Happy almost birthday, Richard Peck

Yes, I missed the exact day. But it's April so I'm going with that.

I love this blog's "literary birthdays" feature.

http://writers-write-creative-blog.posthaven.com/literary-birthday-5-april-richard-peck

Click on it quick. Some great quotes from Mr. Peck.

My favorites are the last two:

1. Nobody but a reader becomes a writer.
2. The only way you can write is by the light of the bridges burning behind you.

For more great Richard Peck quotes, check out Irene Latham's post, written after he spoke at the KAIGLER BOOK FESTIVAL in Hattiesburg, MS at the University of Southern Mississippi a few years ago.

Quotes like these:

"Childhood is a jungle, not a garden."

"Kids are not looking for authors in books; they are looking for themselves."

Secret Hum of a Daisy

 Funny, tiny remarks that still make me smile:

Jo saying, "I come here all the time when it gets warm and film the wildlife, which includes people."

"That's how it had always been with Mama. Taping things up in a way that was easy to take down."
(She used double-sided tape. What a great image.)


First line: All I had to do was walk up to the coffin.

(I'm thinking a lot about First Lines these days. So important!
Re: Richard Peck's talk at Books of Wonder.  And another Richard Peck beginning thought is HERE.)

Won't give away last line but it does refer back to the title. Which I always like. Titles are also tough. I kept forgetting this one while I was reading the book. Afterwards, not so much.

Here's a nice, short review of Tracy Holczer's debut middle-grade novel, via Publisher's Weekly: http://publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-16393-7

I read this one on the advice of an interesting list in the Christian Science Monitor of the best middle-grade books of the year, so far (though truthfully, some are Young Adult in my opinion) HERE.

Revision Thoughts

TIP:
Keep in mind that characters need to change along the way to their story's end. As a certain brilliant editor says, "A curtain must lift" and enable them to know something they didn't know when they started this journey.




And then there's this quote, from writer Richard Peck:
“A young adult novel ends not with happily ever after, but at a new beginning, with the sense of a lot of life left to be lived.”

(Thanks to Cheryl Klein's website for the quote. Here's another quote to ponder, from Cheryl herself:  Being obvious is the quickest way to be dull.)
 

Words of Wisdom From Books of Wonder

 BOOKS OF WONDER.    (the link)

Yesterday's Middle Grade event was The Best!
Check out the fabulous authors.
Christ Grabenstein
Dan Krokos
M.E. Castle
Lee Bacon




True confessions. I was there to hear two in particular.

Wendy Mass and Richard Peck.
(I stole Wendy's Facebook post for the picture. She won't mind, I'm sure.) 


Both have new books hot off the press.
I'm reviewing Peck's THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL right now. I absolutely love it. Ages 10 and up, according to Dial Books (thank you for the ARC, publicists!). But really, I think good readers as young as 8 will totally get it.

Wendy's newest, PI IN THE SKY, is waiting. I've known Wendy since she popped into the Chatham Library where I worked a few years ago. She's smart, funny and full of great ideas.   
One of my very favorite books by Wendy is Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Oh, wait, I also adore Every Soul a Star.

I could go on and on.

Both Wendy and Richard answered the terrific questions with such humor. But I didn't dig out my notebook to scribble down quotes until the end so I won't quote the other authors, though much of their wisdom was worth remembering.

Richard Peck was the last to speak...

"Our readers don't read reviews."

"When I get a page exactly the way I want it, I take out 20 words."

"Focus on your first scene. Because if the reader doesn't like that, he won't read the rest."

"When you get your first line, the whole thing unfolds for you."
(on the perfect First Line, which his new book totally has!)

"Your characters must sound like real people. Not like the author."
(on why he reads everything aloud)

All of the above are pretty much verbatim from Mr. Peck.
Glad I found that notebook.



Authors in the audience     ☞

Michael Northrop. Love his new book, ROTTEN.


Florida Friends!  New and old.

Sue Laneve was one of my very first Florida writer connections.
I just met Leslie Zampetti, former Tampa resident, now in NYC. 

You just never know who you'll run into at BOOKS OF WONDER, do you?

ARCs: a Quick Story in Pictures

This morning I'm thinking about ARCs.
No, not the character or the plot kind, though goodness knows I've been worrying over those lately. Fine-tooth combing the heck out of a few wandering Plot Arcs.
But that's a story for another blogpost.

These are the ARCs I'm talking about.

For those of you who get these Advanced Reading Copies of forthcoming books, you know what I mean. This is a TINY stack that happened to be within rolling distance of my desk chair this morning.

