Writing
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Mason Deaver’s Writing Wishes
Mason Deaver is the author of the soon to be released “I Wish You All The Best”. Mason is non-binary and can pull off pink like no one’s business (I’m jealous!). They are fun and funny on Twitter, so don’t forget to follow Mason there. I just can not wait to pick up they’re book. I’m just so excited! Even more excited after reading the following blog post. Try to resist picking up a copy after you read this post (you can’t so don’t fight it)!
Check out Mason’s website here: https://www.masondeaverwrites.com
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Photo by Trịnh Hồng Hương
No doubt the toughest hill I’ve ever had to overcome with my own writing, was accepting that the first draft of my book is ugly. My book is ugly, my words are ugly, the characters are ugly; but that in itself the point of the first draft. Or even the second, or third, sometimes the fourth.
A book is going to be messy for a large portion of the writing process, and that can be a hard thing to accept. When I first started writing, I wanted to make every last little individual detail perfect. I wanted to make sure that I never had to go back and fix anything, which is the antithesis of a first draft. First drafts are there for you to make mistakes, a first draft is a tool you should use to figure out details, character voice, motivations. It’s there to help you practice what you want to accomplish.
It’s the study guide, not the final exam. It’s okay if you mess up or fail.
I noticed that, in my own experience, when I tried to make my first draft as perfect as I possibly could, I’d get bogged down in details. I’d surround myself with the self-doubt that maybe I didn’t have what it takes to accomplish my goals. I’d get so obsessed with the book being as perfect as it could that I never made it to the end of a draft. It was only when I accepted the flaws of my story, that maybe I didn’t know how it ended, or I hadn’t figured out who this character was, that I was able to finish the draft for the first time.
Once I had that first draft, I could start to make things pretty. I could reread the words I wrote and fix them, make them better. I could implement ideas I’d had while drafting, I could see the connections between story elements and bring them together. And the only way I could do that was by accepting the fact that my first draft couldn’t possibly be perfect.
Now of course, that’s not to say there aren’t varying levels of imperfection you can strive to accomplish. My first novel I Wish You All the Best was written almost on a whim over just a few months, with almost no planning whatsoever on my part. I just had the characters I knew I wanted to write, a little fragment of the story, and I dove right in.
Of course, it was disgusting. Things didn’t make sense, I got the timeline all mixed up (which turned out to be very important to the story), but I finished the book, and that was the first time I’d ever done that.
It was only after multiple rounds of edits, considering all the notes from myself, friends, my agent Lauren, my editor Jeffrey (and other Scholastic editors) over the course of years that I Wish You All the Best became an actual book that you’re able to purchase on the shelves. If I hadn’t written those messy first few drafts, the book would’ve never had the chance to become something I’m intensely proud of.
On the flip side of all of that, what if you’re a planner? Surely, your book will be more put together than one simply written on the fly. Well, of course, but that doesn’t mean you should be querying the first draft of a novel you planned every detail of. In the other books I’ve worked on, I’ve almost always planned them out from beginning to end. Sometimes that’s just because I wanted to experiment, other times it was for business purposes. But still, I planned out those stories beat by beat and I knew what was going to happen from beginning to end. Guess what, those books were still messy, incomplete drafts.
My two big examples of this are my planned middle-grade novel and my second YA book. I planned both of these books and completed drafts of both of them that I was madly unsatisfied with. It was only after discussing the ideas with friends, fellow authors, and my agent that I decided to go a different route with these stories. Even after planning them!
I think that just really goes to show that you never know what can happen with a story. You can plan and plan and know every single in and out of your story, and yet it can still take an unexpected turn. You may combine two characters or decide that a story element isn’t working. You might find a plot thread that works better if you do this instead of that. That’s the role of a first draft, to show you the potential of the story, to help you fix things you might not even recognize.
First drafts are messy, they will always be messy. There’s really nothing you can do to prevent that. And in case you do, if you plan of submitting a first draft anywhere I beg you to not. Because I can guarantee there are typos or things that don’t make sense or things you wish you’d had the chance to change later. First drafts are messy, they aren’t really meant to be seen by any eyes other than your own. They’re disgusting, ugly, horrid things that will never ever see the light of day. And that’s exactly their purpose.
