Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for December 28, 2021

 Her father was a naturalist and her brothers studied grizzly bears. Her novels about children surviving in nature focus on their interactions with animals. This is Jean Craighead George, author of My Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, and Galapagos George.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for Dec. 21, 2021

  This New England author-illustrator who died in 2020 was Italian, Irish, Catholic and gay. He wrote over 260 books for children, and his characters included a "sissy," a saint, and a grandma witch.

This is Tomie dePaola, whose books included "Oliver Button is a Sissy," "Saint Patrick" and several books about Strega Nona.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for December 14, 2021

 This American author wrote her first story at six, "about a little 'grul' who lived in a cloud." She combined her Christian faith with a love of science, and is credited with bringing science fiction into children's literature. She once said, "To hurt a butterfly is to shake the universe." She is Madeleine L'Engle, 1918-2007.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for December 7, 2021

      This beloved British author loved creating words, like "squifflerotter" and "grinksludger." One character called the Queen "Your Majester." His own last words in 1990, after an injection of pain medicine, were "Ow! F--k!" This is Roald Dahl. 

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for November 30, 2021

   This Boston-born author and illustrator progressed to writing books filled with busy animals where boys learned to make pies and "firefighters" replaced "firemen," but Mother Cat still couldn't change a tire. This is Richard Scarry, often criticized for his lack of sensitivity regarding gender.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for November 16, 2021

This Newberry had 4 Caldecott honor books. Author/illustartor Clare Turlay Newberry, 1903-1970, often illustrated her children's books with the animals she loved since childhood: her beloved cats.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for November 9, 2021

 She was born in Beaver Dam and died in Milwaukee. This Univ. of Wisconsin grad's love of color and simple shapes resonates through her picture books, as in Growing Vegetable Soup and Planting a Rainbow. Name her alphabet book. Answer--Lois Ehlert's alphabet book is called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia for November 2, 2021

 Annemarie Johansen, a Danish girl, helps hide her best friend in this book by Lowry which won the 1990 Newbery Medal. Name the book. Answer--Number the Stars.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia October 26, 2021

 A book by this husband and wife team begins in dim, blue light conducive to sleeping, and ends in bright, colorful sunshine. Name the author and illustrator of this book. Answer: Don and Audry Wood. The book in question is The Napping House.

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia, Oct. 19, 2021

 This illustrator's cozy portraits of a darkening bedroom with green walls, a red rug and striped curtains won't win any interior design awards, but kids find the pictures comforting. The illustrator is Clement Hurd, most famous for his pictures for Goodnight Moon and also for The Runaway Bunny, both by Margaret Wise Brown. 

Tuesday Kid Lit Trivia, Oct. 12, 2021

  Welcome to the first edition of Tuseday Kid Lit Trivia! This week's question is: A California author was in his 60's when he wrote a novel, based on a true story, about a girl who spent 18 years alone on an island, eventually befriending the wild dog that killed her brother. What color appears in the title?

And the answer is: Blue. The book is "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell.

Old friend, possibly new writing work

    Jim and I had a gorgeous trip to New Mexico, riding the Cumbres & Toltec historic steam train through the brilliant fall colors. We drove home and the next day I got together with a writing friend I met 10 years ago at Highlights Chautauqua, Linda Rose Zajac, out here visiting Aspen with her husband. Her latest book is Robo-Motion--which shows how robots can be designed to mimic animal movements. She does work for hire, and, coinidentally, I had just recieved an e-mail from my agent while I was out of town, asking her clients if they'd be interested in work for hire! After talking to Linda I decided to give it a try. We'll see what happens!

We Have Collaboration!

 My agent wants to pair my Chihuly story with an illustrator, and she found a wonderful one in Seattle who knows Chihuly's work well! Signed the collaboration agreement tonight. Sample art should be ready by Sept. 7, so then the story can go on submission. Meanwhile, a publisher is interested in my dinosaur board books for their 2024 collection. I'll be 73 then...glad I have my Caldecoots group, celebrating writers over 60!

Persistence

   Going over my stats today. From 2011-2016, I sold 26 pieces to magazines--most of them to Highlights. 

2017--44 submissions, NO SALES

2018--Jan. to May--27 submissions, NO SALES. Signed with agent in May, she sent out 42 submissions. NO SALES. We amicably parted ways in November.

2019--46 submissions, NO SALES

2020--74 submissions, NO SALES

2021--Jan. to March 23 submissions, NO SALES, interest in three projects.  March 30--SIGNED WITH MY AGENT! 

I'm sorry, you'll have to speak to my agent--

 Ha! I am so excited to have an agent, and a wonderful one at that! I am tickled to be represented  by Jennifer Chen Tran of the Bradford Literary Agency. "The Call" went so well, and it will be great fun to work with her. Wow, and after only 23 years of subbing...

What Are The Chances?!

 So on Tuesday, March 23rd, my awesome grandson Anthony's 20th birthday, my emotions are all over the place. There's been a shooting in Boulder and one of the grocery workers killed was a 20 year old kid who even looked a bit like Anthony, who also works at a grocery store. Plus, on Sunday I found a lump on the same side as before and on Monday I went to the Cancer Center to see my doctor there, wondering if the cancer had come back after 7 years. He felt it was harder than he'd like, so he set up an appt. the next day for a mammogram, ultrasound, and possibly a biopsy. And on Tuesday, while I'm a wreck there waiting for my results, I get an e-mail from an agent I submitted to 13 months ago wondering if I'm still interested in representation for my bio of glass artist Dale Chihuly! Yes!! She'll call me later this week! THE CALL! And the results came out just fine--the lump is a calcification, definitely not cancer. What an emotional day!

Positive Vibes

     Maybe it's because I got my two Covid shots, or because we have a new President, or because I sold my money pit of a house in New Mexico, or because my dog is on the mend from heartworms, but there seem to be some positive vibes in my life that are extending to my writing life, too. I got a revise and resubmit for my MARJORY STOOD story, an agent who answered my question about PB bios on Twitter invited me to submit my Nathan Sawaya story to him, and I still haven't received a rejection from the publisher interested in my dinosaur boardbooks. I've entered a few contests: 50 Precious Words, #PBParty, and the SCBWI Ann Paul contest, so I'm excited to see how those turn out. 11 rejections so far this year, but I won't give up.

Up and Down Day

 Well, it seems I'm struggling with the font at the new address, too. Guess I'll go back to my old one. Today was an up and down day, or maybe down and up--I read a NFest post that said the school and library market is disrupted right now, and that publishers don't want to buy picture book biographies because they were mostly purchased by schools and libraries. So, guess I may have to expand my focus. 

   The hopeful news is--I have three little board book manuscripts about dinosaurs and I sent one off to a publisher yesterday. Got a reply today--he likes the idea and would I send the other two? Sent them off right away, and I'm crossing everything I've got. I've had false alarms before, so I'm not going to get too excited til it goes farther, but it was lovely to receive that e-mail!

New Year, New E-Mail

 I just couldn't trust Gmail to format my submission letters correctly, and they didn't offer Times New Roman as a font choice, so I opened a new Yahoo e-mail account: deborahholtwilliamswriter@yahoo.com I hope it will bring me good luck! Had a great zoom meeting today with the western slope SCBWI group on diversity in chapter books.  Entered the SCBWI Ann Paul contest today, too, with my Marjory Stoneman Douglas PB bio, MARJORY STOOD. All in all, a good writing day!