Tag Archives: children’s literature

THIS HAPPENED

Posted on March 23, 2018 by

I won runner-up (there were only two of us who won in the Middle Grade category). SCBWI-LA Writer’s Day, Skirball Cultural Center . I pitched an agent, connected with a dream agent, dashed around assisting the totally-on-it RA’s, made new … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Writer’s Retreat: What Was It Like?

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat, September, 2017 The “working” aspect in Working Writer’s Retreat (for me)=the retreat provided printers, so there was no excuse (for me) for not sprinting to my sparse (sweetly existential) weekend bedroom after a workshop, whipping open … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

SCBWI

Posted on December 11, 2016 by

Have you registered for the (Los Angeles chapter) SCBWI Writers & Illustrators Day 2017? It’s happening February 25th at the Skirball Cultural Center, a venue I once frequented in order to exercise my former toddler in the  intriguingly lit Noah’s Ark … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, middle grade, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fres-yes? (Wild Kratts Edition)

Posted on September 28, 2016 by

The Wild Kratts are based in Canada. In addition to their TV shows, which are broadcast all over the world, they occasionally venture over the border–mostly into eastern states and the mid-west–to entertain select child-filled crowds with their live show. The energetic brothers have … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seasonal Conundrums

Posted on August 14, 2016 by

Researching summer camps for my 8 year old, round about last March/April, I became frustrated: Sports camp in triple digit heat? No. Great white shark and hammerhead shark sightings along our southern coast. Surf camp? No. Science Camp? He loves … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Remember the Bunnies

Posted on May 5, 2016 by

WRITER’S RETREAT! Oh, that’s long over now. ‘Tis a distant dream. T’was  2 1/4-ish days of nothing-but-revising, surrounded by foliage, sculpture/fountains and wild bunnies with super white tails. Sequestered in a simple room of my own with a nun’s bed, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Breaks

Posted on April 6, 2015 by

What I love about Spring Break? For a week I am Fun Mama–instead of: get dressed, brush your teeth, grab your Spidey hoodie, let’s go, go, go, homework, karate, shower time!, etc. It’s nice to be all: Ooooh—let’s scooter around … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Snooze House

Posted on March 31, 2015 by

Lately, instead of writing at night I’ve resorted to rising early in order to revisereviserevise certain projects and I’ve realized: The loudest sound in the house at 5am? Despite our small zoo? And the programmable coffee maker’s generous peeps? And the refrigerator … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, ocean related, Poetry, Quotes, Santa Barbara, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Screens

Posted on November 15, 2014 by

Staring at  my writing, I heard what I thought was our younger cat pulverizing the bedroom window’s screen, as he does when he’d like to be let inside, despite the little Hobbiton upside-down-U’s we had cut in pertinent doors, just for … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tropical Impression

Posted on July 27, 2014 by

I thought: I’ll blog every day. But then we landed, left the sweetly palms-infused airport and drove straight to the ocean. I know as well as anyone how distracting ocean is—sunrises, sunsets, all the dancing, lightening blue in between those hours–and … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, fish, middle grade, ocean related, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Never Fails

Posted on June 27, 2014 by

Text conversation with my writing mentor as I attempted to send her crucial re-written novel pages before her plane took off, pages I was anxious for her input on so that I could meet a writing deadline ASAP, pages she … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Steps In Promotion, Writer's Angst | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mornings Become Them (Birds Edition)

Posted on June 20, 2014 by

615am–I get out of bed to let the dog outside and get back in bed forgetting to let the dog back in and he barks and I shoot out of bed not wanting the dog to wake the first grader … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Parakeet, Pets, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

All Schedules Thrown

Posted on June 12, 2014 by

And, suddenly, for a week, until summer camp started, the newly ex-Kindergartner and I were face to face over our morning pancakes, not an elementary school deadline in sight. “Let’s go to the beach!” he suggested. We did. “Museums!” We went there, … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, Faction, Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I-5 Pretty

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

In a previous post I regaled our drive from Los Angeles to parts further Northeast known as Tracy, Stockton and Sacramento. Namely, that interminable length from the end of the grapevine to whatever that KABOOM exit is that has Corral in … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Fiction, Writing, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Break Snoozing (Wide Awake Edition)

Posted on April 18, 2014 by

During this luscious week of no school for the Kindergartner, we snooze well. Except when we are awakened from chasm-sleep somewhere between 2a.m. and maybe 4:30a.m.—after the bars have closed, but before the rooster across the alley busts its lungs—after we’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, middle grade, Pets, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Weekend Of “Instead-Of’s” (Big Beach Edition)

Posted on April 13, 2014 by

Instead of the LA Times Book Fest, the beginning of my son’s Spring Break: Instead of the LA Times Bookfest Poetry Tent, this: Also a cave (!): This: Er–and this (at a different beach–a short while later–if whiles can be short–why … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, dog, Faction, Fiction, Poetry, Santa Barbara, To Explain, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Spring Spirit 2014

Posted on April 9, 2014 by

We’d hoped to leave our valley by 10am. 430pm we were finally on the road. The little boy erupted in sneezes and coughing fits at the top of the Grapevine. When we stopped somewhere on the other side of the mountains … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, middle grade, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Discoveries (Balancing Edition)

Posted on March 26, 2014 by

The huge benefit of being thrown by a horse and not being able to exercise for over a week or lie down on the bed without screaming in pain or do anything in between carrying on as a mother except … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Article At ‘Through The Tollbooth’!!!

Posted on March 20, 2014 by

My writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, was interviewed by Catherine Linka (I’ve heard Catherine speak at SCBWI events–she is positively famous in our SCBWI Los Angeles circles) over at Through The Tollbooth. The interview is about Kathryn’s mentoring experience–er, of me! … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Women’s National Book Association

Posted on March 1, 2014 by

I was made aware of the WNBA/LA thanks to my middle grade writing mentor, Kathryn Fitzmaurice (ask me if I am lucky to have her as my mentor and you will hear amplified hell yeah’s). She gave one of this … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Faction, Fiction, middle grade, Writing, Writing Progress, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Staying The Course

Posted on February 17, 2014 by

Saturday morning I rose when our son (impossible to wake on a school day) woke at 5:30a.m. to begin a weekend of attending birthday parties, completing school projects, and constant verbalized hankering for Minecraft (it was Survivalcraft, until we realized the … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, books, Children's Books, Faction, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Double Rainbow (Rainy Day Edition)

Posted on February 7, 2014 by

Not long ago a man left a nasty little comment in my comments section calling my blog piece sophomoric and trite and something else I can’t remember and why this person was so unevolved as to blog-roam and drop his … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, dog, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Notes From The Retreat #2: Critiques

Posted on January 26, 2014 by

Yes, I am going to go here. Out of the 10 copies of the first 25 pages of my novel returned to me, scribbled on by the writers in my core group at the SCBWI retreat, I kept 4. Those 4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Notes From The Retreat #1: Books

Posted on January 22, 2014 by

At last weekend’s SCBWI retreat, 4 editors imparted useful information–and shared book titles they love–Picture Books (PB), Middle Grade (MG), Non-Fiction (NF) and Young Adult (Y the effing heck A). I know what the abbreviations mean. YOU know what they mean. But, … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, middle grade, Santa Barbara, Writing, YA Novels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2013 Middle Grade

Posted on January 10, 2014 by

Oh, productive, on-the-button-always (not the panic button), well-informed you—you’re already aware of this list. I’m just getting to it. I think I’m most excited about Holly Black’s book. Quite creepy! The Goodreads Best Middle Grade & Children’s  Any flagrant omissions from … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment