It finally rained last night and I slept in. I feel like declaring today to be a national holiday.

Another faithful reader of the blog posed a few publication questions yesterday: Have you ever spent time (be it weeks, or months) on a story proposal to the publisher and they (for whatever reason) turned it down?

If so, how did you feel about it having put all that time and effort into it and then have it get slapped down?

Or....do you suggest ideas that may interest you and submit it to them first so that you don't waste any time on it?

Funny you should ask, because yes, I've gone through that. I am one of those folks who has acres of rejection letters from just about every publisher in America. Nobody likes rejection.

When I was breaking into this field, I must have proposed at least fifty different non-fiction book ideas to various and sundry publishers. With the crystal-clear glasses of hindsight, I can see now that most of them were bad ideas. Some of them were good ideas, but I either a) did a poor job explaining how the book would be structured or b) because I was still a pre-published author, no one was going to take a chance on me, so I should have written the whole thing without a contract and then tried to sell it.

Let me tell you the story behind INDEPENDENT DAMES. It started in the mid-1990s. I wanted to write a book that would highlight the Revolutionary War exploits of six unknown heroines, and I wanted the book to put the roles of women and girls in the Revolution in context of the larger war and society.

Nobody wanted the book. They all sent me form rejections. I had done a fair amount of research and had enormous files stuffed with information, but I realized the idea wasn't going anywhere, so I packed them away in my drawer.

Over the next five years, I had a number of picture books and novels come out. At Simon & Schuster, I published FEVER 1793 and the editors there knew loved American History. They also knew (because of my earlier picture book, TURKEY POX (now out of print)) that I loved Thanksgiving. One of the editors suggested I investigate the exploits of Sarah Josepha Hale. There was no promise, no contract. I researched and wrote and researched and wrote and sold THANK YOU, SARAH to those editors a couple years later.

SARAH (illustrated by Matt Faulkner) turned out so well, the editors asked if I had another historical subject I'd like to pursue with the same illustrator and format. I brought up the idea about women in the American Revolution, thinking about that treasure chest laying in my file cabinet. The editor liked the concept, but encouraged me to go beyond six women, far beyond. I went home and did oodles more research and wound up with eighty-nine women and girls. I put together a giant proposal, including biographical information on each woman, sent it in and was offered a contract.

Which is a long story. I guess the moral is, don't throw out your old files and keep moving forward.

Note for next week: Colleen at Chasing Ray has suggested we use this week to discuss some of the issues that have been brewing in the kidlitosphere. Are you interested?

WFMAD Day 20

Today's goal: Write for 15 minutes. Then take a nap.

Today's mindset: adapting to overcome.

Today's prompt: This combines observation with perspective.

1. Describe what your house or backyard looks/feels/smells like to a four-year-old. Don't write more than four paragraphs.

2. Now describe the same place from the Point Of View of a fourteen-year-old.

3. Now describe the same place from the POV of an eighty-year-old.

Scribblescribble...

We have a male goldfinch who thinks our house is a romantic rival. Seriously. For three days, he has been flying up to the building and attacking it with his beak. He is most persistent. I've heard him muttering: She's mine, I say, MINE. get away, you fool. Don't you see your quest for her love is in vain? Back, back to the foul place from whence you came!

At first I thought he wasn't seeing the glass, so I pulled the shades, and tinkered with the angle of the windows (they open outwards). Didn't help. He's attacking the siding, too. I'm worried that the little guy is going to break his beak, or get a concussion and forget which nest is his, then his true love will pine away in sorrow, and their children will be sent to a cruel orphanage in the north on England and will have to eat gruel.

Writing Process and More!

Mitali Perkins has posted the Q&A I did on the readergirlz forum last week. In it, I talk about the hardest thing about YA writing, inspiration for various novels, and the challenges of writing outside my gender and ethnic background. Thank you, Mitali, divas, and girlz! I had fun with youze!

ALA

I leave for the annual American Library Association conference on Thursday. If you see me wandering around, please come up and say hello because I am always intimidated by these events and am most grateful for friendly faces.

