Writing tips on www.SecondSetofEyes.com

I've posted a new writing tip, explaining the difference between active and passive voice. It's an issue that confuses many people, but is vital to strong, clear writing. Here's the link to my home page: www.secondsetofeyes.com.

San Diego SCBWI conference

On March 8th, I attended the SCBWI's annual Editors and Agents Day in San Diego. Local agent Kelly Sonnack, of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency, was impressive, both articulate and forthright. In the First Pages' critiques, her editorial comments were dead-on every time.
Andrea Welch, editor with Harcourt Children's Books, discussed the editor-author relationship, and talked about what she looks for in a manuscript. She said every book must have an essential story, or heart, and that emotional content is the main reason a parent and child will return to a book again and again. She also emphasized that humor and heart should go hand in hand. She looks for a story that is both funny and emotionally engaging. When reading a submission, she asks herself what the essential, universal story is that underlines the manuscript.

Short story in March issue

A story that I'm very fond of, STOP the Sign, is in this month's edition of Stories for Children magazine, http://storiesforchildren.tripod.com.
This was the very first story I ever wrote for children, after my first SCBWI conference. It's been revised quite a bit since then, and I had originally planned for it to be a picture book. And though it's not the type of story I'd write now, I'm glad it's found a home and hope online readers will enjoy it.

Story picked for anthology/Author visit

I had some good news yesterday. My story "The Store Detective" was selected for a "Best of 2007" anthology by Stories for Children magazine. My critique partner, Rachel, also had a story chosen. Yay for us!

My daughter's school had an absolutely wonderful visit yesterday from Stacia Deutsch, co-author of the Blast to the Past series. I'd worked on arrangements for this visit since October, so was thrilled to find that she was such an energetic, engaged speaker. The older kids learned more about the writing/publishing/editing process. The younger kids played "Fact or Fiction Detectives" to try to figure out which was which in certain parts of her book about Abraham Lincoln. A smart kid figured out that Lincoln wouldn't actually have said, "Awesome!" when he received good news about the Civil War, as was originally written. The word was changed to "bully" in the book. The kids were interested to hear that "bully" had a completely different meaning many years ago. And they loved hearing facts about Lincoln that they didn't know (and neither did the adults). For example, Lincoln had a pet turkey and his son loved puppets so much that one room of the White House was made into a puppet theater. The White House, by the way, used to be called the Presidential Palace.

Media missteps

Viewed today on KNBC's morning show (Los Angeles, market #2): "arriagnment." Seen today on CNN: "apolgized." This type of sloppiness, though common and often the fault of the production department, lessens the credibility of a news department. I think it's fair to raise this issue -- if a station is careless about spelling, what else is it careless about? Facts? (As a former member of the media, I believe these types of mistakes are avoidable with a good set of checks and balances, and that's why they're worrisome when they happen.)

Writing tip of the week

Super Tuesday! And for once, California's votes count -- a lot! It was thrilling to vote this morning. I can't remember the last time I felt so inspired and energized by a presidential election.

On my website, www.secondsetofeyes.com,
I've added a "Writing Tip of the Month." Sometimes it will be common grammar or spelling errors that people make. Other times I'll feature simple ways for people to improve their writing. When I worked in television news, I used to love to work with young producers and help teach them how to write tighter, more clearly, and more effectively. My website will give me a chance to do this in a different way.

Done!

19 chapters, 13,600 words, and my first draft is complete. I feel drained, but good.