Kate Messner's Blog, page 39

Fireworks in the Garden...and some thoughts on Science and Art

Even though I planted them years ago, these flowers in my garden always manage to surprise me when they bloom.



Somehow, I never remember that big, bursting, blue fireworks are going to appear, and I'm always delighted.  This is a big, blue fireworks sort of post...because some ideas in life and writing show up that way, I find.

I've been kind of quiet about my current work-in-progress because it's different than anything else I've written. It's a new genre for me --  upper-MG dystopian -- and t...

Welcome to the Blogosphere Block Party! (and ARC giveaway!)

When Jo Knowles, Carrie Jones, and I gave our workshop about blogging at the New England SCBWI Conference last weekend, we talked a lot about community, about how one of the unexpected benefits of a blog is the very real, live-and-in-person friendships that can grow out of it. But sometimes when you're just starting out in the blog world, it can feel like you're posting away and the only one reading is your mom. (*waves to Mom*)  So I had this idea...

A Welcome-to-the-Blogosphere BLOCK...

THIS MEANS WAR by Ellen Wittlinger

In Ellen Wittlinger's new middle grade novel THIS MEANS WAR, Juliet Klostermeyer is a typical bike-riding, roller skating, candy-bar-eating kind of kid, navigating the changes that always come with growing up. Her parents argue, her older sister keeps kicking her out of their shared bedroom to listen to music and talk about boys with her friend, and Juliet's best guy friend is hanging out with new neighborhood boys instead of her.  Typical kid stuff.

But the year is 1962. The Cuban Missile Cri...

New to the KidLit Blog World?

Would you do me a favor? 

If you are a children's writer or illustrator -- published or unpublished -- with a relatively new blog, would you drop me a note in the comments to let me know your username (for LJ) or the URL if it's another blogging platform?  In an upcoming post, I'd like to share a list of newer bloggers so that those of us who have been here a little longer can say a proper welcome.

For example, shoshiwingate   is a writer who attended the blogging workshop that Carrie Jones, Jo...

Blogging for the Future Presentation from #NESCBWI10

As promised for those who attended the NESCBWI workshop panel with Carrie Jones, Jo Knowles, and me, here is a SlideShare version of our presentation with links to all of the blogs.  Happy reading & blogging!

Blogging for the_future View more presentations from tkmess.

More Moments from #NESCBWI10

Are you awake?

That was the subject line of the email in my box early Sunday morning at the New England SCBWI Conference. It was Loree Griffin Burns, summoning me for a hike. She needed some exercise and fresh air and knew a trail nearby. Did I want to come along?  I did!  I just barely caught Loree in the parking lot, and off we went.

After a few minor wrong turns (we were exploring...we weren't lost), we climbed to the top of some gorgeous rock ledges.

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This little guy joined us to enjoy the v...

Moments from the NESCBWI Conference

I'm in Fitchburg, MA this weekend for the New England Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Conference, and this morning, I'm up early and pretty much overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to be part of this world. It's been an amazing conference so far. Among the highlights...
Hearing Allyn Johnston & Marla Frazee discuss their editor/illustrator collaboration.Listening the inspirational Cynthia Leitich Smith talk about change and challenges in a writing life.A long and unhurried...

Making Time

"...there is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can fill up that hunger inside for a sense of fulfillment and wonder. But the good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for: enlivenment, peace, meaning, and the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty."

~from Anne Lamott's essay "Time lost and found" 

This piece is one of a million reasons...

Bookish Happenings in New England

It's a big week for KidLit events in New England.  For example, did you know...

...that author Jo Knowles is speaking at the Hartland Public Library this Wednesday at 7:00pm? Jo is one of the smartest, nicest people I know, and also...she says there will be brownies.  If you're in the Vermont/New Hampshire Upper Valley, you should go see her tomorrow night.

...that Loree Griffin Burns, the author of TRACKING TRASH, has a brand new book out in the world? She's throwing a party to launch THE...

THE HIVE DETECTIVES: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE

My friend and critique partner, Loree Griffin Burns, has written a book that I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to share with you, and it's out now.  It's called THE HIVE DETECTIVES: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE, and it's about the mystery of honeybee colony collapse and what scientists are discovering about it.  It's part of Houghton Mifflin's Scientists in the Field series, and like Loree's TRACKING TRASH, it is told in a narrative nonfiction style that is impossible to put d...