Hold on to the Dream – NJ SCBWI Conference

/ still a dreamer

There’s always one bad thing about the NJ SCBWI Conference … it’s over.

Dr. Seuss, now …. my book, tomorrow!

Driving home from the conference, I am always tired, but also revved up, thinking of all the things I learned, what manuscripts I want to get right back to, editors/agent’s comments, etc.  And then there’s the next step – I walk in the door. Lo and behold, the life I left behind to immerse myself in days of children’s books is still there. Waiting for me. Needing me. Demanding of me. I don’t imagine it’s terribly different for many of you. And unless you have reached that wonderful position in life where you spend your waking hours writing and illustrating children’s books, you, like me, can watch your dream start to fade into the laundry, kids, pets, dinner, work, etc. And we haven’t even put our bags and portfolios down yet.

So, I’ve been working on some ways to hold on to that wonderful dream we nurtured at the NJ SCBWI June Conference. I hope these work for you.

  1. First off, I make the time to make a list of all the things I want to do as a result of the Conference, from sending a thank-you to jotting down what I will be focusing on. (Details can come later.)
  2. In the next day or two, I write out thank-you’s to the editor’s and/or agents who have helped me with my work.
  3. I find a couple of photos of the conference – or even the conference center – and print them out and put them on my desk. If I can find a printable one of the agent I met with, I do that, too. Even on days when I have no time to write or draw, those images keep the experience alive.
  4. I follow up by filling out the survey that Laurie sends out and by checking Kathy’s blog for post-conference news and updates. (I check her blog daily anyway, because she is such a wealth of information about children’s books, but especially now, I look forward to her posts on this event.)
  5. I pull out whatever MS was/were critiqued over the weekend and put them in a separate folder – this is what I will be working from – I put the names of the MS on the front, and place it in plain view.
  6. I next set up a real schedule for myself regarding what time frame I want to get what done – what is the date I want to get a revised MS back to the agent?, etc.  I also, at this time, review the bios of the editors and agents attending – who might be appropriate to send something to …. now while the iron is hot!  Some of those submission windows close sooner than others. And then I send them within the next few weeks. Setting up a special calendar where you mark your deadlines can be very helpful. It’s one thing to do it on your computer, but another when it’s 3-D and you look at it every day!
  7. Back to the list – take a little time to think .. how can I fit what into my schedule and when. I managed to really step up my game pre-conference. How can I keep that energy going, (and yes, still sleep, etc.)? When can I block out some time consistently to focus on one of my dummies and/or illustrations each week? Where can I block out some time to write until it becomes a habit again? If I really want to write and illustrate children’s books, I must figure this out now.

That’s what I do. I admit that I do well with a list, but … I don’t want this experience to fade, or fold in on itself in the face of the many demands of everyday life. I plan to hold on to the dream, and imagine that the little reading group up there is reading MY children’s book. Who knows? They might be reading yours!

If you have any more ideas of how to hold on to the dream of writing and illustrating children’s books post-NJ SCBWI June Conference, let me know.

Balance

/ still a dreamer

It has been my thought for a while now to write about balance … it has been a constant source of reflection over the past weeks … months. So while I mused over my subject, I searched for an appropriate photo for this post.

Unfortunately, having the love affair I’ve had with photography most of my life, looking for a photo is something akin to the proverbial child in the candy shop. Or better yet, wandering in the woods. I easily get lost. I searched for a photo by my subject, but the word ‘balance’ didn’t yield what I wanted, so I tried see-saw. Nothing. I tried `edge’ and that brought up images I didn’t expect, (like knives), so I tried `ledge.’ Still nothing. Then I thought of one of the greatest ledges of them all …. the parapets of Notre Dame. And gargoyles. This now became free association at its best.

And so you see the photo I chose, above. This is probably one of the most famous gargoyles in the world; he may even have a name, but I don’t know it. As someone who has been enamored of gargoyles before they became faddish and fairly common garden statuary, I have a few of my own; in particular, I have one of the Notre Dame gargoyles in candlesticks.

I’m in love with this photo. The gargoyle is quietly looking over his beloved city, shrouded in mist … HIS Paris. I look with him. And I contemplate the wonder of it all … the beauty and richness of life and the sometimes pain;  the inescapability of responsibility and the luxury of letting it all go to become steeped in daydreams; being surely anchored in cement and that violent shrug in which we break free and fly.

So yes … balance.

NJ SCBWI June Conference Approaches

/ still a dreamer

Today I was fortunate to find the following quote by Thoreau:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will put something behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him, or the old laws will be expanded and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense; and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”

What does this have to do with the upcoming June SCBWI Conference? I find, and have found in years past, that as this wonderful event approaches, many of those attending who will be meeting with agents, editors and/or art directors start moving into a “do or die” mental state. It is as if this opportunity to be critiqued by a professional in the children’s book field is the very last chance on earth to get published. Of course, we know that this isn’t true, but the stress that starts to build up before the conference is enormous.

