Happy International All Caps Day!

IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ALL CAPS / CAPS LOCK DAY, SEE CAPSLOCKDAY.COM (warning: strong language and dancing Santa images that may make your eyes bleed).

Also see:

Today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY, but what is it? (The Next Web)

Kidlit News Quickie Round-up

NPR launches The Back-Seat Book Club for kids ages 9 to 14. (NPR)

Children's/YA Market Growth "Stunted" in 2012 by Borders Group Closure (Market Watch)

PLUS: if you want a fun glimpse inside the headquarters of Scholastic:

Video -- Cubes: An Inside Look at Scholastic’s Global HQ (Mediabistro)

Compiling a list of kidlit/YA news sources:

I'm also starting to collect a list of sources of children's/YA industry news.

If you have any suggestions, please do post them in the comments section. Please note that the URL must point to a site or page that focuses on kidlit/YA NEWS, not general publishing industry news and not just general kidlit/YA info with occasional news (e.g. "so-and-so sometimes posts great kidlit news" ). However, if the person tags their news items so that someone could click on that tag and see just news items, I'd be happy to add that URL to the list.

I'm also only interested in public sources that don't charge a fee for access.

Thanks so much for any suggestions! I'll post the list I've compiled every time I do a kidlit news round-up.

Here's what I have so far...

Publisher's Weekly: Children's section

Quill & Quire - Canadian focus

School Library Journal

Who's Moving Where: news & staff changes at children's book publishers, by Harold Underdown

Kidlit News Quickie Round-up

Making Sense of Digital Books for Kids Part 1 - Part 2 - Wired

Pop Star Taylor Swift Donates 6,000 Kids Books to PA Reading Public Library - School Library Journal

'Shine' Withdrawn as NBA Young People’s Literature Nominee - Publishers Weekly

Comic: Bibliophile Bus Stop

Anyone else ever in this situation? Or do you dog-ear pages with abandon?

Video interview & book trailer: THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin

Above: A great interview with Michelle Hodkin, author of THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER (Simon & Schuster) - a book I just finished and LOVED. Interview also includes Michelle's insights re: writing process & social networking.

I was a bit wary at first when I started reading this book, given all the hype it's received recently. But then I ended up having to read the whole book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. Tough to go into details without giving major plot spoilers.

Can't wait until the sequel.

Here's the book trailer:

Adrienne Kress wrote a blog post about me!

Above: photo with Adrienne Kress at a Torkidlit gathering

Many thanks to the mega-talented Adrienne Kress for her lovely post about me in her blog this week, which made me blush.

Adrienne's new YA book comes out from Dutton next year, by the way. Here's what Publisher's Weekly said:

"Alex and the Ironic Gentleman author Adrienne Kress's Young Adult debut The Friday Society, in which the lives of three intelligent and very talented young women, all of whom are assistants to very powerful men, become inextricably linked by a chance encounter and a murder, to Nancy Conescu at Dutton, for publication in 2012, by Jessica Regel at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency (world)."

You can find out more about Adrienne (who not only writes books for young people but is also an actor) at:

http://www.adriennekress.com/

Ongoing writing challenge with more flexibility than NaNoWriMo: 250, 500 or 1000 Words A Day

Augh, I admit I've been lax on my daily wordcount goals because of more pressing deadlines.

BUT NO MORE! I've been thinking about signing up for NaNoWriMo but I think I need to be more realistic in my writing goals, especially since I'm away for part of next month (NaNoWriMo month).

SO....I'm going to start up the Daily Words challenge again. For those of you who aren't familiar with this challenge, please read these guidelines. It's a challenge for those who may sometimes have to put their writing on hold when life gets in the way, and who tend to get discouraged during NaNoWriMo month when they start falling behind. It's also a challenge for those who tend to write more slowly.

If you already pump out thousands of words on a regular basis with no problem, then you don't need this challenge. :-)

Feel free to adjust the wordcount challenge to fit your own output level: 50 words a day? 2000 words a day?

So...who's with me? Or if you've been taking the challenge all along and have been successful, do you have any tips to share?