Allow your first drafts to be ugly, let yourself make mistakes, learn from them. Work things out, use them to become a better writer.
Let your first drafts be ugly.
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Cover Art by Sarah Maxwell
Jacket Design by Nina Goffi and Stephanie YangFollow Mason:
Website: https://www.masondeaverwrites.com
Signed Copies of Mason’s Book: https://www.parkroadbooks.com/book/9781338306125
Twitter: https://twitter.com/masondeaver
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mason_deaver/
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Look at the Week — May 5th – 11th
This is a schedule of Events for Spring into Writing. If you haven’t signed up yet then go here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-the-writing-challenge/
A Look at the Week May 5th-11th:
Monday, May 6th: Mason Deaver https://www.masondeaverwrites.com/
Wednesday, May 8th: Melissa Stoller https://www.melissastoller.com/
Friday, May 10th: Nick Patton www.nickpatton.com
Saturday, May 11th: Look at the Week May 12th-18th.
I’m hoping that I can do a webinar or at least a LIVE Facebook chat sometime next week. I’m going to make a poll in the Spring into Writing Facebook group to get an idea of when people will be online. If you aren’t a part of the group join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1117605075090170/
This chat will be recorded and saved so that you can refer back to it later. I hope to have at least 2 of these, but will do more if requested!
What to do this week:
This event is meant to be self paced, but I will make some goals for those of you who want them!
- Read and comment on all guest posts. My guests have spent a lot of time on their posts so please make them feel welcome!
- Work on the Character Knowledge pages (pages 8-9).
- If you need more to do: Finish the Goals page and About You pages (pages 4-7).
This is all completely optional. The most important is reading and commenting on guest posts! Please show them your love.
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The Children’s Book Academy!
I’m going to talk to you a bit today about The Children’s Book Academy! I took “The Craft and Business of Illustrating Picture Books” last September and loved it. I’m going to go into a bit more detail about my experience here plus give you a list of things you might want to have or do to make the most of this class! Mira Reisberg is the director of The Children’s Book academy and works hard to help all writers and illustrators to achieve their goals!
I can’t tell you all the things I learned. It’s not because there are closely kept secrets in this class, but because I would basically have to teach a class to tell you everything. Also the class is different for each person, so my experience will not be the same as yours! This focuses on the Illustration course, but a lot of what I’m going to include information that’s good to know for anyone thinking about taking courses!
Middle Grade Mastery is now available from The Children’s Book Academy. Classes start May 13th! You can read more about this course and sign up here: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/illustrating-childrens-books.html
For all other courses sign up for their newsletter and browse the courses here: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/home.html and scroll down to the yellow “Click Here” There are often discounts and scholarships for courses so sign up now to see these!
- My Picture Book Layout Diagram is Accurate
Okay I’m starting out by tooting my own horn. Honestly though this chart was created before taking the Children’s Book Academy course, but after taking courses and spending many years making illustrations myself. I think it’s good for writers to have this knowledge if they are self publishing and hiring an illustrator. It’s also good to be able to visualize your story in book format to inform your writing!One thing that came up a lot was the gutter (green on the chart). There shouldn’t be anything important in this area! Open any picture book and you’ll see that binding a book causes some of the paper to be hidden in the center crack or gutter. I believe it was Andrea Miller who said said that she even prefers to expand the gutter to 1″ just to be extra careful nothing good ends up lost!
2. Knowledgeable People
Of course Mira Reisberg knows what’s she’s doing as do all the Art Directors, Agents, Editors, etc. And they all do know a LOT. The people that Mira has in the forums to help students out are fantastic. I don’t think I ever waited more than a day to get an initial answer on any question I asked (sometimes it was hours or minutes). They were informed and on the ball about everything!
3. Personalized Webinar Critiques
This is one of the reasons I can’t tell you everything I learned, because some of of what I learned was very “Dani Duck” specific! I learned a lot about what I was doing wrong! I loved how I was guaranteed to get one personalized critique. It was also helpful to see problems other people had, because some of those applied to my own work as well!
