Cynsations

Cynsational News & Giveaways

Rita Williams-Garcia by Rosemary Brosnan from The Horn Book. Peek: “As her editor, the smartest thing I can do is to leave Rita alone. Rita is not an author who should be directed to write x, y, or z: she writes what her muse dictates, and this is how every book has come about. I trust her completely. And I have been fortunate to work for publishers who trust me in this, too.”

Keep Reader’s Interest: Make Everything Matter More by Darcy Pattison from Fiction Notes. Note: a discussion of personal and public stakes.

Beverly Cleary at 95: A Talk With the Author Who Created Ramona Quimby by Rachael Brown from The Atlantic. Peek: “A neighborhood woman felt that I needed help and offered to come babysit the children. I would write while she looked after them. They would draw pictures and slide them under my door. It worked out nicely.”

Why You Should Own Your Own Domain Name by Maryann Yin from GalleyCat, referring to Mastering One’s Domain, and No, This is Not a Seinfeld Reference from Whatever. Source: Alice Pope’s SCBWI Market Blog.

New Literary Agent Kathleen Rushall (now of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency) by Kathy Temean from Writing and Illustrating. Note: Kathleen is open to “all genres of YA,” “unique, quirky picture books,” and “all genres of character-driven middle grade fiction,” including multicultural and boy-interest. See also an interview with Kathleen from Monica B.W. from Love YA (Kathleen is no longer at Waterside Productions.)

Interview with Beth Potter, Associate Editor, FSG Books for Young Readers by Elizabeth Fama from Crowe’s Nest. Peek: “We believe very strongly in author relations and in supporting our authors throughout their careers.”

Zondervan, 2010

One Writer’s Process: Nikki Grimes by Bruce Black from Wordswimmer. Peek: “The quickest way to pull myself out of a dry spell is to read a good book. When I get excited about the wonderful work another author has created, I want to get back to trying to create wonderful work of my own.”

Editorial Director by Alvina Ling from Blue Rose Girls. An explanation of what her promotion at Little, Brown means on a day-to-day professional basis. Peek: “I’m tasked to help shape our fiction list in terms of balance of titles (literary vs commercial, MG vs YA, making sure the books we sign up don’t compete directly with each other in terms of subject matter, etc.”

Time to Punk Rock with Plot: Discovering Alternate Plot Types by Ingrid Sundberg from Kidlit.com. Peek: “…there is merit to Aristotle’s goal-oriented plot and many agents and editors are looking for that type of plot in a novel. However, one must be true to the story he or she is telling and be purposeful and honest in that telling.”

Connecting at Conferences by Chris Eboch from Write Like a Pro! Peek: “…think of networking as making friends.” See also part 2.

2011 Summer Blog Blast Tour Master Schedule by Colleen Mondor from Chasing Ray.

Do You Know of a Great, New YA Novel Set in the Pacific Northwest? April Henry writes an occasional book column for The Oregonian and is seeking suggestions for new releases to feature.

You Say Potato, Your Character Says Potahto by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violet Promotions. Peek: “I want to talk about the more conscious aspects of voice: story voice and how one’s voice can shift from book to book, and then creating characters’ voices, which you can have many of in any given story.”

Interview with R. Ramachandran, Singapore Book Council by Marjorie Coughlan from PaperTigers. Peek: “…because of its multicultural diversity, Singapore can serve as a market place for all books with an Asian focus. It can then also serve as a hub for the buying and selling  of international rights of books published in different countries in Asia.”

Editor Stacy Whitman of Tu Books, a Lee and Low Imprint, by Uma Krishnaswami from Writing with a Broken Tusk. Peek: “…worldbuilding for a high fantasy setting in ancient China or Korea will require a lot of research even for an author who is Chinese or Korean–while they know their own culture, they might not know specific ways that people lived or what their bows were made out of or how peoples’ beliefs changed over a couple millennia”

A Guide to Potterisms: Wizardspeak in Translation by Ben Zimmer from National Public Radio. Peek: “On Harry Potter message boards, fans admit that they sometimes try out the incantations from the Harry Potter books in the hopes that they’ll work in real life.”

Cynsational Screening Room

5 Tips for Making a Really Cool YouTube Video to Promote Your Book by Dan Elish, author of The School for the Insanely Gifted (HarperCollins, 2011) from Chuck Sambuchino at Guide to Literary Agents. Note: includes giveaway to U.S./Canada readers. See Dan’s video below. Source: Phil Giunta.

Charlie Joe Jackson Supports Libraries. See also New Voice: Tommy Greenwald on Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading from Cynsations.

Kate Messner: Writing Real Revision from Stenhouse Publishers. Learn more about the book. Note: Kate will be at signing from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 16 at The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid; see information on how to order personalized signed copies of Kate’s books.

Giveaways

Enter to win an author-signed bookmark and copy of Bumped by Megan McCafferty (HarperTeen, 2011). To enter, comment on this post and include an email address (formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or you can email me directly with “Bumped” in the subject line. Author-sponsored. Deadline: July 29. This giveaway is for international readers–everyone is eligible!

Last call! Enter to win one of two signed copies of Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies by Deborah Halverson (Wiley Publishing, 2011). To enter, comment on this post (click link and scroll to comment), mention “giveaway entry” and include an email address (formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or you can email me directly with “Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies” in the subject line. Author-sponsored. Deadline: July 15. This giveaway is for U.S.-Canada readers. See also Deborah Halverson on Why Perfectly Nice People Make Perfect Bad Guys.

Around the Kidlitosphere:

More Personally

Highlights of the week included a visit from New York illustrator David Ostow. David is the co-creator of one of my all-time favorite YA novels, So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), written by his sister Micol Ostow (Flux, 2009). David is pictured here at Opal Divine’s Freehouse on 6th Street in Austin. See a new interview with Micol from A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy. See also David with a T. rex from GregLSBlog.

I also poured over the copyedits of the Diabolical manuscript. It’s now back to my editor at Candlewick, and I’m working on Smolder again.

Available next month.

What else? I signed onto Google Plus, though it’s still a mystery to me.

Amy at A Simple Love of Reading says of Tantalize: Kieren’s Story: “…we get a much deeper understanding for Kieren’s feelings for Quincie, which I found utterly romantic. There’s also danger and lots of action that kept me on the edge of my seat…even though I already knew what was going to happen!”

Personal Links:

From Greg Leitich Smith

Cynsational Events

Jenny Moss will be signing at 2 p.m. July 16 at the Barnes & Noble Arboretum in Austin. Her latest book is Taking Off (Walker, 2011).

Keep Austen Weird Prom! Jennifer Ziegler is hosting a launch party for Sass & Serendipity (Delacorte, 2011) at 2 p.m. July 23 at BookPeople in Austin. Peek: “This modern YA retelling of Sense & Sensibility is a perfect jumping off point for a teenager’s first taste of Jane Austen, but adults well-versed in the world of Austen will love it too! We’ll be doing this book release party prom-style; wear your fanciest duds and get ready to make all your dreams come true. Jennifer will be interviewed by her real-life sister (fingers crossed for some embarrassing stories), plus there will be contests & prizes and yummy refreshments.”

The 2nd Annual Halloween in July will be at 8 p.m. CST, 9 p.m. EST July 27 with Cynthia Leitich Smith, Kim Baccellia and Dawn Metcalf from #yalitchat on Twitter. Follow: @cynleitichsmith @ixtumea @DawnMetcalf. Chat with us for spooky fun, giveaways and more!

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