Stone Stoop

Wheee! Piggy galleys!

2011-11-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Lovely surprise in the mail today: "F&G" (folded & gathered) galleys of my upcoming book, I KNOW A WEE PIGGY, illustrated by the hilariously clever Henry Cole. Here's the eye-catching cover. Ain't it perty? Look for it in June of 2012. It's dedicated to my dear friends, Doris and Atwil Gwaltney, and our beautiful town of Smithfield, Virginia, "The Ham Capital of the World."

Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, published by The Penguin Group. Pictures and cover copyright © 2012 by Henry Cole.

And here's the layout for the dust jacket:

When I do school visits, I tell the kids that one of the most important things a writer needs is patience. This book definitely took that, but holding these gorgeous, colorful galleys, it was worth the wait!

Kim Norman

TradiTIONNNNN!

2011-11-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mike (Tevye) Willard and I (Golde) with the talented Dempsey girls, the two elder of whom are playing our two youngest daughters in Fiddler on the Roof at Smithfield Little Theatre. (I know, that's a little confusing!) Such a talented and fun cast. I'm really glad I did it -- and still 3 more weekends to go!

FREE BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY!

2011-07-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

Last year's Free Book special was so popular that I've decided to run another special for the 2011-2012 school year:
Any school that hires me for a 3/4 or full day author visit will receive a complete set of my hardback books for the library. If the school happens to be located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I'll even extend that offer for a HALF day visit!

See more about the offer on my website: kimnormanbooks.com

Kim Norman

My fuzzy new grand-dog!

2011-02-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

My son with his 40-pound (yes, 40-POUND) Newfie puppie, Niles. Oof!!

Dear Jim, how we miss him!

2011-01-16T09:22:00.000-08:00

Clearing out a room in my house, I came across a box of theater memorabilia -- photos and newspaper clippings. Here's a nice old clipping from the 80s featuring our dear Jim Hurst with Monica Crusner, an exchange student who lent us her talents during her stay. Many of us have reconnected with Monica -- thank you, FaceBook! -- who still looks this great NOW.

Remember those Peppermint Patties, Monica? We remember you fondly. We all miss dear Jim every time he cheerfully tells us to "silence your cell phones and beepers."

Kim

Four on a sled!

2010-12-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Lots of snow around here in southeastern Virginia. Deeper than my 17-year-old son has seen in his whole life.

The best sledding hill in this flat little tidewater town is right behind our house (lucky us!) so I went out with the super-sized Scholastic paperback of Ten on the Sled and found a quartet of good-natured models to pose with the book. So thank you to Kathryn, Emily, Marnie and Ev for being such good sports. And thanks to their moms and dads, too!

Happy sledding!

Kim Norman

ps: I think the super-sized Scholastic paperback (as well as regular-sized Scholastic paperback & an audio CD) are only available thru Scholastic Canada right now. I haven't seen it yet on the Scholastic US site -- but I could be wrong about that. The Sterling hardback is available... well... "everywhere books are sold" as the advertisements always say.

Warmest wishes to all!

2010-12-23T12:21:00.001-08:00

Pretty! A sideways Christmas Tree!

2010-12-23T02:14:00.000-08:00

Well, isn't that a pretty shape? Kind of like a sideways Christmas tree.

Since we're nearing the end of 2010, I decided to check my website's stats on StatCounter.com, which I've been using to track the site's visitors for over 3 years. (2007 is much lower because I started tracking partway thru the year.) I check it not infrequently for daily totals, but don't think to check yearly stats very often.

I'm pleased that I did. Here's a screen shot. I like the shape of this graph. Up up and away! (I blanked out my actual numbers. Hey, I'm not sharing EVERYTHING on this blog!) But the basic upward march is nice. Probably explains the spike in author school visit inquiries this year, although not entirely, since inquiries have more than doubled.

Merry half Christmas tree to you!

Kim Norman

Front page!

2010-12-14T10:41:00.001-08:00

I've been crossing my fingers that my new baby would make it to the front page animated "crawl" on Barnes & Noble. We finally made it. Yay! (See screen grab.) And we're sandwiched between some pretty big names, too. Hubby cocked an eyebrow when I when I showed him. The images had reshuffled and my "neighbor" had changed from President Obama to President Bush. LOL!

Kim Norman

Rehearsal Dinner

2010-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I brought my camera to the rehearsal dinner to snap photos of my fah-bulous cream-colored pumpkins & gourds. The fah-bulous arrangements themselves were thanks to the artistic skills of my dear friends Kristin & Lois. Thanks, girls! I owe you big time! Thanks also to my sister-in-law Karen who lent us a set of tea lights & mirror tiles which added lots of sparkle.

The groom's cake, by Kirsten Cook, was delicious. "Chocolate/chocolate" in the shape of an electric guitar with a little red "Camaro" and a Colonial tri-corn hat tucked in at the side.

Kim Norman
new mother-in-law!

"Famous" in Hannibal MO

2010-10-29T02:54:00.000-07:00

Home from Hannibal with tired feet! What lovely, friendly, generous folks I've been with for 2 days. No time to elaborate right now, (I'm still prepping for a workshop I'll be teaching today at the Va Educational Media Conference) so HERE'S A LINK TO AN ARTICLE IN THE QUINCY NEWSPAPER.

Kim Norman
whose feet are sore from standing all day Wednesday and then walking thru airports yesterday, but who still wants to give props to the sweet man, a new grandfather, who drove me from the Alamo car lot back to the St. Louis airport. Seriously nice folks in Missouri.

TEN ON THE SLED Giveaway!

2010-10-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

Go to Goodreads.com and enter to win a free copy of my newest, TEN ON THE SLED, (which is STILL enjoying bestseller status among new releases on B&N)... if it hasn't changed by the time you CLICK HERE. Click farther down for the GoodReads giveaway...

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Ten on the Sled

by Kim Norman

Giveaway ends November 30, 2010.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

GRRREAT REVIEW!

2010-10-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Signing hundreds copies of Jack of All Tails for some school visits later this week. Pretty hard to work efficiently with a cat who jumps into every box I open. But he's so cute, I indulge him.

Oh and I didn't properly announce: Ten on the Sled is officially released as of last week -- and launched with a fabulous review from Kirkus:

TEN ON THE SLED
Author: Norman, Kim
Illustrator: Woodruff, Liza

ISBN ( Hardback ): 978-1-4027-7076-0
Category: Picture Books
Classification: Seasons

A caribou, polar bear, moose, wolf, walrus, squirrel, bighorn sheep, fox, hare and seal all pile onto a toboggan, beginning a North Country riff on the familiar chant: “There were TEN on the sled / and the caribou said, / ‘Slip over! Slide over!’ / So they all slid over, / and Seal spilled out.” One by one, the animals tumble off, each with a different active verb (Hare hops out, Sheep shoots out, Walrus whirls out, etc.). The final line of each stanza is printed with lively disorder, swooping, jumping and sliding on the page. Woodruff adds extra humor by collecting all of the fallen animals in an increasingly bigger snowball that rolls down the hill alongside the toboggan. What with animal identification, counting, vocabulary building and print awareness all scaffolded on a can’t-lose rhyme, this one’s a keeper. (Picture book. 3-6)

###

Liza gave me permission to correct the reviewer's assumption that the snowball sled race is Liza's invention. I can't even take credit for it. That brilliant idea was suggested by a member of my critique group, Joe Kulka. Thanks, Joe!

Kim

Ten on the COUCH!

2010-09-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

A few more than ten, in fact: a big fat box of my newest book, TEN ON THE SLED, scheduled for release from Sterling only 3 weeks from now, on October 5th. Very proud to have my name on this book, made so fun and colorful by Liza Woodruff's BRRRRilliant illustrations. (Get it? Brrrrrr-rilliant?... in the Arctic? Ar ar!)

Also got some great news about the book last week. Shouldn't really blab what, but it's good. It's really good.

Kim Norman

P.S.... Aaaannnd THAT didn't take long, did it? My cat cannot RESIST an open box, even if it's way too small for him to fit his fat feline rump into it.

Have you ever...

2010-07-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

Found this somewhere, can't remember where. Just found it again, as an unfinished draft on my blog. After reading over the list, I thought it was ridiculously redundant with vaguely snobby "Have you ever gone to Europe" references. So I took out some of those and replaced them with a few of my own.

You're supposed to copy the list onto your blog and bold the items you have done in your life, so I did. Didn't think you could see the bolded text very well, so I started to do it in pale blue.. but it's too much work, so, oh well. Who's really going to read this anyway?

I'm pretty pathetic on the travel questions. I'm such a stick-in-the-mud when it comes to travel. Maybe as school visits build, I'll be doing more of that, too. Already have, in fact.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (well, sang anyway. Still do. Oh yeah, tamberine! That's playing, right?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (under the same stars!)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Well, Disneyland, no, but Disneyworld, yes.)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (love those little guys!)
10. Sang a solo (Good heavens yes.)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Traveled to Europe
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (not me, but grew up with those my parents fostered and adopted)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Swung out and jumped into a lake from a rope swing
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (the coolest -- it was an igloo!)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Visited Haiti
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (do now; not that much, really)
38. Picked apples and cooked something delicious with them
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Homeschooled your children
50. Gotten a ticket
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Taught a class
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (well, maybe 55 or 60 mph)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (Wheeee! Yesss!)
81. Written/composed a song
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (how famous is famous? Famous authors, yes.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (jeesh. how old is this list? Owning a cell is so exotic?)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day.

The above is kind of heavy on travel, (especially European travel) which I haven't done much. But there are other joys in life that are more homey. How about these I just added? (All things I've done)...

101. Jumped into a haystack from the hayloft
102. Hosted a foreign student
103. Been on a naval ship
104. Slept in a barn
105. Flown in a small plane (2 person)
106. Kept a journal for more than a year
107. Lived in Cuba (So there! I AM a world traveler!)
108. Taught a class
109. Touched the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
110. Kissed another actor/actress onstage
111. Accidentally fallen in front of an audience
(I stayed in character and managed to make it look like a prat fall. Ah, what grace.)
112. Won a national contest. (Hey, I didn't say I won FIRST prize!)
113. Rescued a wild baby bird
114. Caught a lizard with your bare hands
115. Baited a hook or scaled & gutted a fish
116. Seen a moose in the wild
117. Cared for a foster child
118. Worked with mentally challenged youth and/or adults
119. Found more than $200 (Found it in a 25-cent 2nd-hand book; 20-year-old bills)
120. Painted a theater set
121. Run a printing press
122. Developed film/paper in a darkroom
123. Fainted (couple seconds anyway. An inexperienced tobacco inhaler. So much for looking cool to my high school friends!)
124. Spoken or sung in front of more than, say, 350 people
125. Held a baby raccoon (They have a lovely spicy smell.)

Photo by by Public Domain Photos

Writing in the Pool

2010-07-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hey, call me crazy. I love writing outside, but it's 98 degrees today. Don't fret; my laptop is dry. It's on the deck BESIDE me. Ahh. What a great way to make a living.

Y'all come!

2010-06-22T04:53:00.001-07:00

I'll be signing books (free books!!) at the Sterling Publishing booth at ALA's (American Library Association) conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 27th, at 10am. If you're going to the conference, stop by to say hi!

Check out the cute poster Sterling created to display the schedule. Crocodaddy is happy to help publicize the event!

Kim Norman
--
http://www.kimnormanbooks.com/

JACK OF ALL TAILS, Dutton, 2007
THE CROCODADDY, Sterling, May 2009
(now also available as a Scholastic paperback selection)
TEN ON THE SLED, Sterling, 2010
ALL KINDS OF KITTENS, Sterling, 2010
TIME TRAVELING WITH DINOSAURS, Sterling, 2011
A WORLD OF WHALES, Sterling, 2011
I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN, Dutton, 2012

Croc on CD. So cute!

2010-06-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

My editor sent me sample versions of my new Crocodaddy Scholastic paperbacks. Very nice job. They look good. She also sent a handful of read-along CDs that Scholastic had created. They're adorable! The guy doing the reading (an actor named Marc Thompson) does a good job with pacing and rhythm. They added sound effects and music, which really do enhance the story. I am very proud to see my name on these new versions of my book.

Kim Norman

Thank you, Courtland Elementary!

2010-06-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

What a fun author visit I had yesterday at Courtland Elementary School in Fredericksburg, Virginia! Thank you a thousand times over to Tammy Jones, who coordinated the visit. Also a big thank you to Mrs. Steele, the principal, who was a good sport about manning the cute new Crocodaddy puppet I bought in Florida last month. I was delighted to learn that the students knew every word of "The Storytime Boogie," so another thank you to Mrs. Lipscomb for taking the time to teach it to the students before I arrived. And of course, an extra big thank you to the PTO for making the event possible. God bless them. What would we do without our school PTOs?

And now, most charming of all, a collection of thank you notes from 2nd graders, some of whom got to hold up some of the colored papers I use when we do a read-aloud of I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN. (Still 2 years away from publication.)

I wish I'd had time to scan them all, but here is a sampling. I love how accurately some of them drew my "Crocodaddy-colored" green suit... all the way down to my green sandals! Thank YOU, Courtland students, for making me feel so welcome!

