My Quote for the Day

Stolen from Kirby Larson's blog.

 "Do not go where the path may lead.

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Hooray for Connections!

Yesterday I wrote about how important the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators  has been for my book.

Today I'm sharing another really nice connection. My Tampa SCBWI friend Shannon Hitchcock is a transplanted Southerner, but we also have a New Jersey tie. I totally thank her for some excellent interview questions, link below.

Those inviting chairs I'm "borrowing" today are from Shannon's website. 

The quote on her site says  

Front yards are boring. Backyards tell stories. 

James Stevenson.

(Although I always loved what I could learn observing the neighbors from my front porch, if not my front yards!)

CLICK HERE to read my interview about Glory Be's writing and publishing history.

The interview was published on both Shannon's blog and the NJ/SCBWI newsletter/ blog written by Kathy Temean.

Thanks, Kathy and Shannon!

SCBWI, I love you!

This seems like the perfect day for saying thank you to a terrific organization. The Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has been with me on every step of my writing journey. And now, as I write, a whole bunch of lucky writers are convening in New York for the annual conference.

A couple of years ago, I met my amazing agent at the Maryland/ Delaware/ West Virginia summer conference. They've just announced a March one-day workshop. If you're looking for a truly informational, connected, encouraging group, check it out:

http://aseraserburns.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/registration-for-our-march-31-2012-workshop-now-open/

And of course, there's my current family of connected writers, the Florida SCBWI. What a treat to be on my very first writers' panel at the Miami conference this month. Here we are being introduced by Florida RA Linda Bernfeld:

Today I got to relive the weekend when website guru Curtis Sponsler posted a ton of pictures from the event. Click here to view the slideshow and see some articulate and bright writers/ editors/ agents/ illustrators dressed like Kings, Queens and White Rabbits. Thanks, Curtis!

Click here if you missed my earlier post on the event.

What I'm reading now, via my local library:  

Trent Reedy's Into the Dust, as recommended by so many people, especially Cheryl Klein, presenter and dancer ☺, and Sue Laneve, critiquer extraordinaire. More SCBWI connections. It just never ends!

Wow.

I do love it when a fellow reader/ libarian/ book lover understands what GLORY BE is all about.
I really, totally, completely appreciate this review.

(And I understand the compulsion to get up in the middle of the night and read!)

Click HERE for Sal's Fiction Addition blog.

Newberys!

Today was a big day in the library world. Prizes were awarded! Shiny stickers are being attached to books. Much phoning, emailing and Facebooking in the librarian world. I do love a good award season.

Click here for the complete list of winners, from the American Library Association's announcement this morning.

If you'd like to read my review from the Christian Science Monitor, click here for INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN. 
Loved that book. So happy it was chosen as an Honor Book this year.

And I couldn't have said it better than fellow Florida writer, Donna Gephart did on her blog today, so I'll let you click over there for a great rundown of all the awards. (Way to go, Greg Neri!)

Great Library Quotes

In the non-stop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us the floaties and teach us how to swim. - Linton Weeks, Washington Post

And more:
http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/siglibn.htm

Did you see

the Google Doodle for Martin Luther King Day?

From picture book / quilt/ phenomenal artist and writer, Faith Ringgold,
whose books are quite amazing.

Glory was in good company this weekend.

This time last year, I shared a quote and a story about Dr. Martin Luther King. Here's the quote:

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

And here's the link to that post if you care to go back and read it:

Martin Luther King Day

Now a book I wrote is appearing on lists suggested for students studying Dr. King, the Civil Rights movement, Freedom Summer. I truly appreciate my book appearing next to the likes of  
One Crazy Summer and  
The Watsons Go to Birmingham in this 

blogpost about the Top Ten Books Kids Can Relate to on the Civil Rights Movement.

And this newspaper article from the Winston-Salem Journal.

Feeling very proud and very humble this morning!

SCBWI Miami

My first Florida SCBWI event.  Books everywhere. Famous authors. Old friends and new.
So many terrific presenters.

