What Made Me Yell On The SkyWheel?

The other weekend I was in Niagara Falls, Ontairo with my siblings and my kids and we decided to take a ride on the SkyWheel.

Niagara SkyWheel is a 175-foot tall Ferris wheel in the middle of Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

When we reached the top and I saw the view, I let out a yell. What made me yell? No, I'm not afraid of heights.

It wasn't this.

Niagara Falls, USA.

Or this.

Dino Mini Putt

But actually this! 

 

More specifically this!

It's an upside down house! Why did this make me yell? In my picture book manuscript, ANNALEE FRILL, the main character lives in an upside down house. I was so excited that one actually existed I yelled to my sister to take a picture. Being the wonderful person that she is, she got the best picture she could. This house is exactly how I pictured Annalee's house, except it would be on an upside down hill. If you want to learn more about the upside down house in Niagara Falls you can visit their site at http://www.upsidedownhouseniagarafalls.ca/

Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the house during our visit but we don't live too far from Niagara so I will be sure to go next time I'm there. Looking for the ANNALEE FRILL picture book? Well, it's not published yet. I'm currently looking for a publisher or agent. When it does get published, I will be sure to get a picture of me with my book in front of the house. I look forward to that day!

WriteOnCon - Online Children’s Writers Conference

Guess what I am attending over the next 2 days? WriteOnCon!

I found it last year just as is ended and I was very disappointed. Well, this year I've made sure I'm there and I'm very excited.

WriteOnCon has all the events of a writer's conference done online and free! All the events are scheduled around working hours.

Hopefully a "ninja agent" finds the picture book manuscripts I posted and provides some helpful feedback. Maybe I will randomly be selected to receive feed back from Corey Rosen Schwartz and Tiffany Strelitz Haber on the stanza I submitted from my rhyming PB manuscript. Or perhaps I will submit a query for review. The events are not just for picture books but all kidlit including MG and YA.

To find out more information about WriteOnCon visit http://writeoncon.com/about/what-is-writeoncon/

Are you attending WriteOnCon and want to critique my work? Two of my picture book stories can be found are....

• ANNALEE FRILL - Quirky Annalee lives an upside-down in a right-side-up world
• ELEPHANT IN THE CUPBOARD - Save the peanut butter!

Can't wait to see you there!

Editing a NaPiBoWriWee Picture Book Draft about...

I'm currently working on editing a picture book draft I wrote during NaPiBoWriWee. I'm not going to tell you too much about the story (yet) but it's about my two little critters, Amigo and Beanie.

What? You've never met the real Amigo and Beanie?

Well, here they are!

The original Amigo,

and the one and only Beanie.
I'll have to post an updated picture of Beanie because she's much bigger than this now.

UPDATE: Recent picture of Beanie

NaPiBoWriWee: Day 3,4,5,6 & 7

Here we are at the end of NaPiBoWriWee! Congratulations, you made it! How did you do? Did you pound out 7 picture book manuscripts? Did you get one manuscript done? Maybe you just got some ideas and jotted them down in point form.

Here's an important question: Did you win a prize from Paula Yoo?

I did ok this year. Not as well as I was hoping but under the circumstances, I think I did good. Just attempting the NaPiBoWriWee knowing there potential challenges that week had in store for me makes me successful in this event. I managed to write 2 completed picture book manuscripts drafts, point form for another 3 and titles for the last 2.

I did not win anything from Paula Yoo so I guess I'll just have to try again next year.

Thank you Paula for hosting this event once again.

Day 2: NaPiBoWriWee

Day two of National Picture Book Writing Week is done and I did better.

I finished a very rough draft of manuscript #1 and jotted down some ideas for manuscript #2.

I'm probably going to hold off on blogging for a few days and post a summary at then end.

I'm doing it again! I must be crazy but it's so much fun! - NaPiBoWriWee 2012

There has been so much going on I almost forgot about an annual writing challenge I've done since it began 4 years ago.

NaPiBoWriWee - National Picture Writing Week hosted by Paula Yoo.

The Challenge: Write 7 picture book drafts in 7 days.

You do not need to write a polished manuscript. These are spelling mistake ridden, ridiculously raw, gruesome grammar, problematic punctuation filled, 1st draft manuscripts. I don't think that made sense, but that's ok because that's how my manuscripts are going to be when I first write them. For me this helps me get the idea down on paper and not let the 'nitty-gritty' editing interrupt the idea flow.

One thing I didn't do this year, which usually helps me prepare for NaPiBoWriWee, is PiBoIdmo (Picture Book Idea Month) hosted by Tara Lazar. I'm really regretting it now. The concept with the PiBoIdMo challenge is to come up with a Picture Book Idea every day for the Month of November. Usually I take my 7 best ideas from this and use them for NaPiBoWriWee.

So, with a week to go I'm going to try to come up with 7 or more picture book ideas and pretend I didn't forget about it and pretend I've been prepared for it since November. With all that is going on in 'real life' right now, if I come up with one picture book manuscript I will deem the exercise successful. No excuses!

Are you ready?

It's Almost Here! Are You Ready?

NaPiBoWriWee - National Picture Book Writing Week

Along with her new web site design, Paula Yoo has posted information about the 3rd annual National Picture Book Writing Week (a.k.a. NaPiBoWriWee) The goal of NaPiBoWriWee is to try to write 7 picture book manuscripts (rough drafts) in 7 days. Prizes will also be given away by random draws for those who particpate.

