Jean Reidy's Blog, page 45

Random Acts of Publicity Week - Judith Snyder

Darcy Pattison's Random Acts of Publicity Week began last Tuesday and I've decided to focus my not-so-random acts on one of my crit buddies, Judith Snyder. Judith is a teacher, school librarian and storyteller - she knows children's literature. And even though she's so very talented, Judith is soft-spoken and VERY humble. Tooting her own horn doesn't come naturally. So I'm doing it for her.

Not only has she written WHAT DO YOU SEE? a darling, interactive picture book coming out this fall, but...

Parenting the Nearly-Grown: Guest Post by Masha Hamilton

Guest Post: Parenting the Nearly-Grown
by Masha Hamilton (Photo by Briana Orr)

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book." Roman philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 B.C.

Not long after the second of my three children was born, I sat at the kitchen table late one evening talking to my dad about parental responsibility. It's a big topic and we were covering lots of philosophical ground, but what I remember most is my pronouncement that m...

Random Acts of Publicity Week

The amazing writer/teacher/mentor/blogger Darcy Pattison has declared September 7-11 Random Acts of Publicity Week. And I'm excited about these fun four days of spreading the word about my fellow authors and their work. Darcy will offer daily suggestions for both online and offline promotion activities. Here's the schedule:

Tuesday: Word of Mouth
Wednesday: Reviews
Thursday: Links
Friday: Social Media

If you're interested, check it out at
http://www.darcypattison.com/authors/random-week/

ABC's of Writing - Verla Tells All

Here's a question I see frequently in my inbox.

I've got a friend/uncle/daughter who's written a children's book. She needs a publisher. Do you have any advice?

And the answer is certainly "YES, YES, YES!" Generally I respond to these queries with links to my favorite writing websites, blogs, boards and books. But the generous Verla Kay has summed up the kidlit process - from start to finish - beautifully on her blog, where she, too, offers links to handy resources. Check it out here:
http://verla

When is the next Picture Book Peek Week?

If you would like e-mail notification of all future Picture Book Peek Weeks, please send your e-mail address to reidy(dot)jean(at)gmail(dot)com and write "I love PB Peek Week" in the subject line. I'll notify you whenever a new PB Peek Week is scheduled.

Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Genius

Even though this video has been out there for a while, it's one I like to view every so often for a healthy dose of inspiration.

I've got F &Gs! Now what are those again?

My F & Gs for TOO PURPLEY! arrived last week. And they look terrific.

Since I'm rather new to publishing, I had to Google "F & G" again because I'd completely forgotten the term. Turn out it stands for "folded and gathered."

But honestly, that term doesn't do these babies justice. They look quite nice. They're simply flimsier, paperback versions of my book. Their structure is a bit like the wonderful books my kids "published" in grade school.

Eventually I'll need to figure out what to do with them.

For the Love of 49 Words: You say "Purply" and I say "Purpley."

I couldn't be more excited about finding TOO PURPLEY! on Amazon. And if you should search on my author name, you'll see the paperback U.K. version right there next to the U.S. hardcover. Now look closely. The U.K. title is actually TOO PURPLY! That makes me smile.

Why? Because my editor spent tons of time with her U.K. counterparts deciding on the spellings of all my made-up words. And there are quite a few. She explained their thought processes which were highly intelligent and completely logic

Thoughts from Picture Book Peek #2

After this round of critiques, including my Take the Dare, Show You Care critique, I think I've hit on a good number. Three or four manuscripts per Peek Week feels about right.

Some of you may wonder why not more. The answer - they take a ton of time.

The initial read through and text markup is quite fast. And if that's all I was doing, I could turn them around in less than an hour. But often, as I read, I sense that something isn't working. Nothing is more frustrating than to have a reader simply

Picture Book Peek Week #2 - And the Winners Are ...

Oh, I hate that I only have time for 3 this week.

There were so many titles I loved. So many manuscripts I wanted to read -proving I need to do this more often. But I'm absolutely thrilled with the winners. And I'll have you know that the selection process was extremely official. My husband, who's a CPA (think Price Waterhouse at the Oscars) drew the titles.

And the winners of Picture Book Peek Week #2 are ...

ANNIE LOVES TO TALK
THE MAGICAL PRINCESS
WILD WES

Please e-mail your manuscripts as Word att