And I got to be one. Except that I don't have a picture of me on the First Books panel Friday night. Four presenters spoke of their publication journey. Each of us had a very different story to share.

I was so excited to be there that all I snapped were pics of my book for sale. (yes, I know, total nerd.)

Like this one, at Friday night's event held at the amazing bookstore in Coral Gables, BOOKS & BOOKS.

GLORY BE was in very good company. And yes, we rearranged a bit for the photo, but we put things back and did not cover up Greg Neri's book, YUMMY.

Books & Books is what all bookstores should look like. A Courtyard wine bar. Music. And tons and tons of books, beautifully arranged.



Books & Books sold our books at the conference hotel, all weekend.

(Close-up of the sticker they put on our books.)

During the breaks, the authors sat at tables with our names in big letters so that anyone who bought our book could have us autograph them. (Big sigh here...)

Here are just a very few of the people sitting at nearby tables:
Christina Diaz Conzalez, Lin Oliver, Greg Neri, Donna Jo Napoli, Cheryl Klein. I could go on and on.

Nancy, one of my Tampa writer friends,  presented me with a little notebook of encouragement and congrats on my first Miami SCBWI conference. (Can you tell she's a teacher/ librarian?)






And on my last morning, sitting in Jill Corcoran's VOICE workshop, another writer slipped me this note. She'd bought my book the day before.
My first "charming note"! Wow!
Thanks, Aimee.

 

And now I get to sit with my note-filled pages and take it all in. The great advice. New books to add to my reading list. New friends. All the makings of a very good conference.

Congrats to the Florida SCBWI team!

Thank You

This has nothing much to do with writing for publication.
It is not intended to open the Thank-You-Note can of worms.

Though I will relate it to a book I read when I first called myself a writer. (And please click the title for a terrific take on that book,  MAKING A LITERARY LIFE.)

In that book, Carolyn See talked about writing notes to authors you admire. This was pre-Facebook. Pre any kind of social media. Even pre-blogging really.  She meant Old School notes. The kind our mothers and grandmothers encouraged/ forced us to write. After I read her book, I wrote to her.

Lately, I don't care too much about the beautiful stationery (though I did get a laugh when a great Southern friend just emailed me a nice note and attached a picture of her mostly unused, engraved notecards). But I do appreciate an acknowledgment, either verbal or penned or emailed, that a gift I labored over-- maybe even wrongly chose but I tried-- made it through the vagaries of a delivery system and arrived safe and sound.



This one made my day. My first thank you from my Nephew Dog. He liked my holiday chew toy.

(What I've just read: Joan Bauer's Close to Famous)

A Thing I Love: Happy birthday, Elvis

In my past life, I adored Elvis Presley. I've mostly grown out of that, but there are moments when it comes back to me.

Like when this Christmas a gift arrived from Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.
(FYI: I'll actually be there signing books on March 1! Click here for the link!)

I suspected something exciting when I saw the wrapping.

When I was MUCH younger, I had a Plaster-of-Paris Elvis statue. Maybe it's my imagination, but I remember the bust as being almost as large as a basketball. Other than that, it looked exactly like this one. My mother loved to discard unnecessary things. I'm sure she ditched my Elvis statue as soon as I left for college. Yes, it was a dust-catcher. But thank goodness she didn't get her hands on my Elvis scrapbook. Because now I've finally found the perfect spot for my new statue and my old Elvis wallpaper: Glory's Junk Poker box.

So, on Elvis's birthday, I want to share my newest Thing I Love. Thanks to my niece Amy who sent it from Square Books for Christmas.

Elvis on my Christmas Table-

Or maybe you prefer Elvis the King? He has outfits!

Not as large as a basketball, but small enough to fit into a shoebox. Perfect!

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Absolutely must know more? Click away!

Possibly Related Blog Post:

My Junk Poker Box

One of my Elvis Essays

Whoa! NPR!

