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Authors on the Verge: Meet Nancy Viau, middle grade novelist
Posted by Cynthea on October 9th, 2008
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Nancy Viau
This week we have the notable Nancy Viau, but here’s the thing. Snoop and Cynthea have been away for the last several months, and you might have noticed AOTV had to go offline for a while. As a result, Nancy, our latest Author on the Verge, is now an Author in Print! (AIP!!!) Her debut novel Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head
Here’s a bit more about this lovely lady.
She’s a former teacher, freelance writer, and mother who believes her kids have done an excellent job of raising her. Nancy’s stories, poems, and essays can be found in Highlights, Highlights High-Five, Writer’s Digest, the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, and many other publications.
Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in her Head
And here’s the scoop on her debut novel …
Sam is a ten-year-old mad scientist, but she doesn’t blow up stuff or change kids into cats that bark. She just has a little trouble keeping a lid on her temper, and she “ab-so-lutely” loves science - especially rocks. But science isn’t all that helpful when it comes to the big questions like, why does she get into trouble, why is her sister so annoying, and why won’t anyone talk about her dad? When Sam’s mom announces a trip to the Grand Canyon, it’s a dream-come-true. But if Sam can’t get a grip on her emotions, she’s going to miss seeing her favorite rocks, and miss finding out the answers to some of her questions. Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head is a hilarious and touching debut that introduces middle graders to an exuberant new character who joyfully studies the world around her, and her own heart.
Now let’s start the interview, Nancy. When you received your offer, you …
… tried desperately to shift into second gear and answer the phone at the same time. I had just learned to drive a stick, and believe me, my technique wasn’t pretty. Any distraction made me lose my concentration, and seeing that 212 area code was a huge one! I parked (barely), ran into the local market, and got the good news from my agent–Abrams Books for Young Readers/Amulet Books had made an offer.
So now that you have a contract, what’s it like to be on the other side–on the verge of publication? What does it feel like to be official?
It’s official? Really? I still have the feeling someone will wake me up, and I’ll find out it’s not real. I can hold the galley in my hand, sign it, talk about it at school visits, present at conferences with the Class of 2k8, etc., but until I see my book on an actual shelf in a bookstore, I’m not convinced. That being said, I can’t wait for it to be released, and I’m especially looking forward to waving it in front of my neighbor who last year asked me, “So, when you printin’ that book out.” Ha!
Tell us a little bit about your path to publication.
I started out writing short fiction and poetry in 1999. I spent a lot of time attending conferences, going to workshops, and soaking up everything I could about writing via my favorite instructor–Mr. Internet. A few acceptances drizzled in and I was hooked. A crit group friend suggested I try essay writing as a way to get more credits, and I went on to pen dozens of essays for the Philadelphia Inquirer and well-known magazines. But in 2005 (or was it 06?), I decided I needed to focus ONLY on writing for children if I wanted to be a children’s book author. (duh.) This was a big turning point for me. I found it difficult to give up the instant gratification of selling pieces to magazines and newspapers. I concentrated on picture books, but it wasn’t until I tried my hand at longer stories that things began buzzing. Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head was a chapter book at first, and Dan Lazar of Writers House saw it had potential to be more. A while after signing with Dan, he encouraged me to expand it, and that buzzing got louder!
And here’s our favorite question. How many rejections did you receive IN GENERAL (not just for these books) before you landed your first major publishing contract?
- 0-10
- 11-25
- 26-50
- 51-100
- 100+
- I didn’t keep track because it was too depressing.
- I didn’t keep track because I am not that organized.
- They don’t make a number that big.
- I plead the fifth.
Tell us about one of your most heart-breaking rejections and about one of your best.
Oooh, I DO have a heart-breaker! Before writing longer fiction, I was obsessed with picture books. (Still am.) I had queried an agent in my Top Five list, and received a lovely personal response, and an invite to revise. I revised. It happened again. Personal response, plus revision request. Friends who know this agent all agreed, “You’re in! He/she NEVER does this!” I revised two more times, and then got my final rejection. But the worst part was that the agent passed with a standard comment about the lack-luster picture book market. I’m guessing my revisions just weren’t up to par. I would have handled the truth better than a pat answer. To date (and after 9 years of writing for, and being rejected by, all kinds of publishers) this was the only rejection that brought me to tears.
My favorite rejection was short and simple. The editor simply wrote “Thanks, but no.” Of course, the real reason I like this one is because the manuscript wasn’t even mine. (And yes, I forwarded it to its rightful owner.)