4. Getting Out of The Slush Pile
The amount of students in Mira’s classes are actually quite low for the amount of people looking at work in the end of class. There are Agents, Editors and ADs that look at the work from each class put on by The Children’s Book Academy. Maybe this is some enormous pressure, but it’s also a great way to know that your work will be seen! There are a lot of people who sign Agents, get illustration/book deals right after this class. If you do the work, this could be you!
5. Learning Like There is a Tomorrow
If you do all the things I’ve listed below then you will do well at The Children’s Book Academy! The hardest thing I had to do was changing everything when I thought I was done. Each and every time was worth it. Ideally I would have gotten some things right to begin with. I would have planned out my pages better, but I made a ton of mistakes and I actually learned more because of it. One of my biggest problems? The design of the layout. It’s very important to learns much about design as possible. The rule of thirds, perspective (or forced perspective) and using white space correctly. Even though I was getting a lot of things right there was still lots of room for improvement. I feel like I learned exactly what I need to do to further my career!
Making the Most of Your Course
1. Get a 1 on 1. No seriously, do it! If you’ve ever gone to a conference and gotten a 1 on 1 you know that there is value in getting a critique of your work. Usually you only get about 20 minutes. Here for $100 you get to show your work and get detailed advice on what to do with your work.
2. Set aside lots of TIME for your course. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career. It will not be worth it to take this course if you don’t give yourself time to work on it. I have a toddler, so I had my husband take time off so I could focus on the course. I needed this time to work! Make and freeze dinners ahead of time. Put a lot of time into this course and you will get a lot out of it. I can’t even tell you how many hours I spent on the course. Think of it as a job that you have to do.
3. DO THE WORK! Of course doing the course work should be obvious. Spend lots of time on doing each task. If you’ve never created a dummy or portfolio now is the perfect chance to get into some good habits. If Mira, any of the course leaders or any of the guests ask you to change something then change it! You will learn so much in the process.
4. Always have something to show. Remember how I said everyone got a personalized critique on the webinar? Well as the weeks went on finishing work got harder. I turned something in each week even if I wasn’t quite done with my piece. I got more than one critique, because there weren’t enough people to critique every week.
5. Go all in. Talk in the Facebook group, take on a critique group, get to know as many people as possible! Take advantage of any critiques, share your work with everyone, don’t say no! The easiest way is to just greet everyone and find something beautiful about their work, or something interesting about the person. Being a part of a critique group will give you awesome ways to look at your own work, and make you a better critique partner in the future. But why do all these things? Because you are making contacts and finding friends that will support you in your career in kidlit.
Info for The Children’s Book Academy so you don’t have to scroll up:
Middle Grade Mastery is now available from The Children’s Book Academy. Classes start May 13th! You can read more about this course and sign up here: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/illustrating-childrens-books.html
For all other courses sign up for their newsletter here: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/home.html and scroll down to the yellow “Click Here”
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Ken Rolston vs. Comics
Welcome to the first day of Spring into Writing! More info about the event is here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/spring-into-writing/
Ken Rolston is the current Illustration Coordinator for the SCBWI Canada West. I love his enthusiasm and his passion for learning and teaching. Ken has an autobiographical web comic that he creates every week. The comic was originally called Dad vs. the Threenager, but is now known as Dad vs. Kindergarten. The spectacular thing about Ken’s comic is that he was able to gain a following of around 10K people in about a year on Instagram by posting just only once a week! Look at more of Ken’s work here: http://kenrolston.com
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Sitting in the hospital, the day my son was born, I started drawing in a sketchbook I had saved just for his story. Back then I didn’t know those sketches would lead to a cartoon. I just wanted to document the little things that made us laugh, the little things that would be forgotten as he grew. Those first few months are already nothing more than a blur, so the sketches already serve as a great reminder.
Back then, before he could talk, I drew him as the bringer of Chaos – a tiny god-like figure that disrupted and controlled our every move. We prayed he would learn to talk – so we could understand him better. Today, it has come full circle…now we pray he will stop talking, just for thirty seconds, so we can hear ourselves think.In those early days we kept waiting for the terrible twos to hit us – and they did hit us – after he turned three. By that time, I had so much material for “Dad vs the Threenager” that it would almost write itself.
