Category: Uncategorized

Posted in Uncategorized

Chapter Book Progress

Posted on by beckylevine

I am having so much fun writing this chapter book. The plot is flowing, I love the characters and am getting to know their dynamics, and I make myself laugh at least once a chapter.

I started out with an outline of 10 chapters, but as I’ve written, some sets of two chapters have merged into one. That’s heading into a younger-reader territory than I’m planning, so the other night I sat down with a favorite mentor text to see what I might be leaving out. If you are even thinking about embarking on a chapter book series, put the Pets Rule! series at the top of your reading list (written by Susan Tan, illustrated by Wendy Tan Shiau Wei).

So it turns out, at least in Pets Rule: My Kingdom of Darkness (Best CB title EVER), every time the hero fails at his goal, he gets an entire chapter to respond to/work through his defeat. Who knew? I will be checking out a few other chapter books to see how they handle this, but it does seem to be one of the elements that makes the series a slightly older book for young readers. (Hey, immerse yourself in the chapter book world and that description will make total sense to you.)

Next up in thinking time: How to write post-defeat chapters that are active and don’t all feel the same. Like Susan Tan does beautifully.

Just not yet. Because if I learned one thing all those years ago when I was trying to write middle grade novels, it is that I need to keep writing the current draft all the way through, not let myself get distracted by rabbit hole detours that end up with me completely lost and directionless.

So I tossed some thoughts into a very preliminary outline for Draft 2, and now I’ll get back to working on Draft 2, Chapter 5.

And keep having fun.

Posted in 2024, Book Lists, Uncategorized

My 2024 Reading Recommendations

Posted on by beckylevine

I keep track of my reading in The Story Graph app, which–if you haven’t checked it out–is, IMO, much nicer to use that Goodreads. I’m guessing the community is nowhere as big, but since I don’t really use it for social media, that’s not a problem for me.

Anyway, rather than list every book I read in 2024, I’m just going to list some of my favorites, including rereads I binged for multiple books in a series/by an author. (I did a LOT of rereading this year. Not sure why, although I tend to reread for comfort, and you can guess why I might have needed some of that, especially in the Fall.) You can also see my ongoing lists of favorites at Pinterest.

Picture Books

Middle Grade

YA/Adult (I started to separate these two categories, but when I looked at the list, it’s all crossover.)

Rereads (Links go to first book in the series)

Posted in Uncategorized

Gratitude in 2020

Posted on by beckylevine

I don’t keep a gratitude journal or do any other kind of gratitude process. But 2020 has been…a lot, and it feels right to put down some of the things I have felt grateful so many times during the past year.

I am grateful that my family is healthy, that we have the capacity and fortune to weather this storm, that we are able to do all the things that will help most to keep us safe. I am grateful that my husband and I, after having spent almost eight months sheltering in place together, can see that our love and partnership holds true even in this kind of craziness. (It bodes pretty well for that someday retirement!)

I am grateful for my friends, the ones who live near me and make up my small, critical circle of support, and those I know in a virtual space. I am grateful for the people at my day job, some of the most committed, focused, and unbeatable people I have ever worked with. I am grateful for kidlit writers, for their faith that writing children’s books is an important act of resistance, kindness. and power. I hear their voices every time I wonder if the words I write will ever matter. I am grateful that writing has been a refuge for me in the past four years, and that I have been able to keep putting those words down on paper. I am grateful for my critique group partners, who are always there to push me to make those words better.

I am grateful for every single person who has done anything in the past four years to fight against the horrors of the current administration. I am grateful to everyone who voted, worked to increase voter registration, or spent time and energy encouraging other people to vote. I am grateful for Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight and all the other nonprofits and individuals in the same space, whose names I don’t know. I am grateful to every voter who looked at Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, saw the flaws, dealt with their own disappointment or grief or anger, and recognized the need to vote for these candidates no matter what.

I am grateful for my health. I am so grateful for my health. I’m grateful for the scientists who, despite an incredible lack of support, keep fighting to understand COVID-19 better, to learn how we can reduce the number of deaths, the number of hospitalizations, the severity of the symptoms. I am beyond grateful for the healthcare workers who put their own health and safety on the line every day, who care for every patient–even those who don’t believe in this disease and don’t believe in the help the healthcare workers are giving them. I am grateful for the researchers who are working to develop safe vaccines, and I am grateful to the people who are volunteering to test these vaccines…how do you even say thank you for something like that?

