Friedman at There Are No Rules talks about trying to make “it” all happen.

Posted in Uncategorized

Where Am I Wednesday

Posted on by beckylevine

Spring Break–no big vacation plans around here, just son and I digging into serious closet & room cleaning, him spending a lot of time in his hammock catching up on books, and he and Dad moving forward on that 8th grade project–a pedal-powered chariot. I don’t have to get up by a certain time in the morning, I don’t have to be out the door to do school drop-off or pick-up, and son’s taking care of a lot of his own meal prep.

This SHOULD equal more time, right? See, this is why I don’t trust math. I’m enjoying the vacation and no-school-commitment things a lot. But…I also feel a bit like this.

Today, so far, I have:

  • Walked with a friend
  • Bought workshop-raffle supplies and mechanical pencils (this time, hopefully, the ones WITHOUT the mysterious-vanishing spell on them) at the office supply store
  • Bought cockatiel food and spraying millet (and, yes, I know why they call it “spraying”) at the pet food store
  • Bought MORE than a trunkful of groceries (symptomatic of the chaos indicator above, in that it’s clearly been way too long since I WENT to the grocery store)
  • Eaten lunch
  • Drank tea (skip this step at your own peril)
  • Put groceries away
  • Helped son sort through books & garner two BIG bags of books for the local used bookstore (AKA “paradise”)
  • Cooked beets. (Whilst resenting society and technology for not yet having simplified my life by developing an already-cooked, already-peeled beet that tastes anything like the real stuff.)
  • Cleaned the kitchen, listening to the end of TWO-Saturdays-ago “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” episode (note, again, indicator of chaos zone AND serious multi-tasking skills)
  • Blogged (albeit mindlessly)

And now it is almost 3:00 in the afternoon, and I’m getting to work.

But, hey, I’m not sitting outside the middle-school waiting for the carpool!

Posted in Libraries

National Library Week

Posted on by beckylevine

This week is National Library Week. Let me tell you, with my reading habit, if I didn’t have libraries (yes, I use more than one!), I would be in serious trouble–emotional and financial! I still pretty much check out the maximum number of books the libraries will allow & that I can carry. I love browsing the new-book shelves for surprises, and I love running across an old favorite I haven’t thought of for years…and that I get to read again.

When I was a little girl, I picked up Edward Eager’s Half Magic. And I read this…which showed me that there was someone else out there who felt about books and libraries the same way I did.  My apologies to nonfiction writers, but, yes, this is pretty much how I felt when I was young. I’m learning… 🙂

Still, even without the country or a lake, the summer was a fine thing, particularly when you were at the beginning of it, looking ahead into it. There would be months of beautifully long, empty days, and each other to play with, and the books from the library.

In the summer, you could take out ten books at a time, instead of three, and keep them a month, instead of two weeks. Of course you could only take four of the fiction books, which were the best, but Jane liked plays and they were nonfiction, and Katharine liked poetry and that was nonfiction, and Martha was still the age for picture books, but they didn’t count as fiction but were often nearly as good.

Mark hadn’t found out yet what kind of nonfiction he liked, but he was still trying. Each month, he would carry home his ten books and read the four good fiction ones in the first four days, and then read one page each from the other six, and then give up. Next month he would take them back and try again. The nonfiction books he tried were mostly called things like “When I was a Boy in Greece,” or “Happy Days on the Prairie”–things that made them sound like stories, only they weren’t. They made Mark furious.

“It’s being made to learn things not on purpose. It’s unfair,” he said. “It’s sly.”  Unfairness and slyness the four children hated above all.

The library was two miles away, and walking there with a lot of heavy, already-read books was dull, but coming home was splendid–walking slowly, stopping from time to time on different strange front steps, dipping into the different books. One day Katharine, the poetry lover, tried to read Evangeline out loud on the way home, and Martha sat right down on the sidewalk after seven blocks of it, and refused to go a step farther if she had to hear another word of it. This will tell you about Martha.

After that Jane and Mark made a rule that nobody could read bits out loud and bother the others.

In two days, I’ll be running up the hill to visit my main library–which I’ve shown on my blog before. In case you haven’t seen the photo…

Who could resist? Happy National Library Week. Go, celebrate, read!