I love that this student used artistic license and added a green bow to my hair. Maybe I need to add that to my outfit!

The above is a reference to my "Evil Inner Editors" who say ugly things inside my head when I'm struggling with a first draft. Kids really seem to get the concept, especially since I pair the sayings with funny, distorted images of myself saying things like "What makes you think YOU can write a book?"

Kim Norman

My shiny new book!

2010-05-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Ten on the Sled IN THE HOUSE! Received my first advance copy today. Gorgeous, colorful illustrations by Liza Woodruff; cool, silver foil-stamped title on the cover. Granted, Collin reading here is a little old for the book, dedicated to him and his brother Skylar. Hey, I wrote it as quickly as I could! And Sterling Publishing produced it fast, too. Great people there at Sterling.

It'll be in stores nationwide in October, just in time for the winter holidays!

Kim
proud mama and author

FREE BOOKS!!

2010-05-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Yup! FREE!
I'm trying a new promotion for the coming school year: To each school that schedules me for a FULL DAY visit during the 2010-2011 school year, I'll bring along a free copy of Jack of All Tails for every classroom in that school. (If the visit requires air travel, I'll ship the books for 50 cents apiece. But I usually drive to most visits within a 6 hour radius of my home in southeastern VA, in which case I can simply bring the books in my car.)

Jack of All Tails is a Penguin (Dutton) hardback WITH dust jacket; original manufacturer retail price: $15.99.

Details on my website at KIMNORMANBOOKS.COM

I love free stuff, especially free books. Don't you?

Kim Norman

5 Little Crocodiles

2010-05-03T06:29:00.001-07:00

Here's a PowerPoint presentation I created for my "5 Little Crocodiles" (Based on "Five Little Monkeys," obviously.) I tried to go the lazy route, using clipart, but there was no way I was going to find clipart for 5 different crocodiles in matching styles. If there's anything I hate, as a graphic artist, it's a flier that has been thrown together using a dozen pieces of clipart that look like they were drawn by a dozen different artists. (Right up there with my peeve about using too many typefaces or using a fancy font in illegible caps.)

So I went ahead and drew 5 little crocs. My drawing skills are pretty rusty, but it was fun. Super high tech: did the drawings on white printer paper. Scanned into Photoshop for coloring.

The basic rhyme is:

5 Little Crocodiles swimming in the lake.
One got cold and began to shake.
Crocodaddy said, "For goodness sake!
No more crocodiles swimming in the lake!"

Once we get to zero, the last line switches to, "Feed those crocs some nice hot steak!" (which explains the last graphic.)

Anyhow, it was fun to do. Hope the kids like it. I'm going to have to ask someone else to man the projector, since I do hand motions with the kids.

My sister-in-law Nelle helped me write one in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking families to whom I'll be presenting later this week. We switched lake to river, since so many Spanish words rhyme nicely with "rio." At the end, they're eating ice cream (helado frio. Nelle was brilliant to come up with that!) I'll probably trip over my tongue, fitting in all those quick syllables, but I think it will be fun.

Kim Norman

A room with a new view

2010-04-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Took my writing outside today -- even farther than my front yard. Tossed my laptop into the car and drove to the Windsor Castle parking lot. (Yes, I KNOW I could have walked the trail to get there, but I was eager to get on with the writing.) Set up my laptop on a table in the brand new picnic area and had the whole place to myself. Used my computer's camera to snap these photos of my surroundings. Lovely lovely day -- if a little bit sneezy!

Where I'm from

2010-04-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

Where I'm From
by Kim Norman

Inspired by George Ella Lyon's poem "Where I'm from"

I am from
Maine mosquitos and Virginia creeper.
From loon and lobster,
kudzu and Karo.
I am from pepper flecked corn chowder
and golden fried okra.
And for dessert,
patience,
whether the wait is for
steaming Indian pudding
or freezing pecan praline, home-churned.

I am from
Pink Pearl erasers and Luden's cough drops.
From September books,
stiff-spined and ink scented,
grown floppy soft and pinky smudged by June.
I am from summer sundresses and summer reading lists,
from Pooh Corner and E.B. White,
yellow roads and black stallions.
I am from card catalogs
and nickel fines on golden tickets
too precious to release.

I am from boy pranks
like
salted slugs writhing on sidewalks,
screaming cicadas tethered on strings,
or a tiny Cuban lizard flashing out of sight,
leaving its twitching tail in my surprised fingers.
I am from chess and Chinese checkers,
from battleships and "Do not pass Go."
I'm from Saturday morning cinnamon toast,
with Stooges and cartoons,
and from Sunday night popcorn
with Mickey and Walt.

I'm from Huntley and from Brinkley,
from Cambodia and Camelot,
from Dodge and Virginia City.
I am from the moon, ("One small step for a man,")
and from space, ("Danger, Will Robinson!")

I'm from diaries and Beta tapes,
records, 8-tracks and cassettes.
I am bound in books, boxes and baby clothes.
I am from these things, in these things,
whether remembered, forgotten or forsaken.
I have outgrown the sundresses but not the sun.
Nor the books...
Even if I give them away,
or pay the fines and return them,
I live on
in the stories.

###

This my first in a planned trio of poems based on George Ella Lyon's remarkable poem, "Where I'm from." The next two will likely cover young adulthood and motherhood. (Maybe it will become a 4-part series, if I get ambitious in my old age -- not so long from now!) Click HERE to read Ms. Lyon's original poem, which inspired my own.

Oh and, ps -- the above photo is one I took during the winter of 2010 on the new Windsor Castle trail. Okay, I'll admit the "yellow brick" is a little Photoshop trickery!

Crocodaddy on board!

2010-03-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

...on a bulletin board, that is. This is a bulletin board that greeted me at Margaret Beeks Elementary School in Blacksburg, VA last Friday. What a treat. I love the added crocodile balloon! A big thanks to Lindsay Barron and all the fine staff and PTO of Beeks, (not to mention a bright, enthusiastic student body) for making the visit such a success.

Equal thanks goes to Christel Reiber, PTO volunteer extraordinaire of Trimmer and Wallace Elementary Schools in York, Pennsylvania, which I visited the day before, on March 18th. Christel juggled books, toddlers and schedules to pull together a terrific pair of visits to sister schools. I only wish I'd remembered to pull out my camera for a photo.

Kim Norman

Headin' out!

2010-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

What a busy week ahead, (after a busy week LAST week!) but I'm excited about it. I'll be in York, Pennsylvania on Thursday, March 18th, visiting Trimmer and Wallace Elementary Schools. Then on Friday, I'll be in Blacksburg, VA, a few hours south, visiting Margaret Beeks Elementary.

Then, for icing on the cake, I'll be in Charlottesville on Saturday, attending the Festival of the Book. I've always meant to get to that and never have yet. So this will be a treat.

The BUSY part of last week was that I had two conferences, AND -- the best part -- got to meet and have dinner with my agent. It was such a great weekend!

Kim Norman

Fagan and his grandmas

2010-03-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

I think they look darned good to be the grandmothers of a 60-year-old man!

This is my 22-year-old son, Collin, of course, and my mother (standing) along with my husband's mother. Good show!

22-year-old Fagan

2010-03-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

So here's the makeup job I did on my son Collin, who is playing Fagan this weekend in a local production of OLIVER. Except for the clown white and hair graying stuff, most of it is regular women's makeup. I'm kind of proud of it.

Kim

My new look!

2010-03-05T15:21:00.001-08:00

Kicky and short... with highlights for the first time in my life! My boys are a little freaked out. They're used to their brown wren mom. I think I like their glam mom. She looks like a rich-and-famous-children's-book-author.

Kim

It's not polite to insult bears

2010-02-26T05:06:00.000-08:00

Darn these crummy bifocals. Yesterday I thought I read the following headline:

"Cruel winter's latest

insults bears downeast"

Then I read it again:
"Cruel winter's latest insult bears down on East"

Well thank goodness. I'd hate to think some rude "latest" is going around insulting bears in Maine.

It gave me such a grin that I have been inspired to "limerize" the following poem:

IT'S NOT POLITE TO INSULT BEARS
by Kim Norman

The bulletin caused me to frown,
and my brain wondered, "Black bears? or brown?"
Then I found my opaque,
Ursa Major mistake
was confusing a verb for a noun.

###

Lucky me!

2010-01-11T09:06:00.000-08:00

We made a happy choice, 18 years ago, when we bought our little house. It now sits on a street that hosts the entrance to a gorgeous walking trail through woods and marsh. Rare for us to see ice on the marsh, so I bundled up this morning, (two pairs of pants. Hey, can I help it I live in the south and only own lightweight pants?), grabbed my camera and went out to take a few photos.

So here's my plug for Smithfield, Virginia, as a nice day trip if you're visiting southeastern VA, (Williamsburg, Norfolk or Va. Beach.) "My" new trail to the still-under-construction Windsor Castle Park has just made it an even nicer visit. Pretty, yes?

Santa Baby for Writers

2009-12-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've finally made an actual VIDEO of my "Santa Baby for Writers" song parody. I know; no one is going to give me a job in Hollywood as a movie editor. Blame the dancing stockings' lack of rhythm on my limited cinematography skills.

Enjoy!

I've added videos to my website, too. A couple of song videos and one recorded while I was visiting Coventry Elementary School last year.

KIMNORMANBOOKS.COM

Happy holidays!

Kim

An oldie but goodie

2009-11-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a song parody I recorded a couple of years ago. It disappeared off my website when I redesigned it, so I offer it here, just in time for the holidays!

Kim Norman

When IS a good time to submit?

2009-11-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

“Nobody reads anything in December. They’re busy planning holiday parties.”

“It’s summer. Don’t even bother to submit anything now. Editors are all away on vacation, and nobody is reading anything until the fall.”

This is the sort of talk I’ve heard over the years about the futility of submitting manuscripts over the holidays or in the summer... or a half-dozen other times of the year. It’s frustrating advice because there seem to be so many other times of the year when submissions are discouraged.

“All the publishers are in Bologna right now. No sense in submitting anything.”

One publisher even specifies a single month of the year when they will accept submissions. (And I'm not sure they even do that anymore.) For goodness sakes. When ISN’T it a bad time to submit?

Well, here’s good news – about December and summer, anyway. Some big sales have happened during those months, so don’t be daunted by nay sayers.
Sue Corbett, author of the recently released THE LAST NEWSPAPER BOY IN AMERICA, has told me that her first novel, TWELVE AGAIN, was first read and noticed during the holidays.

Jennifer Mattson, an associate agent with the highly-regarded Andrea Brown Literary Agency, believes there is really no bad time to submit. “June and July submissions can be quite nice because editors have a little more leisure to empty their in-boxes, (many officially have half-day Fridays for summer hours, but stick around into the quiet afternoons to get caught up) and some even bring manuscripts on their vacations.”

She does agree that late summer can be a little slower. “August isn't such a great time because many bigwigs go away on long trips, so it's hard to get deals formalized. But in general, I would say, don't write off summertime submissions!”

Besides, since manuscripts often sit in slush piles for months, there is almost no correlation between when a manuscript is mailed and when it is read.

Authors I talked with have similar summertime stories to tell. Jennifer Ward, (jenniferwardbooks.com), is happy to report: “Most of my published books were summer sales. Keeping with the trend, I just sold a picture book to Marshall Cavendish; signed the contract just a few weeks ago.”

There is also activity in subsidiary sales during the summer. Alex Flinn, (alexflinn.com), whose novel BEASTLY is now in production with a hot young cast from CBS Films, tells me she sold audio book rights in June to three books: BEASTLY, KISS IN TIME and her upcoming book.

When Jennifer Mattson consulted her colleagues at the Andrea Brown agency, she heard opinions similar to her own. “Several of us have made major sales in the summertime. The consensus is that there are no off seasons in publishing anymore – so let that be motivation to authors to overcome those doldrums!”

###

Kim Norman's first picture book, JACK OF ALL TAILS, was released by Dutton, a Penguin imprint, in 2007. CROCODADDY, (Sterling, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble), debuted as the May 2009 feature for the Children's Book of the Month Club. She is looking forward to the release of two Sterling titles in 2010: TEN ON THE SLED, (illustrated by Liza Woodruff), and ALL KINDS OF KITTENS, a "Storytime Sticker" title. I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN, illustrated by Henry Cole, will be published by Dutton in 2012. She is represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Website: kimnorman.com

This article first appeared in Kim Norman's "Outside the Lines" column in the summer 2009 issue of the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI's newsletter, "The Highlighter."

A squeaky clean visit with Elizabeth Dulemba

2009-09-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flies! Nearly half a year ago, I spent happy hours in a car with Elizabeth Dulemba as we traveled together to a school in Clanton, Alabama. We had been hired as the visiting author and illustrator of the day. We were a bit early for checking into our hotel rooms, so we found some great shopping nearby where Elizabeth bought that DIVINE wrap you see her wearing below and on her School Visits page. (In fact, the video was shot during that same visit)
I wish had transcribed all the wonderful things we talked about during that car trip and our marvelous meals together. Ah well, in lieu of sharing that conversation with you, I'll share this one, instead...