How long did it take to sell your books, from putting the first words on the page to receiving an offer? Here are your choices.
- 0-3 months
- 3-6 months
- 6 months to 1 year
- 1 year - 2 years
- 2 years - 3 years
- 3 years+
- The manuscript has been around longer than I have.
Prior to selling your books, you were …
a stay-at-home mom.
Being a mom was, and still is, my full-time job. I wrote during nap times, half-times, snack times, waiting-in-the-car times, before 7:00 AM and after midnight. Now that some of my kids are grown, and some are in school, it’s easier.
(Snoop says, it gets easier? Because I’m getting really sick of playing
“Pull the Ear on the Bunny” with Cynthea’s kid.)
Now that you’ve sold some books, you plan to …
… reintroduce myself to my family, then hopefully, sell another book.
What are some of the new things you worry about now that you have a contract?
Will I earn out my advance? Will I get another contract? Will I freeze if I have to give a speech? Will I meet my own high expectations of what I should do in the near future, and in the distant future? Will I ever stop worrying?
If you’ve already begun or have finished the editorial process with your publishing house, let you us know what that’s been like.
Revision is my favorite part, especially the final edits when I need to insert a comment here or there using my favorite colored pencil. I think I’ve always had a thing for colored pencils.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Ask yourself every day how much this means to you. If time passes and you lose your passion, your chance of success gets slimmer. Do whatever it takes to stay motivated, but don’t beat yourself up if you need to take a break. And line up those cheerleaders–the people in your life that, no matter what, support your efforts, and tell you that someday your dream will come true.
Any inspiring quotes you live by?
Here are a few words to the song “Low” by Coldplay that get stuck in my head and keep me typing on tough days: you think you’ll never get it right, but you’re wrong, you might.
(What?! Snoop says. I’m always right, baby!)
Describe an Ah-ha moment you’ve had that influenced your writing in a positive way.
A little Ah ha moment came the day I discovered the FIND key on Microsoft Word. Bye-bye crutch words like: all, that, just, and always. A bigger Ah ha moment came when I realized how freeing it was to write anything over 500 words. I’d been so conditioned to write within specific word counts that it was as if someone unleashed the dictionary in my head.
Finally, Snoop wants to know: do your characters talk to you? Hmmmm? Any bunnies maybe?
I hear this a lot–authors saying their characters talk to them, especially at night. I imagine whole chunks of dialogue spilling out from invisible kids who hover over my bed and think: How nice! MY characters don’t do this. (H E L L O, characters … are you listening?) Seriously, the best I can come up with is that my characters’ thoughts mesh with my own and all that whining, giggling, and questioning makes me a little crazy, and a little productive, day or night.
This concludes our interview with our latest author Nancy Viau. We wish Nancy much success with her novel Samantha Hansen has Rocks in Her Head which is in stores now!
To see what Nancy’s up to these days, visit her website at http://www.nancyviau.com or her blog at http://nancy-v.livejournal.com.
accomplished
WFCAT awarded the Brillante Weblog Premio - 2008
Posted by Cynthea on August 11th, 2008
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Lori Calabrese who has an awesome writer’s resource of her own has just honored WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS with the Brillante Weblog Premio award. I can only assume by the name of this award that it comes from somewhere in Italy–I feel very chic! As part of the goodness that the Brillante award is, I’d like to pass it on to … Snoop, envelope, please ….
- Lisa Yee for her fabulous blog provides readers with an inside “peep” to the author’s life (and it’s funny, too!).
- Alice Pope, editor of the CWIM
- And … Cynthia Leitich Smith whose blog Cynsations is an industry standard for keeping up with the latest news in the children’s book market.
Congratulations, ladies!
Authors on the Verge: Meet Gayle C. Krause, picture book author
Posted by Cynthea on July 11th, 2008
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This week we have Gayle C. Krause whose debut picture book Rock Star Santa will be released this winter with Scholastic. Rock Star Santa depicts a unique Christmas Eve involving a child and a different side of Santa. Gayle also writes MG and YA historical fiction, fantasy and contemporary novels. She is a reviewer of children’s books for Children’s Literature.com and holds a M.S. degree in Elementary Education.
Now let’s start the interview, Gayle. When you received your offer, you …
I took the news very calmly, thinking that if I got too excited or celebrated too much something might happen to nix the whole thing. It was like living in a fantasy world and each time I thought about my book being published by a major publishing house, I felt great inside and somehow managed to find a special energy that spilled over into my daily life.
