Silvia Acevedo's Blog, page 3

What I’m reading – Under the Blanket Sky, Restart, Twerp, The Devil Particle, and The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet

Yaaaay! I am so glad to be back blogging. I’ve spent the past month recovering from elbow surgery, which kept one hand in a support brace, so I’ve refrained from too much typing, except for the ineffective, one-handed variety, haha. But now I’ve been cleared to type with two whole hands again (huzzah!), which is incredibly important in most aspects of my life, so yay! I’m back!

During my convalescence, I did (and am doing) quite a lot of reading. It’s also summer, and I always say I want to spe...

Positive Feedback

Oh, how wonderful it is to get positive feedback! How reassuring that you’re hitting the right notes, piquing reader interest, and traveling the right path. I’m sooo happy to have gotten positive feedback today at an agent roundtable, and I’m genuinely hopeful for the future of this piece.

You may have noticed that I have been quiet on this blog lately, and that’s because I’ve been hard at work on my current manuscript. I signed up for SCBWI‘s annual New York City conference and spent a good par...

What I’m reading: The Clackity and Save the Cat!

I spent all of November and more than half of December toiling away at my Work in Progress. I say toiling because it’s the first draft of a complete rewrite, and oy are first drafts rough. So, when I thought I’d finished the first draft, I took a break to enjoy the holidays and some just-for-fun reading. I’d heard good things about The Clackity  by Lora Senf and decided to give it a go.

 

It is now one of my favorite middle grade books and at the top of my list in the spooky/horror category. In...

NaNoWriMo mojo!

Well, wowee zowee and SHAZAM! I am AMAZED. Wanna know why? Because NaNoWriMo works, baby! It really, really works! I did it this year for the first time ever, and I am thrilled with the results.

In case you don’t know already, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s basically an impetus to get writers crackin’. The idea is to hunker down in November with a goal of putting 50-thousand words toward a new novel. The non-profit org that runs it has all sorts of tools and methods to help writers achieve that goal. But many writers come up with their own rules/methods to meet their liking.

For example, I didn’t start a new novel. I used the movement to work on an existing project that has been laaaaaanguishing. Oy, this project is a whole other story for another day. *hides face in shame* To be clear, I didn’t finish the novel nor reach the 50k word-count goal. An event mid-month killed my progress for, like, a week. But that’s not what matters. What matters is that I GOT BACK INTO THE WRITING HABIT.

***RING THE BELLS! CUE THE CHORUS! GATHER THE PEOPLES! IT’S A PARTY IN HERE!****

The habit of writing creates the urge to write. Now, nine days into December, I’m still writing, and I’m nearly done with the novel. Importantly, it’s a far better story thanks in part to thinking about and actively working on it so intensely for so long. I’m really happy with it so far. What more could I ask for from an artificial deadline?

I’ll tell you what else. Community.

My good friend and fellow author Valerie Biel mentioned to me ahead of November that she was doing NaNoWriMo with another friend, author Mary Behan, and I told her I was going to do it as well. We joined forces. In this pact, we had accountability, camaraderie, and a sounding board. Keep reading because you’ll want to know what we did that worked out so great.

Valerie Biel

Mary Behan

Valerie, who is an organizational goddess and also provides author services (check out her website), set up our communications: a shared calendar where we could enter our daily word count (accountability); weekly Zooms to discuss progress and whatever else (camaraderie); and a Facebook chat group to share spur-of-the-moment thoughts and gripes (a sounding board). This kept us in constant communication but never demandingly so. Perfection. Copy this method.

And one of the odd things we talked about? We all noticed during this month-long immersion into creativity that our nighttime dreams became more frequent and vivid, and we could better remember them in the morning. Isn’t that fascinating?

I’m so grateful to these ladies for providing encouragement then and still. And, hey, I’m thankful we decided to turn a totally-not-real deadline into a real one for ourselves. It really worked to get us out of our malaise. I hope you’ll try it someday if you too need the kick to get crackin’.

SCBWI’s faaaaaabulous Fall Luncheon

A weekend away can seem like an extravagance, but sometimes it’s worth every penny.