Hi Elizabeth! Congratulations on the "birth" of SOAP, SOAP, SOAP! Having enjoyed many hours with you in an authentic Mexican restaurant, *I* already know the answer to this question, but my readers might not, so can you tell us a little something about your decision to learn Spanish when you took on this project?

I took French in High School and college (and was an exchange student in Paris), but don't get much chance to practice in Georgia. Here, it's all about Spanish, which I've wanted to learn for years. My 40th birthday was looming and I LOVE Jack Tales, so when Raven Tree Press approached me to illustrate Paco and the Giant Chile Plant, a bilingual adaptation of "Jack and the Beanstalk," I jumped at the chance. Here was my excuse to finally learn Spanish! I signed up for classes at the Latin American Association in Atlanta thinking, no biggie, I'll take lessons. Little did I know what a life-changing impact the LAA and the people there would have on my life!!

Luckily, Paco did so well (it won a Moonbeam Children's Book Award Bronze Medal), my publisher wanted more. It seemed a natural fit to do another Jack Tale adaptation - this time with a slightly less well-known story, SOAP, SOAP, SOAP (now also bilingual: SOAP, SOAP, SOAP ~ JABON, JABON, JABON!)

SOAP isn't your first multi-cultural book. How did you happen to find yourself in the multi-cultural market?

It's funny, since Paco I've received many, many jobs creating multi-cultural illustrations - I must have done something right! In fact, the three books I did for the ParentSmart KidHappy™ series feature Hispanic, African American and Asian characters. I love creating multi-cultural characters - the different bone structures are challenging, so perhaps they slow me down a bit to make sure I'm getting everything right.

I know you work on a computer, (I've seen that marvelous 2-screen setup on your desk) but to me, your work is very painterly. It also has a sort of collage quality to it, as though you cut out the images and collaged them onto paper. Can you talk a little bit about how you give your work its distinctive look?

Thank you! I make a point of making sure people can't tell how I work, and try hard to include as much texture as possible (challenging in the 2-D digital world). That's where the collage elements come in. To me, texture (and color) with all their various nuances are downright fascinating!

You're a marvelous, energetic school presenter who really connects with students. What do you like students to take away from your school presentations?
You are too kind! I have a blast sharing my work with kids - probably because I still am one. But I'm a kid who had a dream and made it happen. I hope I get that across the most - that anybody can make their dream come true with hard work, dedication, and pure stubbornness! (Yes, there is a good side to that trait.)

I know you're also a savvy marketer with a large email list of subscribers to your newsletter. Can you offer any advice to new authors looking to promote themselves and their books?

I have to admit I stumbled into the secret - which is to GIVE. I was already writing articles for the SCBWI Bulletin, teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School and basically trying to pay it forward as much as possible. But when I started giving away coloring pages on my blog (for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to share with their kids), things really took off. The collection has grown quite large over the last two years and people can now sign up to receive Coloring Page Tuesday alerts in their in-box every week. I love seeing the new subscriptions come in - from libraries, schools, children's hospitals, even nursing homes - it's a thrill to know my work is being shared to spread a little joy like that.

Thanks Kim!

Thank YOU, e! (You have probably noticed by now that Elizabeth likes to just go by "e" in her online posts.) You can read more about our visit to Clanton, and see photos of "e" in action THIS ARTICLE and photo collection published by the Clanton Advertiser.

And if you can't get enough of "e," (I can't!), click HERE to see her full SOAP, SOAP, SOAP blog tour schedule

KIM NORMAN

That's my boy!

2009-09-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Both of them!

My "Tread-Desk!"

2009-07-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Or maybe I should call it my "Treadesk?" Nah. Too hard to read. So here's what I rigged up as a treadmill desk for my laptop. "Rigged" being the operative word. Lotta bungee cords, I know!

I wish it were a little higher, for reading and typing comfort, but it's not bad, for free, compared to the cost of the ones I've head were designed by the May clinic.

The desk top is a length of left-over closet shelving. I set it at a slight angle, then ran two bungee cords from a wire in the middle of the shelf, up and over, to grab the backside of the treadmill's console. Then, to make sure the cord tension wouldn't make the whole think flip over, I also fastened the desk to each arm of the treadmill with small bungees.
Needed one more jury rig: a pair of thick, round, adhesive felt floor protectors I happened to have near the treadmill. The sort of things you stick to the bottom of kitchen chairs to keep them from marring the floor. I stuck the pads on the face of the console to keep the top of the desk, (the far edge from me when treading), from touching and accidentally activating the buttons. I stacked two on top of each other, like a pair of checkers that have been "kinged" on both sides. Don't want the desk to suddenly push a button and send me flying into the laundry room behind me! That almost happened when I was rigging it up, so I now wear the safety clip for quick stops, although I haven't had to use it since I raised the desk away from the buttons with those round floor protectors.

Also, using the wire shelving rather than a solid piece of wood allows me access to the buttons when I want to increase the speed, change the display, or whatever.

I've walked off 2 inches from my waist in the past 5 weeks, (yay!!!) so this will provide an additional way for me to walk when I'm trying to plead heat and humidity as an excuse not to walk.

It's also easy to disassemble the whole thing if my husband wants to use the treadmill.

Oh, and one other item I employed: A roll of that non-slip rubber you can buy at the dollar store. It works great to keep the laptop from slipping; it really feels quite secure. I rolled up the lower end, to raise the bottom of the laptop a bit, for better keyboard and screen position.

Kim

Barnes & Noble display

2009-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

I had a book signing at a nearby Barnes and Noble yesterday. My thanks to Samantha Bass, the kind and efficient community relations manager who arranged the visit along with the Sterling publicity department. Some of my friends and writing colleagues took the time to stop by, which I REALLY appreciated, and I even saw one friend whom I hadn't seen in ages (she's still gorgeous!) who just happened to be in the store. I love serendipitous meetings like that.

To quote P. D. Eastman: "Do you like my hat?" (photo below.) I thought it seemed appropriate for reading about the brave young Crocodaddy hunter. It's an old pith helmet that belonged to my late father-in-law. I also wore my FAB lime green "crocodile shoes." Too bad you can't see them in the picture, so I've pasted them in separately.

I signed all the remaining stock which they set up on a nice display at the entrance to the children's section labeled "local favorites." (above.) They also placed some near the front door, I think, under Father's Day suggestions. It was nice feeling like a mini-celebrity for a day.

Crocodaddy seems to be doing well. Aside from that fabulous blog book tour on Kidzbookbuzz, it was also written up in the San Francisco Chronicle last weekend in a list of suggested Father's Day books. I got the happy news from the Sterling publicity dept that it appeared not only online, but in the PAPER paper, as well. Yay! Here's the online article: (CLICK HERE.)

A funny aside: Samantha also asked me to bring Jack of All Tails, (my first book which came out in 2007), in case any customers wanted that. (It's been remaindered by Penguin so I possess most of the remaining stock.) I did a couple of readings of Crocodaddy during the signing, and also read Jack once. I had brought balloons which I had set out for children to take. I displayed the balloons in that "biting" croc head toy I found at the 2nd hand store years ago. (Still works! Although I mostly leave it turned off because when it's turned on -- light activated, I think -- it tries to "bite" you when you put your hand in its mouth. Might be too scary for little ones, although elementary school aged boys LOVE it.)

Anyway, a little girl was playing with a balloon while I read Jack. Just as I got to the line, "passing gas during commercials," she happened to let go of the balloon which flew off with a perfectly-timed blatting noise. So funny!

I'm enjoying my "Croco-summer of '09." My first book was so sadly invisible that it's nice to see Crocodaddy bask in the sun, at least for a while.

Kim Norman

Croc on tour!

2009-05-13T06:38:00.001-07:00

Crocodaddy survived his first book signing on Saturday and is now on a blog book tour sponsored by KidzBookBuzz! Thank you to Sally Apokedak for arranging the tour, as well as a sincere thanks to all her marvelous, dedicated bloggers. I would also like to thank my publisher, Sterling Children's Books, which got behind the tour and shipped out a collection of review copies.

Visit these blogs for reviews, interviews, craft projects and giveaways. (Yes, giveaways! Jump in!)

A Christian Worldview of Fiction
A Mom Speaks
A Patchwork of Books
All About Children’s Books
Becky’s Book Reviews
Booking Mama
Cafe of Dreams
Dolce Bellezza
Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Fireside Musings
KidzBookBuzz.com
Looking Glass Reviews
Maw Books Blog
Never Jam Today
Olive Tree
Our Big Earth
Reading is My Superpower
SMS Book Reviews
The 160 Acrewoods
Through a Child’s Eyes

Happy Birthday to Crocodaddy!

2009-05-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

How cute is this?! My son's girlfriend made this adorable cake over the weekend to celebrate my first CROCODADDY book signing, which was held at the Isle of Wight County Museum -- blissfully sheltered from the day's heat and humidity. I spent a couple of minutes putting up a sandwich board outside, so my hair had completely wilted before I managed to get set up the table at 9am.

We scheduled it for the same time as the "Mother's Day Farmer's Market," right next door to the museum. I love having a summer farmer's market within walking distance of my house. Wait, that was a confusing sentence. I don't live at the museum. I live a couple of blocks from there. I can look over the hill and see the museum from my backdoor.

Crocodaddy's really, truly, official birthday seems to have slid around, so I'm not sure what date, exactly, counts as his birthday. All the Barnes & Noble stores seem to have put it out early, as soon as they received their shipments, which I am happy about, of course! My friends have been sending me photos from around the country of B&N Croc sightings. So sweet of them!

Anyhow, Croc is now officially in the building AND he's on a blog book tour. Visit Kidzbookbuzz for interviews, reviews and giveaways over the next 3 days. (Monday, May 11, thru Wednesday, May 13.)

Kim Norman

Book launch and tour countdown!!

2009-05-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

My newest book, CROCODADDY is now in Barnes & Noble stores nationwide. Yahoo! (Or maybe I should say it's making a splash nationwide.)

To prove it's nationwide, my good friend Shelli snapped a photo of it in her local Austin, TX store. How cute is that? I hope the store employees didn't think she was doing some sort of industrial espionage for Books-a-Million.

Next week will be crazy busy. I've got two out of state school visits, (one in N.C. and one in Maryland) and a book launch/signing at the Isle of Wight Museum on Saturday, May 9th. Looking forward to all of it, of course. It's a morning signing, (9am to noon), to coincide with the farmers' market, I've invited family for lunch after the signing. I'm hoping for nice weather because I'd like to serve lunch outside in my "garden room." (Translation: a lovely, rosy spot under my pecan tree.)

Then I've got a blog book tour sponsored by Kidsbookbuzz, which I'm looking forward, too, also. I'm grateful to the owner of the website, Sally Apokedak, for arranging the tour.

So raise a glass of green Croco-cola for the birth of Crocodaddy!

Kim Norman

Perils of a Pants-Seat Poet

2009-02-15T03:27:00.000-08:00

(This article first appeared in the online magazine www.kidmagwriters.com)

"I enjoyed your poem. You show great facility with iambic tetrameter."

My first response to the above quote from a Carus editor was, "Ah, shucks."

My second was... "Huh?"

I'm a Grandma Moses poet. Like that late-blooming primitive painter, I am self-taught. I once had an art teacher who stated that a true primitive painter is best left untaught. Too much information about composition and perspective, he said, might squelch a true primitive's natural flair. I'm probably the same way with my poetry writing. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to learn.

Either way, I write by the seat of my pants. I've never formally studied poetry except for a few moments in junior high and English 101 in college. Don't know a tetrameter from a tetrahedron; a spondee from a sponge cake. It's not that I haven't tried. I own a wonderful book, a 40-year-old high school textbook called LYRIC VERSE, edited by Edward Rakow. He keeps explaining spondees --and anapests and dactyls--- and I keep forgetting them. (Like the rules to cribbage, which my brother has explained to me at least 6 times.)

I compose mostly rhymed, metered poetry, which we all know is not held in high regard in certain academic circles. A poetry judge once told me that my work was better categorized as "light verse." Some might even call it doggerel.

Whaddevah. Kids don't care about labels. They just like solid, fun, rhythmic poetry.

Oops... I mean verse.

While I'm not heavily schooled in the NAMES of poetic forms, I have read a lot and learned by example. Often I'll encounter a poem, admire its particular rhythms, and borrow that beat to write a poem of my own.

In A TREASURY OF THE FAMILIAR, (Ralph L. Woods, MacMillan, 1943) a dusty old favorite inherited from my father, I came across "Burial of Sir John Moore" by Charles Wolfe. The poem begins this way:

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
as his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

The poem continues in this plodding, dirge-like rhythm, which I found contagious. I was inspired to write a poem of my own, entitled "The Burial of Barnaby Briar." Here are the first three stanzas:

It was merciless midnight on All Hallows Eve,
In the murk of the mud and the mire,
that we hammered the lid on the coffin that hid
the body of Barnaby Briar.

And the rain never slacked on our suffering backs
as his coffin we grudgingly carried.
Not a star was in sight on that horrible night
that Barnaby Briar was buried.

