Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 54

Survivors: Bruce Hale on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children's Author

Learn more about Bruce Hale.By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

In children’s-YA writing, maintaining an active publishing career is arguably an even bigger challenge than breaking into the field.

Reflecting on your personal journey (creatively, career-wise, and your writer’s heart), what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success? 

After eight and a half years of collecting rejection letters, when I finally landed my three-book Chet G...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith,
Robin Galbraith, Gayleen Rabukukk, and Stephani Eaton
for Cynsations

Author/Illustrator Insights

Nicole Griffin Releases Just Wreck It All from Wild Things. Peek:

"...my process...Procrastination and cookies. Whining and foot-dragging. Then, finally, typing a lot of stuff and stripping away at it until I have the spine of a story pinned down. Then I get to do the fun part."

Q&A with Alan Gratz by Sara Grochowski from Publishers Weekly. Peek:

“I heard...

Native Author-Illustrator Interview: Jonathan Nelson

By Traci Sorellfor Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Today we welcome Diné (Navajo) artist Jonathan Nelson to discuss his journey as an illustrator and his recently published debut picture book.

Johnny, your Wool of Jonesy (Native Realities, 2016), a wordless graphic novel won the American Indian Library’s Association Middle Grade Honor Book Award earlier this year. 

Now your first picture book, First Laugh – Welcome Baby, written by the late Rose Ann Tahe, a...

Querying Alternative: Author Lindsay Leslie & Editor Charlotte Wenger on Twitter-Pitching Manuscripts

Learn more about Lindsay LeslieBy Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Submitting queries can sometimes feel like tossing a bottled message into the ocean: you're not sure when or if you'll get a reply.

Through social media authors now have additional avenues for connecting with publishing gatekeepers.

I recently interviewed upcoming debut Lindsay Leslie about how #PitMad figured into her success, and editor Charlotte Wenger shares her perspective on using social...

Survivors: Jennifer Ziegler on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children's-YA Author

Learn more about Jennifer Ziegler.
Image by Sam Bond Photography. By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

In children’s-YA writing, maintaining an active publishing career is arguably an even bigger challenge than breaking into the field.

Reflecting on your personal journey (creatively, career-wise, and your writer’s heart), what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success? 

I feel as if I have two “breaking in” stories. I began in publ...

New Voices: Michelle Cusolito & Casey W. Robinson Share Writing Resources That Paved the Way to Their Debut

Michelle Cusolito and Casey W. Robinson, debut picture book authors.By Traci Sorell
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Today we welcome two of my fellow Epic Eighteen creators, Michelle Cusolito, author of Flying Deep (illustrated by Nicole Wong, (Charlesbridge, 2018)) and Casey W. Robinson, author of Iver and Ellsworth (illustrated by Melissa Larson (Ripple Grove Press, 2018)).

Both Michelle and Casey devoted time and effort to developing their skills before landing their first bo...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith,
Robin Galbraith, Gayleen Rabukukk, and Stephani Eaton
for Cynsations

Author/Illustrator Insights

YA Novelist Inspired By Teenage Years of Lucy Maud Montgomery  by Nancy Wigston from The Canadian Jewish News. Peek:

“Part of writing YA is considering your audience and how they can relate to your character and their experience. This becomes a deeper challenge when it is historical fiction because you need to somehow show younger readers how simi...

Guest Post: Deborah Halverson on Viewing Narrative Beats as “Revelatory” Beats in MG/YA Fiction

Deborah HalversonBy Deborah Halverson
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

We work hard to get to know our characters.

Creating bios, interviewing them, giving them personality tests. One discovery tool often overlooked in this great pursuit are the small actions tucked into the narrative beats.

Narrative beats are those little breathers in dialogue, sometimes filled simply with speaking tags like he said, she said. They’re rhythmic beats in conversations.

The actions that fill those beats...

Profiles of Persistence: Lisa Bierman, Meredith Davis, and Jill Donaldson on Committing Long-Term to Children's Writing

By Carol Coven Grannick
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Part One: The Writer’s Heart

Many hard-working, committed, persistent, and resilient writers forge ahead with their writing journeys in spite of obstacles, disappointments, “almost-there" moments and plenty of what I call “Beautiful, buts.”

This two-part interview explores the experience of being a long-time, determined writer who has not yet had a book published.

Writers Lisa Bierman, Meredith Davis, and Jill Donaldson hail from diffe...

Survivors: Lois Lowry on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children's-YA Author

Learn more about Lois Lowry.By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

In children’s-YA writing, maintaining an active publishing career is arguably an even bigger challenge than breaking into the field.

Reflecting on your personal journey (creatively, career-wise, and your writer’s heart), what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success? 

I was forty when my first book was published in 1977. Pretty old!

And it was a tough time in my life. I w...