A few weeks ago, I sat down for my first post-contract interview. A reporter for a local newspaper heard about my book sale and (since I live in a small town) this was considered newsworthy. In fact, the article made its way onto the front page! The only other front page story ran with the headline "Santa Claus tells all: Kris Kringle dishes about snacks, favorite gift requests and naughty or nice." That's right, me and Santa, baby!
Like I said...small town.
The interview was a lot of fun, partly because the reporter herself was a writer (not that writing for a newspaper doesn't count as...oh, you know what I mean). So I didn't have to tell her that, "No, I didn't do my own illustrations" or "No, I'm not able to quit my day job" or "No, I have no plans to write real books for adults." And I’m glad my first interview was with a small newspaper because, during my answers, I often found myself thinking, “Is there any way to say that and sound even stupider? No, probably not.” But, thanks to some fancy editing on the part of the reporter, I think it turned out fairly well. I'd love to hear what you think:
The Adobe Press
(And yes, once again, I’m wearing my Disco Mermaids t-shirt.)
- Jay
Monday, December 11, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Super Agent Sends Emails (S.A.S.E.) -- Robin
Recently my awesome agent spent a week hitting the streets of New York shopping manuscripts around. I pictured her in a fabulous velvet cape, swooping into town with life-changing manuscripts in one hand and emergency miniature chocolates in the other. Of course she’d have a darling mask embossed with two A’s in rhinestones.
Awesome Agent...my hero!
Luckily, a couple of my stories sparked the interest of some publishers who are now reading it. Awesome agent strikes again. Yahoo! And all I have to do is...wait.
But now I find myself becoming an email junkie. I used to be a mailbox junkie.
(mailbox- n. a receptacle that sits at the end of the driveway where a nice man or woman pays a visit every day and drops in packages, cable bills and literature on why exactly your septic tank is causing all those cute migratory birds to die.)
Since Awesome Agent swooped into my life, my whole world has changed! No more SASE’s. No more need to waste my time checking that silly little receptacle!
Now all my updates regarding my manuscript come from my email. And so I find that I just leave my email up all day and hit the refresh button over and over and over...then call up Eve and Jay every five minutes and say, “I got nothin'. How 'bout you?”
So while I spend every free moment pushing that little circular arrow button, my husband keeps mumbling something about the cable getting cut off and that all the cute migratory birds are dying. Like I have time to deal with these little details!
I’m living life in the INBOX, baby!
- Robin
Awesome Agent...my hero!
Luckily, a couple of my stories sparked the interest of some publishers who are now reading it. Awesome agent strikes again. Yahoo! And all I have to do is...wait.
But now I find myself becoming an email junkie. I used to be a mailbox junkie.
(mailbox- n. a receptacle that sits at the end of the driveway where a nice man or woman pays a visit every day and drops in packages, cable bills and literature on why exactly your septic tank is causing all those cute migratory birds to die.)
Since Awesome Agent swooped into my life, my whole world has changed! No more SASE’s. No more need to waste my time checking that silly little receptacle!
Now all my updates regarding my manuscript come from my email. And so I find that I just leave my email up all day and hit the refresh button over and over and over...then call up Eve and Jay every five minutes and say, “I got nothin'. How 'bout you?”
So while I spend every free moment pushing that little circular arrow button, my husband keeps mumbling something about the cable getting cut off and that all the cute migratory birds are dying. Like I have time to deal with these little details!
I’m living life in the INBOX, baby!
- Robin
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The Kids Are Alright --Eve
I've been volunteering at the local high school lately, fulfilling my teaching “fix” since I've been away from the classroom for a few years. It's also the perfect research lab. A massive Petri dish of little teen organisms for me to observe, question, and prod. Not only are the kids really entertaining, but they've helped me a ton with character development.
The question I posed to them today was this:
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW YOU HAD A YEAR TO LIVE? Specifically, a year to live relatively healthy before a degenerative disease quickly takes over your body and mind. (It is the central problem in my new YA book…don't steal my idea!)
The answers were funny, insightful, scary and surprising. The Creative Writing teacher allowed me to work with two different periods of his class (Thanks, Mr. Huttle!!) so I got about 40 different answers and some lively discussion. Initially, almost every student said he/she would be adventurous, take major risks (including breaking the law), and do things he/she had never dreamed of before. Most also agreed that they would quit school and spend lots of time with friends. However, the
majority also said that they would not tell friends or boyfriends/ girlfriends about this predicament for fear of becoming a “charity case”.
The first answers ranged from “robbing a bank” to “stealing a Ferrari” to “seeking revenge on everyone who has done me wrong” and “eating human flesh”. (I swear I did not make that up!) As reality set in, and the deviant behavior impulses simmered down, they started realizing that they didn't want to waste time in jail or hating or hurting other people. Answers mellowed to things like “taking lots of mushrooms or other hallucinogenic drugs”, “road tripping with buddies”, “changing everything about myself…how I dress, how I act” and “reaching out to people I wouldn't normally talk to”.
As the discussions wound down, different ideas started popping up. One student mentioned that his goal is to be remembered…to make a mark. Several others said they would love to volunteer with homeless or sick kids. Eventually, almost everyone agreed that quitting school would also mean losing important social networks. Toward the end, answers
started getting more thoughtful and profound. Only then, after more than an hour of reflection and discussion, did students really contemplate and convey what's REALLY important to them.
As students left the room, I got several short summaries of what they concluded life is really about…spending time with family (which had previously not come up once), praying/finding religion, touching the lives of others, doing random good deeds.
Ahh…I feel much better now. My Ferrari's safe. My flesh is safe.
All is right with the youth of today!