Posted in Uncategorized

Friday Five: Things I Believe to be True about Bullying

Posted on by beckylevine

Prompted by the horrifying story of Phoebe Prince, Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall have started a new Facebook page–Young Adult Authors Against Bullying. Either at this page, or on blogs, or anywhere people feel like they can and should speak out, these authors are inviting people to share stories, feelings, and ideas for change.

I’ve joined the Facebook page, and I’ve been reading blogs. I don’t usually use my blog for this kind of focus, but it’s been getting harder and harder for me to just sit here and read and not do or say something. I’ve been lucky–I haven’t experienced much bullying in my lifetime, and the amount my son lived through, he lived through well (I believe, with our help and the help of some teachers) and has come out stronger on the other side of it. (And, yes, as Carrie said on her blog, he’s read what I’m writing & has given me permission to post this.) Does this mean that the little bit I experienced was acceptable? No. Does that mean it’s a good thing for my son to have experienced any at all, because he survived and survived beautifully? It does not. It’s something he shouldn’t have had in his life, ever, at all.

Here are five things I believe about bullying:

1. Bullying has always been around. The internet has given it another forum, one that, I think, makes it easier for the bullying to stay hidden longer, but this kind of cruelty is not new. All this means to me is that we should have learned better by now how to deal with it.

2. Bullying is one of the hardest things in their lives for a kid to talk about. So guess what? Adults have to start the conversation. Adults have to make sure bullying is defined at home, in schools, on the playground before the bullying starts. And they have to define the consequences for the bullies, then make sure those consequences happen. Visibly.

3. Names do hurt. Sticks and stones hurt, too, but they leave clear marks and wounds that an adult can see and respond to. We have to look a lot harder for the hurt that names cause. We have to.

4. Bullying continues. When a bully  has been successful, when no real consequences have been assigned to their actions, they will keep going. And the worst thing about bullying, the reason it hurts so much, is that it doesn’t stop. The person being bullied does not get a break. Think about erosion, water against stone. It’s exhausting.

5. Adults–parents and teachers–need to lower the bar on what bullying means. Too much bullying is given a milder name–“teasing,” “joking,” when none of it is funny. The word bullying has power today–use it. If you think a child you know is going through this, put the word into action–say it out loud in a phone call, send it via email, and then follow-up. Don’t allow anyone to minimize what’s going on, to tell you there’s nothing to do, to ask you to wait for things to blow over. Just don’t.

I’m not sure what this blog post will do. I’m not sure what any of the blog posts, or the Facebook page, will do, but I think they’re important. Because the worse thing any of us can do is be silent.

Posted in Critique Groups, Guest Blogger

Guest Post: Peg Finley on Multiple Critique Groups

Posted on by beckylevine

When I asked around for anyone interested in guest posting here about critique groups, Peg Finley sent me a note. And when she told me she belonged to three critique groups, I told her to “come on down!” I wanted to hear her talk about the benefits and the challenges, and she was nice enough to do just that. Read Peg’s guest post for a detailed look at the pros and cons she sees in belonging to more than one group.

 

Peg Finley: Picture-Book Writer, Children’s Stories (Fiction & Nonfiction),
Writers and Inspirational Articles
SCBWI Member/Institute of Children’s Literature Graduate/CBI Clubhouse Member

At the start of this blog entry I should say that being in multiple critique groups is a lot like being on a rollercoaster without being buckled in. You soar to the highest point squealing all the way to the top, and then you close your eyes tightly and hold on all the way down. It is balancing act to do your best for yourself and for others in your groups so that everyone grows as a writer.

I’m a Dreamwriter. I’m a Rainbowwriter and a Flux Member. Being in one critique group might be enough for some but not for me. Here are some pros and cons I’ve discovered during my time in multiple critique groups.

Pro: Being in three critique groups makes me more aware of the trends in the industry. When someone hears a publisher is open for unsolicited submissions or other things industry related, they are quick to share that info. Being in three different groups with at least four members in each means multiple sources of information. (I copy articles off to read while I’m waiting for the kids to get out of school so I don’t take up valuable writing time.)

