Jean Reidy's Blog, page 44

Pay it Forward Friday: Mary Bartek

Mary Bartek, one of my oldest (meaning going back a long time with no reference to age because we don't talk about age in our crit group) writing buddies published her award-winning FUNERALS AND FLY FISHING in 2004. And now 5 years later, this fun book has been released again in paperback. And it has a brand-new cover. I love it!

It's the story of Brad Stanislawki, who's looking forward to summer vacation and a break from his new school, where life hasn't exactly been perfect. But unfortunatel...

An Ode to the Slush Pile

To all my Chicago relatives, "the slush pile" is not a dirty March remnant of a long snowy winter, but instead is the ever-growing stack of unsolicited book manuscripts an editor or an agent accumulates from a host of hopeful authors.

My first book which comes out next February, TOO PURPLEY!, was pulled from just such a pile.

Jim Hines pays hilarious tribute to this pile of piles in his Seuss-style rhyme.

Writers and non-writers, you won't want to miss it.

Thoughts from Picture Book Peek Week #3

Picture Book Peek Week #3 brought me three highly original and beautifully written stories. And as always, I'm learning by critiquing.

Four important questions for all PB writers popped up from this Peek Week.

1. What is your story really about?
Hopefully you can answer this in one brief sentence. Then examine your text for any tangents or storylines that don't contribute to your answer. Often we start out writing one story and it turns into another. And sometimes terrific new tales are born tha...

Pay It Forward Friday - Elizabeth Dulemba

Darcy Pattison's Random Acts of Publicity Week left me inspired with the power of the simple promotional push. So I'm adding to my blog
"Pay It Forward Fridays."

When I can, I'll be highlighting books, events and other news in the life of one of my fellow writers.

This week it's:
Elizabeth Dulemba's Blog Tour
Elizabeth is celebrating the first book she's authored and illustrated:
SOAP, SOAP, SOAP/JABON, JABON, JABONEven though Elizabeth's tour has been going on for a few days, you can jump in...

Picture Book Peek Week #3 - And the Winners Are...

What a terrific batch of titles. And it looks like everyone was able to post without a problem this time - I hope. So without further ado ...

the winners of Picture Book Peek Week #3 are

IT'S A SECRET
FAR ABOVE
SANDY ANDY

Please e-mail your manuscripts as Word attachments to reidy(dot)jean(at)gmail(dot)com.

Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the RMC-SCBWI Conference

My Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the RMC-SCBWI Conference

10. Beware of dialog-heavy picture book manuscripts.

9. The only beef editors and agents have against rhyming picture books is that they're so often poorly written.

8. Manuscripts need to be more perfect than ever before they're ready for submission.

7. While marketing yourself is certainly important, a writer's MOST important job is to make his/her book amazing.

6. Perfect picture books are like a dance between text and illus...

Folksingers - Some of the Grandest Storytellers of All

Back in the day, before music videos, before CDs, even before 8-Track Tapes (if you owned one, fess up now - I never did) there was Puff the Magic Dragon and Peter, Paul and Mary. All drug culture references aside (I was too young to know of such things) the song became one of my first stories. Having memorized every word of every verse, I pondered the name "Jackie Paper," wondered about the land called "Honah Lee" (had to be some Hawaiian island) and couldn't quite figure out what was so spe...

So You Have a Children's Book Idea - Get Ready for PB Peek Week.

But is your idea good enough? Jon Bard answers that tough question.

Picture Book Peek Week #3 Coming September 21st!!

Back by popular demand: Picture Book Peek Week
Free critiques of select PB manuscripts - including those wretched rhymers (Yup, 3 of my upcoming PBs are written in verse!)

Peek Week #3 begins September 21st. I've changed up the format a bit. Here's how it will work:

Sign up for a critique by entering your PB WORKING TITLE in the comment section of this blog post anytime (midnight to midnight Mountain Time) on September 21st. Titles submitted before or after September 21st will not be considered....

Camera-shy Creech Proving Any Author Can Make a Video Trailer

I love that one of my favorite authors is so very humble ... and funny.