Angie Smibert's Blog, page 8

Class of 2K11 Membership Closing

If you're a young adult or middle grade author with a book coming out next year, think about joining the Class of 2K11.  Our goal is to help each other market our books. Unlike Elevensies, we do collect dues–which we'll use for the website, blog, swag, etc.–and we do require full participation.  But it's well [...:]

Elevensies in CWIM

I bought the 2011 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market a few weeks ago.  The yearly CWIM lists book and short story markets, agents, conferences, and markets. And the first hundred pages or so are devoted to articles about writing tips, trends, and new authors.   If you turn to page 75, you'll find a great article [...:]

Research as Story Engine

Space Shuttle Main Engines firing at liftoff. Here's a little exercise I like for coming up with ideas and stories. Pick a story from a magazine, website, book, tv show, or whatever that grabs your attention. Summarize the article (or the part that intrigues you). This helps  focus your thoughts. Brainstorm answers to these questions [...:]

Pardon the dust…

I just got a new theme, and I'm still working out the kinks.

Share/Bookmark

New Workshop for Young Writers

Fellow Elevensies Kathy McCullough, Shawn Goodman, and Randy Russell have put together a pretty cool site for young writers called the Young Writers Notebook. They're still in the beta testing stage–with a planned official launch in September. But, if you're a teen writer (or know of one) who'd like to help them test what works and what doesn't, hop on over to the Notebook site.

Book Scout Interview

Today the delightful Kelsey Jones is featuring an interview with me on her blog, The Book Scout.

Not the cruelest month (I hope)

Marshall Cavendish had it's launch / marketing meeting for my book earlier this week. And we have a pub date! Or at least a month. MEMENTO NORA will be coming out in April 2011.



While I have your attention, I put this trailer together a few months ago. What do you think?

How do you visualize your novel?

I'm not normally an artsy-craftsy girl, and I can't really draw. But, I have hit upon a crafty way that helps me visualize the characters and elements of my novel(s).



I have a notebook for each book.  (A sturdy black notebook one with gridlines and color-coded sections.  These notebooks remind me of the engineering lab books at KSC. ) In each book, I use a combination of images from magazines, the web, or stock photo places, sketches, and notes to cobble together my vision for that book.

[image error][image error]
...

Keeping track of your characters

The events of MEMENTO NORA (and my current WIP) span just a few weeks, and the three points of view overlap each other. It's a lot to keep straight in my head. I'd find myself at the end of one draft with too many Saturdays in the week or having my characters in too many places at one time. So, I decided to track my characters on a calendar. I used the simple Microsoft Works Calendar. On the monthly view, I put the general plot point–who goes where and when–type of information. On the daily ...

League Scavenger Hunt – Thursday's Clue

We're having our first scavenger hunt at the League of Extraordinary Writers. Can you guess the book title? Here's today's clue:



[image error]



DO NOT put your guess in the comments section here or at the League. GO HERE to enter the title of the book. Remember, it's the first book in the series.



Need another hint?



Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap More Imogen Heap music on iLike



If you can't see the song and title above, check it out here.