I am grateful for grocery staff, postal workers, librarians, gas-station attendants, booksellers–all the people who make it possible for me to live my life as safely and effortlessly as possible. To sit here and type these words into a blog post and understand, yet again, just how lucky I am.

Post Image by Ka Young Seo from Pixabay

Posted in Chapter Books, Uncategorized, Workshops

Adventuring in a Summer of Sameness

Posted on by beckylevine

Still here, still in a place of luck and gratitude, still on a rollercoaster of anger and grief, still stepping into the chaos, and still pulling back when I need self-care.

And still striving to add new things to make daily life feel like it includes change and some kind of forward progress. In June, I made my first batch of (delicious) gluten-free scones AND a batch of gluten-free bread that actually worked for sandwiches. Next up: more scones, hamburger buns, and then I think it’s a toss-up between soft pretzels and donut muffins. Writing-wise, I decided I needed some possibility in my life, so I submitted two applications to Justin Colón’s #pbchat mentorship program. Announcements come at the end of the month–crossed fingers are appreciated!

And then July. With all the sheltering in place, virtual opportunities have been popping up everywhere I look. And I decided it was time to take advantage of that. So I signed up for my first Highlights workshop: Developing a Series in Chapter Books, with Debbi Michiko Florence and Kashmira Sheth.

Did I have a chapter book manuscript? Nope. Outline? Nope. Idea? Well, yes, but when I went back to look at it, I fell instantly out of like with it. So I came up with another idea for which I felt a much stronger affection. And with nothing but that idea, I registered. Which pretty much tells you how much I need an adventure right now, how much I need a shot of adrenaline that isn’t riding along on a wave of fear or hate or anger.

And the adrenaline worked. I’ve been reading piles of mentor texts.

The idea has stretched into a character, a problem, and a world. I’ve gone a few rounds with an outline. And I still have six weeks to draft a first chapter. As with everything, I have no idea where this will lead, whether I’ll end up with a first draft, whether I’ll work through any revisions.

Whether I’ll end up with anything I would want to show an agent.

But right now my brain is craving change. It wants some hours and days that feel different than all the others. It wants to learn. And, this summer, that means giving myself a Highlights retreat right here at home.

Posted in COVID-19, Uncategorized

What Will We Do with May?

Posted on by beckylevine

It’s May Day.

March was chaos. March was crazy. It seemed like I heard a new announcement of some significant change every day. I watched the COVID-19 counts climb and climb. All the Zooming for work and the Zooming with family and friends made me feel like I was literally zooming through every minute of every day. March felt like forever.

The four weeks of April haven’t lasted half as long as those two weeks of March. I cheated on March 31 and got my son with an early April Fools joke. Then suddenly, it was tax day, and it felt weird and irrelevant, because all the deadlines had been pushed out until July. Then, suddenly again, I was hitting end-of-month work due dates & realizing it was time to look at next-month due dates. April was the first full month of working remotely and of sheltering in place, but it felt like it came and went in 15 minutes.

And here we are in May. I am, of course, seeing all this from a place of privilege, but things are starting to feel a little more settled, a little less frenetic. Like I’ve gotten to a “usual,” as much as I wish this was not usual. The thing ism though, that another word for usual is “sameness.” And I can feel the sameness lurking in a corner of my brain, camouflaging itself as less stressful, as a comfortable routine. But I think the sameness is, eventually, going to be the thing that gets to me, that starts to wear on my energy and my optimism and my cheerfulness. Because while actively setting up a daily patterns for yourself can feel good, it’s very different when that pattern shows up to greet you every morning, whether or not you’ve invited it in.

So I’m saying to myself, What am I going to do with May? What am I going to do with June, if it comes into view looking identical to May? What new thing can I add to my days, to my nest up here on our hill, that will at least make one month’s usual look different from another’s?

I can do my work in a new spot in the house. I can do my work outside the house. I can look at recipes and see if there is anything that sounds easy and fun to make, so every meal isn’t peanut butter or quesadillas or scrambled eggs or yogurt. (Nope, not going to make sourdough.) I can tiptoe out of my humor-only reading place and see if my brain is ready to branch into something else . I can get out my drumsticks. I can learn how to knit socks with a “magic loop.” I can invite my husband to join me in a month-long cribbage tournament; we can invite our son to play Apples to Apples or Yahtzee over Zoom. I can pick something new-to-me to play with in a picture book: a biography, a concept book, or even some rhyme. (Hey, I said I could play with it; I didn’t say I had to show it to anybody.)

