Tanita is a featured author on the SBBT

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Check out the Summer 2012 Blog Blast Tour from Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray. Really, it features amazing writers like Y.S. Lee, Cynthia Levinson, Rosemary Clement-Moore, and Robin LaFevers, among others, at blogs worth bookmarking!

Five Tips to Add Subtext to Your Story by Ollin Morales from The Bookshelf Muse. Peek: “The beauty of subtext is that it makes human interaction fascinating; and, likewise, it’s what will make your story worth reading.”

Maurice Sendak Memorial by Monica Edinger from educating alice. Peek: “…Maurice Sendak was not only a seminal person in the world of books for children, but was one of the greatest American artists of the past 100 years.” See also Special Sendak Issue at Notes from the Horn Book.

Fierce Reads: a free YA anthology, available for download from Tor.

The Four Story Pillars by Amy Dearborn from QueryTracker.netBlog. Peek: “Different types or genres of stories tend to emphasize different arms – for example, a romance or literary work often focuses on inner story, while a mystery or action-adventure usually emphasizes outer story.”

Worrying Isn’t Action by Mary Kole from Kidlit.com. Peek: “…use worry to amp up tension and raise stakes and definitely include it
as Interiority. But remember that you need to balance it well with
external conflict, or you risk your character…just sitting there.” See also Mary on Layers of Emotion.

Congratulations to Austin’s own Shelley Ann Jackson, who has been admitted to the picture book certificate semester within the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Trademark is Not a Verb: Guidelines from a Trademark Lawyer by Brad Frazer from Jane Friedman. Peek: “There is a feeling that one must somehow obtain permission, genuflect
or pay money or something when one uses a third-party trademark in a
manuscript.”

100 Top Picture Books by Elizabeth Bird from A Fuse #8 Production at School Library Journal. A countdown and conversation.

Writers Links: Editors & Publishers by Cynthia Leitich Smith from Children’s & YA Lit Resources. See also Writers Links: Agents. Note: editors and agents sometimes change employers. Please be sure to confirm their current whereabouts before sending any correspondence.

The No-Moping Zone by Keith Cronin from Writer Unboxed. Peek: “I submit that this is an unacceptable – and indefensible – waste of
time, which gets you no closer to achieving your goals. Plus, all that
teeth-gnashing is murder on your molars.”

Cynsational Giveaways

• Set of three author-signed children’s books, written by Jane Kohuth — Duck Sock Hop, Estie the Mensch and Ducks Go Vroom(PB); eligibility: U.S. 
• Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg (Delacorte)(MG); eligibility: international
• It’s Our Prom So Deal With It by Julie Anne Peters (Little, Brown)(YA); eligibility: U.S./Canada 

The winners of The Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci (Roaring Brook, 2012) are Ayleyaell in California and Laura in Maryland.

This Week at Cynsations

• Editor Interview: Christie Harkin of Fitzhenry & Whiteside
• In Memory: Ray Bradbury
• New Voice: Anne Greenwood Brown on Lies Beneath
• Shana Burg on Laugh with the Moon
• Sherry Garland on Requiem for a Book (What to do if your book goes out of print)
• Career Builder & Giveaway: Julie Anne Peters 

Austin Scene

Last Saturday, Greg Leitich Smith spoke on speculative fiction at an Austin SCBWI meeting and then Don Tate launched It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw (Lee and Low, 2012).

Greg and Don model their books.

Prizes!

Emma J. Virjan, Lindsey Lane & Don.

See also Don’s photo report.

More Personally

Behold! Quincie P. Morris, named after one of my heroes from the Tantalize series! Perhaps, in this case, the P stands for puppy! Quincie is the newest member of a family of QPM fans in Mississippi who were kind enough to send in this photo. So adorable!

My character Quincie P. Morris is the protagonist in Tantalize and Blessed. She also is a major character in Diabolical and the graphic novel, Tantalize: Kieren’s Story.

Personal Links

• Happy Blogiversary, Jen Bigheart!
• Paramount Makes Preemptive Offer for “The Diviners” by Libba Bray

From Greg Leitich Smith

• Writers and Illustrators and Dinosaurs: Shelley Ann Jackson

Cynsational Events

Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith will appear June 30 at Bastop Public Library in Bastrop, Texas.