So now that you have a contract, what’s it like to be on the other side–on the verge of publication? What does it feel like to be official?
It’s overwhelmingly reassuring that my writing qualifies to be published at a big house and it encourages me to continue with my WIPS and create new ones for the future.
Tell us a little bit about your path to publication.
Shortly after I started to write seriously, I started an online critique group with SCBWI members I had met at a conference. We faithfully submitted to each other every month for two years. Occasionally, we still run things by each other as we have all become published in one way or another. I also attended a nationally acclaimed writing workshop and the members formed a critique group of our own called Cliff House Writers. We continue to meet twice a year for weekend writing seminars. My first publication was in Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul 2 and magazine publications shortly followed. My story “Cookie Lessons” has been selected to appear in the Stories for Children Anthology coming out later this year. I;ve attended numerous SCBWI conferences, a HNS conference and the Rutgers One on One Conference, where I met my editor for Rock Star Santa.
And here’s our favorite question. How many rejections did you receive IN GENERAL (not just for these books) before you landed your first major publishing contract?
- 0-10
- 11-25
- 26-50
- 51-100
- 100+
- I didn’t keep track because it was too depressing.
- I didn’t keep track because I am not that organized.
- They don’t make a number that big.
- I plead the fifth.
Tell us about one of your most heart-breaking rejections and about one of your best.
Heart-breaking - I had a MG historical fiction novel at a small publishing house that the editor I was working work all but assured me was on the road to publication, having passed several rounds of the editorial staff. Then out of the blue, the publisher decided NOT to publish it and the editor was stunned, as was I. (This was my first experience with almost getting published)
(Bummer!!!! Snoop says. That’s the worst, man.)
Best - An editor of a large house sent a personal rejection letter praising my contemporary novel, but suggesting the MC needed more depth. Though she rejected the manuscript she included her phone extension. I assume that was her way of saying, contact me when you revise the manuscript.
How long did it take to sell your books, from putting the first words on the page to receiving an offer? Here are your choices.
- 0-3 months
- 3-6 months
- 6 months to 1 year
- 1 year - 2 years
- 2 years - 3 years
- 3 years+
- The manuscript has been around longer than I have.
Prior to selling your books, what were you doing, Gayle?
Working a full-time job unrelated to writing as a Teacher of Early Childhood Education at a Career and Technical Center and a Community College, training prospective teachers.
Now that you’ve sold some books, you plan to …
I plan to pursue a full-time writing career concentrating on picture books and novels.
Tell us about a typical day in your writing life.
I write from 8:00 AM to 12:00 P.M. each day when the house is quiet. In the evening, after dinner, I check websites and submission guidelines for targeted houses and/or agents.
(Snoop offers a suggestion to readers: to learn more about targeting editors and agents, see our article in the WFCAT crash course.)
What are some of the new things you worry about now that you have a contract?
A children’s editor once told me, long before I was offered my contract, that the second book is the hardest to come by. Sometimes that comes to mind, but I’m trying to prove her wrong by writing, writing, writing and submitting, submitting, submitting.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Research! Research! Research! I don;t just mean for historical information or veracity of facts needed for the writing process. I mean read all of the message boards and numerous internet connections. They’re invaluable. And get involved in a critique group either online or in person. And Write! Write! Write!
Describe an Ah-ha moment you’ve had that influenced your writing in a positive way.
I recently took an online course where I used one of my completed manuscripts for the homework assignments and through this course was able to see some shortcomings in my writing and am now revising the entire manuscript for sensory applications which make a huge difference in the story.
Aside from WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS: A CRASH COURSE<—shameless plug, are there any other books on craft you recommend?
Novelist’s Boot Camp - Todd A. Stone, Writer’s Digest Publications
Now Write! by various authors. Edited by Sherry Ellis, Penguin
Finally, Snoop wants to know: where do you get your ideas?
Rhyme explosions are popping in my brain all of the time. These are the seeds for my rhyming picture books. With my novels, the main character comes to me first and then depending on the genre, I either research historical facts or I go straight to writing. And when I write it’s like reading a book. I never know what’s on the next page.
(Me either, says Snoop. I never know what the next page is going to taste like.)
This concludes our interview with our latest author the glamorous Gayle C. Krause. We wish Gayle much success with her picture book. You ROCK! To see what Gayle’s up to these days, visit her website at http://www.gayleckrause.com.
Also, fellow AOTV author Chris Rettstatt’s first novel, the first in a gorgeous fantasy series KAIMIRA
Free-tique winners declared!