I have participated in NaPiBoWriWee since the first one in 2009 and have found it to be the freeing, kick-in-the-pants I need. Try it, you'll see what I mean.

For more information about NaPiBoWriWee visit Paula's site at http://paulayoo.com/napi/?p=11

If you have any questions about my previous expiences in this challenge feel free to ask.

POV and Picture Books

Last week at #pblitchat we talked about point of view (POV) in picture books. I am going to touch on a few points during the chat and add a few of my own. If you want to read a full version of the chat transcript you can see it at the Picture Books Only Blog – Transcript 10/11 March.

Point of view, or POV for short, in books is the perspective in which the story is told. Through whose eyes we see the story. POV can be a difficult concept to wrap your head around.

Basically there are three points of view: First, Second and Third

There are finer details such as third person limited (you are ONLY able to write what one person sees/feels/hears/thinks) and third person omniscient (you can hover above everybody & see everything) but I’m not going to get into that at this time.

I believe third POV is probably the most used in picture books followed by first POV. Second can and has been used however there doesn’t seem to be as many picture books in that POV.

First Person POV
First person point of view is written with the narrator as part of the story. The words “I” and “we” are used. Though this POV brings us close to the narrator and show s/he thinks and feels, it does limit the story to the one person’s perspective. In picture books this shouldn’t pose too much of a problem since telling a story from more than one perspective can confuse a child. The other issue with first person is some younger children may get confused when being read to. When read “I went to the store” a child may think mommy or daddy really did go to the store. As KarenCollum put it in #pblitchat “There’s an element of maturity involved in kids reading a PB in 1st and understanding that ‘me’ and ‘I’ is not them.”

Second Person POV
Second person point of view is written with you being part of the story. The words “you” and “your” are used. This POV pulls the reader right into the story. You often find this POV in choose your own adventure books or self help books. This type of POV is less popular in picture books – though it has been done and done well.

Third Person POV
Probably the most popular POV to write, third person POV tells the story from a person outside the story. The words “he,” “she,” “they” and “it” are used. This POV allows for more freedom in how that story is told.

Examples of Books Written in the Different POVs

First POV

• Pinkalicious - by Victoria Kann
• Eloise – by Hilary Knight
• My Dad Thinks He’s Funny – by Katrina Germein
• Whatever You Do, Don't Go Near That Canoe! - by Julie Lawson

Second POV

• The “If you …” books by Laura Numeroff

o If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
o If You Give A Pig A Pancake
o If You Give A Moose A Muffin
o If You Take A Mouse To School

Third POV

• The Pirate and the Penguin - by Patricia Storms
• No More Water In The Tub - by Tedd Arnold
• Samuel’s Kisses - by Karen Collum
• This Is The Mud - by Kathryn Apel

Have you ever tried to write one of your works in a different POV. What did you find? Does the story change? Did you find holes in your story?
So, there you have it. Feel free to leave your comments about other books and POVs or anything else you would like.

Picture Book Chat

If you are looking for a place to chat about picture books then you need to join #pblitchat. Aussie writers Kat Apel and Karen Collum run a blog called Picture Books Only which is the home to #pblitchat. The chat is held once a week all about picture books is open to writers, librarian's and all lovers of children's picture books. Even though they state "Sorry – no middle-grade or YA novels allowed" they do tend to enter the conversation every once and a while however the main focus is pictures books.

I have found these sessions very informative and entertaining with a very friendly group. We're all learning so no question is ever to stupid to ask and I feel comfortable asking all my "stupid" questions here. Every week there is a different picture book topic and sometimes a special guest. Kat and Karen listen closely to participants of #pblitchat and some of the topics are based on the feedback they get. Some topics in the past have been so popular more than one session has been devoted it.

Topics include:
POV, technology, submission tracking, goals, myths in picture book publishing, plagiarism and copyright, From idea to polished manuscript: How do you get there? and the list goes on.

Special guests such as:
Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman (creators of the ‘Joey Fly’ graphic novels) and other published authors and illustrators, publishing consultant Alex Adsett, agents, poetry writers...

Time and Place
The chat is the same day every week but you need to pay close attention to place and time of the chats. To help accommodate the different time zones the time and place of the chat alternates each week.

Every 1st, 3rd and 5th (if there is one) Thursday of the month the chat is held at 7:00 am Eastern Time on Twitter using the #pblitchat tag.

Every 2nd and 4th Thursday the chat is held at 6:30 pm Eastern Time in a Chatzy chat room.

For a full listing of #pblitchat times in each timezone see the About Picture Books Only page. In order to enter the Chatzy room a password is required but don't let that scare you off. Simply email pblitchat[at]skymesh[dot]com[dot]au or pblitchat[at]bigpond[dot]com and request the password. (This was necessary due to some off-topic gate-crashers.)

Miss a chat or what to know more information about a topic previously covered? Kat and Karen happily post the chat transcript on their blog. You can find the transcripts on the Picture Books Only home page. I'm also hoping to summarize the transcript here on my blog.

Picture Books Only: http://picturebooksonly.wordpress.com/
Karen Collum: http://www.karencollum.com.au/
Kat Apel: http://katswhiskers.wordpress.com/