Con: For some it can be too much information to process. Reading everything you get might leave you with no time to write.

Pro: Being disciplined is crucial when in multiple critique groups. You learn to prioritize. You do critiques as they come in and return them in a timely manner. You submit submissions by the deadline so that they are on time. There is no option to procrastinate. It helps a writer learn to work with revision requests from editor. You learn the value of meeting deadlines. It adds to your professionalism.

Con: The pace can be too fast for some writers. If a writer’s style is very relaxed or they are not seriously committed, it is very easy to get behind.

Pro: By reading and critiquing writings from multiple writers with multiple personalities, you can experience growth. Most writers take and pull from what they know. If there are talented members in your critique groups they can be role models.

In my one group, there’s someone who was a teacher who helps me with my grammar issues. Thanks goodness. Another member notices when transitions in my submissions aren’t smooth. Another has a lovely voice for the very young child that I try to imitate in my work.

Con: For a writer just starting it can be difficult to develop your style of writing, especially if some members have been published multiple times. It can be intimidating.

Pro: More eyes to find mistakes or make suggestions for improvement in a writer’s writing is another reason to be involved with more than one critique group. This is especially true when struggling with a section of a submission. Getting the same type of comments in the manuscript at the same place is a sure-fire way to know that there is a problem.

Con: Knowing what to take away from a critique can be a challenge as a writer.A writer might not be able to accept the need for changes, or it might hurt for a writer to hear that their “baby” needs some more work.

Pro: Another positive aspect of being in multiple groups is if you really need to, you can send the same submission to more than one group. (I try not to do that but sometimes it does happen.)

Con: It takes time and effort to be a “good critique group member.”

Pro: One unexpected benefit from being in multiple groups was that while I was researching articles to share with my groups, I found topics for my blog.If group members found an article helpful, so will writers who come to my blog.

Con: For some this could be considered a waste of time.

Pro: Being in more than one critique group means you get more than the average amount of opportunities to sub. Most members in a critique group submit once a month or less.For people who write a lot, it motivates them. (For instance, Dreamwriters’ has two original submission dates per month with two dates for revised submission. I try to submit every time an opportunity comes up. In total, I have four chances to submit an original manuscript, and two chances for rewrites.)

Con: It is a little crazy at times trying to keep up, but is doable. Some groups offer options to do a second submission a month, with at least one mandatory submission.

Pro: Some writers get lazy/bored easily. ( I am one of those writers.) The two chances to submit a rewrite to the group keeps me on my toes. I have to get my revisions done as the suggestions I take from the critiques have to be incorporated in time for the next rewrite submission date.

I am not the biggest fan of revising. I know it’s necessary. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. Lol. Knowing that there is a deadline makes me write it now.

Pro: Choosing to participate in multiple critique groups can be time-consuming. Some writers use the chance to become the best writer they can be.

Con: If a writer’s personal or writing life is complicated, a writer should seriously consider how much time they can offer to their groups.How often can you write is a question you need to ask yourself.

Pro: The biggest benefit from being in multiple critique groups is the support offered. A good critique group is worth its weight in gold and being in more than one group doubles or triples the value. Groups share their hopes and dreams. Group members pick each other up when someone is down, and they do the happy dance when one or more of the group members get the recognition they have worked so hard to achieve.

Con: Picking the wrong critique group to participate in can leave a writer with a bad feeling about sharing their work. Selecting your groups carefully is so important. Make sure they fit you as a writer.

Would I recommend joining more than one critique group? Not always. Each writer needs to find what works for them. For me, three work just fine.

Posted in Marketing

Marketing Monday: How Do You Feel about Handouts?

Posted on by beckylevine

So I’ve got a few things setup for the year–talks at some local writing clubs and a couple of conferences. I’ll be spending a little time this month looking into some 2011 scheduling–it always blows me away how early you have to get on top of this stuff, but it doesn seem like a reality. Overall, though, I’m feeling pretty good about the marketing work I’ve done for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide,  in terms of “live appearances.”

What I’m not so sure about is the kind of handouts, if any, I should be bringing along with me.

