Tag: Laura Purdie Salas

Posted in Uncategorized

My 2014 Theme: Staying Open

Posted on by beckylevine

Laura Purdie Salas started me on this a few years ago–each year, she sets a theme for her year, rather than making a list of resolutions. I love this, possibly because I hate resolutions, but also because I think it makes a nice turning of the calendar page. Not what do I want to DO this year, but how do I want to be. And I think that picking a theme kind of gives a nod to the past year, maybe things I learned about myself or about life in general.

This year, I think that’s true. I have certainly spent more time meditating this past year than ever before and more time trying to be okay with the fact that I can’t control all the things I would like to control. Maybe even thinking that, actually, I wouldn’t like to control them–because controlling, even when you manage it, takes up so much energy and creates so much stress. So I could make this year about letting go. Or I could, as I’ve been thinking the past few days, make it about embracing and welcoming change.

Because here’s the thing about 2014: Lots of change coming. Assuming multiple creeks don’t rise, here’s what’s in the forecast for us.

  • The boy will choose and start attending some college.
  • The husband and I, starting in Autumn, will essentially be a twosome again. Well, okay, a twosome plus a cat and a bird. While I think we’ll be more than okay, and we’ve always enjoyed being a twosome before, there’s no question things will be…different than the last time.
  • I will get a new job somewhere and work full-time again.
  • I will try to avoid/balance the conflict that sometimes arises between the writing I want to do and the writing I want to have done.
  • I will start exercising a body that, while it seems to be less injured than it was a month ago, will no doubt take continued attention and gentleness.

This past week, I’ve been feeling pretty good about all these things, even the college part, because the boy seems to be ready to take this next step. So, yes, I could go with Embrace Change or Welcome Change. But even those themes feel a bit…controlling.

So I’m going with Staying Open. I mean, look at that list. Every single item on it could go so many different ways. Obviously, I’m hoping for happy ways and I certainly don’t want to think too much about negatives. But if I were even to start writing all the good things that could happen to the boy in terms of college, I’d be writing down a huge range of possibilities. And while I’m excited about all this change today, I’m sure there will be days when it feels like it’s happening too fast, or turning a corner I wouldn’t have chosen. I’m not sure whether I’m not ready to actively embrace all that, or whether it might actually be a mistake to turn away from feelings that don’t necessarily meet happy-dancing standards.

So this year, I’ll be trying to observe what happens and how I respond to it and how my responses fade and change. And choosing to allow all the events and feelings and try not to cling too strongly to them or push them away with too much anger. I don’t expect to get even close to perfection. But the theme, as I understand it from Laura’s posts, is about how we’d like to be, a way we’d like to live. And this seems like a year of changes to which I’d like to stay open.

Are you picking a theme for this year? I’d love to hear about it? Or, if you really love resolutions, pop those into the comments, too.

Posted in Uncategorized

The Word for 2012

Posted on by beckylevine

Yes, I know it’s January 3th. Yes, I know that’s a little late for resolution-type posts. But, hey, I’ve been busy writing and working, which–since those are a big part of my goals for 2012–I believe is a satisfactory excuse.

Every year, Laura Purdie Salas picks a theme. I like this idea so much better than resolutions, which–in my head–seem to take the metaphorical tone of that anvil in the coyote-road runner cartoons. You know, the one that hovers over the right spot just until the coyote stops under it, then drops…WHAMMO!

Themes are softer.

My themes are usually a word. This year, after two months of upper-respiratory plague running through the family, my word came easily.

RECOMMIT

Now, I do have to say that, with Son over his pneumonia and me over my bronchitis and Husband over HIS pneumonia, I am starting to realize that I didn’t just spend November and December bailing out on my writing. I know, I know–it should have been obvious that they AND I were tired and drained, and not a whole lot of writing gets done at times like that. Yes, I know I was too hard on myself.

There is, however, a silver lining. Because struggling so hard (and pretty much failing) to get any writing, revising, or thinking done during those weeks was a big wake-up call about how much I dislike not making progress. It was also a big wake-up call about what I’ve been focusing on for the past year or so–the WHEN of publication.