All ‘round were the sounds of the creatures of night,
like the tune of a funeral choir,
while dark in our pockets the gold nuggets clanked
that we’d stolen from Barnaby Briar.

I think I've caught the tone of the earlier poem, thanks to that borrowed meter.

One talent is handy to a pants-seat poet: innate rhythm. When I was a kid, I thought I was just weird. I always wanted to clap along to music on the opposite beat from the -- let's admit it -- mostly white people around me. Anybody remember those circus TV shows in the 60s hosted by Don Ameche? Once, I asked my piano teacher what was wrong with me. Why did I always want to clap on the beat BETWEEN the claps of those European circus audiences?

"Because you've got rhythm," he said.

Then he explained the importance of the 2nd and 4th beat BETWEEN the plodding 1st and 3rd beats of a 4/4 song. You can hear clearly in rock songs. There's the drummer, hammering out that 2nd & 4th beat, between the stronger downbeats. (At least, I THINK the 1st & 3rd beats are called the downbeats. See? I told you I was unschooled.)

When I'm not stealing the rhythms of poets long dead, I enjoy writing within the constraints of specific poetic forms such as sonnets or limericks. Just another type of borrowing, I guess. For me, it's easier to grasp a form by studying an actual poem than by reading the spelled-out rules.

Read a few sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and you begin to naturally fall into that 10 syllable iambic beat:
AcCUSEme NOT, beSEECH thee, THAT i WEAR
Too CALM and SAD a FACE in FRONT of THINE;

As a lark, I knocked out the following sonnet on a dare. The assignment, from one of my critique group members, was to write a sonnet comparing poems to essays. Thus:

Shall I compare an Essay to a Verse?
by Kim Norman

A poem can be short and to the point,
while essays often drag on endlessly.
And essays often teachers disappoint,
but poems merely kill them by degree.

A poem may have rhythm, rhyme or meter,
while essays are most often writ in prose.
Although a poem's lyrics may be sweeter,
an essay often causes sweet repose.

A poem holds surprises like a prism,
obscuring deep emotions in a veil,
while essayists are prone to plagiarism
and other crimes that lead you straight to jail.

So I will pen a poem now and then
instead of writing essays from the "Pen."

I'll admit I broke a few rules. Because of female end-rhymes (rhymes that end in an unstressed syllable) a few lines in the above sonnet have eleven rather than the requisite ten syllables. It does conform to the 14 line, A-B-A-B rules, (3 quatrains & an ending couplet.) Since nobody reads this stuff, who's going to complain?

Do a few internet searches and you'll find a wealth of information about poetic forms. They're a great way to stretch your lyrical ligaments. Find something you like, read it a few times, then try one for yourself.

Happy borrowing!

###

Kim Norman is the author of JACK OF ALL TAILS, (Dutton, 2007)
CROCODADDY, (Sterling, May 2009)
I KNOW A WEE PIGGY, (Dutton, 2010)
and TEN ON THE SLED, (Sterling, 2010

She writes (and borrows) in southeastern Virginia.
www.kimnorman.com

Play my 5W writing card game!

2009-02-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today I was reminded of a card game I created years ago as writing prompts for my two sons. It took some digging through files from my old Mac, but I found and updated them today.

It's not really a game so much as a collection of 80 illustrated cards which act as writing prompts -- a tweak of the old WHO-WHAT-WHERE-WHEN-WHY rules. I've substituted "with what" (with what object) for "why," to introduce some concrete props to help add layers to the stories.

I created 11 sheets total in PDF format. I also included one sheet of blank cards, in case anyone is inspired to write/drawn their own.

If you're looking for boy-friendly writing prompts, these may prove helpful. My sons were the prime age when Pokemon cards were king. They couldn't get enough of cards in all forms. We also created some cool mythology cards which I may dig up sometime, too.

If you're interested in downloading the cards, (it's a free download), CLICK HERE.

Pocket poems!

2009-01-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of a funky little jacket I created from three 2nd-hand jean jackets. This is the back of the jacket, which is basically all that's left. I cut off the front and glued down the collar to make it more lightweight to transport.

I keep meaning to decorate the pockets with stitching or glitter paint, but haven't gotten around to it. Besides, then it would lose its cool "Fonzie" attitude and look more like dorky decorated denim from a 1970s craft magazine. The one effort I made in decorative edging was to pull a few fibers from the edge of the pockets for a frayed look. Come to think of it, I also laundered the pockets after cutting and fraying them, for the same purpose. It does define the edges rather nicely.

I use the jacket for a variety of poetry activities during school visits, all loosely grouped under the title "POCKET POEMS." For one such activity, I print up a bunch of 5-line poems, (you'll find lots about those, including variations, with a quick Google search), cut them up into individual lines, then insert all 1st lines into the top left pocket, all the 2nd lines into top right, and so on. Then I allow students to pull out the lines, one by one, so we end up with a scrambled poem for them to read aloud. Some can be quite funny.

The jacket is tremendously sturdy and easy to carry. I transport it, rolled up, in a shoulder bag where it takes up very little room.

None of the pockets are buttoned in this picture, but those great little metal buttons are all there, and I do button them shut for transport. Keeps the snippets from falling out!

The pockets are simply glued on with craft glue. I asked a friend if I could borrow her sewing machine, and she said, "Sure, but glue would probably work just as well." She was right, clever girl! I hate sewing. Duct tape and glue are my preferred sewing media.

The jacket is just another way to add interest to information, even the most mundane. Kids love discovering what's hidden behind that next mysterious "door."

Kim Norman

Storytime Boogie!

2009-01-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

Just for fun, here's a video I created for my "Storytime Boogie," a song I wrote and often perform for younger students during my school visits. "The Storytime Boogie" promotes bedtime reading. I think it's a lot of fun, if I do say so myself!

Or, you can view my performance of the song at Coventry Elementary School in Yorktown, Virginia, back in the fall of 2008. Click HERE to view that video.

Kim Norman

Silly fun

2008-12-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

After the curtain falls...

2008-11-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

So, in case you've ever wondered what amateur thespians do with their time after a show closes...

We just wrapped up our fall production of LI'L ABNER. I was in the cast as a sweet young thing a couple of decades ago, but decided to sit this one out, while my son enjoyed some stage time instead. I did paint the set, though, as well as creating a big statue of "Jubilation T. Cornpone."

So naturally, yesterday I pull into my driveway after running errands and what do I find decorating my mailbox garden? Well, the photo above will illustrate. Those theater pranksters!

After enjoying a good laugh, my son and I printed up a sign (right), which we tacked to the side, put the statue on a borrowed dolly and rolled it up the street to the house of another cast member, where we removed the dolly wheels. Hey, transporting it to its next spot is HIS problem. (big wicked grin)

The one with the church in the background is my yard; the blue house is the next victim.

And finally, after all these years of painting flats that were lost to the world as soon as the next show was mounted, (with no photos to record the work), this time I took my digital camera and photographed the flats. I've uploaded the "Dogpatch" flat below, which is 32 feet wide, so I had to photograph it in 3 shots, then photoshop them together.

For Dogpatch, I went for as cartoony an effect as I could manage. These flats are 12 feet tall. The head of a 6 foot tall man comes to about the bottom of that little gray house in the middle. So for more than half the square footage, I had to paint from a hydraulic lift to reach above my puny 6 foot reach. Thank goodness for that new hydraulic lift. I don't think my knees could have stood that honking big ladder the theater used to own -- not to mention that moving the darned thing was like dragging around a dead giraffe. I got pretty good at steering & parking that lift in tight quarters near the paint room.

Only another week to win free books!

2008-11-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

With the book giveaway concluding at the end of this month (Nov 08) I think it's a good idea to give the contest one more plug. Honest, folks, it looks as though not that many folks are entered in the contest yet, (not the thousands I'd hoped), but what's bad for me (not being famous -- boo hoo!) is good for you -- because it increases your odds of winning!

But there's not much time left, so the Thanksgiving holiday is the perfect time for teachers to take a few minutes to enter. See details in the repost below:

Hi all,
I'm excited to share information about a book giveaway I'm involved with through TheApple, an educator's website. The contest runs thru the entire month of November, 2008. The winner must be a teacher or homeschooler, so FORWARD THIS LINK TO ALL THE TEACHERS YOU KNOW!

Here's official blurb from TheApple:
TheApple is proud to host a book contest with author Kim Norman. Come on over to TheApple to learn about "The Perfect Author Visit," then take a little quiz for a chance to win 35 autographed copies of her book, JACK OF ALL TAILS. Click HERE for info on how to participate.

(Kim Norman popping into the official blurb to let you know I have never received even the tiniest bit of spam as a result of registering on the site many months ago.)

TheApple is a community by and for educators. Registration is free! TheApple offers a huge library of resources written by educators on how to manage a class, work with parents, teach special needs, and utilize technology to name a few. Browse lesson plans, news, videos, career quizzes or join a group.

Kim

Singing Author Visit

2008-11-08T01:31:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed a terrific visit to Coventry Elementary in Yorktown, VA, last week. What a great school! Here's a video of the kids singing along with my "Storytime Boogie." I love it when they know the song in advance. (I always send a CD in advance of my visit.) But even if they don't know it, they're still bouncing and bobbing to the music in no time.

In this video, it's cute the way all the heads are swaying to the lullaby at the beginning of the song, then start bopping when the music speeds up.

This is a song I wrote a few years ago with a different title and lyrics. But when I started doing school visits, I rewrote it as "The Storytime Boogie," a song which encourages bedtime reading. I also created a music video of the song which you can view on YouTube, HERE. And, of course, you can visit my website by clicking my name below.

"Storytime Boogie" ©2006 by Kim Norman

35 FREE BOOKS GIVEAWAY!

2008-11-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I'm excited to share information about a book giveaway I'm involved with through TheApple, an educator's website. The contest runs thru the entire month of November, 2008. All you do is read an article I wrote called "The Perfect Author Visit," take an easy quiz about it, and those who get 100% on the quiz will be entered into a drawing to win 35 autographed books. The winner must be a teacher, so if you're not one, be sure to FORWARD THIS LINK TO ALL THE TEACHERS YOU KNOW!

(I asked, and this does include homeschoolers. Verification of teacher or homeschooler status will be required ONLY of the winner, similar to the type you provide for educator discounts.)

Here's official blurb from TheApple:
TheApple is proud to host a book contest with author Kim Norman. Come on over to TheApple to learn about "The Perfect Author Visit," then take a little quiz for a chance to win 35 autographed copies of her book, JACK OF ALL TAILS. Click HERE for info on how to participate.

(Kim Norman popping into the official blurb to let you know I have never received even the tiniest bit of spam as a result of registering on the site many months ago.)

TheApple is a community by and for educators. Registration is free! TheApple offers a huge library of resources written by educators on how to manage a class, work with parents, teach special needs, and utilize technology to name a few. Browse lesson plans, news, videos, career quizzes or join a group.

"TheApple is Facebook for Educators!" -Rebecca, member of TheApple.com

Good luck to all who participate!

Kim

2 hours in the bathroom...

2008-10-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes 2 hours in the bathroom can produce a GOOD thing, like this little mural I painted, based loosely on an area of the marsh near which I often walk in the morning. The actual painting isn't this yellow. I don't know why the photo came out so yellow. Camera struggling to deal with the poor light in the room, I guess.

Here's info I shared with my critique group about painting it, as we discussed things like the no-no of using pure black for shadows versus "whatever was available in the theater paint room" where I acquired my mural-painting skills.

One member asked,
"...a new sideline?" to which I replied:

Nah, an old sideline. I've painted faux this & that's in people's homes & businesses many times in the past but it was never my favorite pastime. I'm just not that crazy about painting. Maybe because of that, combined with my experience with painting 32" by 16" flats, I'm unusually fast because I work with rollers in wallpaint instead of brushes in tube paint. I usually pour 3 or 4 colors into two separate paint trays and work with a roller in each hand and a couple of sponge brushes clutched in my knuckles -- kind of like Terri's six-shooter cowgirl, only with rollers -- the short, 3 or 4-inch wide kind. You have to work fast with those wall acrylics, while it's still wet, which is why I work all the colors at once... until they start to blend too much in the pan. I do not want colors to blend in the pan. I want 2 to 4 distinct colors which blend visually on the wall. Otherwise, with these dull wall colors--as opposed to bright tube paints--the whole thing turns to mud.

(Which is where pure black or white can sometimes save a deadly dull backdrop with values which are all too similar. A few pops of pure black and pure white, for contrast, can often bring it back to life. My theater "paintings" are for viewing from 20 to 60 feet away, under various colored lights, so having one's heart set on a color looking the same as you envisioned, once someone has screwed with the lights, will result in disappointment.) As Joe suggests, I would never use pure black on a real painting, but on theater sets it's often the best choice for achieving quick contrast. My other objective being, of course, not to make it a full-time job. I really dislike painting theater sets. It's lonely and boring and I hate climbing ladders. I'm in love with this new hydraulic lift "car" the theater just bought, but I still have to hoist my ample ass 4 feet up onto the platform a dozen times at each paint session. Good exercise, but not the most fun.