True confessions: I am not a handout person, in terms of being on the receiving end. I don’t use bookmarks; I just pretty much remember where I’m at when I close a book. I don’t pick up flyers at workshops, except to read them and put them down again for someone else to take away with them. I’ll take a business card if someone hands it to me, but too often it ends up in the laundry or in a pile that I don’t ever get to sorting through and organizing.

On the other hand, when I’m talking marketing with other writers or reading their blogs/tweets online, I get the impression I may be in the minority. And that I’m not doing myself or my book any good assuming that other people think/respond like me on this.

So…your take, please. As readers-when you’re at a writing event or a bookstore signing, and there are various and sundry marketing materials being handed out or displayed attractively on tables, what do you pick up? What do you take home & actually use, or hand on to someone else as a piece of information you think they need? If someone was going to hand you a single something, what would you like it to be? And–writers–what pieces have you had the most success with, at least in terms of their disappearing from your stack and needing to be replaced.

  • A fun, colorful bookmark with a picture of the book on it, a few choice, descriptive words, and the author’s website url
  • A pen or pencil, also colorful, with the title of the book & the author’s name
  • A postcard with information about the book, but also detailed contact info for the author (email, blog, website)
  • A flyer that tells you about the book & any services that author may provide to other writers (editing, school appearances, workshops)
  • A basic, simple business card

In other words, I guess, are you more interested in getting a lot of information, or would you rather have something bright & cheerful that doesn’t overload you with details? And, since I guess the point of this is to spread the word, which would you be more likely to take a few of and pass around to your friends?

Everybody has the marketing tasks they enjoy & the ones they’re not so crazy about. I think this is one of the latter kind for me–I haven’t yet worked out what I’m supposed to DO with these things when I’ve got them with me, or if/how I should be distributing them around the world, without being present to hand them out in person.

Please leave all & any thoughts in the comments. And if any of you have found THE PERFECT COMPANY (aka quality and not-too-scary quantity at a reasonable price), I’d love it if you’d drop in that info with your comment.

Thanks again, for helping me benefit from the true power of the Internet…you guys. 🙂

Posted in Friday Five

Friday Five: SHIVER Contest Winner & Week’s Wrap Up

Posted on by beckylevine

Is it Friday already? Is it the weekend yet?

It’s been a busy week & a productive one, in terms of finishing up a couple of things, getting started on a few more, and at least moving forward on some others. Here’s some of what I did.

1. Forgot (on Wednesday) to pull a winner for my Shiver giveaway and remembered (on Thursday) to do it. The winner is so appropriate, I think, since she has the name that’s the closest (of all the entrants) to the book’s title.

Shevi, come on down! Email me at beckylevine at ymail dot com, with your snail mail address, and I’ll get the book out to you soon. Definitely in time for you to read before Linger comes out. 🙂

2. Finished a scene in my YA historical, heaved a deep sigh of a not-quite defined emotion, and sent it off to my critique group.

3. Made some decisions about how to proceed with my picture book, hopefully decisions that will–as my husband says–maximize my bird-to-stone ratio. More on this later.

4. Dug into some new critique projects that I’m pretty much in love with.

5. Got a tentative date (May 6th) for the online critique class I’ll be teaching through Writer’s Digest this spring. I’ll let you know when the course info is up on their site.

6. (Yes, I know, it’s cheating.) Hooked up with friends, relaxed with books, and watched Zombieland with husband and son. In other words, stayed sane, an accomplishment–as you all know–NOT to be dismissed lightly.

Happy Almost Weekend!

Posted in Critique Groups, First Drafts, Uncategorized

Thankful Thursday: Another One for the Critique Group

Posted on by beckylevine

I’ve been writing an icky scene.

No, not one with blood and guts (wait, maybe that’s what it needs!). One where the writing was just dragging along, not flowing, where I was staring at it and knowing that–even for a first draft–it was not making me happy.  In other words, the staring wasn’t helping. And next week is slotted (in my mental writing calendar) for a bit of work on my picture book and a bit more work on some talks I’m getting ready to give. So, you know, it would have been easy just to stall out on this scene, let it sit on the computer, and then–yes–have it be that much harder to face when I came back to it.
Or…  I could push through it, with the unhappiness, get it “done,” and send it out to my critique group, knowing that it’s totally safe to share with them and knowing that I’ll get ideas, thoughts, suggestions…HELP!

