bad news, good news, hopeful news

  Yesterday I got a very nice handwritten rejection note from Boyds Mills Press.  Darn, I really thought my story was a good fit for them.  But then today, I got a royalty check from Continental for my little leveled readers, and a bear card from Highlights High Five for an action rhyme I submitted.  Bear cards don't always mean a sale, but about 70% of the time, they do.  I should be getting a check soon for the second story I sold to Young Bucks.  These little checks add up!

Having a Senior Moment?

    I have a yellow sheet of legal pad paper, where I keep track of all my submissions.  I check the sheet every night to remind myself of what I've sent, when I sent it and where I sent it, and the result.  But after mailing my Mom Dot Com story to Lee and Low publishers, the sheet has vanished.  I think I may have stuck it in the envelope!  Hopefully they'll use the SASE to send it back.
    There are some disadvantages to having a day job and writing into the late night hours!  And to being old, I guess, although in so many ways this is a terrific time of life.

A Couple of Firsts

     Last month, using the Magazine Markets for Children book we all got at the Highlights conference, I found an online magazine for kids that looked like a good fit for nature-type stories. I reworked my Thunder article about partially burned pine trees so that it was more for kids.  I sent a query, got a yes the next day, e-mailed the article & photo and got an acceptance the next day, had my contract in a week and my check in two weeks!  My first sale of a photo, and my first e-zine credit.
     This month, I sold them another reworked Thunder article and photo on how forest fires affect fish.  These sales are only $25, but they're pretty easy money!  One thing I've learned from Christine at Highlights is that when you sell a story, you only sell that particular arrangement of words, and that its perfectly acceptable to rework a story and send it somewhere else.

Sharing a Memory at High Five

     High Five's facebook page asked for parenting advice we'd received through the years, and I submitted a line from my dear friend, Carol Van Why: "Will they remember the unmade bed, or the talk we had instead?"  This week I got an e-mail from Hilary who runs the facebook page that this quote has been chosen to appear in High Five!  The next day I heard from Kathleen Hayes, editor at High Five:  "I just got an e-mail from Hilary telling me that you are our premier parenting advice columnist!  We will use a photo of a Dad talking to a avery young boy, and your lovely quote.  So, thanks!  It will be great to have you on our cover wrap!"  I wrote back to make sure they use Carol's name.  Carol passed in 1992, twenty years ago, and it will be so nice for her kids and grandkids to see her words and her name on a wonderful magazine for kids.  Her middle daughter Sabrina, who is expecting her first child next month, thanked me for keeping her mom's memory alive.  It feels really good that I can honor Carol this way.

I want patience and I want it NOW!

  Hopeful news on my picture book Biscochito Man, and an invitation from Kathleen Hayes of High Five to join her on Linkedin. (I hit the I accept button--now what??  Not sure, but I'm honored to be invited!)  I had given up hope of ever hearing from Julie Ham at Charlesbridge, so at midnight I sent it by e-mail to Theresa Howell at Rio Nuevo books, for their new Rio Chico  line of kids' books.  Seven hours later, I heard from Julie Ham!  She apologized for taking so long but said she had a couple more co-workers she wanted to show it to, and that I was welcome to submit it elsewhere.  (Which works out well, since I just did!)  Then I heard back from Theresa that she got my story and I would hear from them in three months.  Patience is so hard for us older writers, do you agree!  Time's a wastin'!  Shit or get off the pot!

Sharing Articles and Adventures

  It got down to 20 degrees overnight, and my cabin's pipes froze!  I had no running water in the morning, but it was fixed by the afternoon.  The good news, however, was that I heard back from the editor at Cobblestones, saying she wanted to see my roadrunner article!  I polished it up and sent it on tonight.  Absolutely no guarantees, of course, but she will look at it.
   The classes were so worthwhile, with actual copies of real submitted articles before and after editing, and real query letters and the articles they led to.  National Geographic photographer and author Darlyne Murowski told of her experiences in getting her amazing pictures.  That night at dinner, Cristina Kessler and Darlyne shared their adventures in Africa, India, the Galapagos, Madagascar and other exotic locations, and told of thier encounters with a lion, a jaguar, a charging rhino, a poisonous snake,  wild pigs, alligators, an angry elephant, fighting giraffes, fire ants...it was a thrill just listening to them!  And hearing phrases like "kayaking down the Zambizi," and "driving across the Kalahari..."What incredible women.
    It will be hard to leave my homey little cabin and go back to the daily routine.  I've learned so much, and I'm aware of so many more possible markets, and I'm excited about magazines!  But I do miss my dear old cowboy and my dogs.

"One Tough Bird" may be on her way

  A cold and snowy but encouraging day!  Lou Waryncia liked my roadrunner piece "One Tough Bird"  and gave me the e-mail of one of his editors at Cobblestone, and told me to mention his name.  He was excited when I told him I had access to photos of Zia pueblo dances, taken by a photographer who got permission from the pueblo governor.  He said they've been covering regions of the US and saved the southwest for last because it was so hard to get photos of Native Americans!  He said to e-mail the editor of Faces magazine right away and show her what I have.
   Rachel Bucholz from Nat Geo Kids handed out a collection of actual query letters, and had us figure out why they wouldn't work for her.  Rich Wallace had us think about something I never had--about the amount of time the story would cover, whether a day, a week, a month, as a way to help plot our story.  He read aloud one of his favorite books (and mine, too)--Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel.  Paula Morrow had a slide show and gave us each a copy of Magazine Markets for Children's Writers 2012!
   Michelle Budzilowitz and Christine Cully from Highlights came to dinner and gave me hugs and were so kind.  Michelle and I laughed about how hot and miserable we were at Chautauqua. Christine said she looks forward to signing more contracts for me.  Me, too!  The clouds cleared, the full moon rose orange, and my favorite constellation Orion was high in the sky.  What a great day!