When the colors blend too much in the pans, I grab a new pan or two. No washing up until I know the whole flat is done. Since I've painted a thousand variations of marsh fading to several lines of trees, this was an especially easy one to do without a lot of advance planning.

Something else I've learned about set painting is that if it looks great at arm's length (or maybe 3 or 4 feet away) it will look like crap from an audience seat. Well maybe not crap, but disappointing, at least. You'll think, "Why did I put in all that detail that nobody can see?" Often, sponges--which I did use in this tiny mural--look too muted on a big flat. From a distance, (the audience view), it all blends and becomes bland. You can't see that nice texture.

I think I may have told you all about this one:

A dozen years ago, when Collin was about 8, I was painting a nude for a western show. Can't even remember the name of the show. The producer gave me about a 6 or 7 foot piece of "lew-on" to paint the image on. (I have no idea how to spell that, but that's what all the producers call it -- basically it's like cheap pieces of paneling.) The only place big enough to lay a 7 foot wide piece of lew-on was in my living room. So I painted away, using whatever colors I had at hand. In the dim light of my living room everything looked okay, but I discovered that in the right light, she looked a little greenish.

But that didn't bother Collin, my little critic. He came into the room when I was mostly done with the body, still working on her face -- which had taken on a hispanic look but was still very unfinished. Collin looked at the painting and said thoughtfully, "Her face is kind of funny... but her breasts are just right."

Kim

An inspiring view

2008-09-11T12:17:00.001-07:00

A couple of photos taken outside my grandparents' farmhouse where we vacation in Maine nearly every summer. These were taken in August of 2008. Already seems like a long time ago.

Kim

Author Visit Trailer

2008-07-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

I've seen talk lately about book trailers, author trailers, you-name-it trailers. Here's a trailer I created a few months ago, a little "Author Visit Show-and-Tell"...

Made it myself in that cool iMovie program on my Mac. Kind of fun being a pretend director. And here's the song with which I often close my younger elementary school author programs, "The Storytime Boogie," which promotes bedtime reading:

Happy bedtime reading!!

Kim Norman

Toni's Perfect Day

2008-06-10T04:02:00.001-07:00

Author Toni Buzzeo (Maine) steps in to share the first post in a new series I'm calling THE PERFECT AUTHOR VISIT. The series is featured on my companion website, AUTHOR VISITS BY STATE, a state-by-state listing of children's book authors & illustrators who visit schools to do presentations. (The site now has nearly 400 listings!)

The first few posts in the series will describe perfect visits from the author's perspective. We'll hear from Dr. Fred Bortz, (Pennsylvania); Alex Flinn, (Florida); Rukhsana Kahn,(Canada); Marianne Mitchell, (Colorado); and Jane Yolen, (New York). Later, I hope to add similar posts from an educator's perspective. Here's Toni:

This visit happened in New York state in April. It was so wonderful, so much like the visits I used to have at my school when I was the host and when NCLB hadn't darkened the door of the educational landscape.

1. I was hired a year in advance (possibly more).
2. The librarian kept in touch with me during the intervening months, but not needlessly so, just with important questions.
3. She and the other librarians took me out to dinner and we had a fun and relaxing time BEFORE the day of her school, so I felt like I already knew her.
4. When I arrived, I had some time to get set up and make sure the technology was working (and plenty of people to help me with that).
5. The sessions were held in a very comfortable auditorium with excellent acoustics and a good wireless mic.
6. The faculty had a wonderful breakfast for me and the SUPERINTENDENT came and stayed.
7. I had some one-on-one time to chat with the SUPERINTENDENT after the breakfast.
8. Four fifth graders arrived to take me on a tour of the school to show me ALL OF THE STUDENT PROJECTS ABOUT MY BOOKS DISPLAYED ON BOTH FLOORS OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!!

Jacket Art ©2008 by Sachiko Yoshikawa
9. The superintendent stayed for my K session and then spoke to me afterwards.
10. The PRINCIPAL attended two of my sessions and joined us for a lunch of spinach salad the kitchen had made especially for us.
11. The PR DIRECTOR for the district came to hear the entire session for 1-2 grade.
12. EVERY fifth grader had done a research essay on ME!! They asked the most interesting and intelligent questions during Q&A.
13. The books for signing were well-organized and there were LOTS of them.
14. One of the third grade teachers made me Mrs. Skorupski glasses and my host librarian bought me a beautiful lighthouse charm.
15. Kids wrote me letters both before and after my visit.

What an amazing school and an amazing day in this era of "No Child Left Behind." When I told them how rare it was to find a school that felt it had this sort of time for author visit preparations, the principal and the librarian were astounded. They'd always done it this way and say they always will. A year long focus on literacy and learning via an indepth author study! Woooohoooo! Everything Jane Kurtz and I espoused in TERRIFIC CONNECTIONS!

And now moi, (Kim Norman), butting in to add:

So everybody, here is another component to a perfect author visit: Be sure you're following Toni Buzzeo or Jane Kurtz. LOL! (Because my Hampton, Virginia visit following Toni's visit last year went well, too.) Obviously, Jane & Toni are good leaders, encouraging a reading of their how-to book, TERRIFIC CONNECTIONS, before they come.

Coincidentally, at a school I visited a few weeks ago, Jane Kurtz had been there the year before. So at my "Follow-Jane-Kurtz" visit, the principal sat in on both presentations. That has never, ever happened before. Sometimes the principals don't even pop in to meet me. (Generally, I've found that visits go better when they do. That seems to indicate a higher level of involvement from the whole staff, although I understand that sometimes schedules don't allow time for the principal to get away from his/her obligations.)

Also at this school, the book sale & signing was very organized, and they had sold more books in advance than any school the whole year.

So, thanks to Toni and Jane, I had a near perfect visit, too!
If you'd like to see my author visit video, click HERE. It will give you an idea of my presentation style. I generally like to close my presentations for the younger students with "The Storytime Boogie," a song that encourages bedtime reading. Music video of "The Storytime Boogie" HERE.

Kim Norman

Same ol' same ol'... and I DO mean ol'!!

2008-05-26T12:08:00.001-07:00

So I'm surfing blogs on my holiday weekend, seeing who's writing what about children's books, and I encounter a list that rankles me. It's posted by an about.com blogger under the heading "Recommended Authors and Illustrators." The final sentence of the recommendation says, "You will also find the names of some new authors and illustrators that I hope to see creating children's books for years to come."

Really! Let's see this list to spot those exciting new authors and illustrators... Okay, here's the list, as presented by this expert:

* Dr. Seuss
* Maurice Sendak
* Berenstain Bears and Their Creators
* Beverly Cleary
* Jerry Pinkney
* Ezra Jack Keats
* Mem Fox
* Bill Peet
* Cynthia Rylant

Hmmm. So, I'm guessing the expert must be referring to "newbie" Cynthia Rylant, who in her mid-50s, is a mere babe on this list of senior citizens, many of whom are no longer with us. Let's look at that list again:

* Dr. Seuss DEAD
* Maurice Sendak -- EIGHTY YEARS OLD
* Berenstain Bears and Their Creators-- DEAD and DEAD
* Beverly Cleary -- NINETY YEARS OLD
* Jerry Pinkney -- nearing 70
* Ezra Jack Keats -- DEAD
* Mem Fox -- 60s, first book published 25 years ago
* Bill Peet DEAD
* Cynthia Rylant -- a mere child at 54 or so; first book published MORE than 25 years ago; longer ago than Mem Fox's first book.

So, no, I take that back. With her first book having gone to press more than a quarter century ago, I'd hardly call Cynthia Rylant an authorial spring chicken, either, although she is decades younger than some of the other authors & illustrators on this list.

Look, I just turned 50 myself, so I CERTAINLY wish all of these folks many more fruitful and creative years. And no doubt their work, these days, is of consistently high quality precisely BECAUSE they are so seasoned.

But sheesh. Where are the new talents on this list? It was published by a popular blog/website which comes up high in any search for info about children's books. Why can't we see some fresh names? Does Maurice Sendak REALLY need the publicity? Is Beverly Cleary even producing new work? (Loved LOVED her books as a child and enjoyed re-reading them to my kids 30 years later, but other good stuff has been written in those intervening decades. Many events in her then-contemporary books now make them period pieces.)

Sour grapes? Probably, a little. But I've got lots of friends who are producing brilliant new work, and I'd like to see THEIR names on the list, too.

On the upside, having passed the 50-year mark only days ago, I'm now feeling positively nubile. Or maybe that should be spelled "newbile."

Kim Norman

Thanks, Kevin!

2008-03-31T06:09:00.001-07:00

I'm so proud to share this fabulous drawing Kevin O'Malley did for me! Long story, but the short version is, I bought an extra copy of GIMME CRACKED CORN & I WILL SHARE, a book he had dedicated to me. (I had helped with the title.) Scheduling complications kept him from being able to autograph it at the Va. State Reading Assoc. conference, so -- LUCKY ME! -- he did a drawing for me instead. How cool is that?!

I'm terrible about getting around to framing things, so I'm resolved to do that before it gets dusty, which happens with most of our family photos.

Kim Norman

P.S.
My "Author School Visits by State" website is growing by leaps and bounds! If you haven't checked it out yet, definitely stop by. Over 400 authors & illustrators are now listed nationwide, (Boy, that was a LOT of emails to answer!), and the site continues to grow every day. Click here: AUTHOR SCHOOL VISITS BY STATE!

For my Idea File

2008-03-29T04:32:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite creative activities, (you know -- when it looks like you're doin' nuthin' but you can defend it by saying, "Hey! I'm brainstorming!"), is leafing thru publisher catalogs looking at titles. Then, without reading the synopsis, I jot down ideas that the title generates. Often, my ideas are totally different from the actual book I'm looking at. I scribble those thoughts in the catalog margins with a big bold
Sharpie marker, then go back and collect the ideas now and then, collecting them in an idea file.

Of course then I've got to WRITE the darned thing. But it's still great to have a huge file of ideas to comb thru rather than wanting to write something but having no idea what to write ABOUT. (My new grammar rule: It's okay to end a sentence in a preposition as long as it's all caps.)

Kim

Author school visits listed STATE BY STATE!

2008-03-02T05:23:00.000-08:00

I've created a new website as a resource for educators, entitled Author School Visits BY STATE! There is no charge to be listed on the site, and I don't handle any bookings but my own. I'm just trying to offer a wide variety of authors & illustrators for educators to find in their own regions.

If you're an educator who has hired a great author or illustrator you don't see on my list, please email me and I'll add them under the state in which they reside.

kimnorman (insert @ sign) charter.net

Likewise, if you're a traditionally-published author or illustrator who does school visits, I'd like to add you to my list as well. (By traditionally-published, I'm not referring exclusively to large, New York publishers, or even ones that pay much in the way of advances, necessarily. I'm talking about regular royalties-paying publishers, no matter how small, who ask not a penny of their authors.)

I'd also appreciate a reciprocal link from the authors & illustrators who are listed, although that's not absolutely essential. The more websites & blogs that link to Author School Visits BY STATE, the higher its rankings will be, so it can do any of us some good!

Happy visiting!

Kim

Writers' Wrist Bands

2008-02-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Is that a great photo, or what? These are the wrists of 5th graders from Sedgefield Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Yesterday I spoke to them about writing, touching on skills they can incorporate into their SOLs (Standards of Learning tests) which are coming up next week. Susan Quenville, Sedgefield's reading specialist, was a gracious hostess. I also enjoyed meeting other staff members as well as Principal Patricia Tilghman, who was warm and welcoming.

While I love the sweetness of younger students, I also like working with older students like this because we can really get into details. So we did my "Verbal-loons" activity, (lots of laughs there while -- I HOPE -- learning the importance of choosing exciting verbs). They also enjoyed a peek at my Evil Inner Editor, and then they created wrist bands with the initials "WCTW," which stands for "Writers Choose Their Words."

I first put together this lesson plan for John B. Cary Elementary in Hampton, Virginia, a couple of weeks ago. Blogged about that HERE. Librarian Mel Black says the slogan ("Writers Choose Their Words") seems to have really stuck with her students -- although it probably doesn't hurt that she has reinforced it since my visit, using her cool SmartBoard. Sedgefield has one, too. What a marvelous teaching device!

All I can say is, I love my new part-time job!

Kim

Author School Visits to large crowds

2008-02-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've been discussing with writer friends about doing an author school visit with a large crowd. (Say, an auditorium full of 100-plus, even 200 kids.) So what's a children's book author to DO when faced with a large audience of eager students? Although I really enjoy the intimacy of a smaller group, most of my experience has been with larger groups, so I thought I'd toss out some advice about that:

First, you'll want to tell the school you won't do more than 30 minutes for the little guys. 45 minutes absolute MAX, but I've found that most hiring librarians agree with me that 30 minutes is enough for the little guys. We just plan longer, 45 to 60 min for the older kids. I've never had anyone insist, "Oh no. You MUST do the same amount of time for the K-Ones!"