--Eve
The question I posed to them today was this:
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW YOU HAD A YEAR TO LIVE? Specifically, a year to live relatively healthy before a degenerative disease quickly takes over your body and mind. (It is the central problem in my new YA book…don't steal my idea!)
The answers were funny, insightful, scary and surprising. The Creative Writing teacher allowed me to work with two different periods of his class (Thanks, Mr. Huttle!!) so I got about 40 different answers and some lively discussion. Initially, almost every student said he/she would be adventurous, take major risks (including breaking the law), and do things he/she had never dreamed of before. Most also agreed that they would quit school and spend lots of time with friends. However, the
majority also said that they would not tell friends or boyfriends/ girlfriends about this predicament for fear of becoming a “charity case”.
The first answers ranged from “robbing a bank” to “stealing a Ferrari” to “seeking revenge on everyone who has done me wrong” and “eating human flesh”. (I swear I did not make that up!) As reality set in, and the deviant behavior impulses simmered down, they started realizing that they didn't want to waste time in jail or hating or hurting other people. Answers mellowed to things like “taking lots of mushrooms or other hallucinogenic drugs”, “road tripping with buddies”, “changing everything about myself…how I dress, how I act” and “reaching out to people I wouldn't normally talk to”.
As the discussions wound down, different ideas started popping up. One student mentioned that his goal is to be remembered…to make a mark. Several others said they would love to volunteer with homeless or sick kids. Eventually, almost everyone agreed that quitting school would also mean losing important social networks. Toward the end, answers
started getting more thoughtful and profound. Only then, after more than an hour of reflection and discussion, did students really contemplate and convey what's REALLY important to them.
As students left the room, I got several short summaries of what they concluded life is really about…spending time with family (which had previously not come up once), praying/finding religion, touching the lives of others, doing random good deeds.
Ahh…I feel much better now. My Ferrari's safe. My flesh is safe.
All is right with the youth of today!
--Eve
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Happy Blogiversary!!!
to the tune of
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
It was one whole year ago today
Robin, Jay, and Eve said “I know, hey!”
We’ll start a blog about children’s lit.
From three authors, we’d never seen it
So then we introduced to you
The blog you’ve read for one whole year
DiscoMermaids...DOT-blogspot-DOT...co-o-o-om
We’re DiscoMermaids-DOT-blogspot-DOT-com
We hope you have enjoyed our blog
We’re DiscoMermaids-DOT-blogspot-DOT-com
Are there no cool words that rhyme with blog?
(Now you know why we don't write rhyming books.)
One year ago, when we started this blog, we had four main goals:
1. To have fun and keep ourselves inspired.
2. To help us stay in touch with friends and to make new friends in the children's lit. world.
3. To try to be a little "different" and see how many interesting things we can get into before selling a book.
4. To entertain.
Today, here's how we feel we did with each of the above goals:
1. We've had way more fun than we ever imagined. We've each written more than ever. And truly, we've grown closer as friends because of this shared project.
2. At conferences, we've had the chance to meet our readers in person and formed true friendships because of it.
3. Holy cow! Beyond belief. Nine months after starting the blog, we were speaking at the SCBWI national conference as guests of Lisa Yee because of our blog. We were featured on Tomie dePaola's website because of our blog. And Jay got a mighty big head because of our blog.
4. Hopefully you found us a little entertaining.
1. We've had way more fun than we ever imagined. We've each written more than ever. And truly, we've grown closer as friends because of this shared project.
2. At conferences, we've had the chance to meet our readers in person and formed true friendships because of it.
3. Holy cow! Beyond belief. Nine months after starting the blog, we were speaking at the SCBWI national conference as guests of Lisa Yee because of our blog. We were featured on Tomie dePaola's website because of our blog. And Jay got a mighty big head because of our blog.
4. Hopefully you found us a little entertaining.
Also within the past year, all three of us signed with agents and we sold our first book.
So stick with us. Next year should be even better.
- Your Disco Mermaids (Robin, Jay, and Eve)
Monday, December 04, 2006
Happy Gift Xchange
Today, our extended writing group is getting together for our Annual Holiday Lunch & Gift Xchange. Members of S.L.O.W. for Children (San Luis Obispo Writers for Children...catchy, eh?), both past and present, will meet downtown for some serious grub and merriment.
Each person brings a wrapped children's book, new or lightly used. One at a time, we pick one out of the pile, open it, and the next person can either steal that book or open their own. It can all get pretty nasty and evil, but it's always fun.
This year's get-together is extra noteworthy for the Disco Mermaids. It's an anniversary, of sorts. In Eve's car last year, after the grub and merriment, the three of us put our heads together and came up with the idea for this three-person blog.
And a couple days later...we went live!
But more on that in a couple days.
So, what children's book are you hoping to receive (or steal) this holiday season?
Each person brings a wrapped children's book, new or lightly used. One at a time, we pick one out of the pile, open it, and the next person can either steal that book or open their own. It can all get pretty nasty and evil, but it's always fun.
This year's get-together is extra noteworthy for the Disco Mermaids. It's an anniversary, of sorts. In Eve's car last year, after the grub and merriment, the three of us put our heads together and came up with the idea for this three-person blog.
And a couple days later...we went live!
But more on that in a couple days.
So, what children's book are you hoping to receive (or steal) this holiday season?
Friday, December 01, 2006
Roll Call -- Jay
Wouldja take a look at what the kids over at Class of 2k7 have got going on. It's a commercial for this fine and outstanding group of debut middle grade and YA authors...and I'm one of 'em!
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Eric Luper did a brilliant job, dontcha think?
- Jay
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Eric Luper did a brilliant job, dontcha think?
- Jay
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