Pretty exciting day here in WUSF land (Tampa public radio).
Here's the link to my 7-minute interview on Weekend Edition.

Pinching myself on an hourly basis now.



http://www.npr.org/2012/01/07/144829261/glory-be-a-tale-of-the-south-for-young-adults

Launch Party Recap: It was fun!

 Sharing GLORY BE's big day, in pictures.




 My day started off in the best way. Doorbell rings.
Truly beautiful flowers from my amazing agent,
Linda Pratt, wishing me well and wishing she were here.


(Note: autographing pen at the ready)








We drove to the adorable, fabulous INKWOOD BOOKS in Tampa. Lots of unloading to do.

And there she is! Right in the front of the store!

Inkwood Books sold almost all of their books. I signed the leftover ones.

(I'm sure if you'd love your own autographed copy, you can call them and they'll ship.  ☺)














The table: What's a party without food? Nothing!
Red velvet cupcakes, pimento cheese, drinks.
And note the bookmarks in their Elvis mug.

 

Closeup of the Red Velvet Cupcakes. Remarkably, they survived the drive intact.

(the napkins- HIP HIP Hooray, not just HIP. Though we are certainly that...)

We schmoozed a bit. Celebrated with a toast. Then my writer friend Sue Laneve introduced me. She said a lot of very nice things. 

Thanks, Sue!

As you can see, the room is quite tiny. Seating for 25. Extras sat on the floor, stood in the back, and one special guest sat at the table, offering moral support, guarding the books and the food. 

(Thanks, Evie!)

I read a bit, talked maybe too much, answered questions. 

I think I may have said something funny...

That's my writer friend Greg Neri holding up my book.  And new Scholastic friend Ed Masessa. 

Ed is a really funny guy. Also very nice. 

We're just going to have to do something about his basketball preference. (Duke? Really, Ed?)

Thanks to everyone who came and those of you who were with us in spirit.

A truly great beginning for GLORY BE.

More Sightings-- This girl gets around!

On GLORY BE's official launch date, folks have emailed photos from everywhere. 

What fun!

Don't mean to go all Flat Stanley on you. But I can't resist sharing more Glory Sightings.

Thanks, people!

Hanging out with the Original Shelf Elf (b. 1950),
currently residing in Lutherville, MD.









                                With her own bookmark, on Christmas Eve. 
                                Somewhere near Atlanta:

Enjoying the beautiful view, while her owners ski in Colorado:

 

In sunny Florida, relaxing by the pool!

Thanks, Fellow Bloggers

Two truly appreciated blog posts about GLORY BE. Click on these links and check them out.

An interview on  
Caroline Starr Rose's CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS  blog.
Especially for teachers, this is a recurring series Caroline does and I was delighted she invited me along.

Then there's this review by a FIVE MINUTES FOR BOOKS  blogger is pretty much what I hoped for when I wrote the book. Actually, it's exactly what I hoped for.

Thanks, everybody. What an exciting week this is!

And don't forget the giveaway on Carol Baldwin's post from yesterday. You have all week to enter, but hurry on over and comment.

Happy Launch Day!

Or launch week. Or Official Launch Month, or whatever we are calling this exciting time.

To kick things off with a bang, fellow blogger Carol Baldwin is giving away an autographed copy of GLORY BE!

Click on over there. Contest ends January 7th.

RIGHT HERE! THIS IS THE LINK.

Follow the instructions at the bottom of my interview and you, too, could be the proud owner of a hot-off-the-press, autographed copy of GLORY BE.

Thanks, Carol!

Happy 2012! No Resolutions!

 

Taking down decorations and thinking of all the exciting things to come in 2012!

Today marks the beginning of a new year, and I'm inspired by writer friends, Kimberley Griffiths Little and Caroline Starr Rose --and probably a ton more of you who make these lists--  to start keeping track of what I'm reading. Their lists are impressive. But I'd have to dig deep to recall The Books I Read in 2011. 