For more details and for badges/icons, see:

http://inkygirl.com/inkygirl-wordcount-challenge/

or use this shortcut:

http://bit.ly/dailywords

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailywrite

Comic: Back To School & Writing Parents

Kern Me

An online challenge for fellow typography nerds out there.

I ended up scoring 94/100. How did you do?

Try the test now!

(Thanks to Lisa Yee for sharing the link!)

Comic: Autumn Procrastination

To Fellow Canucks Out There: Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Review on MiG: The Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life, by Nava Atlas

Looking for the perfect gift for a writer friend? Check out The Literary Ladies' Guide to the Writing Life, by Nava Atlas.

I've posted a mini-review on the MiG Writers' blog.

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Torkidlit!

Last night, I got together with some of the other members of the Toronto Middle Grade And YA Authors group at the Bedford Academy to celebrate our 2nd anniversary as a group.

I still remember when Claudia Osmond approached each of us in Twitter about getting together in person in Toronto. I confess I was a little nervous. Meet face-to-face? What if we all hated each other?

As you can guess, my fears were completely unfounded. Not only have I found everyone in the group friendly, but over the past 2 years it's been wonderful to watch friendships spring up within the group.

We talk about everything from the craft and business of writing to renovation hell stories and family updates. Plus a whole lot of other stuff that I can't possibly post publicly, of course. :-)Anyway, I asked the attendees of last night's get together what they were working on or if they had any news to share, and here's what they told me:

Leah Bobet

http://www.leahbobet.com/

Her new book ABOVE is coming out in April 2012 from Arthur A. Levine Books, with international rights sold in Brazil & Germany.

Maureen McGowan

http://www.maureenmcgowan.com

Hopes to announce good news about her YA science-fiction trilogy soon!

Claudia Osmond

http://claudiaosmond.com/

Potential paperback version of SMUDGE'S MARK coming in spring 2012. Plus Claudia says that she has actually begun a brand-new middle grade novel!

Jo Swartz

http://www.littlejolit.com/

Working on her new picture book, IZZY GOURMET: 5 1/2 YEAR OLD GOURMET FOOD CRITIC, and creating political illustrations in support of Occupy Wall Street.

Bev Katz Rosenbaum

http://www.bevkatzrosenbaum.com/

Has been distracted by her acquisitions editing work for McGraw-Hill Ryerson but has a kick-ass new agent (Jill Corcoran) and a couple of new books ready for publishers' eyes. Fingers crossed!

Cheryl Rainfield

http://cherylrainfield.com/

Her new book, HUNTED, comes out on October 27 in the US from WestSide Books. The Canadian launch is in January , from Fitzhenry and Whiteside. Cheryl is now working on the sequel to HUNTED.

Stacy King

http://www.stacyking.com/

Stacy is currently shopping around her new YA paranormal novel and is hoping to have more news soon!

Nelsa Roberto

http://out-of-the-wordwork.blogspot.com/

Nelsa is looking forward to the release of her 2nd YA in Spring 2012; THE BREAK!

To find out more about Torkidlit, see:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/127433455731/

https://www.facebook.com/TorKidLitNews

Bookcomic Review: UNFINISHED ANGEL by Sharon Creech

A bunch of my old Inkygirl posts got trashed when my Wordpress blogs were hacked last year, so I'm going to be uploading some of my personal favorites so that they stay accessible in Inkygirl. Here's my bookcomic review of Sharon Creech's UNFINISHED ANGEL:

You can find out more about Sharon Creech at:

http://www.sharoncreech.com/

On poetry, language and Robert Lee Brewer's ESCAPE

I used to hate poetry. I blame scholarly literary dissection and school. My memory (which, I admit, may be tainted by early years of accumulated hatred) is one of many hours of tortuous analysis, taking a few simple lines of text that I kind of thought were cool at first but then learned to dread as we hacked and slashed at every syllable, every nuance, every possible interpretation, until there was nothing left except a dry husk that made me want to run from the room screaming "ENOUGH WITH THE RED WHEELBARROW!"

Years later, a poet/librarian friend of mine introduced me to some poems that I actually enjoyed. That I LOVED.

Some poems, I discovered, could be understood and appreciated by the average person. I also learned to love the language of poetry, and became more aware of writing style and the importance of word choice in my own writing. Every word counts, after all, and not just in poetry.