Now, for the little kids, I have found that props and call-and-response work well... simple ones they can learn on the spot. And since Jack of All Tails is a book about pets, I make the talk more about pets than about writing. It's true that presenting to this sized group is a bit more like a performance, so for younger groups I close with "The Storytime Boogie." (That's a link to a music video of the song on YouTube.)

For props, I have a big bag from which I pull -- suspensefully, one-by-one -- stuffed animals. ("pets") Kids call out and guess what the next pet will be. We talk a bit as each animal emerges. Some of the toys are inappropriate "pets" such as crocodiles and bears. But that's just funny and we talk about what makes a good pet or not. There are always a few boys who raise their hands when I ask if anyone has a crocodile for a pet. Then we share a joke about that.

A couple of weeks ago, I presented to small groups at the Virginia Living Museum, so I handed out the pets for kids to hold as I pulled them from the bag. This seemed to really delight them. But that would probably only work with a smaller group. I've never tried it with large groups.

After the pet-bag, the stuffed animals do double duty for one of my call-and-response verses. At this point, we've read the book (on digital or overhead projector), so they know the plot. So I pick 4 kids from the audience to represent my main characters: Mom, Dad, Kristi & Eddie. I give each of them a stuffed animal to go with this rhyme:

Mom is a cat.
Dad is a dog.
Eddie's a lizard...
I'll be a frog!

And I have the "actors" hold up the animals at the appointed time, laying my hands on their heads to remind them. The audience recites it several times until they've got it down. (Of course, in the book, Kristi is never a frog, but I tell the kids, what the heck, it rhymes better than hamster!)

Once, I happened to coincidentally choose a learning disabled little girl to play Kristi, and it turned out she was visually impaired, too. The teachers were delighted I'd chosen her, since it was so good that she got a chance to touch the stuffed animal.

So mainly I'd say try to come up with things that will allow for feedback from your audience, (short of becoming chaos, of course!)

Oh, and speaking of chaos, two things:

Sometimes they DO get a little wound up as I'm pulling out the stuffed animals. To calm them down, I tell them that this or that animal gets scared by noise and they have to be verrrrry quiet when I pull out this next one.

And two:
"The Storytime Boogie." starts with a quiet lullabye. I was once hired to present at some sort of evening Reading-Pajama-rama to kids who were tired and hyped up on cocoa & marshmallows. (!!!) It was an INCREDIBLY noisy hall with an TERRIBLE sound system. I almost gave up trying to get the noise level to manageable proportions. But when I started singing that lullabye, the place just fell into an incredible hush. Holy cow! So THAT'S why mothers have been singing lullabies for so many generations!!

Kim

Five Random Things About Me

2008-02-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

My buddy Ruth Barshaw tagged me in this fun game. I SHOULD be working, (transmitting TWO Kidsville issues today, 48 pages total) and another one tomorrow. But it's perfect because I need a distraction!

1. In high school, I won 2nd place in a statewide poster contest. Got to go to a luncheon with the governor and everything!

2. I have pet issues (as all my books and manuscripts can attest) for a good reason. Over the years, besides the usual dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs, fish and turtles, my family also had, at various times:
-- an iguana
--a squirrel
--and a raccoon who lived in a closet on the 2nd floor. My father altered the ceiling below with a conveniently placed hole so the raccoon could hang down and wave at you.

Really.

3. Because of the various ages of the many foster children raised by my parents over the years, I can count myself as fitting into every birth order category.

4. I am a navy brat.

5. In the first play I ever did in my life, (Arsenic and Old Lace), I was cast opposite a man named Tim, who played my fiance'. About 6 or 7 years later, I married his brother. But the guy who reviewed the play continues to believe, despite being corrected every time I've seen in the past 20 years, that I married Tim.

Okay, my turn to tag someone else! I tag:

1. Mel Black of Melsplace
2. Marcie Atkins of World of Words
3. Sara Lewis Holmes of Read Write Believe
4. Sandy Alonzo on her cool MySpace page
and last but DEFINITELY not least...
5. Becky Hall at Outside of a Dog

Your turn, guys!!

Kim

Children's author school visits with... (gasp!)... 5th Graders! How to warm them up...

2008-02-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

So you've interacted with warm, fuzzy uncritical kindergarteners and 1st graders, had a lots of laughs with 2nd thru 4th graders, but now your fretting about interacting with 5th graders? Well sometimes it is a little like warming up a tough bar crowd, huh? LOL! Yeah, that's the cut-off point when they start worrying about being cool -- although sometimes the 5th graders aren't too bad while the 6th graders are hard. Seems like it's whoever are the upper classmen who are tough.

The way I handle that is, I don't generally have a Q & A time for the older ones, knowing they're all too bashful to come up with their own questions. What I DO do ("Tell me Dr. Frahnkensteen, what is it exactly that you DOOO do?" ) is... I ask THEM questions. And I have goodies (like foam stickers) as rewards for answers. So far, that has worked.

Bribery.

It's a GOOD thing.

And funny. Funny is good. It loosens them up. But it takes a while, I know.

But wait! You ask: What do I do to get them to interact with me in the FIRST PLACE, so they have a chance to WIN a sticker?!

Well, one thing that often gets their hands in the air is asking them to guess how long it took me to sell something. (Like the poem in the Meadowbrook anthology, which they bought after keeping it on file for 7 years. Everyone is always floored by that.)

I try to formulate questions that have them guessing things; dates, number of times rejected, number of revisions, number of revisions the artist did, number of years/months from acceptance to publication.

If I use a half-way big word, (like "protagonist" or "metaphor") I stop and ask if anyone can tell me what that word means.

If you DO get a question from a fairly quiet crowd, you can always turn it around and have them guess the answer. Like, if a kid asks you how much money you were paid, you can ask the crowd if they'd like to guess. (I wouldn't recommend that for the age question. LOL!)

I have a prop I often bring; my key jar, which is filled with a bunch of antique keys I found at my grandmother's house. I tell them I use it for inspiration. When I ask, usually someone in the crowd is clever enough to figure out how keys represent stories to me. Then I have them guess how many keys are in the jar. (231)

All these questions are just a way to break the ice. If you can get them actively participating in answering the questions YOU ask, they'll often start to open up and ask their own... if there's time.

Kim Norman

Elizabeth Dulemba serves up a hot chili of a new book!

2008-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm pleased to host the incredibly smart & talented Elizabeth O. Dulemba on the first day of her blog book tour for her gorgeous new book Paco and the Giant Chili Plant, which will be released on April. The book is a clever, bilingual retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk."

I love to hear how illustrators come up with their creations, so "e," (as we like to call her) has agreed to respond to my nosy questions!

So e, tell me: Did you do any special research to capture the Mexican flair of this book?

(Maybe munched a hot chili or two? LOL!) I've never been to the American Southwest except for layovers in the airport so I did have to do considerable research. I did a lot of looking around online (especially in the National Archives), joined some message boards for specifics, and looked at maps. I pulled images into a folder so I could look at them later (never to copy directly, only to get the feel of something). The main thing that struck me during my research was I needed the light to feel warm and spicy. The sun is much stronger in the Chihuahuan Desert, which is where Paco takes place. And as far as eating chiles - por supuesto (of course)!

How did you do those luscious end papers? Do you just create one illustration, then reproduce it in Photoshop?

I used to work for a children's clothing manufacturer so am somewhat comfortable creating patterns for repeat, which is what I did for the endpapers. I also just plain have a thing for endpapers. They can introduce a mood and relay story information in a completely different way. To me, blank endpapers are a missed opportunity to play!

What is your process for capturing the essence of a character? Lots of sketches, or do you get a feel for the look of a character as soon as you read the manuscript?

My research gave me an idea of the kind of clothes Paco might wear, but for his face, I did a lot of sketches. Once I nail it (usually some scribbled image in the corner of my drawing pad) my challenge is to see if I can do it again and again. I have to be able to carry the character in all sorts of poses through the entire book. It can be challenging!

Are all of your illustrations created from your head, or do you use models? How about other objects like houses and plants? Do you work from life at all?

I mostly work from my head, and only use visual reference if I'm not sure what something looks like (like a yucca plant for example). I've found that when I use models or set-ups, my work may be more accurate, but it tends to feel a bit flat. I like the slight wonkiness I get from dreaming up images on my own.

I'm always fascinated at the way illustrators add details which are not in my text. Did you incorporate any little "inside jokes" or subtle details in your illustrations that are not mentioned the text? Something we can look for besides the obvious showing of the action in the text?

Of course! My dog, Bernie, once again makes an appearance. He's been in all my books so far. When I read to kids, I love them to shout, "Hi, Bernie!" whenever they see him...which would actually scare him to death. He's quite shy!

Thanks for those interesting answers, e! Here are the particulars of the book:

PACO AND THE GIANT CHILE PLANT
Available in April 2008
written by Keith Polette
illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Raven Tree Press
Trade Picture Book

Tuesday "e" visits Barbara Johansen Newman's Cat n' Jammers Studio. Barb wrote and illustrated "Tex & Sugar."

Wednesday, catch up with "e" at Janee Trasler's Art & Soul. Janee's latest book is "Ghost EAts It All!"

And now, in honor of e's delightful new book, (and since it's still winter) I'm including a recipe for Tasty Tortilla Snowflakes, which as you can see are fun and pretty as well as yummy. A great kid recipe!

TASTY TORTILLA SNOWFLAKES

Ingredients:
8-inch tortillas
Oil
Powdered sugar
Cinnamon sugar (optional)
Butter (optional)
Ham or bologna (optional)

Directions:
Wrap the tortillas in a paper towel and microwave a couple of seconds until they are just warm. Using the same technique as cutting out paper snowflakes, fold the tortillas in sixths and cut out snowflake designs. Put a touch of oil in a pan and fry each tortilla until crisp. Top with one or more of these yummy toppings:
• Sprinkle it with powdered sugar or top it with fruit or jam.
• Spread butter on one side of the tortilla, then sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar.
• Use bologna, turkey, ham, cheese, etc. and make a snowflake sandwich.
If you prefer to bake the tortilla snowflakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the tortillas with milk and then bake for five to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Kim Norman

Forgotten Piggy Poem

2008-02-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

A recent discussion about under-appreciated works brought an old poem to mind.

For several years, an art gallery cooperative in our town has sponsored an Artists & Writers night. Artists submit a piece of work, and then the works are disseminated among the writers who write something about the art they've been stuck with... er... assigned. I haven't participated in the past year or two because I think they need to change the format to give the writers a break. Let the ARTISTS create something based on our writing for a change, I say. It ain't as easy as it looks.

One year, I was assigned this cartoony, amateurish painting of a pig (which took up most of the picture) with big garrish hearts painted all over him, standing beside the James River. It was obviously the James because you could see two little ferry boats behind him. This was not a primitive. Didn't have the innate charm of a primitive. I thought it was the dumbest painting I'd ever seen, and found little to inspire me, except for the fact my town of Smithfield is famous for its pork products. So I ended up writing a 5 stanza poem, entitled "Piggy on the Bank," into which I worked as many pork words as possible, including:
shanks; U.S.D.A. Choice (made that rhyme beautifully); "ferries in the CHOP," (har har); boorish; and a reference to Bacon's Castle, a historic home near the south ferry dock.

The river had recently flooded, so I made reference to that with a little piggy bank double entendre (can that apply to non-sexual humor?), in my favorite stanza:

Late, the River's banks
spilled their spangled coins,
doused your flaming flanks,
chilled your tender loins.

I thought it was brilliant, if I may be so boorish. But it was only used that one night, plus the month or so of the exhibition. And since the poem was based on a dumb painting, it's a pretty dumb, useless poem... except for its wit, which I lay before you now. I will now tuck it back into its folder, forgotten once more.

Kim Norman

Dead Mothers and Academy Awards

2008-02-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

I brought a hastily-selected stack of books with me on vacation last summer, (technically adult books, although most were about kids and teens, sold in the adult market), and was annoyed to discovered that all the ones about young people featured a dead mother. It was dead-mother overload so -- even though they were all well-written books -- before the week was out, I found myself digging thru my dead GRANDMOTHER's books, settling on a dusty old Michener, just to get away from dead moms.

A few people have mentioned the success of Dickens' titles as proof that dead-(parent) books are a perennial favorite, but Dickens' books don't really fall into the dead-mother, angst-ridden category as today's books. Number one: children were much more likely to be orphaned in Dickens' day, so a preponderance of dead parents was a more realistic ratio, and, two: Dickens and other adventure books of that time used the dead parent more as a device to get the child alone, solving problems in his own, than as a heavy plot-point which would permeate the child's every thought. Those books quickly got the parent out of the way, then proceeded with an adventurous plot rather than making the dead PARENT the plot, if you see what I mean.

Somehow, serious books are considered more literary, winning more awards, in the same way that fabulous comedic actors often do not win the big awards until they make a "serious" movie. Let's take the career of Jack Lemon as a small example of this. (This list is from Wikipedia)...

