Camera’s Rolling — for Video Idiot Boot Camp

3d Directors chair under the spotlightThere are times when I’ve wondered what it would be like to be a film producer/director — to select the script, be involved in casting the actors, determine the best shots, encourage and inspire the actors to give the best performance in order to portray what I believe the script has to offer the public, to get it all on film and then to carefully work it all together to make a film I could be proud of. In another lifetime, I’d like to do that…

In the meantime, I’m getting a chance to experiment with these things on a small scale in Katie Davis’s Video Idiot Boot Camp.

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Rose’s Garden — Perfect Picture Book Friday

Jacket.aspxTitle: Rose’s Garden

Author/Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds

Publisher: Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009

Genre: Picture book, fiction

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An Anniversary of a Different Sort

First pianoThere have been many pianos in my life, beginning with this one, with which I was so enthralled at the age of two that I wasn’t even interested in the fact that there was a picture being taken (and usually when anyone got a camera out, I was front and center, ready to be immortalized on film.)

That was only the beginning, however…

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The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood

On Tue6a00d83454d01e69e20133f49c7bd6970b-120wisday of this week, the members of the Children’s Book Hub had the treat of hearing Emma interview author Maryrose Wood, who writes both middle grade and YA fiction. In preparation for this interview, I began reading her middle grade series, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, and I have been devouring it. Well, perhaps ‘devouring’ is a questionable choice of verb, since the tagline for the series is

 

Of especially naughty children it is sometimes said: “They must have been raised by wolves.”

The Incorrigible children actually were.

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I Meant to Do a Tweet Today…

Pencil with the word TWEET on a piece of paperAre you familiar with the poem I Meant to Do My Work Today by Richard LeGallienne? “I meant to do my work today, but a brown bird sang in the apple tree…”

My mother used to recite that often, sometimes when one or the other of us had been enticed by something that seemed more alluring than things we knew we *should* do, such as reading just one more chapter instead of doing the dusting. I have been reciting it to myself lately when I think of Twitter.

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Accolades for Emma — Children’s Book Hub

Emma-Walton-Hamilton_Photo_0In December 2010/January 2011, Emma Walton Hamilton started the Children’s Book Hub, which is billed as “the center of information, resources and support for children’s book authors.” In part six of my serialized interview with Emma, she talked about the Hub, about how and why she started it, and what her hopes and dreams are for it.

I have often blogged about the myriad ways in which the Hub is integral to my development as a writer, but this series of accolades isn’t about my experience, it’s about the experiences of others.

I’m pleased to welcome Susan Verde and Ed Raarup back to the blog today, to tell us some of what the Hub means for their writing lives. [Read more...]

April Accountability Post

My goalDidn’t I just do an accountability post? Has it been a month already?

Last month I said my post would be brief — this month should be even briefer. So let’s get right to it, shall we? [Read more...]

Accolades for Emma — Emma’s Editing Services

Emma-Walton-Hamilton_Photo_0In part four of my interview with Emma Walton Hamilton, which was recently featured in a Thursday series, we talked about her editing services. Emma offers a range of editing services for writers of children’s books, including manuscript evaluations and line edits of picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels, query critiques, even one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Today we’re going to hear from two writers who have great things to say about Emma’s editing expertise, Brooks Olbrys and Ed Raarup.

Brooks is the author of Blue Ocean Bob Discovers His Purpose, a picture book (2011) and The Adventures of Blue Ocean Bob:  A Journey Begins, an early chapter book (2013).

A graduate of Stanford University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, Brooks is the founder of Children’s Success Unlimited and a managing director at investment bank Ion Partners. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

You met Ed on Monday, when I featured his book Fireflies and Shooting Stars. Ed studied vocal music and theatre at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, and has worked as an actor in several projects on stage and television. In writing both the text of Fireflies and Shooting Stars as well as writing the music and lyrics for songs on the accompanying CD, he has discovered yet another mode of expression for his multiple creative talents.

Let’s see what they have to say about their work with Emma –

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