Michele Jakubowski's Blog, page 9

Ahhh, that new project smell

So, I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone with this one. On my last project (the Sydney/Sidney early reader chapter book series set to be released by Stone Arch Books in 2012) I didn't blog about it until after the ink had dried on the contract. I've always been a bit (OK, a lot) superstitious and I never want to jinx anything. As the kids go back to school and my summer break ends, I'm starting up a new early reader chapter book series and have decided to blog about the process from the writing, editing, and searching for a publisher/literary agent to (hopefully) getting it published.

The new series revolves around Olive Jooce a six-year old who lives in River City above her parent's candy store, The Sugar Shack. Unlike her older sister, Penny, Olive is a self-described 'scaredy-cat' who is timid and unsure when it comes to trying new things. With the help of her imaginary friend Alice, Olive learns to overcome her fears and enjoy life's little adventures. The series is geared toward readers aged 5 – 9.

In book one Olive is afraid of losing her tooth. It's not the pain she's worried about it's the tooth fairy visiting her in the middle of the night while she's sleeping! Try as she might to keep that tooth in her head, it does fall out and Olive must face her fear. In spite of her sister Penny's teasing, and with Alice's help, Olive prevails. In fact, she is so pleased with her gift from the tooth fairy she can't wait to lose the rest of her baby teeth!

I've been getting into the rhythm of writing daily and am about 1/3 of the way through book one. When I hit the 3/4 mark, I'll start brainstorming ideas for the next book in the series. When I complete and polish book one, I'll get to work on a query letter to send out to potential agents and publishers. Just thinking about sending out query letters makes my heart beat faster so for now I'll just keep plugging away at book one.

I hope you'll join me on this little adventure. Writing can be such a long and lonely process and I'd appreciate any and all encouragement!

Tales of a Fourth Grade Something

I've pretty much been glued to my laptop working on the books for the early reader chapter series. I finished book two this week and was pleased with how the first two turned out. I've got book three outlined and am looking forward to seeing how it unfolds.

Writing can be a lonely process so when I received a large manila envelope full of letters today I was thrilled! The letters were from a fourth grade class in IL. They had read Sometimes You Can Go Home as a class read aloud. Their teacher explained that they were learning about letter writing and thought it would be a good idea to write to me and give me their critiques of the book.

Critiques, eh? I must say I was intrigued…

Here are some of my favorites:

"I thought the book was let's say 50-50.The good things were that it had a good amount of characters…The bad thing was it sounds like you were trying to advertise a vacation in Chicago."

"I really like your book. I think kids all over the world will love it."

"Also, I think you should have less character because I got really messed up knowing names in the middle. Anyway don't feel bad because that is just my opinion."

"I think you should make another book about a girl with no friends and then this panda bear becomes her friend. Well I hope you have fun writing books."

"I like the book 'Sometime You Can Just Go Home.' The title was great! The grabber was great too! The names are wonderful. You had great feeling."

"I really enjoyed the book. You have some talent!"

If that doesn't keep me motivated, I don't know what will.

Good News!

Have you ever had good news you wanted share with the world but you couldn't? Well, that's what I've been going through for the past six weeks.

Actually, the story starts a long, long time ago (OK, maybe it was just last summer, but it feels like a long, long time ago…). I had written an early reader chapter book called Sydney Meets Sydney about two 3rd graders, a boy and a girl, each named Sydney. The chapters alternate the point of view of the main characters as they go through their tumultuous first day of school. I was thrilled with the way it turned out and I was excited to share it with the world – like, right now!

Unfortunately, that isn't how the world of publishing works so I put together a query letter to try and grab the attention of either an agent or a publisher. I sent out about a million query letters (maybe I'm exaggerating, but not by much) and waited for someone to share my enthusiasm about this book. And waited. And waited.

I had a few nibbles from some agents. One asked me to lengthen my book so I did, but she didn't love it enough to take on the project. I appreciated her honesty and got over it by sending out a million more queries.

Another agent wanted it longer still so I spent a week creating additional scenes to weave into the story. I was happy with the way it turned out and was just about to send it back to her when – out of the blue – a publisher I had contacted 7 months earlier emailed stating that they were interested in the series and asking if my work was still available.

I was stunned.

So stunned that I couldn't speak and my husband who was sitting across from me thought something was wrong. Speechless, I waved him over and made him read the email. Honestly, I had written off this publisher as not interested and now they were asking about not only book one, but the whole series!

I replied within minutes of receiving the email and continued to obsessively check my email for their reply. This was the time when I began bursting at the seams to share the news, but I tend to be superstitious and wanted to wait until the contract was signed, sealed and delivered. Over the course of the next six weeks, the publisher and I exchanged emails and phone calls and the waiting paid off.

The good news is – I've signed a four book deal with the fabulous Stone Arch Books, an imprint of Capstone Publishing! I look forward to posting my progress as the series develop.

OMES Book Swap/Literacy Night

Thanks to the folks at Olentangy Meadows Elementary School for the fun time at their annual Book Swap/Literacy Night!

*special thanks to my favorite 8 year old photographer!*

Such a Nerd

I was at Barnes & Noble today and I just couldn't resist, I had to see if they had my book in stock and – gasp! – they do! I stood dumbstruck for a moment before asking my husband, John, to take a picture. This is unusual for me as I do not like to have my picture taken, but how could I not?! The best part was the kid standing just out of frame trying to figure out what the heck I was doing. Nerdy? Perhaps. Totally worth it? Oh yeah!

The Kindness of Strangers

A good review is fabulous no matter who it's from, but there is just something about a compliment from a stranger. Please click here to see what readers are saying on Goodreads.com.

Feelin' the Love

Is it customary to say thank you for thank yous? Well, it should be. I just opened up the most amazing packet of thank you notes from the students at MHLT. The time and creativity that went into making them is astounding. I'm going to keep each and every one of them and pull them out to read the next time my kids tell me I'm mean.

Feelin’ the Love

Is it customary to say thank you for thank yous? Well, it should be. I just opened up the most amazing packet of thank you notes from the students at MHLT. The time and creativity that went into making them is astounding. I’m going to keep each and every one of them and pull them out to read the next time my kids tell me I’m mean.

Testing Out the New Technologies

I've been 'chatting' with a lot of you via my blog and the messages have been all over the place. I asked my husband to set up a forum so we'd have one convenient place to meet.

Check it out – click here!

My Favorite Editor

I'm halfway through rewrites on the lower grade chapter book I'm working on. Since my daughter Mia is our resident reader in that age range, she has been recruited to be my editor. We've got it down to a science – I work while she is at school and once she comes home, she reads what I've written and gives me feedback. She is very direct with me and helps me re-work parts she gets hung up on. For example, today she had a hard time with the phrase "what I wouldn't give…". She was very confused and couldn't figure out what the character meant. I explained what he was trying to say and she said, "Well then why don't you write it that way?"

She is beyond helpful and best of all will work for silly bandz and candy!