1955- WON - Best Actor/Supporting Role - Mister Roberts
1959- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - Some Like It Hot
1960- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - The Apartment
1962- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - Days of Wine and Roses
1973- WON - Best Actor/Leading Role - Save the Tiger
1979- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - The China Syndrome
1980- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - Tribute
1982- Nominated - Best Actor/Leading Role - Missing

With the exception of "Some Like It Hot," and "The Apartment" (for which, you will note, he was only nominated and did NOT win), every other nomination--and certainly every WIN--was for serious roles. Many of them deeply DEPRESSING roles, in fact. If there is a more depressing movie than "Days of Wine and Roses," I have yet to see it. If you look up any of those other nominated or winning movies, you'll encounter words like "bleak," "bloody," "terminally ill..." the list goes on and on.

True, Jack Lemon was a fabulous actor, and some of the comedies he made in the 50s really were pure fluff. But to imply that his best work was ONLY in drama is to diminish his contribution to cinema. Probably his most iconic role is as Felix Unger in "The Odd Couple." But is it anywhere on that Academy Awards list? Of course not. Because it wasn't a depressing movie.

I believe writers who produce humor suffer the same stigma. Sure, an occasional "Holes" will win. But there are still more dead moms than laughing moms on any awards list. (It's not surprising to note that Neil Simon, who wrote more than 30 screen plays including "The Odd Couple" mentioned above,
who won the Mark Twain prize and numerous other comedy and lifetime achievement awards, has no Oscar statues on his mantel, either.)

I don't think it's the kids (readers) making those decisions, any more than it was the movie goers making the awards decisions, since Lemon's comedies probably made more money than the dramas, and CERTAINLY Simon's comedies did. (Which brings a whole 'nother prejudice into the voting mix: a reluctance to award prizes to financially successful projects embraced by the "illiterate masses.") It's the prejudice of the grownups on the awards committees. In the minds of many of those judges, "serious" is considered more literary than "funny."

Kim Norman

GREAT school visit: Verballoons and Wrist Bands!

2008-02-15T17:10:00.002-08:00

Tuesday morning I had a great time visiting the 5th graders of John B. Cary Elementary School, in Hampton, Virginia. What wonderful group of students! They were all so bright and enthusiastic. Same for faculty and staff. They made me feel very welcome. Mel Black, the librarian who had hired me, asked me to concentrate on writing skills, so I came up with a phrase, "Writers Choose Their Words," to show that writers are very careful about what words they choose -- after the 1st draft, of course!

We did a fun activity about verbs where I borrowed a passage from Dawdle Duckling that Toni Buzzeo had sent me. They know Toni and love her; after she visited there last year, she recommended me.

I printed the passage on an overhead transparency, replacing Toni's verbs with more bland ones. Then, for each word, (there were about 6 or 8 of them) I put 4 or 5 alternate verbs into a balloon which I allowed the kids to stomp, releasing the words. They'd read the newly-spilled verbs, and the crowd would pick its favorite. I tried to include at least one silly one in each batch, ("put on deoderant" instead of Toni's much more succinct "preen.") The kids were actually pretty good at picking the same word Toni had. I called the activity "Verballoons."

Even I got something out of that verballoons activity. It really shows how picking the right verb conveys lots of information very quickly. One sentence in Toni's text began:
"Past the marsh with the cattails waving,"

I replaced "waving" with boring old "growing," then, from the balloon they burst, I gave them a selection of:
waving, blowing, nodding, meowing, or whipping.

They chose "whipping," which wasn't too bad, since they couldn't tell from this beginning sentence what the setting would be. Then we talked about how "whipping" is not only a more active and visual verb, it also gives us more information about the setting, that it must be windy in our story. Same with Mama Duck, whom they chose to be "thrashing." So now we had a verb which was not only ulta-visual, but also gave us some idea of Mama Duck's state of mind. It was really a very interesting activity.

[[[UPDATE about this activity, 2010: I've since created a PowerPoint version of this activity which seems to work just as well and is a little easier to transport. All those balloons take a lot of prep ... and a lot of space in my car!]]]

I only wish I'd had time to share the two passages sent to me by Marianne Mitchell (Finding Zola) , and Fred Bortz, ("Dr. Fred," Collision Course!). I have a similar gig in a couple of weeks, so I'll try to streamline the visit to fit in those extra passages, even if we only talk about them, without the balloons.

Of course, I shared my Evil Inner Editor photos, which they laughed at, as well as reading Jack of All Tails on transparencies from David Clark's first set of sketches, before the book was published.

As a closing activity, I had them create wrist bands (I'd cut strips of wallpaper old sample books) onto which they affixed stickers which they had labeled with the letters WCTW ("Writers Choose Their Words.") They wrote out the whole phrase on the inside of the band. Mel told me the kids were really pleased with these and wore them the rest of the day.

I was kicking myself that I hadn't brought a camera to get a photo of the wrist bands for my blog. There would have been issues with showing the kids' faces, but a nice shot of all those pretty little brown wrists wearing the bracelets would have been nice.

Mel told me she's putting together a presentation right now and wants to use a similar shot, so she's going to recreate the activity and send me the photo. She's really cool. We totally hit it off and have a lot in common. (She was even a typesetter in a "previous life," incredibly enough! I didn't know there were any more of us still alive. LOL!) Here's her blog about the visit: http://melsplace.blog.com/

Kim

"Make My Day" Award Day on Stone Stoop!

2008-02-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well, how sweet! Liz Dubois just honored me with a "Make My Day Award!" Thanks, Liz! She made MY day, which needed it -- a drizzly day in February when I spent 2 hours in the dentist chair. What a day!

Now I'll pass the honor to these next five folks who always make my day:

First, to Mel Black of Melsplace
She was the gracious hostess of a GREAT author visit I enjoyed yesterday at her school, John B. Cary Elementary School, in Hampton, Virginia.

Elizabeth Dulemba, illustrator extraordinaire, and my favorite go-too gal for all things tech.

Kerry Madden, whose newest book, Jessie's Mountain, was released this week. Jessie is the third installment in Kerry's Maggie Valley trilogy which began with the beautiful, can't-put-down "Gentle's Holler." (At least, I couldn't put it down. Sure wish she didn't too goll-durned far away to sign my copy!) Happy release week, Kerry! She's holding the cutest School Photo contest right now on her blog. I'll dig up an old pigtail photo and send it in. What a cute idea, Kerry! Oh, and I almost forgot to say, you can read my interview with Kerry, when the 2nd book, Louisiana's Song, came out last May. Read it HERE.

I also award my friend Sara Lewis Holmes a "Make My Day" award... just because whenever we get together (all too seldom!), she always does. She has the world's most gorgeous smile. She ain't too shabby a writer, either. Sara is the author of Letters from Rapunzel, a book that I remember in its infancy, which went on to win the the HarperCollins Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Prize!

And last but not least, Joe Kulka always makes my day when he pulls his hunky self away from his workspace and lends his acerbic, and totally-guy wit and wisdom to our critique group. Joe's Wolf's Coming is on FIRE, winning awards and making favorites lists everywhere!

So there is my Make My Day Award list for February 13, 2007. Visit my friends and let them make your day, too!

Kim Norman

School author visit feedback form

2008-02-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I would share the feedback form I (USUALLY!!) send to schools after I have visited. (When I remember.) It serves as a good reminder to me of how the visit went, who I met, ect., as well as giving me feedback about what worked, what didn't, etc.

Plus, it serves as one more little reminder to the folks who hired me so maybe they'll remember my name and recommend me to their colleagues.

I hashed around with this form among my author friends, one of whom has been a statistician in a former life. She suggested I only supply 4 choices (good to bad) since a selection of 1 to 5 allows the reviewer to lazily make a non-committal selection of "3." If there are only 4 choices, they've got to make a firm decision of whether you were better or worse than average. Much more useful information than a 3 out of 5 would supply.

Also in the discussion with authors & librarians, the consensus was that I should only ask about 5 questions, so as not to make too much work for these busy people. Sound advice. And in keeping with the "don't-make-them-work" theme, I also include an SASE with the feedback form. So far, I've received them back every time and most with lots of "4s," I'm happy to say!

Anyway, here's what the form says. Feel free to borrow this and tweak for your own needs...

KIM NORMAN
AUTHOR PRESENTATION FEED-BACK

Name & Title ________________

School Name _________________

Please circle your answers on a scale of 1 (not much) to 4 (yes, very much)

1. Did she hold her audience's interest?
1 2 3 4

2. Was there enough audience participation?
1 2 3 4

3. Was there enough humor in the presentation?
1 2 3 4

4. Did the "props" and/or audio-visuals add to the presentation?
1 2 3 4

5. Would you recommend this speaker to your peers?
1 2 3 4

Please add any further comments, below.

(Here I include 4 long lines for them to write on)

May I use your quote and name on promotional materials? ___________

Thank you so much for your feedback!

###

Kim Norman

PS -- No, that's not my house and mailbox in the photo. Just an old farmhouse I enjoy photographing occasionally during my morning walks.

Google says I'm a poet!

2008-02-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

I was shocked (and a little chagrined) to discover recently that I'm the 3rd listing if you Google "Virginia poet." Since I consider myself far FAR below the status of... say... any Virginia poet laureate, all of whom are barely visible on that first results page. Obviously, they're spending their time actually WRITING POEMS rather than improving their search rankings. LOL!

I've also risen recently to 4th, directly below Virginia Hamilton, if you Google "Virginia children's book author." Further refine that search to the Hampton Roads area, (which includes 10 cities with a population nearing two million), I'm the first listing.

I think the recent rise is because I've been doing a little more blogging lately. My rankings weren't too shabby before but they have risen some since getting back to blogging.

One more tip: When you name the homepage of your site, (or heck, you could do it for all the pages) put in a lot of info you'd like the search engines to find. You'll notice at the top of my site, the title of the homepage is ridiculously long: "Kim Norman--Hampton Roads Virginia poet, children's book author and illustrator--Jack of All Tails, Dutton."

The person who helped me design my site is a smart cookie who knew that, around the time my site went up, 3 or 4 years ago, search engines were changing the way they listed rankings to get around the sneaky folks who were artificially inflating their rankings with unrelated links, (like posting a sort of "drive-by" message to very popular blogs, for instance.)

She said engines were also paying less attention to meta tags, since people were putting "hot topic" unrelated tags in their code -- like "Britney Spears," -- but they WERE paying attention to page titles. So my smart cookie web lady said, "Nothing ventured... let's see how much relevant description we can cram onto the title of the page."

So that's probably why I beat out most of the REAL poets in Virginia. (Poetry judges have always grudgingly given me 2nd & 3rd place wins, NEVER first place, since they consider my stuff light verse rather than "REAL" poetry. I guess this is my one form of revenge. Google considers me a poet, at least. )

Kim Norman

Journal of a school author visit

2008-02-07T13:37:00.001-08:00

Since I'm kind of busy right now and it's hard for me to find the time to constantly put new material on the blog, I decided to pull up my journal entry of a past Young Author's presentation...

Went VERY well. Great audience, in the hundreds. Appreciative and generous. Thank goodness I don't get nerves speaking in front of large crowds, because I was NOT expecting such a large audience.

Turned out it was a city-wide event, which means I was performing for teachers from a whole bunch of schools instead of just one. Yeah! A potential source of future author school visits.

FORGOT MY BOOKMARKS!! Really wished I had them since there was a freebie table for all these hundreds of people to peruse while they munched cookies after the presentation.

Learned I'd better have a few extra lapel buttons for my Silly Sign War performers, since I somehow ended up with 6 readers instead of 5. I only had 5 buttons left in my entire inventory. (Note to self: contact Meadowbrook for some more buttons. 2nd note to self: buy some more books from Meadowbrook. I realized mid-afternoon that I didn't have a single copy of the book in my house. The library couldn't find the copy I'd donated, either. Sheesh.)

FORGOT TO READ THE POEM IN ROLLING IN THE AISLES. And that's after going to the trouble to borrow the darned thing from Doris Rea, since I'd sold all my copies.

Thoughts about reader's theater:
Come up with a few places where the whole audience can chime in together. I did this tonight by asking the audience to shout "Do not slap worms" to get my (2) boys reading for "Grumpy Sign #1" in the mood to be grumpy.

After my presentation, I was touched by the writings of an amazing young man, Collin's age, who is an exchange student from Iraq. What a brave, impressive young man. He got a standing ovation... and deserved it.

Was flattered that they had filled the entire left side of the program with my bio, opposite the agenda. Looked like I was somebody! Listed my credits as poet and illustrator as well as my books.

Walked up to a man with a camera whom I assumed was a parent. I'd heard his name mentioned so I told him I had a nephew by that name. Seemed like an amiable young man. He asked me some questions and started scribbling, at which point I realized he was a reporter. So maybe I'll be quoted in the Suffolk News Herald. We'll see. I'm not as interesting as the young Iraqi. (Note after the fact: I was quoted, although I never got to see a copy of the paper, since we don't subscribe to the Herald.)

Was introduced to some very nice women -- reading specialists and/or teachers, I presume -- who were VERY complimentary after the program. One said she liked it so much she'd like to hire me for a teacher workshop. Told her I'd be delighted, and I would! Another encouraged me to put together a proposal for the Virginia State Reading Association -- which I have, since then. What an impressive, vibrant organization!