Recently, I purchased Robert Lee Brewer's most recent poetry chapbook: Escape. I bought  his first collection, ENTER, because I wanted to support Robert. He's been a wonderful editor at Writersmarket.com and great to work with, plus I've enjoyed his Poetic Asides blog. But the bonus: I loved Robert's poetry.

So when I found out that he had a new collection of poems, I ordered one right away. I have no formal poetry scholarly training and have never reviewed poetry before. All I can say, though, is that I LOVED THESE POEMS. They're full of emotion and music, and a joy to read.

If you're interested in owning a copy of Escape, send Robert Brewer an e-mail at robertleebrewer[at]gmail[dot]com, with "I Need an Escape" in the subject line. Price: $10 (which includes shipping to anywhere in the world). Do it before they sell out!

p.s. I actually do like The Red Wheelbarrow now.

TOMO anthology of Japan teen stories launch date: March 2012

Holly Thompson just posted the cover of Tomo on her book blog:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/2011/10/announcing-tomo-cover.html

The illustrated figures were created by illustrator John Shelley. I took the cover and created the promo graphic above...feel free to repost it anywhere you'd like to help promote this anthology; please do link the graphic to http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com. (and thanks!)

As I mentioned a while ago, I'm tickled that my illustrated short story "Kodama" was chosen to be included in this anthology for teens. Proceeds will benefit young people affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Edited by Holly Thompson, Tomo will be published by Stone Bridge Press in March 2012.

You can find a list of the other contributors as well as more information about the book at:

http://tomoanthology.blogspot.com/

Google+ Hangout with Pixel Shavings

Just had a great Hangout with some of my Pixel Shavings pals (group of children's book illustrator/writers who glog (groupblog) together): +Hazel Mitchell +Sheralyn Barnes +Russ Cox and +Fred Koehler. We missed you, +John Deininger!

We've never all been in one place together and some of us have never met in person, so it was great to actually chat face-to-face.

You can find out more about us at:
http://pixelshavings.blogspot.com/

Writer & Illustrators: Don't forget the fun!

Above: Me, in the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA.

Nearly finished final revisions to illustrations for I'M BORED (and created a new Facebook Page for I'M BORED -- if you're on Facebook, I'd appreciate it if you could Like it at http://www.facebook.com/boredbook).

Meanwhile, though, I'm still trying to do a little bit of writing and illustrating every day purely for the fun of it. Sometimes I post this publicly, sometimes I don't. I strongly feel that doing something creative & fun with your craft on a regular basis is vital. I find it helps keep me from getting in a rut, gives me a chance to experiment, and sparks new ideas.

Off to do some doodling now...

Working on the cover for I'M BORED

My art director (Laurent Linn at Simon & Schuster) called yesterday to say he had a cover mockup, saying that he had just emailed it to me, was interested in hearing what I thought. I opened the email attachment while he was still  on the phone. Then I started yelling (yes, yelling), I was so excited.

At the beginning of this whole process, I briefly entertained the idea of trying to play it cool, maintaining a composed and professional demeanor. Well, I gave THAT up pretty early on...it's just not me. Plus, who knows when I'll get my next book? Hopefully soon, of course, but you never know. So I may as well embrace every moment.

Fortunately Laurent has been more amused than horrified. Plus he's pretty excited about the project as well, though he doesn't yell like I do.

Anyway, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS BOOK TO BE ON THE SHELVES! Publication date is still scheduled for late 2012.

I'M BORED

Author: Michael Ian Black, Illustrator: Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Publication slated for Fall 2012

Congrats to Marilyn Hilton, winner of the 2011 Sue Alexander Award

A while back, I posted about being nominated for the 2011 Sue Alexander "Most Promising Work" Award.

The winners of the award were announced yesterday (I just found out):

First prize: Marilyn Hilton

Runners-up: Pati Hailey and Karen Bonner

Congrats to all the winners!

Though I didn't win, I'm still hugely motivated to finish my YA novel. Many thanks to all involved in nominating for and judging the Sue Alexander Award. Just being nominated is a great honor, and gives me hope for eventually getting my novels published. Who knows? Maybe this one will be my first. :-)