Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Productive Writing or Unproductive Worrying?

Last weekend I went with one of the members of my critique group to meet with another critique group. I really enjoyed it, and even though the comments showed me that I've got to revise my first chapter, AGAIN, I now have some good ideas of what I need to do. I've been going back and forth between too much detail, not enough detail, too vague and sketchy, or too boring. I spent the whole hour plus drive home thinking about what I needed to change, and realized, I don't have to put in that stuff that's boring. I can make it chapter two and start over. I'm excited to implement my changes.
However, although I managed to type a few notes into my phone, and got about ten words written when I got home, that's all I've done. I'm hoping to find a way to meet with this critique group, but with the long drive, my husband isn't too excited about the time chunk bitten out of a Saturday. So we had our usual conversation about my how much time I spend writing as opposed to how much I should spend.I told him I didn't spend nearly as much time writing as I thought I should.
His reply surprised me: "You're right. It's just the time you spend thinking and stressing about writing that's too much."
Hmm. Since then, I've been thinking about how to spend less mental energy wanting to write and more energy actually putting words on paper.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

First Line Contest Winners

I've had a lot going on offline, and I'm way behind at updating my blog. First of all, here are the contest results:

First Place: Kalen O'Donnell

For my sixteenth birthday, my oldest brother tried to kill me again.

Second Place: Nikki Katz

Jocelyn stared at the guy sitting across the table from her, wondering how he’d react later – when he was drowning.
Runners Up:
Kimberly Kay - I thought I knew the definition of fear, but this time Webster was wrong.
Peggy Eddleman - You’d think I had never jumped off a 35 foot cliff before, based on how long I stood there, not jumping.
Erica Olson - I slammed the car door and rushed past the men putting pieces of my life into a big white truck.
Marcy Pusey - The first time MaryAnn died she was only nine years old.
Janet B Taylor - They say eyes are the window to the soul–or some crap like that–but for me, eyebrows are way more interesting.
Amy White - Oliver used to be ordinary–yesterday.
Susan Kaye Quinn - A zero like me shouldn’t take public transportation.

We had lots on entries, and I was amazed at the quality of the first lines.