Many are unrequested, sent via mail or UPS by publishers, agents and authors.
Some are picked up at ALA, BEA, or any of those other initial shows you may be so lucky to get sent to.

To learn how a professional chooses from her much taller stack than mine,
check out what the fabulous Professor Nana says HERE .
Great list of ways to pick your next book, BTW!

Click to read what Wikipedia has to say on the topic of
 ARCs, AREs (Advanced Readers/ Reading Editions) or even galleys.

(What I think of as a galley doesn't look much like a book and somehow seems not as much fun to read. See below, the big one in the middle...)

(I took this picture on my deck early this morning and titled it Arcs On Deck, for identification. Then it occured to me. Yes, three of them are On Deck, next up, ready to be reviewed!)

They are not meant to be sold. I try to pass mine along to new readers if I don't want to save forever.
Most publishers- all publishers?- make it very clear that they are NOT FOR SALE...

(An aside. Although the ones I've read have been amazingly kind and positive, I try to stay away from Goodreads/ Amazon, etc. reviews of my own book. But last night someone sent me a pretty funny review of Glory Be via Amazon. The reviewer, who actually is a person I knew as a child, mistakenly bought an ARC and gave the book a "1."
My only Amazon #1, which is not good. 4 and 5 are good...
:)
She was disappointed that it wasn't a "REAL book." Though she loved the words inside.
About three people commented and set her straight. Thank you, whoever you are, nice people who commented.)


My most recent review for the Christian Science Monitor was a collection of YA Summer Reads and I got to include a book whose cover made me open it the day the mail came! Love, love, love the cover of Michael Northrop's new book, Rotten, not to mention the words inside.

Next up, one of the most delightful books I've read in a while. That fabulous mouse tale from Richard Peck.  Newly arrived, with publicity info from the publisher. Also cracked open upon arrival. And read in one sitting.

Now you know a bit about ARCs. Hopefully enough so that you won't buy one by mistake, anywhere. But if you do- hey, you never know!  They could eventually be valuable.
Hang on to them if you love them!

 Now. Back to those pesky plot arcs...

Great Beginnings

Today I re-read a truly terrific piece of advice from a blog all Middle-grade writers should have on their radar:
FROM THE MIXED UP FILES. Click this link and you'll be taken there in a blink!

In the numerous comments to Sarah Aronson's fun-to-read, helpful post about beginning sentences, one writer quoted Richard Peck:

He claims he always throws away his first chapter when he finishes his first draft and then  
“writes the chapter that goes at the beginning. Because the first chapter is the last chapter in disguise.”

Richard Peck may be onto something. But now that I've re-written a first paragraph, oh maybe FIFTY times, I don't think I'll throw it out just yet.

But you never know.

Glory Be, as read by some very important people...

This just bowled me over. Flattering, humbling, and amazing quotes from three truly remarkable authors. If I had a personal Most Admired Middle Grade Writers list, these three would be the stars.

My editor just sent me these quotes, which will appear on the back of GLORY BE when it's released in January.
(Pinching myself on a daily basis now...)

“There's a whiff of Carson McCullers in Augusta Scattergood's story of a sultry Southern summer long ago when the outside world moved all the markers of Gloriana Hemphill's growing up.  It's a summer of bigotry and beehive hairdos, of sit-ins and dangerous boys.  All mixed together and beautifully recalled." 
              --Richard Peck, Newbery Award-winning author of A Year Down Yonder


Glory Be is a lovely debut novel for younger readers, akin to Kathryn Stockett's The Help  -- an important read that raises powerful racial issues of the 1960s American South.
               --  Kathryn Erskine, National Book Award-winning author of Mockingbird
 

Glory Be weaves a seamless story of sisterly love, broken friendships, and the strength that it takes to stand up for the right thing. Augusta Scattergood is at the top of my debut-authors-to-watch list.
             -- Barbara O'Connor, Parents’ Choice Award-winning author of How to Steal a Dog



(Random, totally unnecessary addendum: One of my favorite things to talk to kids about in my days as school librarian were BLURBS. First of all, they loved the word. But I never thought of TO BLURB as a verb until recently. And in my librarian days, it often meant the summary of the book, what I now think of as flap copy. Now, I have these amazing authors, blurbing my book...   ♡♡♡
 Ah, the things you learn from the other side of the writing fence.)

Quote of the Day

"We write by the light of every book we've ever read."
Great quote by a favorite kids' writer, Richard Peck.

Read more from him over at Irene Latham's blog.

Related posts: Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

SCBWI Maryland Weekend