Posted by Cynthea on July 5th, 2008
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Hey everyone,
Winners of the last free-tique round were just declared. If you did not receive an email, do know that Snoop enjoyed your answers and he hopes to hear from you again in the next free-tique round.
Now look out July!
Authors on the Verge: Meet Meg Medina, middle-grade and picture book author
Posted by Cynthea on July 2nd, 2008
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This week, we have Meg Medina, a Cuban American writer who works in picture books, middle grade fiction and young adult fiction. Her work blends traditions of Latin American literature with modern concerns of growing up. (Snoop says, WOAH!) She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and three children.
First, here’s a little bit about the books we look forward to from the lovely Meg!
I have two books in the works. The first is MILAGROS: GIRL FROM AWAY (Holt, October 2008), which is the adventure story of 12-year-old Milagros de la Torre, daughter of a ruthless pirate and a magical farmer. When her island home is attacked, she is forced to abandon everything she has ever known with only her wits, a dinghy, and manta rays to guide her.
My second book is TIA ISA WANTS A CAR (forthcoming from Candlewick Press). In this picture book, a girl and her favorite tía scheme to buy the first family automobile.
Now let’s start the interview, Meg. What happened when you received your offer?
I stared at the computer screen in silence for a long time. I suddenly felt as though I had walked through the magic mirror to the place where I could say “I am a writer” and be taken seriously. Then I called my husband and children over to the screen, and we all screamed and cried together.
The big news is that it’s an awful lot like being an unpublished writer. I AM thrilled that my family and friends are excited and that early reports about MILAGROS are positive. But in the end, I am always creating work. I still have to sit in the chair and face a blank page. I still wonder if I have what it takes to do it again. I still crack my knuckles and overeat when it’s going badly. Maybe that changes after the sixth or tenth book? I hope so!
(Snoop says, I know what you mean about the overeating. When things go wrong for me, every vegetable in the country should shake with fear!)
Tell us a little bit about your path to publication.
I had been writing freelance nonfiction for about 10 years and working as a development director at a school for youth with learning disabilities. I spent many years working in jobs that had a bit to do with writing, but were not exactly what I wanted to be doing: writing novels. When I turned 40, I decided to dare. So, I quit my job (frightening my husband in the process) and wrote for about a year. It took six months to find an agent and about a month to sell the manuscript. I hone my craft by reading voraciously, sharing work with a few trusted friends, and by attending workshops when I can afford to.
And here’s our favorite question. How many rejections did you receive IN GENERAL (not just for these books) before you landed your first major publishing contract?
- 0-10
- 11-25
- 26-50
- 51-100
- 100+
- I didn’t keep track because it was too depressing.
- I didn’t keep track because I am not that organized.
- They don’t make a number that big.
- I plead the fifth.
Tell us about some of your most heart-breaking rejections and some of your best.
The hardest rejection was my first, actually. I had completed MILAGROS. The agent worked for a very reputable agency in New York, and I had added hope because this person was the cousin of a very close friend. When he passed, I felt especially embarrassed. My rejections from publishers were actually tolerable. Almost all gave thoughtful letters and reasons. In fact, I kept some of their worries in mind later when I revised my manuscript.
How long did it take to sell your books, from putting the first words on the page to receiving an offer? Here are your choices.
- 0-3 months
- 3-6 months
- 6 months to 1 year
- 1 year – 2 years
- 2 years – 3 years
- 3 years+
- The manuscript has been around longer than I have.
Prior to selling your books, you were …
Working a part-time job unrelated to writing.
I was miserable working at jobs that were somehow more responsible-sounding than “I write fiction.” What a waste of many happy writing years!
Now that you’ve sold some books, you plan to …
Tell us about a typical day in your writing life.
I’m at my computer by 10 am, and I write until about 2 pm every day. I edit in hard copy, a few chapters at a time. When I’m halfway through, I give the manuscript to a trusted friend. That’s when I make sure I’ve got the right hook, tone, and plot line. I do the same when I reach the end.
What are some of the new things you worry about now that you have a contract?
Well, worrying has changed as I’ve moved through the production process. In the beginning, I worried a lot about how to make a strong relationship with my editor so that I would have the courage to continue to make new work. But now, near the publication date, I worry about marketing things. How will I make friends with book sellers? How will I reach readers in a way that matters? How can I sell my books nationwide from my porch in Virginia?
If you’ve already begun or have finished the editorial process, tell us what that’s been like.
Each editor works differently. With one, I work almost exclusively through email and letters. With the