I’ve been in a bit of a creative rut. I allowed myself time this summer to read, but as September rolled around, I felt a bit stymied with my writing. Months ago, I suspected I’d appreciate an in-person writing event come October, and wow, was I right. This weekend was g.l.o.r.i.o.u.s in so many ways.

Sunday was the SCBWI-Wisconsin Fall Luncheon, an event just a few hours long, in which writers meet up, enjoy a lunch, and hear a single speaker. Sara Schonfeld, editor at HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books proved to be an excellent speaker. More on this later.

Backing up, I decided to make a whole weekend of it. I booked a three-day stay at the hotel. The drive north was wonderful, all by itself. I think this is one of the most colorful Wisconsin autumns I’ve ever seen. Does that correlate with today’s early, first snowfall of the season? I have no idea, but the drive to Door County was stunning. Feast your eyes.

Wisconsin’s glorious fall colors (captured at a rest stop, don’t worry).

When I got to the hotel, my room was ready early, thank goodness, and I quickly settled in to write. Wow! I wrote like a person possessed. A change of scenery can induce that? You betcha. Mission accomplished by Day One.

Add, that my room was beautiful. Add, that I got a few hours socializing with great friends before the event even started. Add, that I learned to play pickle ball and, omg, it was so much fun! And add, our group’s first in-person event in three years. It was heavenly, this weekend. Truly.

A sailboat on Sturgeon Bay beside where we played pickle ball. We were having so much fun, we forgot to take a group picture!

Sara gave a well-presented, insightful talk on revising like an editor. No one could walk away without at least one (but likely many) new tactics to try when they get to that stage. I thoroughly enjoyed both her talk and getting to know her. She’s a delight.

Sara Schonfeld of Katherine Tegen Books and Deb Buschman, leader of SCBWI-Wisconsin (photo courtesy of author Sandy Brehl)

Here are a few more photos of the luncheon. Special thanks to Deb Buschman and all SCBWI volunteers for putting on an outstanding event.

The previous three photos are courtesy of author Sandy Brehl

Just outside the ballroom, the view of Sturgeon Bay

If you’re thinking that your creative endeavors could use a change a scenery, you may be right. I recommend giving it a try. I’m so grateful I did.

 

 

WWA Anthology is out!

I just added another title to the Books page of this website, and I’m thrilled that it contains my first published horror short story. Creepy short stories are definitely my bag. I love reading them. I love writing them. And I’m thrilled that my short story won an Honorable Mention in the Wisconsin Writers Association’s Jade Ring Contest and publication in its anthology.

This paperback is just $6.99 as of the date of this writing. That’s a bargain for 113 pages of original writing by Wisconsin creators, so order your copy here and support WWA and local authors!

 

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a few cents if you order through that link, at no charge to you.

What I’m reading – Other Terrors and Less is Lost

It’s fall, and, while I typically try to hunker down and get writing again when the colder winds start to blow, I’m still heavily reading, so here’s what I’m enjoying (with $affiliate links).

OTHER TERRORS; AN INCLUSIVE ANTHOLOGY. This is a collection of creepy tales from critically acclaimed, diverse authors with a broad spectrum of diverse and contemporary characters. These wonderfully inclusive and modern tales are not only riveting but also manage give a reader creepy crawly chills. Whooeee, some of these stories really strike a nerve, and others will leave you seeing circumstances in a whole new light. I especially loved the story Waste Not by Alma Katsu because, ooh, what a line it crosses; also, Idiot Girls by Jennifer McMahon and The Turning by Hailey Piper. Shivers and shakes. Highly recommended.

LESS IS LOST by Pulitzer Prize winning author Andrew Sean Greer. Its prequel, LESS, had me in stitches when I first read it in 2018, and I gave it five stars on Goodreads. I just reread it, and it still hilariously holds up. It’s the story of a struggling novelist who receives an invitation to his former lover’s wedding, and, rather than go, decides to accept every harebrained literary invitation he’s received, from places around the world, to escape. I’m only a few pages in to the sequel, and I can’t wait to see where Less takes us next.

Have you read any good books lately? Tell me in the comments!