Along with much wandering, this is my official ALA schedule:

Saturday, June 28
10-11am Signing at the Simon & Schuster booth, #2499

3-4pm Signing at the Penguin booth, #2616

5:30pm-? Come hang out with Tanya Lee Stone and me in the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel. No tickets! No lines! We'll be chit-chatting about our new non-fiction historical picture books: Elizabeth Leads the Way, about the life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Independent Dames, about women and girls during the American Revolution. Both of us also write YA, so I imagine the conversation could go anywhere. This very informal, just a chance to sit around and talk with librarians without any hoopla.

I'll be at the S&S party on Saturday night. Must remember not to wear heels to that one. That was a big mistake last year.

Sunday, June 29
noon - I'm going to the Art Luncheon! (very stoked about this) Matt Faulkner, who illustrated INDEPENDENT DAMES and THANK YOU, SARAH will be there, along with Robin Preiss Glasser, Kadir Nelson, and David Small.

4-6pm VOYA Reception for the Perfect Tens 2007 at the Hilton

6-11pm Newbery/Caldecott Banquet. (Might wear heels to this one. Might even wear a dress.)


Sadly, my plane leaves on Monday, so I'll miss the Printz Awards on Monday, which are always a lot of fun.

Will I see any of you in Anaheim?

I am standing at the mouth of the Cave of Revision, impatiently waiting for the coffee pot to finish making coffee. I think I have a few more long days on this revision before I turn it in.

So. Here are my rambling, hurry-up-coffee-pot notes:

1. Yesterday, I corresponded with readers in Brazil and Norway. How cool is that?

2. My latest obsession is worm castings. Yes, that is a polite word for worm poop. I am gardening organically this year and worms are my new best friends. I am looking for a source in Central New York, if anyone knows of one. So far, I've been ordering them from Vermont, and am having a friend's family (who are in the business of producing worm poop, don't ask) bring me some on their next visit to the area.

Go ahead, laugh, but you should see what it is doing to my broccoli plants.

3. If you live in Michigan, please vote for the Thumbs Up! Award by May 30th! (twistedtwistedtwistedtwisted)

4. Little birds have been reporting that the TWISTED paperback version is turning up in stores in one of those cardboard stands. (Those are called dumps, but after my discussion of worm poop, I am not going there.) Have you seen one?

5. When you are in the bookstore, be sure to buy Tanya Lee Stone's newest wonderful picture book: Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote. It has been named a Book Links Best New Books of 2008, and a Booklist Top Ten Youth Biography, and is sure to garner more awards soon.

Not only is it a wonderful book, but Tanya just made a generous contribution that brought my Beloved Husband's fund raising efforts to his goal of $2,500!!! ALL HAIL TANYA! (Please give her some love on her blog!)

The fund raising is done! The fund raising is done! Our nice friends chipped in $5000 for cancer research! ::dances around the cave!!

Now all we have to do is run 13.1 miles on June 15th! ::sits down on cave floor::

No, really, our training has been going very well, so it shouldn't be a problem. We ran 13.3 miles two weeks ago, and had a hilly 10.5 mile run on Sunday. That one aggravated some tendon issues, but everything will heal in time because I said it would.

6. INDEPENDENT DAMES received another awesome blog review. This one is of particular interest to middle school teachers.

7. CHAINS has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection!

8. Did I mention how great my broccoli looks?

The coffee is done and my characters are whining for me to hurry up because they have a lot to do today. See ya!

Having your new book - the book you've worked on for years, dreamed about, fussed about, cried over, danced with, bored your relatives to tears with ("aren't you done with that thing yet?") - having that book arrive is the closest thing possible to the moment when you give birth to a child.

Without the mess and a room full of strangers wearing latex gloves and face masks.

Without further ado, meet INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution.

::wipes tears from eyes::


DAMES is a 40-page non-fiction historical picture book that highlights the revolutionary activity of 80 women and girls you've probably never heard of.

( When you spend more than a decade on a project, you want to show it off. )

Don't know about where you live, but this morning is one of the most beautiful we've had in a while. When the Creature With Fangs and I stepped outside, she looked around and said "Dang! Why can't it be like this all the time?"