So from now on, I resolve (whoops, I used the R word!) to keep better track of what I read.

                                                        

What I'm Reading Now: 

1. Review copy, via Kindle, of Elizabeth George's forthcoming mystery: BELIEVING THE LIE

2. A Teen/ YA novel I can't put down, a page-turner,  that is nothing like anything I normally read:

UNLEASHED by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

3. Rereading The Liberation of Gabriel King and also When You Reach Me. Because I love the voices so much.

(These notes will be at the bottom of some blog posts. Feel free to ignore. If I keep up with this task, I will be able to remember what I read come next December. Or at least, that's my goal. And everybody knows goals are way better than resolutions, right?)

Revision Techniques, anyone?

Now this is interesting. In a scary kind of way.
Via Cheryl Klein's very thorough book: SECOND SIGHT.
(p. 295, if you're looking it up)

http://writewords.org.uk/phrase_count.asp

Paste your entire manuscript into this word counter and see how often you've used a word. Cheryl recommends it as potentially revealing a hidden theme or image to expand on during revision.



I, of course, used it to show how many times I've OVER-used a word.

The Phrase Counter tab was particularly revealing...

74 uses of THE FRONT

60 of NEXT TO

I've got a lot of fronts going on. Steps, porches, sidewalks.
And those were just 2-word phrases.
When I changed it to 3?
I mean, really? Sixteen IN FRONT OFs?

Yikes. Off to revise. Thanks, Cheryl...

Possibly related posts:  

Still Revising

With Help From a Pro

Launch Party: A friendly reminder

                                             

                             One week from tomorrow

                             Thursday, January 5, 6:00. 

                           INKWOOD BOOKS, Tampa

                                 Hope to see you there!

The Chick Palace Has Arrived!

For all you Nook people. And for those of you with iPad Nook apps, too.
I am about to offer you the best present you will receive during the holidays. Well, certainly the best book present.


Go immediately to the Barnes and Noble store and  
download THE CHICK PALACE.



You will love it as much as I do.
Terrific story.
Great characters.
Writing that will make you go Oh Wow.
Over and over again.

A Very Merry Christmas

Just when I thought there were no surprises under the tree, for reasons unbeknownst to me, Amazon decided to ship GLORY BE  before Christmas. A week EARLY!


What a joy to hear from friends, family and even strangers, near and far.
Merry Christmas, everybody!


GLORY BE- From your UPS delivery trucks, all the way to...

Atlanta, sipping a glass of chardonnay with Christopher.
















Being watched over by a very busy Shelf Elf.

In a stocking- or two!

Under the Tree in New Jersey!

And being "re-read" by some Very Important People...

Glory Be is out there!

Look what turned up early this morning.

Besides saying really nice things that will be forever engraved on the back of my book, now I get front and center on Barbara O'Connor's blog. 

Since she writes some of the most amazing books, well-loved by kids, this is high praise:

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood is Southern through and through.   But so much more:
an important story about race, friendships, small town life, and sisterly love.

Plus a great big picture of the book for all her loyal followers to see. Eternal gratitude!

More holiday humor from a napkin

As we head into a week of celebration, here's one last glimpse at my gift-giving humor. And a possible life lesson.

What often starts out as good intentions:

Might just turn around and surprise you:

My Quote for the Day

"...writing from a place of fear and concern guarantees only one result: mediocrity.”

Alex Gansa, the creator (with Howard Gordon) of “Homeland”

from the New York Times article on the show's season finale

Shopping for Writers

 Sharing my favorite Gifts for Writers today.
 (Keep in mind that this blog is not written by a shopper, a crafter or even much of a cook these days.)

 If that last person on your shopping list falls into a category considered Creative--  Friend or Family-- check this out. 

Starting with one of my favorite things. Previously blogged about as Things I Love So Much.




This wristlet can be made in the image of almost anything. (Maybe not in time for Christmas, but think ahead!)