This is a surreal time, and yet it brings back some of the feeling I had when my son first moved out of the house–what was I supposed to do with that “extra” time? It nudges me to dream a little bit about what retirement might look like–what might I choose to bring to those days? More than anything, I wish I hadn’t been handed this time to practice, not as a result of this pandemic, not while so many people’s lives are being turned upside down with fear and pain. But this time is here, and I can choose to let the sameness take over, or I can decide to push it away with variety, change, newness.

That is, I hope, what I’m going to be doing with May. How about you?

Posted in COVID-19, Kidlit, Kitlit, Uncategorized

Creatives in the Time of Social Distancing

Posted on by beckylevine

Crazy times, right? Hard, frightening times for some more than others–if you’re sick or know someone who’s sick, if you’ve lost your job or have to take time off without pay, if you’re trying to juggle anything with caring for children–homeschooling or not. I’m counting myself on the incredibly lucky side–I have work, I can do it at home, I’m being paid, and my family and friends are very much able to social distance and are taking it seriously enough to reduce my worry.

And in the midst of everything you/we might be going through, there’s trying to maintain some sense of normalcy, to stay committed and attentive to the things we have always tried to spend time with, keep focused on. For me, that’s writing; for you that may be writing or something else creative–painting, crafting, playing an instrument, cooking. It’s not easy, right? But it’s possible and–at least in the kidlit world–there are lots of creatives out coming up with ways to support us.  Because creatives create.

If you’re on social media, you’ve probably seen a lot/most of these opportunities. But I’m going to list a few here that I’ve noticed that may give you a few moments or even a few seconds of beauty, peace, inspiration. I’ll try to keep the list updated as I see more. Also, please add any of your own discoveries in a comment.

  • Erin Dionne has a couple of things going. If you follow her on Facebook (and you should), you may have seen her Captain’s Log posts the past few winters–posts that led to her recent picture book Captain’s Log: Snowbound, She’s started up the posts again, bringing humor and empathy to the current state of things. She’s also started sharing a Friday video on her Facebook post–unfortunately, I don’t seem to be technically savvy enough to post a link here. They’re definitely worth scrolling through her page, though.
  • Susan Taylor Brown has, for a while, been posting daily on Facebook about things that are making her happy. Recently, she’s been adding photos to share “a pause to breathe.”  Her work is lovely–follow her and start seeing them on a regular basis.
  • SCBWI is, as usual, making sure we’re taken care of during this time with a series of free digital workshops. They’ve also launched SCBWI Connects.
  • Not specifically COVID-19 related, just a tip from me to other picture books writers: If you write picture books, this may be a good time to go back and read through Storystorm posts at Tara Lazar’s blog.

We can also do a lot to support other writers and illustrators who may be hitting their own bumps right now. Book Riot has a list of ways we can do that. And you can always support authors, illustrators, and bookstores by shopping at your indie’s online site.

 

Posted in Book Riot, Read Harder Challenge, Uncategorized

Book Riot’s 2020 Read Harder Challenge

Posted on by beckylevine

Yes, I’m posting a lot lately. No, it probably won’t continue, since I head back to the day-job tomorrow, will be doing Storystorm all month, and will be digging into two or three new picture books. Not to mention getting my yarn stash down to a non-intimidating size.

But…maybe I’ll be posting about challenge books. I’ve wanted to do Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge for a few years now, but never got around to it. For the 2020 Challenge, though, I am intrigued by the list of categories. Plus, they’ve got a spreadsheet! (It’s called a reading log, but one of the tabs is specifically for the challenge.)

In my post-New Year’s Eve, Avoiding-the -Real-World-That-Starts-Up-Again-Tomorrow mood, I’ve set up a Read-Harder-Challenge list in Goodreads and am puttering through Book Riot’s blog posts of suggestions for each challenge. I can tell you right now which category will be my biggest challenge:

  • Read a horror book published by an indie press.

I don’t do horror. Maybe I can find a picture book that qualifies…Ooh! Kelly DiPucchio and Scott Campbell have a sequel out to Zombies in Love!

Okay, probably not. I really don’t want to leave the horror for last (it’s all about ripping off the band-aid, folks), so if you know of any milder-than-mild horror books that are indie-published, this is me begging you to drop the title in a comment.

All the other categories look cool, fun, and things that I would want to explore even without a challenge. I do think I’ll post about some of the books–most likely the ones I fall in love with or that I can feel stretching my brain and/or heart. The others will show up in my Goodreads sidebar list. And if you take a look at the list, feel free to drop suggestions for any of the categories into a comment.

