Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 31
February 3, 2018
Can A Place in the Heart Find a Place on the Shelves? by Joanne O’Sullivan
Like every aspiring fiction writer, I spent a lot of time reading advice articles as I sought to break into the field. I compulsively read the Publishers Weekly rights report to find out what was selling. I absorbed and extrapolated from articles on trends in children’s lit. “Go to a bookstore and see what they stock,” was a piece of advice I received. Fantasy, retellings, thrillers and x meets y seemed to dominate the shelves of every YA section I visited. What was selling?...
February 1, 2018
Show Up – Then Decide
As a bit of an introvert – okay, more than a bit – I sometimes let the voice in my head talk me out of showing up for events.
These can be networking events, business meetings, 5K races, sip & paint nights, meetups, and generally any activities that involve several people (whether I know them or not).
This also extends to starting/trying new writing-related projects or activities – personal or client-based.
There’s always inspiration and excitement when first ag...
Art and Risk by Dev Petty
The book in today’s re-blog is already available in hardcover and Kindle editions…
In June of this year, I have a book coming out and I have NO idea what’s going to happen.
I’m newish at this author stuff, but I hear from a great many sources that a writer never really knows what’s going to happen with a book release- whether people will like the book, whether it will sell, whether children will laugh at the parts you thought they’d laugh at…or maybe people will just laugh an...
January 31, 2018
More on Reading for Healing
[image error] I did a post on Reading for Healing back on the 21st of January—in that post, I also linked to other posts that alerted readers to my radically sudden backing away from my normal schedule on this blog…
I’m still reading for healing though I’ve moved on from reading and re-reading 7 of C. J. Cherryh’s works to re-reading The Lord of the Rings that link leads to the 50th Anniversary Edition, which is the most faithful reproduction of the author’s intentions…
To see why I mentioned the author’s...
January 29, 2018
Three Reasons I Could Stop Writing Memoir But Won’t
By Ronit Feinglass Plank
I had been writing fiction and wanted to try nonfiction, so I began with personal essays. I didn’t think memoir was for me; in fact I was deliberately avoiding it. I didn’t see a reason to revisit the facts of my confusing childhood and thought memoir wouldn’t be as challenging as creating a world from scratch and putting characters in it. To tell my own story, the story I knew by heart, seemed almost too easy.
I could not have been more wro...
January 28, 2018
Butterfly Moments Are All Around—Let’s Go Catch Some by Beth Ain
Today’s re-blog is about children and writing; but, if an adult writer can’t take a technique away, something needs “doing”…
Every time my children sit down to write something, they freeze.
“I don’t know what to write.” It is a mantra they repeat as when I open the refrigerator and say “I don’t know what to make for dinner.”
“What did you do in school today?” I might ask, willing a dinner idea to come to me in the meantime.
“Played wall ball at recess,” my son might say, “b...
How to begin writing when you can’t
My son had to write a paper for his college class. He had a week to do it and while he did write some notes over the weekend, he left writing the bulk of the report until the night before it was due. It wasn’t that he’s a bad writer. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the subject.
It was that he was overwhelmed and he didn’t know where to start.
We’ve all been there before thinking how on earth can I write anything that’s going to be judged (in this case graded) by...
January 27, 2018
A Look at Expository Literature by Melissa Stewart
I love sharing re-blogs about children’s books; though, an enterprising adult can mine tips and tricks and plans from these re-blogs :-)
Let’s start with a quick activity.
January 26, 2018
Are Writing Contests Valuable?
Last Sunday, I attended the awards ceremony for Vermont’s Scholastic Art & Writing Contest at the Brattleboro Art and Museum Center.
The art and writing on display was fantastic; no wonder The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are considered “the most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7 – 12.” These kids have talent!
The museum was buzzing with teenage energy as kids and their parents from all over the state saw their work hanging on the...
January 24, 2018
Magick, Science, and Why It Matters by Mary Losure
I began writing Isaac the Alchemist: Secrets of Isaac Newton, Reveal’d when I learned that as a boy, Isaac Newton kept a tiny, secret notebook. In it, he wrote down snippets from two books he’d borrowed from an apothecary: Mathematicall Magick and The Mysteries of Nature and Art. I hoped the story of a magic-seeking boy who grows up to be an alchemist—a kind of sorcerer— would appeal to a wide audience (hint: Harry Potter fans) who would not necessarily be interested in a Bi...