It’s a dream. It’s a wonderful dream, and it’s one we all have. But it comes with churning and stress and panic-modes that do NOTHING to help us write. I’m stating the obvious here, but it just really came home to me at a gut level toward the end of 2011.

I want to write. I want to work on my stories. I want to push myself to dedicate some time, as many days as I can, to making my books and my craft better. THAT is what I missed these past few weeks, not the idea of seeing my book on a bookstore shelf or someone’s e-reader. Of course I want that. But the timeline needs to return to “someday,” and back off from drumming insistently at “how soon?!”

I’ve been there. I’ve concentrated on the the actual project–the characters, the plotline, the prose. I’ve done it. And it’s time to do it again. That’s why my word for 2012 is “recommit,” not just “commit.” Because, for me, it’s a return to doing this writing thing the way I really need to.

I seem not to be alone in this feeling. Susan Taylor Brown talked about it on Facebook.  Check out Kelly R. Fineman’s series of posts on commitment, starting here and moving forward chronologically, and do not miss Jo Knowles’ post, Defining “Work” and Another Invitation.

Do you have a theme or a word for 2012? Did you make some writing resolutions. I’d love to hear about yours, and I wish us all the best of luck in keeping them in mind during the next twelve months!

Happy New Year!

Posted in Uncategorized

PiBoIdMo: A Wrap-up

Posted on by beckylevine

A few days before November, I took the PiBoIdMo pledge, promising that I’d do my best to come up with 30 ideas in 30 days.

How many ideas did I get?

57!!!!

Which means, I get this!

I also treated myself to one of the PiBoIdMo mugs, with Bonnie Adamson’s darling art, from the CafePress store.

Yes, I’m proud of myself. Especially because I definitely got a bit muddled there with the stupid sickness that hit the family in the middle of the month. And, you know, some of those ideas are pretty…meh. But there are a few, maybe a half-dozen, that sparkle. At least for me. One of my critique partners who also did PiBoIdMo, has ranked his ideas, in order of how strongly they call to him. That’s next on my PiBoIdMo to-do list. To identify the ideas that I want to work on, or–I guess–that want me to work on them!

Because it’s not really time for pride yet. Happiness, yes, that I have way more ideas than I would have had if it weren’t for Tara Lazar and her awesome challenge. What really matters, though, is what I do with these ideas. What’s important is that I don’t simply shut them in a drawer, or drop them into that folder on my computer and forget about them.

Ideas aren’t stories. Yet.

One of my critique partners, who also did PiBoIdMo, has gone ahead and ranked his ideas–putting those that really call to him up at the top. I think this is the next task on my PiBoIdMo to-do list. I know I have maybe a half-dozen ideas that are sparkling for me, and the first thing to do is identify them.

The next thing is to grow them. I need to give them characters–characters with problems. I need to find settings and voices. I need to turn those ideas into plots. What I have is just what Laura Purdie Salas talked about in her PiBoIdMo post–I have seeds. I need to tend them–with my imagination, my creativity, and–here’s the most important: my time. This is the kind of gardening I can get behind.

This is the notebook I bought in October.

Pretty, isn’t it. It’s also something else…just the beginning.

Here’s my commitment to my PiBoIdMo idea list. That I will take at least one of the ideas on it and turn it into something more. Into a story that I will pass along to my critique group, a story that I will revise. And revise.

Who’s with me?

Posted in Educational Nonfiction, Nonfiction

Thankful Thursday: Yay for Experts

Posted on by beckylevine

One of the things I’m getting better at as I get older is finding experts to help me along my way. Sometimes, as with my accountant, this means asking someone with a skill to do something I’m not only lousy at, but that I truly hate. At other times, it’s a matter of finding someone further along a path I actually want to go down, and getting some professional advice.

Which is what I did this month.

I’ve talked a few times about wanting to break into writing nonfiction educational books for kids. I’ve written some samples that I’m pretty happy with, but when I was getting ready to put a package together to submit, I started thinking. And what I thought was this

  • I think I can guess at how I might want to put this all together.
  • I’m pretty sure I can write a decent and basically professional cover letter.
  • I can take a stab at which samples I should submit.

