Deborah Halverson's Blog, page 3

Deborah to Offer a Digital Workshop for SCBWI (Free & Exclusive to SCBWI Members)

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be presenting the fifth workshop in the Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators’s second Digital Workshops series. The series is for current SCBWI members, and is free — an offering for members during this unusual summer of lockdown and creative challenge. My workshop will be “Submissions Studio: Writing Queries, Strategizing Submissions, and 10 Ways to Translate ‘No’ to ‘Yes!’” It’s for writers of all children’s book categories — beginners as well as advanced writers — looking to perfect their submission package and strategy. The workshop will include a master handout, sample query letters, and a quick-reference sheet for translating editorial feedback. Workshop date:  Thursday, July 2 , 2020, 1:00pm-2:00pm, Pacific Daylight Time. Registration opens Monday, June 29 , 2020, 10am PDT.

SCBWI Summer Spectacular Looks SPECTACULAR!

SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Authors & Illustrators) is going virtual with its annual summer conference — they’re calling it the Summer Spectacular and it is indeed spectacular!

10 keynotes with children lit luminaries, an agents panel, & an editors panel, plus nightly live twitter chat socials, an online member book sale, a meme contest, door prizes, and a up-to-the-minute market report (by me ? ) with exclusive up-to-the-minute information available only to conference attendees. All for $100 ($175 nonmembers; you don’t have to be a member to attend!) and you can view the keynotes and panels the whole month of August.

You can add consultations: portfolio, manuscript, career, social media.

Seriously, check out the keynote lineup. I’m registering as soon as it opens, on May 13, 10amPT. https://www.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-su...

Reclaiming the Bound Book

I’ve recently been working to re-establish my long-abandoned habit of taking a physical book EVERYWHERE, even tucking it into my grocery bag to read while in the checkout line. Like many book lovers, as a kid I’d walk to school with an open book in my hands, never once tripping as I read. I imagined inventing a device much like a headband with an extension on the front that would hold the book open in front of my eyes to free up my hands for carrying my lunch box and an open umbrella on drizzly days. What happened? Smart phones, that’s what.

The erroneous belief that I’d read ebooks on my phone while in line killed the habit. The truth is, when I pulled out my phone to read an ebook while waiting in line or sitting in the car while my kids took their sweet time after school, I’d end up perusing news or social media instead. Enough! I decided to reclaim the bound book.

Now I’m ten days into the recalibration—and it’s been glorious. I’m falling in love with the experience of seeing two pages of story open in front of me again, instead of 2 inches of type on a screen. Somehow, reading on my phone always feels like looking at the fictional world through a periscope. Quite unfulfilling. In contrast, a two-page spread of text feels like taking in a lush field and the horizon beyond—a wide, full, clear view of the world.

I hadn’t stopped reading bound books altogether, mind you. I use physical books at night when I’m reading aloud to my sons before bedtime. But I wasn’t using bound books for my own reading. In fact, I rarely sit and read a book. I listen to audiobooks while doing this or that or this other thing. If I’m sitting still, I’m editing someone’s manuscript or writing my own. I wanted to sit and read again. I wanted to enjoy the specific experience of holding open a book and walking into it. It’s strange to think I have to retrain myself to do this thing that was so natural to me most of my life, this thing that I want to do. But it’s a lifestyle change, and those are infamously hard to enact. I’m getting there. I only rarely forget to grab my book before walking out the door now. Soon, “rarely” will be “never.” I know the old saying, “never say never,” but this is a never I’ll happily embrace.

Happy reading!

My Article in SCBWI’s “The Bulletin”!

My article “2019: A Year in Review” has been published in SCBWI’s Winter 2020 edition of THE BULLETIN. That’s a biannual publication provided to members of the Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators. The article is a children’s publishing industry overview, examining events and trends of 2019. I’m honored that SCBWI trusted me to sum up and provide context for the past year in children’s book publishing. 

New Year, New Webinar!

I’m excited! SCBWI-Austin invited me to present a submissions webinar as we settle into the new year with resolutions and recommitment. It’s called “Writing Queries, Strategizing Submissions, and Interpreting Editorial Feedback“

The webinar will be for writers of all children’s book categories, for beginners as well as advanced writers looking to perfect their submission package and strategy.

I’ll be doing critiques, too: query letters, 1st 10 pages of a YA/MG novel, or a submission package of a query letter, synopsis, and 1st 10 pages. I’ll do these after the webinar, so writers can use what they learned in the webinar and then work with me to hone their materials.

I’m looking forward to this — it feels like a two-footed leap into the new year — and decade!