Recently, I posted my 111th comic strip – it has been one comic strip a week for over two years. My son has grown so much! We have moved on to “Chapter 2 – Dad vs Kindergarten”. In that time, I’ve learned a few things:
In order to write about our adventures, we have to have adventures – quality time with your kids is everything. They are the ones we do this for.
Write down your own adventures as soon as you can, I don’t know how many funny stories I’ve lost because I thought there was no way I would forget that “line” he just used.
Only you can tell your story. Believe it is worth telling, and tell it.
Finally, there will always be downsides, learn from them and move on! It’s all part of the game.
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Follow Ken:
Website: http://kenrolston.com/
Instagram Dad vs. the Threenager: https://www.instagram.com/dadv3nager/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolstonken/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dadv3nager
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Spring into Writing Starts Tomorrow!
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring into Writing! Be sure to pick up the booklet here:
http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/spring-into-writing
If you haven’t signed up yet do that here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-the-writing-challenge/
You have to be signed up to win prizes! Also be sure to sign up for my blog. I am now using Mail Chimp to deliver my emails, so make sure that my emails are not going to spam.
How Spring into Writing Works:
This event is different than Smart Dummies. Like Smart Dummies I will give an overview of what’s being talked about in the upcoming week. The booklet is completely self paced, but there will be days that I go into more detail about certain pages. (Pages 14 & 18 especially).
What to do Today:
Come up with a writing goal for this month, then a plan to get your goal done. If you have a book to edit write that down. You can put anything on your goal list you like. This can be changed any time during the event, but having a goal will get you farther than no plan at all!
A Look at the Week May 1st-4th:
Wednesday, May 1st: Ken Rolston vs. Comics.
Saturday, May 4th: Look at the Week May 5th-11th.
That’s it for this week! Join the Facebook group for more discussion.
The Facebook group is below. It’s a discussion group for writers. This is a safe place for writers to talk about writing: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1117605075090170/
If you like the planner you can order a print copy here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/DaniDuckArt Please allow 7-14 days for shipping (average is 10 days). The book comes spiral bound with a plastic dust cover and has a planner through the end of September! I’ll also sign your copy. Proceeds from the booklet help me pay for hosting and give out neat prizes! You can also buy me a coffee if you prefer instead: https://ko-fi.com/A484NS9
Don’t forget to add the badge to your website/blog! Please link the badge to www.daniduck.com/blog
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Final Poof and Spring into Writing Booklet!
I’m really tired tonight so I’m just going to post and run. Below are my Kidlit Collage image and the new badge. The badge and the Spring into Writing booklet can be found also at:
http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/spring-into-writing
Please link the badge to my website at www.daniduck.com/blog
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Writing Fun
Spring into Writing is starting soon (May 1st). You can register here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-the-writing-challenge/ In honor of our upcoming month of writing fun I would like to mention some other things that will help you with your writing!
First off is the Children’s Book Academy’s upcoming writing course Middle Grade Mastery. I took The Craft and Business of Illustrating Children’s Books and it was wonderful. I learned so much. Everyone got their work seen and commented on by the instructors at least once. In the end you get your work seen by a lot of professionals. Mira Reisberg is absolutely lovely! Scholarships for this course runs until April 30th. Use MGMAGIC in before 6am tomorrow and get a $100 discount (I’d use that money saved to get a 1 on 1 critique).
http://bit.ly/MGScholarships The course starts May 13th https://childrensbookacademy.teachable.com/p/middle-grade-mastery
Twitter:
These are the two I chats have attended, but there are many more!
