Monday, June 18, 2018

Week Three on the Submission trail

     Okay, okay. So it may seem like my chronology isn't exactly true to the calendar, but it really is week three on the submission trail. Trust me.
      Summer is here and Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers happened last week. The week previous to that I was critiquing other people's manuscripts every free moment except for the day I went to the library and did some more research. I checked out award winning books again. Some were classics like Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit and others were more recent like Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny. According to Rick Walton, I should be reading stories that have been published in the past seven years, but with the limited time I had I wasn't able to find books that fit in that time frame.
       I have learned some things though, as I have been doing every week and hope to continue to do every week from here on out. First of all, I need to be more prepared. Prior to going to the library I need to do my research. I could stay in the library for hours and just peruse the shelves all by myself. No problem. My kids on the other hand. . . They have fun at the library, don't get me wrong, but at ages 2, 5, 7, 12, and 15 they can only stand being in a quiet place where they're not allowed to touch many things for so long.
       Second, of course, I need to look at publication dates and make sure they are recent publications. This will give me a better idea of what is being published now.
      Third, a trip to a local bookstore is a good idea. Maybe I'll drag my hunny to a bookstore for date night this week. This will ensure I don't break the bank but I still get my research done.
       This is my plan for this week.
       Now that I have my plan can I just geek out about Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers?!? It is such a fantastic conference for writers that are serious about becoming published! I was afraid that my novel wasn't worth the money I was spending on the conference, but that is not the case at all. Every penny I spent on that conference was worth it and will continue to pay for itself well into the future. I can already tell. Over the next few blog posts I'll get deeper into the things that I've learned and what I'm applying to my writing. I'm so excited to get to that application phase. I need to catch up on my computer critiques and get those sent out to the people in my class, but soon enough I will be able to begin implementing these new concepts/modes of research. I feel so blessed to have been a member of The Wolves--Trent Reedy's Workshop. Haaa-woooooooo!
        I can't wait to get going on this! Good luck this week!! If you're on the road with me leave me a note. I'd love to know I'm doing this with someone else.
     

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