Whoa: Life, NESCBWI and BEA
I'm mad late on my NESCBWI recap, and there have already been lots of blogs written about its fabulousness. arialas did a nice roundup here. But I'll add my two cents also. The conference was a bit busier than my usual conference-going because I was running around volunteering and didn't snap any photos. I was the one responsible for the Book Buzz Party. So my image to go with this post will have to be a Bee.
See what a busy bee I've been? I planned a Book Buzz. It's keeping me young.
My favorite workshops were by Lisa Papademetriou and Liza Ketchum.
Lisa's was titled Getting Unstuck in Writing and In Life. Fav takeaways:
*A block is your mind in revision.
*All you have to do is write a bad manuscript. Then you can revise it.
*Be where you are.
*Write to your strengths. Revise to your weaknesses.
*Don't send off pages to your critique group if you're stuck.
*If you're stuck in your plot, reveal a secret.
*Each scene should have a turning point.
Liza's workshop was called He Said, She Said: Dialogue as an Agent of Change. Fav takeaways:
*Think of dialogue as salt for the palate.
*Dialogue is the spine of your story. It shows the story's conflict and reveals the emotional line of the story.
*Read a lot of plays to improve your dialogue.
*Speech is what makes us human.
*We haw over enemies' words.
*If you're writing historical read diaries and letters from the time period. Write down reoccurring phrases.
*Pay attention to what's *not* said.
*Read your dialogue out loud.
Okay dokay. That's my NESCBWI recap. Now for what's exciting at Book Expo America: BEA.
The books I'm looking forward to reading are Matched by Ally Condie (Dutton). This is a Julie Strauss-Gabel book. I luv the books she edits. It's a dystopian novel, set in a world where people are paired with their ideal mates.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Harper) is a dystopian novel from the author of Before I Fall, in which love is considered a disease.
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Harper) is first in an SF series, pseudonymously co-authored by James Frey, about alien teenagers hiding on earth; optioned by Steven Spielberg for DreamWorks.
I picked up a few others including one from Chronicle's new YA line: Prisoners in the Palace that looks promising. On the back, they compare it to two of my favorite books: Catherine, Called Birdy and The Luxe. It's set in 1800s London. Yay for Chronicle.
Also I'm intrigued by Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (Houghton Mifflin) a YA romance set in a Victorian insane asylum.
Honestly there wasn't like *that* much I wanted this year. Which is weird because I usually go ballistic at BEA and come home with a ton of books. I blame this on the black cover phenomenon, which I'm a tad sick of. It's making me long for the pink cover days--though admittedly at some point pink got irritating as well. So I commend Dutton on their lovely Matched cover.
Shimmery white pearl is the new black.
See what a busy bee I've been? I planned a Book Buzz. It's keeping me young.
My favorite workshops were by Lisa Papademetriou and Liza Ketchum.
Lisa's was titled Getting Unstuck in Writing and In Life. Fav takeaways:
*A block is your mind in revision.
*All you have to do is write a bad manuscript. Then you can revise it.
*Be where you are.
*Write to your strengths. Revise to your weaknesses.
*Don't send off pages to your critique group if you're stuck.
*If you're stuck in your plot, reveal a secret.
*Each scene should have a turning point.
Liza's workshop was called He Said, She Said: Dialogue as an Agent of Change. Fav takeaways:
*Think of dialogue as salt for the palate.
*Dialogue is the spine of your story. It shows the story's conflict and reveals the emotional line of the story.
*Read a lot of plays to improve your dialogue.
*Speech is what makes us human.
*We haw over enemies' words.
*If you're writing historical read diaries and letters from the time period. Write down reoccurring phrases.
*Pay attention to what's *not* said.
*Read your dialogue out loud.
Okay dokay. That's my NESCBWI recap. Now for what's exciting at Book Expo America: BEA.
The books I'm looking forward to reading are Matched by Ally Condie (Dutton). This is a Julie Strauss-Gabel book. I luv the books she edits. It's a dystopian novel, set in a world where people are paired with their ideal mates.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Harper) is a dystopian novel from the author of Before I Fall, in which love is considered a disease.
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (Harper) is first in an SF series, pseudonymously co-authored by James Frey, about alien teenagers hiding on earth; optioned by Steven Spielberg for DreamWorks.
I picked up a few others including one from Chronicle's new YA line: Prisoners in the Palace that looks promising. On the back, they compare it to two of my favorite books: Catherine, Called Birdy and The Luxe. It's set in 1800s London. Yay for Chronicle.
Also I'm intrigued by Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (Houghton Mifflin) a YA romance set in a Victorian insane asylum.
Honestly there wasn't like *that* much I wanted this year. Which is weird because I usually go ballistic at BEA and come home with a ton of books. I blame this on the black cover phenomenon, which I'm a tad sick of. It's making me long for the pink cover days--though admittedly at some point pink got irritating as well. So I commend Dutton on their lovely Matched cover.
Shimmery white pearl is the new black.