#kidlitchat Tuesday nights at 6pm ET 9pm PT
#PBChat Wednesday nights at 6pm ET 9pm PT
Debra Ridpath Ohi @inkyelbows has made an extensive list of writing chats: http://inkygirl.com/writechat-directory/
#MSWL is for agents and editors to post on with things they want to see. It’s a great resource to see what people want, but submit as normal according to the agent’s/publisher’s guidelines! https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/
There are a lot of great pitch parties on Twitter as well! This is where you can pitch and agents can request your work! Calendar created by Meg Latorre. https://iwriterly.com/pitch-contest-calendar/
Websites:
If you haven’t seen it yet, go to Kidlit 411! Kidlit 411 has a huge list of resources for kidlit writers and illustrators. They are continually updating this list http://www.kidlit411.com/
Paula Yoo Hosts NaPiBoWriWee May 1st-7th. Can you write a story a day for 7 days? Yes, yes you can. It’s totally compatible with Spring into Writing, too! https://napibowriwee.com/
I have heard so many great things about Rate Your Story. Many of my friends have used it with great results! https://www.rateyourstory.org/
Let me know about other writing resources you know! I know I missed some things that are outside of the kidlit world. Please post them so everyone can benefit!
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Last Chance for Booklets!
I slightly overstated the title of this. It takes around 2 weeks for the booklets to go from here to the States. So if you order now I can mail out books tomorrow! Nothing in the book is time sensitive (other than the planner part that runs April – September), so you can wait to get the book until after the event starts. I will post the booklet just before the event so you can look it over before buying. Just know that it will take a couple of weeks to arrive. You can buy the booklet here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/690724515/spring-into-writing-challenge-booklet
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Register for Spring into Writing! It’s a month long event that helps writers be creative and have fun with their writing! Event starts May 1st: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-the-writing-challenge/
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A big thank you to Sharalyn A. Edgeberg for coming up with the name Spring into Writing! Look for your print copy of the booklet in the mail soon!
The winner for the booklet is Shelly Hawley-Yan! I’ll be sending you a book as well!
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Guest List for Spring into Writing!
Here is the guest list so far for Spring into Writing! It’s a small list, but I plan it that way so the event will be more relaxing.
Nancy Vo — http://www.nancyvo.com/
Becky Fyfe — http://chapterbookchallenge.blogspot.com/
Julie Hedlund — http://12x12challenge.com/
Ksenia Anske — https://www.kseniaanske.com/
Mason Deaver — https://www.masondeaverwrites.com/
Ken Rolston — http://kenrolston.com/
Yvonne Mes — https://www.yvonnemes.com/
Nick Patton — https://www.patreon.com/picturebooking
Jennifer Cole Judd — http://jennifercolejudd.com/
Melissa Stoller — https://www.melissastoller.com/
Robin Martin — http://sbpra.com/robinmartin-duttmann/
Jennifer Ward — http://www.jenniferwardbooks.com/
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Register for Spring into Writing here: http://ngi.c96.myftpupload.com/register-for-the-writing-challenge/
Buy the 88 page booklet here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/690724515/spring-into-writing-challenge-booklet
In the image left to right Kensia Anske’s “The Badlings”; Nancy Vo’s “The Outlaw”; Mason Deaver’s “I Wish You All The Best”; Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 badge. Jennifer Ward’s “I Love Birds”; Ken Rolston’s “Dad vs. the THREENAGER”, Yvonne Mes’ “Oliver’s Grumbles”; Nick Patton’s the “Picturebooking” podcast; Robin Martin’s “Zoo on the Moon”; Jennifer Cole Judd’s “Circus Train” and Becky Fyfe’s Chapterbook Challenge badge. Click on the links above to find out more about each guest!
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Spring into Writing Planners!
I was planning on posting the guest list for Spring into writing today today, but I keep getting getting emails back from people who want to help out with the event! I’m going to give it another weekend and post the guests Tuesday!
The Spring Into Writing Planners are being printed now. I have a couple of planners in my hands now. Technically they are in my art room, but still. I will be mailing these two out tomorrow, but I should have more at the end of the week. You can order the planners here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/690724515/pre-order-for-spring-into-writing
There will be a free, downloadable planner/workbook available, but this one comes already assembled, spiral bound and has a plastic dust cover! Any sales help me to keep my blog/website running! If you can buy the book. You can also help me out and buy me a coffee if you’d like! Ko-fi.com/daniduck