Yes, there are deadlines to get work in; the manuscript deadline has passed, and the deadlines for intensive attendees may have also. For those if us participating in the juried art show and/or portfolio display, and/or prepping dummies and illustrations,  the heat is on. And writers now start questioning the worthiness of their submitted stories. I struggle, at times, with some of this myself, trying to keep a balance between preparation for the June Conference and the rest of my life, and a perspective on it all.

I want to arrive at the conference serene and confident. How about you?

The quote by Thoreau helped jog it all back in perspective for me. All we can do is our very best. Let’s keep our eyes on our dreams and not get mired down in perfection, a need for approval or to be published this minute, or whatever runs amok through our minds at times like these.

Nothing is stopping us from advancing confidently in the direction of our dreams and endeavoring to live the lives which we have imagined right now. It’s a daily practice, thinking this way, but it sure beats the alternative – becoming mired in baseless fear and crippling stress. Cheers to success! See you at the June Conference!

Rich Beyond Words – The Annual Library Book Sale

/ still a dreamer

“Wouldn’t it be great if the world could be run like a book sale?” A fellow book lover and I chatted and laughed over the metaphysical/self-help section in the armory annex, home to all the non-fiction books organized for purchase. Why not? Helpful, knowledgeable people running the event, happy shoppers roaming the aisles in delight, and fellow book lovers sharing their reading experiences and recommendations with their fellow man, (and woman), while we graze over the 149,000 titles available.

Above, my haul minus one.

It can be a mind-boggling experience for the newbie. One friend, a first-timer, went with nothing particular in mind and became immediately overwhelmed. She only brought home 3 books. The friend I went with – it’s now an annual tradition – had the goal of picking up more good novels to read. She went home with a full tote and a second tote filled with books for her daughter. It’s not uncommon to see people leaving with multiple cartons of books. At $1 for a hardbound and $.50 for a paperback on Sunday, (double that for Saturday), it’s hard not to get a little crazy.

This was my plan – I had a short list of 1) authors I would like to read more of, 2) one specific title, 3) some selections from children’s books at whatever level appealed to me, and 4) surprise me! Oh, and with a peek, of course, in the metaphysical section. How did I make out? Like a bandit.

In the 1) section, I found something by Sue Monk Kidd, Firstlight, Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees, and Anna Quindlen,  A Short Guide to A Happy Life. Check! In 2), I found A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, (which will take me a bit to get to, as I am still kind of blown out from The Kite Runner.) Check! In the 3) group – who could go wrong with another Jerry Spinelli book, (Maniac Magee), and one I saw as a movie when I want something light, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Check! In 4), I picked up a a book by Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, an author recommended to me by a fellow writer.

But the main armory, which is crowded with novels of every kind – including best sellers, best-selling authors, mysteries, science fiction, romance, and books made into movies – is where I really found the most, my 3) section.  Some of these are by authors I’m totally unfamiliar with, but the book jackets sold the books; others, I knew of the author or the book and wanted to broaden my reading experience.

So I picked up Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson,  which was made into a movie, an unexpected find from Annie Proulx, That Old Ace in the Hole, because I loved The Shipping News, two books that have been on a list in my computer that I’d forgotten about completely – The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, several books whose titles just drew me to them – The Last of the Honky Tonk Angels, (Marsha Moyer), World of Pies, (not a cookbook), by Karen Stolz, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison,  and By the Light of My Father’s Smile by Alice Walker. Then a couple best sellers, The Lovely Bones by Alice Siebold and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, and a recommendation by a fellow shopper – his favorite by Toni Morrison – Beloved. I picked up The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl because The Dante Club was pretty good and I have a friend who also loves Poe, and Henry Beston’s The Outermost House, because it’s been in the back of my mind for some time. Check! Throw in 2 cookbooks that have great recipes and photos to match … and I’m done!

Quite a haul! Have I read everything from last year’s sale? No, not yet, but as every one is a book I want to read, that’s OK, too. All that’s left now is to find a place to put them, toss the totes in the laundry, and figure out where to start. Let the reading begin!

Eggs Hatched! Live Eagle Cam at Duke Farms 2011

/ still a dreamer

One of the most wonderful opportunities to experience wildlife, in a way that we would never be able to firsthand, is the live/streaming  eagle cam at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ. Duke Farms is now working in conjunction with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation NJ, who are keeping even more current updates on the eagles and their babies as well as making available the eagle cam. Check out the latest updates on the CWF-NJ web site. 

Mama and Papa each are very active during the day, anxious to see their chicks born. According to the Duke Farms log, the pair had been visiting their nest in December and making repairs for the new nesting season.

There are currently 3 eggs in the nest, appearing February 28, March 4 and March 6 with estimated hatching dates of April 4, April 7, and April 10, respectively. As of today, no chick is seen yet, but tune in regularly and check on the nest. Once the chicks are born, they grow rapidly and  are branching before you know it.

Duke Farms is a 2,700-acre property in Hillsborough, N.J., operating for nearly 100 years, and has been a destination for the residents of The Garden State and beyond. It is one of the largest privately-owned parcels of undeveloped land in the state, rich in agricultural, horticultural and ecological resources. It was established by the late Doris Duke.

Note: The beautiful photo above is not taken at Duke Farms, but by Sarah Brucker,  available with permission for free download.