And then I thought: Hey, I could get some help on this.

So I went to Mentors for Rent.

Laura Purdie Salas and Lisa Bullard have both been writing educational books for years, and they’ve started a new service where they are offering to help out us beginners…via Skype. Their prices are more than reasonable, especially when you consider you’re getting the benefit of two writers’ knowledge & experience.

I had some very specific things I wanted to accomplish, mostly around the best way to package what I have and who I am. We went back & forth a few times by email on how best to organize our time around my needs, and Laura & Lisa were more than helpful in working this out. I ended up sending them my whole package–including samples, cover letter, and resume. They spent half “our” time critiquing the pieces, then sent me back the critiques before our Skype meeting, so I could figure out what questions I had. Then we Skyped for the rest of the scheduled time.

How did it go? Beautifully. The critiques hit on some points that are really going to improve my package, and our Skype session helped me see the best way to present myself, to (hopefully!) move me and my submissions to the top of the editors’ slush piles, to show that I’m someone they definitely want to work with. Laura & Lisa helped me understand how “pushy” I can and probably should be, which is a tough point for me to get to. They talked to me about the industry and what editors are looking for and helped me realize that 1) I fit into that picture and that 2) It’s way more than okay to demonstrate that in my letter.

Was my session worth the time and money? Definitely! Laura and Lisa’s service is the perfect example of the right time to invest in productivity and efficiency, to take a “shortcut” around all that waffling we do on our own when we’re stepping into something new. Knowing I would be asking for their help got me moving to pull everything together, and getting that help brought me the focus to move forward with much more confident steps.

So, BIG thanks and an even bigger recommendation for Mentors for Rent!

Posted in Critiquing, Skype

Would You Want to Skype a Critique?

Posted on by beckylevine

Today’s blog is sort of a mini-survey. Along with my own writing, I’m still doing plenty of critiques for other writers these days. What with the nature of the world, I do a lot of my work online, via email and with much neater feedback in Word than I could ever do with my own handwriting. 🙂 I typically make plenty of comments in the manuscript margins, and I type up the overall critique in a separate file.

Pretty much like I talk about in The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide.

But I’ve been wondering. I know there are plenty of writers who critique together online. I’ve started doing that myself, on top of my in-person critique group, and it works well for me. I only miss the coffeehouse atmosphere a little. On the other hand, I think there are still writers who are most comfortable face-to-face, actually hearing their critique delivered out loud, even if it’s the same one they take home on paper to look at later, during revision. I think they feel more happy with the chance to ask immediate questions, get things clarified, and do a bit of brainstorming about specific problems that have been worrying them.

So then I thought…Skype.

I hear wonderful things about Skype school visits. I’m getting close to hiring Laura Purdie Salas and Lisa Bullard at Mentors for Rent, to help me pull together some samples I want to send out. That consulting session will be via Skype, and I’m looking forward to it. Both Lisa and Laura are “there” at the conference, and I think it’ll be much easier to have a three-way conversation when I can sort of see who’s talking when. Easier, more relaxed, and–I’m guessing–very helpful. Skype mentoring.

And maybe Skype critiquing.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s make it all hypothetical. If you were going to hire a freelance editor to critique part or all of your book, would you like the idea of being able to talk to them in person, as well as get their written feedback? Would you, if you were already paying a page-rate for the critique, think it worthwhile to pay for an additional hour of time, to get that face-to-face delivery of the critique? Or would you just feel like it was more technology you  had to figure out and equip yourself for?

Please do leave a comment with your thoughts. All opinions welcome!

Posted in New Year's Day, Writing Goals

If It’s 2010, I Must Be…

Posted on by beckylevine

Determined.

(Ha! Thought you were going to get an age there, didn’t you?!) No, you get determined, which I’ll talk about in just a little bit. First, I feel like mulling about the actual year.

