Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 128

Guest Post: Janci Patterson on Writing Contests

Follow @jancipattersonBy Janci Patterson
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

I heard about the Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition from one of my grad school professors. This was in 2007--I’d been writing novels for seven years. I had five novels drafted and had been sending books out for years and receiving form rejections.

So when I heard about the Young Adult Novel category, I didn’t have high hopes. But my policy was to send things out because books that sit in drawers don’t g...

In Memory: Nancy Garden

Nancy GardenBy Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

The youth literature community is deeply saddened by the sudden death of Nancy Garden, age 76, on June 23.

Nancy was a groundbreaking author, perhaps best known for her YA love story, Annie On My Mind (FSG, 1982).

I'm honored to say that she graced this online platform with her wisdom and, more personally, this author with her enthusiasm, warmth and support. My sympathies to her friends, family, colleagues and readers. 

Let's celebrate her...

Guest Post: Shannon Wiersbitzky on Fiction as a Form of Truth

Follow @SWiersbitzky on TwitterBy Shannon Wiersbitzky
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

When I visit classrooms and talk about storytelling, I often discuss the “seeds” of stories. And how the best seeds come from real moments in our life; moments of great joy, or sadness, fear or confusion.

They’re the nuggets of truth that often inspire a story, or get woven into one, adding depth, color and perhaps most importantly, emotion.

The truth can be dangerous for fiction writers. Too much of it,...

Guest Post: Ann E. Burg on Serafina's Promise

By Ann E. Burg
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Sometimes when I visit schools I bring a beat up old pot filled with trinkets and toys, gadgets and gizmos, photographs and mementoes.

My mother's sister gave me the pot when I first went out on my own.

She and my mother subscribed to the culinary philosophy if you can read, you can cook.

I could read (I read a lot!) so my aunt was convinced that my watery sauce was the result of an unsuitable pot.

My sauce did improve, but I used my new pot s...

Cynsational News & Giveaways

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Plotting Can Be for You by Susanne Winnacker from Adventures in YA Publishing. Peek: "So despite the fact that I hated going into things without a plan, I tried to write my book without an outline. It would be fun, right?"

Everything Is Going to Be Okay: On Writing & Anxiousness by Leila Austin from YA Highway. Peek: "A message from the kind, sensible part of my brain to the irrational, ugly part. A reminder to let go of all the things I carry...

Guest Interview & Giveaway: Carolyn Dee Flores & Lupe Ruiz-Flores on Writing, Illustrating & Team Flores

Carolyn & Lupe AKA "Team Flores"By Carolyn Dee Flores & Lupe Ruiz-Flores
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

LR: We call ourselves “Team Flores.”

Although my daughter, illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores, and I have never worked together on a book, we hope to someday.

We team together when we make joint presentations and provide the moral support for each other.

Carolyn Interviews Lupe

CDF: What is the most surprising aspect about being from a kidlit family?

LR: I don’t think it’s surprising a...

Guest Post & Giveaway: Kristen Tracy on Can You Hear Me Now? & Writing Dialogue

By Kristen Tracy
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

When I wrote Hung Up (Simon Pulse, 2014), I knew before I typed the first word that the entire book would be written in phone conversations.

No traditional scenes. No chapters.

No physical descriptions, besides what I could work naturally into dialogue.

It was my tenth novel--the first I’d written in that format--and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I was also struggling through a difficult pregnancy at the time. I guess that...

Guest Post: Shirley Vernick on Drawing the Line

By Shirley Vernick
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Novelists always know when to start writing. It’s when we get an idea—in the form of a voice, a setting, a conflict, or some other plot point. Inspiration strikes, and we create a new file titled something like “My Latest Greatest - Draft 1.”

But how do authors know when to stop writing? That is, how do we know where to end the story?

This is one of the most challenging questions for me as a writer.

Novels don’t usually stop at the climax....

Guest Post & Giveaway: Sarah Frances Hardy on Paint Me!

By Sarah Frances Hardy
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Paint Me! (Sky Pony Press, 2014) is about a little girl who begins the day painting a portrait of her dog, but she quickly discovers the joy of colors and lots of messy paint.

At the end of the day, all is well after a bath and goodnight kiss.

It's for preschoolers and toddlers who are beginning to learn their colors. And since it finishes as a bedtime story, it's a good one to read to wound-up kids at night to get them to settle in an...

Event Report: Middle Grade Mayhem

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Wow! This weekend's highlight was Middle Grade Mayhem, a joint launch event featuring authors Varian Johnson (The Great Greene Heist (Arthur A. Levine Books)), Greg Leitich Smith (Little Green Men at the Mercury Inn (Roaring Brook)), and Jennifer ("Jenny") Ziegler (Revenge of the Flower Girls (Scholastic)) at BookPeople in Austin!

What worked about this event?
Three authors are better -- and more dynamic -- than one!With the unifying "middle grade" age cat...