So, basking in natural goodness, I make Five Friday Announcements:

1. TWISTED has been chosen as a YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominee. The list of nominees is stellar; be sure to go through it. Teens who read titles on the list get to vote for their favorites during Teen Read Week, October 12-18, 2008.

2. In related news, the paperback version of TWISTED goes on sale in 20 days! I'll be celebrating it at the river's end bookstore in Oswego, NY on May 15th, 6pm. TWISTED has also apparently been released in England. I found the cover on the Amazon.UK website. You'd think they'd let the author know about these things, wouldn't you?

3. Speaking of new releases, we're about five weeks away from the release of INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution. It's illustrated by Matt Faulkner, who did the great art for THANK YOU, SARAH, and I am so excited about it I keep skipping, which amuses the dog.

4. Harold Underdown (author of the very important and useful COMPLETE IDIOT"S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING CHILDREN'S BOOKS) has posted an extremely good page about getting an agent or artist's representative. If you are thinking that it's time, go to this part of his website before you do anything else.

5. Susane Colasanti windowlight has great photos from Viking's 75th birthday party. ETA - Publisher's Weekly noted the party, too! Note to Uncle Viking: I have my calendar out: what's the date for the 100th?

This weekend I'm researching and running and working in the garden. What are you going to do?

I am writing this in the Springfield, IL airport, which is wrapped in fog so thick the planes can't land or take off.

Yesterday was a crazy busy wonderful day at one of the best state reading/English teacher conferences I have ever been privileged to attend. Thank you to everyone in IL who greeted me to kindly and made a long day a lot of fun. I gave the lunch speech, a workshop on revision, and a workshop in which I divulged the "stories behind the stories"of my novels. And met a lot of very enthusiastic teachers at three book signing sessions. AND, last night, I read a chapter of CHAINS for the first time in public, which went over very well.

I ran into a couple of old and new friends, but didn't have much time to chat.

Lisa Yee and her traveling Peep.

Richard Peck and I chatted while waiting for our suitcases and in line for coffee.

I just gawked at Brian Selznik

This teacher was so, so, so sweet because she looked through DAMES and made all the right cooing noises and exclamations. And I am a heel for forgetting her name, but I will always remember how happy she made me.

I met Liz last year when I was in St. Louis on book tour; we got to hang out a bit and talk about historical fiction.

OK, fog is lifting, plane is boarding. Thank you, Fine Teachers of the Land of Lincoln! I salute you!

I am dashing outside the Cave of Revision for a quick breath of fresh air. All is going fairly well. I am working long days, but love being so submerged in my story. One of the characters is now found only on the cutting room floor. Eliminating her cleared up all kinds of structural problems in the text.

Now if I could just get rid of the hamsters who have taken up residence in my lungs, life would be peachy. I am coughing like a seal with a three-pack a day habit, a seal who hangs out under the dock and steals French fries from unsuspecting tourists, a seal who works as a carnie with a traveling fair and writes rambling screeds about walrus conspiracy theories. I sound like a Seal Gone Bad.

Thanks to a generous contribution from Mary Pearson and Aliya, who contributed from England (!), I am 94% on the way to making my Team in Training fund raising goal. All I need is another $150. Will you put me over the top?

OK, the fresh air is killing me. Back into the cave I go.


2008 Resolution Tracker
Week 7 - Miles Run: 22, YTD: 146.75
Week 7 - Days Written: 7, YTD: 49

45 weeks left this year.

We got about 18 inches of snow yesterday. The Forest looks like someone painted it with thick fondant icing. I drove through a white-out down to Syracuse (where they didn't get any of the storm at all, not even a flake) so I could talk about writing historical fiction to a group of teachers.

These weary warriors had worked all day, then came to the OCM BOCES for my talk, which is part of an ongoing series for history teachers. Thank you all for your kind attention and for the pickles.

Today is a spinning plate day. I have to go over the page proofs for Independent Dames with magnifying glasses and a fine-toothed comb, work on my WIP draft, send more content to Theo for the website update, deal with old email and sneak in a run.

Speaking of running (yeah, you knew that was coming, didn't you?).... I am 81% of the way to reaching my fundraising goal for the the Team in Training Half Marathon. (The money goes to fund cancer research, which pretty much affects everyone, so share some love. Please.) I will send a copy of the TWISTED audio version to whomever puts me over the top!