2010. It’s really an incredible number to have attached to a year, I think. My son, even though he was born in the last millenium, has no conscious memory of any 19xx year.* His life is the 20xx’s and always will be. And yet, for me, that all still feels so recent.

I feel like I’ve settled into this century well. The turn of this century has been good to me; I met my husband and started building my family, my serious commitment to my writing career, and my life as the person I truly wanted to be, all in the 1990s. And the last decade has brought me increased health, happiness, friendships, and self-understanding–all with a huge dose of luck that I am incredibly grateful for.

So what about the coming year? What about 2010? Well, here are my thoughts.

Laura Purdie Salas sets a theme for herself every year. She says she failed on her last year’s one, but I think just stating it as a wish, as a recognition of a need is a success in itself. (Really, Laura!) Because the first step in getting what we want, what we need for our growth, is seeing what that need is. And writing down this want, stating it out loud or writing it out, reminds us that it’s important.

So I’m going to borrow the theme idea from Laura this year. And my theme is determination. 

When I picture that word, as an image, I see a backbone. A strong spine, helping me walk through this life I’m creating, helping me sit straight in my writing chair, helping me balance the marketing for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, the writing for my YA historical, the revision for my picture book. I see the spine staying with the exercise and healthy eating I’m finally bringing back to myself, supporting me through the transition of watching my son move into High School, and giving me the flexibility to spend happy time with my family and friends.

In the past, in the 19xx’s, it was too easy for me to sit on one accomplishment, to let time pass without looking for the next. It was too much of a pattern for me to worry about the future, rather than stride forward to meet it, even to impact it. I’ve changed this about myself in the last 20 years, and I am determined to stay on this path. I am determined to watch for and take new turnings as they come along, even to get out my bulldozer and start shoving dirt out of the way for a new road, if that’s what I decide I need to do.

What do you do with the new year? Do you set goals? Do you visualize dreams? Do you pick a theme? And what does this solid, rounded number 2010 make you think about?

Happy New Year to everyone, and may it be an incredible one!

*Of course, when my son read this, he says he DOES have a memory of the 1900s. He can see a big 1999, in bright yellow construction paper, probably on the room of his preschool classroom. Okay, fine. But I swear I’m right about everything else in this post!

Posted in Contest, Critiquing, Memoir

Wednesday’s Winner…& a Memoir Teleseminar

Posted on by beckylevine

Last week, I interviewed Laura Purdie Salas about the marketing she did for her picture book Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. I entered everybody who left a comment in a contest for Laura’s book. This morning, I crumpled up all the little pieces of paper and picked one out of the bowl.

And the winner is…JENNIFER BEASLEY!!!!!

Congratulations, Jennifer. Email me your snail mail address at beckylevine at ymail dot com, and I’ll get this wonderful book out to you ASAP.

And a heads up for any of you who are writing, or thinking about writing, a memoir. A week from Friday, I’ll be doing a teleseminar with Linda Joy Myers about critiquing memoir, over at the National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW). You’ll find details here about getting in on the teleseminar.

Hope everyone’s writing week is going well!

Posted in Blog Contest, Marketing, Promotion

Marketing Interview (& Contest) with Laura Purdie Salas

Posted on by beckylevine

In September of 2008, Laura Purdie Salas joined up with Fiona Bayrock to explore marketing and PR possibilities for two of their picture books that were being published the next year: Salas’ Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of Schooland Bayrock’s Bubble Homes and Fish Farts. And they decided to do this exploration publicly—at their LiveJournal community, Bubble Stampede. Over the next months, the two authors discussed their marketing goals, their fears, and their plans.

I asked Laura if she’d do an interview here, to talk about what some of those plans were, how they year and the release went, and which ideas worked better than others. Happily, she said, “Yes.” Read all the way through—Laura has provided a TON of specific, practical information.

And leave a comment. I’ll enter you all in a drawing for Laura’s book Stampede! I’ll draw the winner next Wednesday, September 2.

And on to the interview.

BL: How did you and Fiona hook up? What made the two of you decide to work on your marketing plans together?

