Harry Potter book 7 Cover...

In case you haven't seen it yet and you're interested in a sneak peak.

Postage on those SASEs...

I just found out that postage is increasing starting May 14, so keep that in mind if you're sending out submissions with self-addressed, stamped envelopes. Time to head to the post office for some one-cent stamps.

BEA/WDB Writer's Conference...

Hello! I've been away from my blog for a bit of a stretch, spending my days enraptured in the big fun of e-mailing, faxing and updating my database. (I do it all for you, gentle readers.) Thought I 'd take some time out to tell you about the BookExpo America/Writer's Digest Books Writers Conference.

This event takes place the Wednesday before BookExpo America (May 30) and will be held at the Javitz Center in NYC. Our fifth annual event will be great fun and the event hall will be bursting with editors, authors (including K.L Going), and agents (such as Emily Sylvan Kim, Regina Brooks, Jennie Dunham, and Jennifer Weltz). The agents will take part in the afternoon Pitch Slam, during which writers have three minutes to talk to agents about their manuscripts. (Hint: there are generally not a ton of children's writers in attendances. In the past, everyone with projects for young readers has gotten a chance to talk to every single appropriate agent or editor.)

We'll also offer a host of great sessions (like an Ask the Editors panel featuring yours truly). There are so many good ones that I already can't decide which sessions to check out. Visit the conference website for more info and to register. If you decide to attend, find me and say hi.

P.S. I'll be blogging from the conference and throughout the BookExpo event--and I'll be posting lost of pictures.

No Agent, No Connections?...

Someone has given us at Writer's Digest Books the following challenge:

"Identify an author who has had two novels published on his or her own without connections or agent or publications besides his or her two novels."

Do you or any of your writer friends qualify? E-mail me at alice.pope@fwpubs.com or leave a comment.

Teens & Book Buying: Some Good News...

Apparently teenagers are buying more books than ever. Here's a link to the article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Since I Last Blogged: An Update...

It's been a busy and at somewhat eventful 11 days since I last posted. Here's what I've been up to:

• Friday 3/2: Off work. Not particularly busy or eventful. Slept late, hung out with mom. Getting over an annoying head cold. (If you're keeping score of Alice's ailments in 2007--stomach flu, regular flu, pink eye, hives, head cold.)
  
• Saturday 3/3: My birthday. I am now 39. (I just typed I am not 39. Freudian slip, anyone?) Husband gave me a full schedule of spa, shopping, dinner. A lot of activity in one day for a woman my age.
• Sunday 3/4: Recover from birthday.
• Monday 3/5: Working on "First Books." Writing is hard, oh so hard. Brain tired. Pinkie finger on right hand sore from hitting shift key. I need a pinkie massage specialist.
• Tuesday 3/6: Working on "First Books." Writing is fun, oh so fun! It just flowed out of me like I opened a vein. I love days when that happens.
• Wednesday 3/7: Working on "First Books." Writing still fun!
• Thursday 3/8: I bet writing would have been fun today, but no one let me. Meetings most of the day. Spent the afternoon sending emails to publishers who have not yet verified their listings. (You know who you are--I've emailed you all like five times already. Throw me a bone, people.) Tedious yet effective. I have missed "First Books" deadline, but that's OK. One fun meeting--market books covers are approved. 2008 CWIM is two-tone purple. With a fish on it. Sounds odd, but it looks really cool. I love it. Great job, Josh the co-op!
  
• Friday 3/9: Off work. Belated birthday fun with best pal Suzanne. Lunch, shoe shopping, facial (so I don't look 39. Wow are my pores clean!) Evening was yoga class and a What Not to Wear marathon.
  
• Saturday 3/10: Lunch with my third cousin once removed, Elizabeth, who I'd not met until today. We had lunch at my favorite very vegetarian-friendly restaurant near the college. She is an aspiring writer and illustrator. Saw her portfolio. Lots of potential--I really liked her style. (It's always a tense moment when someone is pulling out her portfolio. I'm always afraid I'll hate it and I won't know what to say. But hers was good. Some nice work in pastels with interesting perspectives. Really dug it.) Went to moveis. Review: Don't spend 9 bucks to see Music and Lyrics even if you like the idea of Hugh Grant in tight pants. Really bad movie.
  