2020 Reading, here we come.

Posted in Picture Books, Storystorm, Uncategorized

Storystorm 2020: I’m in!

Posted on by beckylevine

I just signed up for Storystorm 2020.

If you aren’t familiar with Storystorm, it’s the creation of Tara Lazar–author of so many fantastic picture books. To name just a few you should definitely check out: The Monstore, Normal Norman, and The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City.

Every January picture book writers sign up to participate in Storystorm and commit to trying really, really hard to get 30 new picture book ideas by the end of the month. Every idea counts–no matter how wonderful or horrible. Personal tip: Do not second guess yourself; just write that idea down! And Tara gives so much support–daily posts from authors and other publishing professionals to inspire, encourage, and kick your brain into gear. Plus prizes!

This year, along with coming up with 30 new ideas, Tara is suggesting we also pay attention to our creative process. 2020 is, for me, all about new ideas. I’ve been working for quite some time on revision, getting ready to query in the next month or so. Now I need to grow my pile of actual stories. So I’ll be watching how I do come up with those ideas, what I observe, what I remember, what direction my brain drifts, and when I hear that *ping* that tells me I at least have something to write down in my notebook for the day. Maybe I’ll post about it!

If you haven’t done Storystorm before and are wondering if it’s for you, I say go for it. The worst that could possibly happen is that you have no more ideas at the end of January than you do right now, as you read this post. And I can just about, 99.99999%, promise that won’t happen. So what have you got to lose?

Don’t forget to sign up for the Storystorm Facebook group, too. See you there!

Posted in Books, Uncategorized

Some Favorite Books from 2019

Posted on by beckylevine

Without description and with only a hint of organizing, here’s a list of (some of the) books I read and loved in 2020.

Picture Books

 

Novels (any age)

 

Nonfiction

Posted in Big Sur Children's Writing Workshop, Critique Groups, Storystorm, Uncategorized

Writing without a Critique Group: Looking Back

Posted on by beckylevine

When I published The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide in 2010, I wrote a lot about the process of finding a critique group and a little bit about waiting until you found the right one.

Maybe I should have written more about the waiting.

For various reasons, I was recently without my own critique group for a couple of years. One of those reasons was that I was making the shift to writing picture books, and I was looking for a group focused on that–one that had serious professional goals about finding an agent and getting their books published. One that was committed to digging deep into each other’s work and then digging even deeper into revising our own. I was lucky enough to find that this year, and I can’t even begin to describe how my work has grown in the past six months.

I wrote a book about critique groups–I know the power they have to help you transform your writing. And yet, somewhere between writing that book and starting to look for a new group, I apparently forgot it. I didn’t stop writing, and I didn’t stop revising. I worked closely with a freelance editor who had previously worked in children’s book publishing. I received wonderful comments and suggestions from her, and my stories got better. I got serious about reading picture books–frequently browsing through the new sections at bookstores and making regular stops at the library to pick up a pile. I did Tara Lazar’s Storystorm (and will do it again this coming January).  And it all helped.

Then last year, I went to the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop and sat in critique sessions with two groups of picture book writers. And I got a gut-slam reminder of what I had been missing. There is nothing like hearing five other writers read something you’ve written, tell you what they like, and then–of course–tell you what they don’t like (yet). Nothing like scribbling furiously into your notebook and their critiques turn into conversation–a back and forth brainstorming about each other’s suggestions for improving your story. Realizing that you’ve been hiding from some big truths about your manuscripts, facing those truths, and having immediate flashes of ideas for revision.

Nothing.

When I got back from the workshop, I started revising, but I also got serious about looking for a new group. It wasn’t easy. Okay, it was hard. It meant putting myself out there again–physically and emotionally. It meant facing rejection, and it meant restarting my search. Where I had felt cozy and comfortable in my revision space before, now I felt lonely. I had re-woken up to knowing that the revising I was doing on my own wasn’t going to be good enough, and I had to push myself away from the feeling that I was wasting my time to even try. And I had really big goals/high standards for critique partners; while that was right and important for me, it didn’t make it any easier to find a group I wanted to join.

As I said, I was lucky that I found a group. I also, though, worked at it. And kept working at it. And, I think, if I had a key to the Tardis, I’d probably go back to writing the critique group book and talk a little more about that. About the time it may take you to find a group, about the awkwardness and fear you’re going to experience, about how you have to juggle the search with continuing to write. And, most important: that once you find the right group–you won’t have a single regret about taking on those challenges.