Jan 14, 2020  ?   7-8:30pmCT  ?  5-6:30pmPT  ?  8-9:30pmET

Happy Holidays

As the New Year quickly comes upon us, I send my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and book-filled year. In the spirit of finding new stories to thrill and enlighten, I share the books my sons and I enjoyed this year. May you find some joy for yourself in this bounty.

Food: A Love Story by Jim GaffiganGirl in the Blue Coat by Monica HesseSpin by Lamar Giles’The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill BrysonWarriors: The Silent Thaw (The Broken Code series) by Erin HunterWarriors Super Edition: Squirrelflight’s Hope by Erin HunterColor Blind by Sheila SobelPatron Saints of Nothing by Randy RibayNathan Hales’ Hazardous Tales: The Underground AbductorNathan Hales’ Hazardous Tales: Lafayette!! Coraline graphic novel edition by Neil GaimanThe Devil’s Tree by Susan McCauleyIn a Sunburned Country by Bill BrysonQueen of Physics: How Wu Chen Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom by Teresa Robeson, illustrated by Rebecca HuangDreamers, written and illustrated by Yuyi MoralesGhost by Jason ReynoldsDarius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib KhorramWe Don’t Eat Our Classmates, written and illustrated by Ryan T. HigginsDry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod ShustermanThe Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. CareyThe Boy on the Bridge by M.R. CareyA Northern Light by Jennifer DonnellyThe Legend of Drizzt, by R.A. Salvatore Amal Unbound by Aisha SaeedFranny and Zooey by J.D. SalingerThe Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children: A Map of Days by Ransom RiggsThe Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret AtwoodThe Testaments by Margaret AtwoodThe Changeling by Victor LavalleOne of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManusHow to Hang a Witch by Adriana MatherA Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeguinWords in Deep Blue by Cath CrowleyBecoming by Michelle Obama

Excited to Present Technique-Based Webinar for MG/YA Writers

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be presenting a technique-focused, hour-long Webinar designed to make YA/MG writers stronger self-editors and novelists on Nov 14, 2019. THE ULTIMATE CHECKLIST FOR SUBMITTING YOUR MG/YA TO EDITORS: 10 Tests Your Manuscript Must Pass to Prove It’s Ready to Submit.

It all started with a question that I get all the time: “How do I know when my Middle Grade/Young Adult manuscript is ready to submit to agents or editors? I think it is, but how can I know for sure?” So I devised ten actionable tests for knowing when a novel is really, truly ready to submit . . . along with ways to whip the manuscript into shape if it fails a single one of them. It’s a fun presentation. If you’re a writer, I hope you’ll join me an hour of craft talk.

The Webinar is hosted by SCBWI-Texas: Southwest. Details and registration at http://bit.ly/2pnztn1

Pitcher Sean Doolittle Pitching Literacy & Indie Bookstores

Sean Doolittle, closing pitcher for the Washington Nationals’ in their Game 1 World Series win yesterday, spent the season promoting youth reading and indie bookstores on his Twitter feed.

What a fabulous way to use one’s platform — inspiring young (and grown-up!) fans to make reading a part of their daily lives. ???????

You can follow his joyous bookstore journey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/whatwouldDOOdo/status/1158833791227420672?s=20

@whatwouldDOOdo

And here’s a great interview with him about what book meant to him growing up and the genesis of his bookstore/literacy celebration: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-nationals-star-sean-doolittle-pitches-for-independent-bookstores-mlb-2019-09-21/

Book Giveaway & Interview about Freelance Editing as a Career

I’m so pleased to share that the fabulous resource website for teen writers TipsForTeenAuthors.com is GIVING AWAY a signed copy of my writing craft book WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES to go with my in-depth interview about freelance editing as a career. You can read the interview and enter the giveaway at  http://bit.ly/2lxDbrV.

“Writing New Adult Fiction” is now a Penguin Random House book

I’m pleased that WRITING NEW ADULT FICTION didn’t slip down the bankruptcy black hole. Penguin Random House picked up F+W’s list, so I’m a PRH author now.

PRH has been very communicative, and they got on top of royalty payments so there’s no transition lag there for authors to worry about. That’s always a concern when a publisher goes into bankruptcy.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

“Penguin Random House has completed their purchase of the US book-publishing assets of F+W Books, for $3 million in cash plus additional percentage-based consideration. As previously reported, the list becomes part of the Penguin Publishing Group. For now, sales and fulfillment for the line will continue to be handled by Ingram’s Two Rivers. PPG president Allison Dobson said, ‘This acquisition presents an exciting publishing opportunity for us. The nonfiction categories encompassed by the F+W list will expand and complement PPG’s already very strong set of imprints and lists, and we are delighted to welcome the F+W authors into our Penguin family.'”