• Sunday 3/11: It was sunny! Wore flip flops. Visited my brother. Murray wouldn't nap and did not seem to care that I wanted to nap. Watched several episodes of Pee Wee's Playhouse. (I think my husband has a crush on Miss Yvonne.) Everyone is grumpy from the early springing forward business.
• Today: Still grumpy (and sleep deprived) from the early springing forward business. Hope writing will be fun today, but I'm not hopeful. I'll probably continue with the tedious-yet-effective email campaign instead. I shouldn't write when I'm grumpy. It is supposed to be in the mid 60s and sunny today, but it was 33 degrees this morning. Left the house in my new really cute wedge sandals and went right back inside to put on boots. Grumpy with cold feet is not the way to go on a Monday.
  

More Scrotum Press...

Here's a link to Susan Patron's op-ed piece in a recent issue of the Los Angeles Times.

More Scrotum Talk: Susan Patron on NPR...

I left work a little early yesterday to go to the gym, and when I started my car, the radio came on, and guess the first word I heard? That's right: scrotum--from the mouth of NPR Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan. That word is enjoying a lot of big press these days--after the Higher Power of Lucky scrotum scandal broke, the story appeared on the front page of The New York Times. Below the fold, but, still--the front page! (It'd link to it, but it's $4.95 to read the full article. If I remember correctly, one librarian interviewed for the piece likened Susan Patron to Howard Stern, going for "shock value." Whoa.)

If you didn't happen to listen to Talk of the Nation yesterday, click here to hear Patron, Conan, and number of callers weigh in on what's appropriate in children's books, censorship, and our friend the scrotum. (I think Patron was pretty awesome in this interview.)

Agents Open to New Authors...

Chuck Sambuchino, our resident expert on all things agent, just posted a great piece on agencies open to unpublished authors on the Writer's Digest magazine website. Chuck offers advice on approaching agents, and gives up-to-date, detailed listings of 23 agencies that include their current needs and contact information. (Children's writers, look for "juvenile books" in the list of needs.) It's like a free sneak preview of the 2008 Guide to Literary Agents!

PW Children's Books Spring Issue...

In case you haven't seen it, the Publishers Weekly Children's Books Spring 2007 issue is now available. It's like getting a bunch of mini-catalogs from pretty much every children's book publisher going, and includes listings of spring titles and a fall sneak peek. There's even a piece on "The Young and the Graphic Novel."

I Like This--You Should Visit: Wordy Girls...

Here's a blog I've recently come across that you might like. Wordy Girls is a group blog whose participants include Laura Purdie Salas, Bonnie Becker, Susan Taylor Brown, and Susan Heyboer-O'Keefe. The authors write about conferences, school visits, books, SCBWI, advice for beginners, poetry, and myriad children's writing-related topics. (I liked Laura's recent post on how writing for children is a lot like American Idol. )

The idea of a group blog is pretty cool. It allows the participants to offer frequent posts with a more relaxed time commitment than that of a solo blogger, and it allows readers glimpses into the writing lives of varied authors with varied experiences writing in varied genres, all through one portal. If there are other group blogs you like (or if you participate in one) please post a comment. I'd love to check out more of these.

Never Too Busy to Type 'Scrotum' on My Blog...

Right now I'm buried in huge pile of deadlines from which I'm pretty convinced I may never climb out. (I didn't even manage to email or call my only sister on her birthday yesterday.) But I had to take time out from my (rather wonderful) pile of articles, to talk scrotum. Yes, I said it: scrotum. Scrotum, scrotum, scrotum. The very word that has teachers, librarians, and reviewers in a buzz due to its appearance in Susan Patron's recent Newbery Medal winner The Higher Power of Lucky.

My goodness. Now some are saying they can't recommend the book due to the inclusion of the word scrotum. (I may never have occasion to type this word again, so I'm packing them in.) Is scrotum the new F-word? Are anatomical terms such as scrotum automatically offensive?