And thank you, kmessner for the shout-out!

Last but not least, my daughter Stef sent along a link to an article about the increasing number of women facing sexual assault on college campuses after drinking alcohol. The article slams the researchers for their approach to the issue. Comments, anyone?


2008 Resolution Tracker
Week 6 - Miles Run: 20 (3.1 of which were rather chilly), YTD: 124.75
Week 6 - Days Written: 7, YTD: 42

46 weeks left this year.

I live a charmed life. There is no doubt.

In the last 48 hours, friends of mine in the publishing world, in education, fellow writers, relatives, high school buddies, readers, and students getting by on ramen noodles have contributed a total of $1,100 to our race effort!!! That means we are already more than 20% of the way to our goal of $5,000!

I am stunned and humbled.

I got a little teary-eyed yesterday as I read through emails from people who have lost dearly loved parents, siblings, and children to cancer. It feels like everyone is touched by this and reminded me again why our effort is important.

Thank you all very, very much. If you haven't donated yet, please go to the Laurie Halse Anderson Team Website and contribute. If you want to support the guy-side of this effort, go to my husband's site and give money there. The totally awesome Nancy Werlin donated to Scot, so if you give on his side of the ledger, you'll be in extremely good company.

If you can't afford to donate (I totally understand - been there and have the tee-shirt), please help out by blogging about our cause and bugging your friends who have so much money they can afford to blow three dollars on a cup of coffee. You know who I'm talking about.

(For the record, we ran at the gym yesterday. BH ran 5 miles. I only ran 3 because my knee was a little squeaky.)

Along with the fundraising email, yesterday marked the official beginning to The Busy Season. This Spring I am traveling to Chattanooga, TN (they're reading SPEAK for One City/One Book), Springfield, IL (Illinois Reading Council), Nashua, NH (SCBWI New England), and San Jose, CA for writing workshops.

In addition, I have a new picture book coming out in June that has such a gorgeous cover I can't wait any longer to show you.



What do you think? (I'll be giving more info about the content of the book and some sneak pictures of the inside soon.) I've been working on this project for a veeeeeeeeery long time. It's hard to believe it's actually coming out.

Dang!! I was jumping up and down so hard I spilled the coffee again.

I have miles to go before I sleep tonight: chapters to revise, a gazillion emails, and new material I have to generate for the website. Thanks again for a great kick-off to the race in June. Please wish me luck with the Revision Race of February.

edited to add Today is Langston Hughes' birthday, one of my favorite poets and guiding lights.

Lake Placid Half-Marathon countdown: 136 days

See, the thing about my Aunt Jan was, she didn't have much patience for moping. "Knock it off and get to work," I can hear her saying. So I have to stop. Right. Now. Don't get me wrong, I am still very, very sad about her death. But I am afraid she'll haunt me if I don't live the way she taught us, which means hard work, laughter, and integrity.

So back to work.

I've talked about my writing process here a couple of times. For my new novel, I am approaching it a bit differently. First, it is historical fiction, so it has to be grounded in actual events. That means I have to know what the heck I am talking about. (Which is why I am reading myself blind right now.) It also means I have to work from an outline from Day One. So as I am researching and finding the nuggets that I want to include, I am also building an outline for the book itself. This feels good. Right now the outline is very rough. I am psyched about filling it in.

The sketches for my new historical picture books have been arriving. I LOVE THEM!!! They are brilliant and funny and I wish, I wish I could show them to you right now, but if I do, the publishing gods will frown. As the book moves farther along in the publication process, I'll keep you updated. As soon as I can share things like the title and peeks at the art, I will. (I think we're shooting for a Summer 2007 publication date.)

PS - Here is what made me smile this morning. A little birdie forwarded a link to a teen's blog, to an entry where she wrote that she was supposed to be studying for her Chemistry Regents, but she was reading CATALYST instead. ::grinning::

PPS - Thank you so much to everyone who wrote with such kindness and support yesterday, especially those folks who asked that their screened comments remain screened. Much appreciated.