Kell Andrews
Continuing the theme of dark children’s literature, I look at Christina Rossetti’s nursery rhymes on the blog at Operation Awesome.
From Guardian blogger Jenny Colgan, horrifying examples of darkness in children’s literature — I think I’ll have nightmares too. Via @gwendabond
Concrete-eating dinosaur showed up 10 feet outside window to help demolition. Made me wish they had bricked up ALL our windows.
In 2009, one of my MG novels went on agented submission. For commiseration (and lots of giddy anticipation), through the magic of the Internet I found a cohort of 10 or 15 other MG and YA writers who were also on agented sub. And guess what? Not one of us sold!
So long, giddy anticipation.
I remain convinced that those strange months at the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010 were a particularly horrendous time to go on sub. And the writers in that cohort have proved it through our progress and perseverance since that time. We’re all still writing. Some of us got new agents. Some of us didn’t. Some of us have sold books or self-published.
My friend R.H. Russell has done it all. She now has two ex-agents and a self-published YA series (The Venture Books) and MG book (Linked, writing as Lisa Alden). She recently capped it all off by negotiating her own two-book deal with Sourcebooks.
I’m so inspired by the way she has taken charge of her own career, and I asked her to guest post about it at Operation Awesome:
Operation Awesome: R.H. Russell on selling her own 2-book deal and self-publishing another series
I gave sections of my garden over to the weeds this year so that I could defend my roses.
One of my favorites, Anne Boleyn. I brought this from my old house.This plant is about 10 years old now.
John Clare is a gorgeous rose and a poet whose work and struggles many writers can relate to.
Dainty Excellenz Von Schubert in front of voluptuous Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Climbing Pinkie is rambunctious enough to combat the weeds.
Check out the gorgeous wolf necklace my Operation Awesome buddy Angela J. Townsend sent to celebrate the upcoming publication of AMAROK from Spencer Hill Press. Here’s the description from Goodreads (go add it!):
Life has been hell for seventeen-year-old Emma since she moved from sunny California to a remote Alaskan town. Rejected by her father and living with the guilt of causing her mother’s death, she makes a desperate dash for freedom from her abusive stepfather. But when her car skids off the icy road, her escape only leads to further captivity in a world beyond her imagining Dragged across the tundra by a crazed mountain man and his enormous black wolf, she finds that her gentle touch and kind heart earn her the wolf’s friendship, and she names him Amarok, not knowing he was once a young man. When a vicious madman—trapped in bear form by an ancient Shaman—attacks the travelers and injures Amarok, Emma must find the strength to confront her fears and free the wolf she’s come to love. But there’s a catch—she must face down the evil shaman, a powerful Siberian mammoth hunter from the ice age, and he has no intention of giving up his power to her.
Kurtis Scaletta, author of middle-grade novels (The Tanglewood Terror, Mudville, and Mamba Point, all from Knopf), recently launched a new chapter book series of baseball mysteries, Topps League. I had some questions for him. I’ve tried my hand at chapter books — short books that act as a transition between easy readers and middle grade — but I hadn’t found many resources about writing them. Rather than just pestering Kurtis for insights and hoarding them for myself, I asked him to write a guest blog for Operation Awesome. He generously agreed.
I reflect on writer friends in high places, and how we can and can’t help each other. Also Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts.
An appreciation of Whisper of the Heart, an Hideo Miyazaki film about the making of a young writer. What movies about writers do you most relate to?
Recognizing what’s special about an ordinary-looking building makes me look at writing from a different angle.