LPS: When I posted one or two Marketing Monday posts on my personal blog, I told readers that I’d be sharing my book promotion journey. Fiona Bayrock and I knew each other from being on the NFforKids Yahoo group, and she emailed me to suggest we join forces and do a joint blog. I thought that was a fantastic idea and said, “Yes, let’s!”

BL: Why did you decide to do the planning publicly, on the community blog?

LPS: Well, I had a nice motive and an ulterior motive. The nice motive was that I like to share stuff on my blog, when possible, that is information and that’s hard information for beginners to find. My ulterior motive was that by sharing my promotion tasks, I’d be promoting my book, of course. Also I hoped to get feedback and ideas from some writers who were more experienced than me. And we did! Finally, I thought being public about it would help make me accountable and keep me on track.

BL: What were your biggest/basic marketing goals for Stampede!?

LPS: Here’s the list I was working from.

Interview/Reviews

  • Contact local media (personally & also through publisher’s publicist). Do again in summer with a back-to-school angle
  • Approach blog reviewers about sending review copy (give list to publicist)

ONLINE

  • Create a STAMPEDE website and give it some presence on my website
  • Create “billboard presence”—my word for a static online site/page that you don’t have to change a lot—on Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, Ning, etc
  • Update Flapjacket, Children’s Literature Network, and other sites that list my books
  • Do an ongoing marketing blog with Fiona Bayrock

Events

  • Book launch
  • Local book events with another author?
  • Attend IRA (International Reading Association) in May this year, here, in Minneapolis
  • Possibly attend ALA (American Library Association) in Chicago
  • Try to arrange to speak at some conferences in 09

Reaching out to Teachers/Booksellers

  • Teacher’s guide
  • Reader’s theatre
  • Authorless event kit? (A set of online materials a bookstore can print out to create a fun storytime with reading, activities, maybe a craft…all without too much work on the bookseller’s part and no in-person visit from the author.)

Reaching out to the Press

  • Create an online press kit
  • Update my bios
  • Create some resource materials (10 Great Back-to-School books, 10 Terrific Poetry Books, etc.) to share in press materials and also on Amazon
  • Write a back-to-school piece for news wire

Name Recognition

  • Guest-teach a couple of classes in the Whidbey Island Writers Association
  • Serve on poetry panel for CYBILS awards
  • Write a bi-monthly poetry column for Kid Magazine Writers
  • Attend local book club with media specialists, kidlit profs, and children’s book buyer for the entire Minneapolis metro area as members, etc
  • Anything that can bet my name in front of people and where I can slide a mention of Stampede! in there

Miscellaneous Stuff

  • Book trailer
  • Blog campaign to get people to request that their library buy a copy of the book
  • Have promotional items made
  • Campaign contacts to review the book on Amazon and B&N
  • Mail press kit to local media
  • Have postcards made as soon as cover is final and start handing them out now!

Mailings

  • Start updating contact list so that I can do mailing to schools, libraries, independent booksellers, and personal contacts

BL: What were your marketing fears?

LPS: In-person events scared me the most. I was losing sleep about a book launch. The idea made me so nervous. The other big fear was just that everything would fall flat. The more you put into it, the harder you try, the bigger our humiliation is if it all falls flat.

BL: Where and how did you gather your initial ideas about what a marketing plan might include?

LPS: The fantastic blog Shrinking Violet Promotions was a great starting point for me. Also, I had been saving emails and articles and all sorts of stuff for years in a folder marked Promotion. It was a “someday” folder…and someday came, and I really did use a lot of that information!

BL: What marketing to-dos went on your original list of things to focus on?

LPS:

  • Contacting the publicity department at my publisher
  • Building the microsite for Stampede!
  • Creating the book trailer
  • Figuring out a book launch

BL: Did you accomplish that whole list?

LPS: I did do all the stuff on that short list, though I ended up doing an online launch. It was a ton of work, but it was also lots of fun. The launch happened in April, but all the activities and comments are still live here.

BL: What was the best thing about marketing your book?