My friend Leslie also has one for her forthcoming book:



Both are from this website:


http://www.torynicole.com/wristlet.html

Neat, no?

 Or if you are really feeling generous and have something to celebrate, how about a CAKE made from the cover image of your/ your friend's book. Wow, will this ever impress!

(Yes, that's a cake. A delicious cake. Thanks again, Kate.)

How about this tee-shirt? All sorts of neat things in the Signals catalog. Click here for Writerly stuff.

And here I am, wearing mine, after a long morning of critiquing with some of my Writing Buddies at Panera. It was chilly in there. We worked hard. We deserve gifts. (Thanks, Henry and Celia!)



And last, if you really want to get creative. Here's my niece's take on the little red towels I tucked into her Christmas box:

Which is about how I was feeling when I sent off my last box of goodies into Santaland yesterday.

But of course, here's what I really and truly meant:

Happy reading/writing/shopping/ celebrating to all!

(Any other book or writer-related gift ideas? Leave me a message and I'll expand this post.)

True Confessions

I'm feeling more Bah Humbuggish than HoHoHoing.
Still waiting for the Christmas music to kick in.
More interested in reading and writing than shopping and wrapping.

But hats off to the Pottery Barn catalog that arrived in my mail this week.
Page 15, right there with all the ads for picture frames and the Free Shipping note.
Love this:

"A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away."

 Eudora Welty, author

Book Food: Pimento Cheese in particular...

Thinking this morning about Food. Especially food in books.
Specifically, my book: GLORY BE.

Since Glory's caretaker, Emma, is a fabulous cook and the two spend a lot of time talking over the kitchen table, food appears frequently in my book. Maybe not as often as it did pre-edits, but it's there. Red Velvet Cake, bacon frying, ditto chicken. So when I think Wine and Cheese for Glory Be's launch party, I'm thinking Wine and (Pimento!) Cheese.

Then I have to worry if I'm spelling it right. A few years ago, a good portion of one of my New Jersey critique group meetings focused on pimento v. pimiento. Two Southerners and one writing about college in the South fought it out. With no satisfactory conclusion.

Now I have it on Good Authority that either is correct.

I'm going with PIMENTO.
My favorite professional foodie told me so. Well, actually he gave me a GREAT book called The New Food Lover's Companion. And did you know that much of the pimento crop is used for Paprika? Or that Pimento is the name of the tree from which ALLSPICE comes.

Chris, my foodie kissing cousin, knew I'd love this book, and I do. His mother, my sister's mother-in-law (are you still with me? I just did that thing we Southerners do: mention three relatives in one sentence) was an all-time great cook. I have longed a jar of Mrs. Carlson's Jerusalem Artichokes for all the years since she stopped making them (picking them from her garden, scrubbing and pickling those little things).

Back to Pimento Cheese. I think I'll make it the way I've always done it. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal calls it Classic Pimento Cheese. They suggest crudite. Not sure about this. White bread was always on my menu. And I doubt I'll roast and seed my own peppers. They do still sell them in the little jars, you know.

(From the Wall Street Journal:)

The Classic
For 25 years, chef Frank Stitt's Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham, Ala., has served a platter of pimento cheese and crudité to regulars who know to ask for it (it's not the menu).

The recipe: Shred 1 pound sharp yellow cheddar, then blend it with ¼ pound cream cheese, 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, 3 large red bell peppers (roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped), ½ cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon sugar, a splash of hot sauce (such as Tabasco or Cholula), several splashes of Worcestershire and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional). Serve chilled.

Mark Your Calendars! Glory Be is having a PARTY!

         Please join me for my Launch Party.

             Thursday, January 5 

             at INKWOOD BOOKS, 

        216 South Armenia, Tampa.

                      6:00 PM

Wine and (Pimento) Cheese! Cake, Lemonade, Door Prizes!

And hot off the press, Glory Be, the book.

I'll read, talk about writing, and of course autograph as many copies as you need.