I guess we'll all make up our own minds on this one. But some of us wield a great deal more power when it comes to getting certain books in front--or away from--young readers. I guess we shall see what becomes of all this scrotum business. In the meantime, read Patron's book and decide for yourself.

(And I am venturing a guess that this blog post of mine will be my husband's favorite one ever.)

Writing: It's Hard...

So here I am, blogging to avoid writing articles as my deadline looms. Every time I stare at a blank screen I wonder how you all do it on a regular basis. Every time I finish a great novel I'm amazed that the author had the dedication to start writing and keep writing and go through the whole publishing process, and then they want to do it all over again. I admire writers.

I guess I'm blogging more to warm up than to avoid. I need my fingers on they keys typing coherent sentences to get myself in the groove. Then suddenly, I'll get back to the piece I'm working on and things will start flowing (at least that's my plan). Some days it's like pulling teeth. Some days it's a walk in the park. Some days it's a walk in a snowy park in below freezing weather. (We just got a lot of snow here in the 'Nati and winter is still very much annoying me.)

Now I'll head back to Word and keep on typing.

Deadlines, Deadlines. Oh the Deadlines...

It's that time of year, folks. I've got a thick stack of articles on my desk, several writing assignments to finish up, and 80-some pieces of digital art to wrangle, name, number, size, organize, and (oh crap!) write captions for. February is Alice's Deadline Hell month. But it's exciting. I'm good under pressure. I make lists; I prioritize. I glance up at my production schedule approximately every 4-and-a-half minutes. I tote file folders home with me. The mild panic only makes me stronger!

Said deadlines make me a bad blogger, a tardy e-mail replier, and occasionally an inattentive wife, mommy and friend. Some nights, when I'm not staring at the ceiling planning my how-I'll-somehow-get-everything-done-tomorrow strategy when I should be sleeping, I dream I'm working, marking up copy, stacks and stack of copy, never-ending copy.

During my 8 years of employ as a department store gift wrapper I dreamed of wrapping all through December. At the end of my 9-hour shift, my left shoulder unable to move, my fingers raw with paper cuts, I'd fall exhausted into bed and have the same dream every night. I'd be standing behind the counter wrapping, a sea of shoppers on the other side as far as I could see. They're all waving their items to be wrapped, yelling at me to help them. I keep poking my head into the back room asking for someone to come out to help me. "We're on break," my co-workers would say, their feet up, munching on pizza. Then I'd wake up, shower, put on my comfy shoes, and do it all again.

That was hell. Bring on the copy.

Winter. Blah...

Two weeks ago I was complaining about the fact that it was 60 degrees in the Nati in January. Today I take it back! It's cold. And it's snowy. And it's giving me bad static-y hair. Yeah, I don't really have to be out in it much. My car always sleeps in the garage. I drive a mile and a half to my office and I usually get rock star parking. I admit it--I'm a whiner. I'm a winter whiner. I just want to stay in bed and have someone fetch me hot chocolate and soup and bad magazines.

But, alas, I have a job and a 2-year-old, neither of which allow me to sleep in. So I decided I better start embracing the snow. And what better way than through books for young readers. I pulled out two of my favorites from the Alice and Murray book collection. (Some are mine; some are his; some I agree to share).

One Murray likes to hear over and over is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I love the illustrations in this book. I love the pages with the snow angels and the footprints. I love that Murray still can't quite figure out what happens to the snowball in the little boy's pocket when he goes inside. I love reliving that feeling of excitement in my tummy when I would wake up to see the ground blanketed in white (and hoped that school would be called off).
My favorite snow-themed picture book is Snow by Uri Shulevitz. His subtle illustrations capture the atmospheric quality of snow and evoke that feeling of calm that a gentle snow can bring. Like when you're skiing and you stop high up on the mountain and no one is around and it's just so very quiet. Or a day when you can sit on the sofa by the front window and sip tea and watch the fluffy flakes fall on the lawn and it's white and clean and beautiful. That's how this book makes me feel.

Hmmm. Suddenly I'm a lot happier about winter.