LPS: That’s a tough question, since marketing doesn’t come easily to me. Um…One was that putting so much effort into this really made me appreciate the value of my book. I risked my time, energy, money, and pride, knowing I might not get something in return—but felt like my book was worth it. Two was that by putting a lot of visible effort into Stampede!,I made my publisher aware that I was willing and able to promote my book. And that in turn made my publisher more willing to promote my book, like by sending me to ALA Chicago (and Texas TLA—Texas Library Association—next spring). This is a lot of money to spend on an unknown author, and I think (though I don’t know for sure) that my own promotion efforts indirectly lead to this.

So much stuff we do in marketing has no immediate, tangible result, so it’s hard to evaluate. But I do think impressing your publisher as a busy, effective marketer can only help!

BL: What was the hardest thing about marketing your book?

LPS: Handing out postcards or flyers or whatever at conferences—that is just so not me. Even as I’ve gotten more confident and a little more experienced, I’m still not comfortable with this. OH! And the other hardest part was in bookstore/signing events. Some were better organized than others, and some resulted in a few book sales. But I do not have a salesperson’s personality, and three hours out of too many Saturdays resulting in three books sold just got kind of old.

BL: With the book launched and “out there,” and looking back, is there something you now see as a must-do for writers?

LPS: If you’re not 100% comfortable with marketing, partnering up with another writer with a new book out is what I would consider a must-do! Teaming up with Fiona Bayrock for some online promotion at Bubble Stampede pushed me to do more. And for in-person events, which are what really intimidate me, teaming up with Dara Dokas (Muriel’s Red Sweater) was such a wonderful thing for me. The other must-dos, I think, are:

  • A website or section of a website devoted just to your book
  • Teacher-support materials (reading guide, reader’s theater, etc.)
  • Getting your book into the hands of reviewers (both print and blog)
  • Increasing your visibility in the writing community—don’t always focus on just one book; the more visible YOU are, the more people will recognize your name and hopefully check out your book(s)
  • Make postcards and/or business cards featuring your book cover and hand them out freely

There are a few things I never got to on my list, mostly because I ran out of time.

  • I never did any mailings
  • in-person launch (fear factor, more than time factor)
  • More billboard presence for my book on various online platforms

BL: Are there any other recommendations you’d give to writers whose book will be published in the next year?

LPS: I know I said bookstore events weren’t that successful for me. But it’s great to do them to build relationships with your local booksellers. I’m doing a reading at Red Balloon Bookshop in October, but they also hooked me up with an event at a minor league baseball game and recommended me to a school looking for (paid) author event. Booksellers have all kinds of connections with schools and organizations, so it’s smart to make them aware of you, your book, and what you might have to offer.

Start early. Some of this stuff takes a ton of time! And bookstores and other venues plan events for the future.

Don’t beat yourself up. I did as much as I could for Stampede!. I wanted to learn what works best for me. I didn’t get to everything, but I tried to just be proud of what I did do. And with my next book, I’ll be more selective, concentrating on the kinds of things that worked well the first time around.

Posted in Promotion, Somebody Else Says, The Writing Path, Uncategorized, Writing Fears

Somebody Else Says: Jo Knowles & Bubble Stampede

Posted on by beckylevine

Two seemingly very different posts to link you to today. I think, though, that they’re actually pretty strongly connected by being BIG parts of the writing path.

Jo Knowles is a wonderful YA writer. Her Lessons from a Dead Girl is incredible, and Jumping off Swings (Due this August) is high on my to-read list. In her most recent blog post, she talks about how hard it can be to get seriously constructive feedback on your writing and how wonderful it is to remember what you can do with that feedback. A must-read for anyone who knows that discouraged feeling.

http://jbknowles.livejournal.com/319123.html

A year ago, Laura Purdie Salas and Fiona Bayrock created Bubble Stampede, a LiveJournal blog about their upcoming months of promoting their to-be-published books–Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School and Bubble Homes and Fish Farts . The year’s posts are definitely worth skimming, but they’ve also just posted a summation of the year-what worked, what didn’t. Lots of valuable insight.

http://community.livejournal.com/bubblestampede/13237.html

Happy Monday. I’ll be back soon with some more of my own thoughts!