What I’m Reading – Blackout; In the Wild Light; Less; and Aaron Slater, Illustrator

My sweet, affectionate cat Glyph enjoying “Aaron Slater, Illustrator”

I (and one of my cats) have been reading a lot lately. Like, a lot. I typically have a harder time writing in summer than other times of the year because, well, I want to be out enjoying summer, so this year I decided to mostly take a break from writing and instead catch up on reading, which I find easy to accomplish in the snatches of free time throughout the day.

So what have I been reading? Mostly young adult and picture books but also a classic as its sequel is coming out soon. Here are some of my noteworthy reads (with $affiliate links).

Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon, all critically acclaimed authors. This is a collection of contemporary, interlinking short stories set during a power outage in New York City. Warm and affirming, these Black love stories show characters in many stages of love and self-acceptance. It was a sweet read, and I loved loved loved walking through New York City with all of them. It reminded me of so many of my own walks and explorations when I lived and worked there in 2021 and 2022. Highly recommended.

 

 

 

 

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner. Admittedly, I’m still in the first chapter, but just the first paragraph tells me I’m going to like this. I’ve always like Jeff’s writing and had the pleasure of hosting him at a writing conference for SCBWI-Wisconsin, which I co-led for a few years. I got so engrossed reading another book of his, that I missed my train stop and ended up way uptown instead of down. It was no problem, but seriously, if it could make me not hear three announcements and stops, that’s good writing.

 

 

 

 

 

Pulitzer Prize winning Less by Andrew Sean Greer had me in stitches when I first read it in 2018, and I gave it five stars on Goodreads. It’s the story of a struggling novelist who receives an invitation to his former lover’s wedding, and, rather than go, decides to accept every harebrained literary invitation he’s received, from places around the world, to escape. I’m rereading this because, YAY!!!, its sequel is coming out in just ten days. Can’t wait to dive back into this world.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts, in which a young boy, struggling to keep up academically with his peers, finds his voice through illustration and shares his talents with all those he loves. Such an important book with a protagonist you care for and certainly are rooting for. It’s just an exquisite book. It also has impeccable rhyme. If you’re a writer looking for mentor texts of rhyming picture books, here’s a great one to add to your list.

 

 

 

 

Also, today I enjoyed my first pumpkin spice latte of the season during breakfast, as I was writing this. Yummy. My rite of passage each fall. I loved it.

Have you read any good books lately? Tell me in the comments!

Breakfast!

L.A., baby!

Haha, no, don’t worry. I’m not jetting off to L.A. But I did have something awesome tie me in to Los Angeles, and it’s so exciting I just have to share.

SCBWI holds two international conferences annually, one in New York City and one in L.A. I’ve attended both, and they are simply amazing. The New York one is smaller, which might be surprising as NYC is the global publishing hub, but the NYC conference is focused on craft. The L.A. conference is huge, typically bringing in several thousand attendees and is thus a networking extravaganza.

The past few years these events have been held virtually, of course. They’re still excellent events, well organized, chock full of practical  and inspirational tidbits. The speakers are stars in the kidlit field or up-and-comers or people with an expertise in their niche. I walk away from each speaker better for having listened.

This year, they invited me to speak. Me! Little ol’ me. I was stunned at the invitation and remain so even after having finished the presentation. Speaking at their international conference is a big moment for me, and I worked hard to make my session worthwhile. I hope it was. Importantly, I continue to be grateful for this wonderful organization.

All the presentations were recorded and available for 30 days, so you could still register to see everything. I too will watch as many of these recordings as I can. It will make for some pleasant upcoming days.

The slate posted ahead of my live presentation

Zoom-zoom-zooming to SCBWI LA.

Illustration Intensive 2022

Whoo hoo! We got to hold this event in person for the first time in three years!

Fantasy Art Workshop’s Illustration Intensive is my husband’s and my week-long art workshop for professional and inspiring illustrators. It’s a fantastic event with lectures and teaching by top industry pros, art demos, deep-dive creating, and a week of networking. We last held it in 2019, and wow, judging by the response, people missed it!

To learn more about it, I really do encourage you to go the Illustration Intensive website, as I won’t cover it all here. If you’re an illustrator, do yourself a favor and look into it. If you know someone who’s into art, please share this event with them. We’re thrilled to know that many who’ve attend our event launched their professional careers here. And we love a good time, too.