And then I got an email from my mom who, as I’ve mentioned here before, is pretty darned wise. She’s been working on her memoir, first through a class at the local community college and then–when funding got cancelled for the class (BOO, HISS!), with the group of people who decided to keep writing together. I’d just given her a basic critique, with a few thoughts about scene structure and showing, not telling, and I know she’d planned to get right back to writing. Turns out, not quite so fast–she’s not only a wise woman, but a very busy one. Anyway, turns out  is the meeting of her group. Here’s what Mom said in her email:

          We’re meeting this afternoon, so I HAD to get something written. 

Ha!

Yes, that is the motivation magic of a critique group. It’s the kind of deadline that, in a strong & supportive group, puts just the right amount of pressure on us–the good kind. The kind that says we’re free to get past the reluctance, distaste, or fear about whatever that current writing piece is–to push through it, get it to some kind of “done,” and send it out.

Free to keep moving forward.

Posted in Uncategorized

BYOF (Fireworks)

Posted on by beckylevine

I asked my son for a blog topic tonight, and (after I rejected a few ideas that were quite creative, but sparked nothing in my brain), he turned back to reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and tossed over his shoulder “Write about Professor Umbridge.”

You remember Professor Umbridge? She’s the woman from the Ministry of Magic who Fudge sends to take over as Headmistress of Hogwarts, after Dumbledore escapes to avoid being tossed into Azkaban. (Who can blame him? I mean, I doubt they’d let him have any lemon drops there!) Anyway, I started thinking about Umbridge…

  • Mean and nasty
  • Takes pleasure in squelching creative ideas
  • Fears truth
  • Removes art from the walls and replaces with stupid, narrow-minded rules
  • Sees the only true purpose of a pen as its ability to draw blood from the writer
  • Has a shrill, prissy voice that grates on your ear & blocks out more pleasant sounds
  • Makes cats look bad
  • Wears way too much pink

Who is this woman? Let’s face it–she’s your worst nightmare, your inner editor!

She makes Dumbledore wince, sends Professor McGonagall into fits, tortures Harry, confuses Ron, and makes Hermoine so mad she can only sputter. And she makes us worry, slow down, or stop writing.

Luckily, in writing this character, J.K. Rowling has once again given us a gift. She has personalized our inner witch, drawn her so beautifully onto the page that we know we are allowed to hate her, to ignore her, and to send her packing. As a reader, we have no doubt that Umbridge is on the wrong side of creativity, that she doesn’t belong anywhere near Hogwarts, or that it is our Fred & George’s job to tell her off.

In other words, the next time your inner editor tries to shove her way into your writing business, unpack those fireworks (don’t forget the dragon), and set them off under her nose.

Then watch the sparks fly & get writing.

Today’s comments–how do YOU recognize your evil editor in Professor Umbridge? Add to my list, and we can all watch for the signs!

Posted in Uncategorized

Friday Five Poll: What Would YOU Want Me to Talk About

Posted on by beckylevine

Hey, all–

First, before I forget, don’t forget to check out my review & giveaway of Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver. Still time to enter!

So…I’m working on some talks for future workshops & conference presentations. The basic idea is that I’ll talk about critique groups and critiquing, but I’m playing with which specific elements to focus on. So I thought, for today’s Friday Five, I’d post a few possibilities and see what you all thought.

If you were coming to hear me speak, which (one or more) of these topics would you pick?

  1. Growing a Critique Group: How to Find, Start, and Run a Productive Group
  2. Sitting on Both Sides of the Table: How to Critique and Be Critiqued
  3. What AM I Supposed to Say?: Developing and Writing a Strong Critique
  4. What Do I Do Now?: Revising from Critique Feedback
  5. Building a Group for the Future: How to Stay Flexible as your Group Changes & Grows

(And obviously, if you have any grammar tips on how to deal with a colon after a question mark, I’m all ears!)

What do you think? If none of these grab you, or something else brilliant pops into your head that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear it. Any and all comments welcome!

Happy weekend-get that book and/or laptop outside into the sunshine!