Kim Norman

Why are editors annoyed by rhyme?

2008-02-06T06:16:00.000-08:00

On a children's writers list recently, someone questioned editors' frequently saying they object to inconsistent meter. This person wondered something like, ""Isn't a consistent meter always used in rhyming picture books?"

My response:

... well, not in poorly written ones, which is what editors object to. I think the confusion lies in the meaning of "consistent meter." I believe, when editors cite this as a problem, they're talking about the rhythm being "off" within any given stanza, not with a writer switching to another rhythm altogether. Some authors do that brilliantly.

I'll use a snippet of Robert Frost's "Stopping in the woods on a snowy evening" as an example. Here's how Mr. Frost wrote the first 4 lines:

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

Now let's pretend that someone ELSE wrote those lines, only they didn't
quite nail the rhythm...

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the nearby town though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch for Santa's reindeer.

Okay. That's more than getting the meter wrong. That's also getting the rhyme wrong, since "here" and "REINdeer" don't even rhyme. (You should rhyme from the last accented syllable. "Ring" and "PLAY-ing" don't rhyme either, even though the last syllable is constructed from the same letters.)

But I think that's what editors object to when they mention inconsistent meter. They don't mind if you change up the rhythms now and then to avoid monotony. My 2nd and 3rd books coming out are both in rhyme. In "The Crocodaddy," I did switch the rhythm for the refrain. It's still the same number of stressed beats per line, but with a greater number of unaccented syllables
between the beats. ("Crocodaddy" has a heck-of-a-lot of unaccented syllables! LOL!)

In the third book, "Wee Piggy," the rhythm is fairly consistent, (a basic 4 stressed beats per line), but--to lend a feeling of accelerating events towards the end--I switched to shorter lines, two stressed beats per line. (That's stressed beats, not syllables. Obviously the lines have more than 2 syllables in each line.)

So I don't think it's CHANGING rhythms that editors object to, as long as the change is deliberate and deft. I think they have more of a problem with clumsily written stanzas with inconsistently metered lines that just don't scan in the first place.

Kim Norman

Researching publishers

2008-02-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

Amazon is always a good resource when researching any publisher. Just do an advance search and plug in the publisher's name. If they're a big publisher, it's better to select a limited number of years back you'd like to view. Five years or so is usually enough to give you an idea of the type of books that house publishes.

It's helpful when, say, you're researching picture books and you want to find out if they do lots of animal books, or books with cumulative structures. I'll often copy a chunk of a book's info page, including the cover art, then save it into a text file. I sometimes do that when I'm researching publishers who might be a fit for one of my manuscripts. You might not want to pitch to publishers who have produced a book which is TOO much like your current book, (say, a rhyming book about dancing kumquats), but if it's a publisher who does rhyming books, or books about anthropomorphic... er... fruits, you've got a better shot.

Sometimes it can be frustrating, finding a publisher which is a good fit without being TOO good a fit. In my crit group, we all laughed (instead of crying) over a rejection one of us received from Viking which said, "It's great, but we already have a book about blueberries."

Uh. Yeah. That would be Blueberries for Sal. Published SIXTY YEARS AGO. Seems like they could take a chance that kids who read it have moved on. Maybe when a book becomes an icon like Sal, publishers steer clear of ever touching such a subject again. Who knows.

But on the whole, it's a good thing to find houses which have previously published books similar to your own, and Amazon is a quick(-ish) way to do it. Once I've copied a few similar books into that text file, I store it in a folder with the manuscript, titled "Target markets for XYZ (title of the book.)"

Kim Norman

Sample of a winning query

2008-01-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a sample of a query that led to a quick sale. I'll admit, it's a teensy bit "name-droppy," but graciously so, I hope. I guess it didn't bother the intended recipient because she responded within 7 days that she'd like to see the manuscript, which she bought about 10 weeks later. I've since co-presented with this editor in a workshop called "Birth of a book." She said that, indeed, she appreciates your mentioning any acquaintances you have in common, as long as it's a genuine association. And, of course, you'll want to clear the name-drop with your friend before using his/her name.

I'd prefer all names below to remain anonymous, so I've replaced "dropped" names with "(insert mutual acquaintance's name)." And of course, I've removed the name of the editor. Hey, I'm not going to do ALL your work for you!!

(Editor's name & title)
(Publisher's address.)

Dear Ms. (Editor,)

(Insert mutual acquaintance's name), a member of my online critique group, suggested you might be interested in my 267 word picture book, The Crocodaddy, which follows a fearless “Crocodaddy hunter” as he stalks his sly, playful father. I placed the action in a pond, although the game originated between my sons and their father in our tiny backyard pool. The young hunter repeatedly tries to tame the wiley Crocodaddy. He nearly manages in this stanza, when he leaps onto the Crocodaddy’s back:

(Here I inserted 3 short stanzas from the work. Actually, 2 stanzas and a refrain. They're each short-lined quatrains which totaled about 52 words for all three stanzas.)

I’m the author of the humorous picture book, Jack of All Tails, (DUTTON, 2007.) A long-standing member of the SCBWI, I edit their “Highlighter” Mid-Atlantic newsletter. In 2000, I illustrated The Museum Duck, (PEARL LINE PRESS), and my poem, “Mirror, Mirror, O’er the Sink,” was published in Rolling in the Aisles, (MEADOWBROOK, 2004.)

With its summer setting and father/child action, I believe The Crocodaddy has potential as a Father’s Day favorite. I’ve enclosed SASE for your response. I’m also querying several other houses about this manuscript.

Regards,

Kim Norman

P.S. - (insert OTHER mutual acquaintance's name) says “hi,” too! I’m in her in-person crit group, which will miss her terribly when she moves soon!

###

Couple o' notes about my query style:
While I want to appear professional, I try to avoid the kind of stilted business language they used to teach in typing class 30 years ago. So I use contractions where they seem appropriate, and it goes without SAYING that I never use the phrase, "Please find enclosed..."

Oops. I just said it anyway.

If you don't have any names to drop, not to worry. I received plenty of "yes please" responses way back when I knew not a soul in the children's book biz. So as long as you're professional and offer an enticing story, many editors -- even at the biggest houses -- will ask to see your full manuscript if it looks like a good fit for their line.

It's interesting to note that, when we presented that workshop together, my ed said she liked that I mentioned the potential marketing niche of the book, (my mention of Father's Day.) She also liked that I included a snippet of the text so she could get a feel for the story's language.

This letter marked a change in how I worded the information about this being a multiple submission. (It went to one other large house, who also requested the ms. but, alas, it was sold by then. Kind of a nice position to be in, though!) Anyway, in the past, my letters barely whispered the "MS" word... er... words. I'd drop it as a euphemism as far near the end of the letter as possible. Or I'd just put "Mult. subm" way down in the bottom corner.

This time, as you can see, I stated it plainly in the closing paragraph. You never know when an editor coveting a potentially scarce commodity will work in your favor!

Oh, and I'll end on an encouraging note: I misspelled "wily" in the query, (did you spot it?) The editor forgave me and bought the manuscript anyway. So don't let perfectionism get in the way of submitting your stories. Editors like to see clean, professional submissions, but they understand that everyone makes the occasional boo boo. In fact, the editor at that OTHER house, (the one who requested the manuscript after it had sold), is equally forgiving. Once, previous to this submission, I misspelled her name in a query!! She asked to see the manuscript anyway.

Kim Norman

Musical pitch a learned skill?

2008-01-24T11:19:00.001-08:00

I just listened to a fascinating- FASCINATING- podcast from Robert Krulwich's Radio Lab. I believe it's a public radio show that plays in various markets, but we don't get it here, so I listen to it online. This particular show was about how the mind processes music. One expert they interviewed has discovered, in countries where language relies on pitch, that people she has tested from those countries have an immensely larger percentage of the population with perfect pitch. (The ability to identify the pitch of a note without seeing it on sheet music, for instance.)

Some of this is bound to be genetics, of course, but the researcher thinks her studies prove that much of one's ability to distinguish musical tones is a learned skill, acquired during those crucial early years when a child's mind is especially attuned to acquiring language.

Of course, all languages use pitch to some degree, but that's often related to sentence structure, such as the American style of ending questions on an up-note while British speakers often pitch the last syllable downward. But the sentence would still mean basically the same thing, regardless of pitch. This researcher's tests are based on the many Asian languages where
pitch will totally change the meaning of a word such as "ma."

Of course, it begs the question: if you and your children are "stuck" with a language which is not pitch-based, how can you cultivate that kind of ear in your own child? This show doesn't answer that question, but I think it would be a huge argument for exposing one's child to lots and lots of music EARLY. And not only lots of it, but lots of repetition, hearing the same songs over and over again. (And, of course, most children DO love hearing things over and over again. They seem to instinctively know that it's the best way for them to learn.)

Who knows, maybe that's the reason my younger son has such a well-tuned musical ear. When he was not quite two, he spent some months in a body cast. The only furniture that worked to support his odd plaster-encased posture was a bean bag chair where he spent a lot of that time in front of a simple music video of a man singing nursery rhymes while accompanying himself on the guitar. And when I saw a lot, I mean a LOT!

Anyway, here's a link to the show online. I think you can listen to it from the web, and of course also as a podcast. Check out all their other shows, too. They're all GREAT! Click here for the music podcast.

Kim Norman
--
http://www.kimnormanbooks.com/

JACK OF ALL TAILS, Dutton, June 2007 -- IT'S HERE!
THE CROCODADDY, Sterling, 2009
I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN, Dutton, 2010

"No Unsolicited manuscripts?" Doesn't mean you can't send something!

2008-01-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

A recent discussion on the Yahoo CW list reminded me of some advice I posted there once about the meaning of the term "no unsolicited manuscripts." Here's the post:

"No unsolicited manuscripts" does not mean you can't send something to these publishers. (Those who are truly closed will say something like "Not accepting submissions.")

"No unsolicited" just means you must send them a one-page QUERY first. If they like your idea and feel your book is a possible fit for their list, they will reply to your letter inviting you to send your manuscript. Then, WHEE! Suddenly you're sending a solicited manuscript.

I understand your confusion. I used to think that "no unsolicited" meant they actually only approached famous people and solicited manuscripts from them. Sounds incredibly naive of me now, but that's honestly what I thought.

You do not have to be previously published or famous or have any sort of contact in the industry for a publisher to take your query seriously. I got many "yes" responses to my queries early in my career, when I didn't know a SOUL in "the biz."
If they wish to see your manuscript based on your query, they'll write back and tell you their company procedure for you to send the now-solicited manuscript. Usually that means marking your envelope as "requested material," or something along those lines.

(Now I know what some people are thinking: "Why not just mark the envelope "requested material" FIRST and send it off? Answer: Editors have good memories. They will not only know they did not request a falsely marked manuscript, they will also remember the deception if you try to contact them later, even if you do it "by the rules" the 2nd time.)

There is lots of information online and in books on how to write a good query. It's a form of marketing yourself. The query serves as a first glimpse of your writing style, so it needs to have personality and yet be professional. I know it seems hard to convey the quality of a million-times-revised story in a li'l old query, but trust me, editors are well-trained to spot potential in a query. Plus, you can always insert a small excerpt from your manuscript so they can get a sense of your style as well. Do a search online or in an online bookstore on "How to write a good/strong query," and you'll hit a mother lode of helpful information.

You might want to read another blog post where I published the query that sold my CROCODADDY to Sterling editor who had never heard of me until she read the query. Read that HERE. I have since sold other books to Sterling, so my query was the start of a great, long-lasting relationship.

Good luck!

Kim Norman

Why I write picture books instead.

2007-12-23T05:41:00.001-08:00

Just saw this listing for a children's magazine seeking submissions:

"Publishes ideas, activities, crafts and tips for different ages. No fiction, prose, or poetry. Feature articles 1,000-2,200 words - payment $75 to $400. Teacher and Parent Tips 200 words - payment $40. Games, crafts, and activities 200-500 words - payment $40."

Holy cow! Talk about slave wages. And, from my perusal of the Children's Writer's Market, this is a fairly standard offering.

The last picture book I sold is about 575 words. I was paid thousands for it. (None of your biz exactly how many thousands, but more than ten times the top pay above, let's just say.) The one before that was about 225 words. Also paying WAY more than the measly 40 bucks offered above for 200 words.

And I'm a new, mid-list writer, not a superstar. My earnings are measly compared to theirs.

I know not every story fits as a picture book. I know new children's writers are often told that magazines are a good way to break in. But are they? I've heard of people waiting as long for their $25 poem to appear in a magazine as it takes for my books to land on bookstore shelves.

Maybe that's not true about smaller mags. Maybe with them, the time from sale to print is only a few months. And there's something to be said for the instant gratification of a quick query and sale. But my 3rd book was bought about 2 or 3 weeks after I queried my editor. (Granted, it was a query to an editor with whom I had a pre-existing relationship, not a slush pile submission.)

And even from the slush pile, with my 2nd sale, the editor replied to my query in 7 days. She bought the book about 10 weeks later. Not such a bad wait.

I know there aren't as many places to sell a picture book as an article. But these insulting wages are just... well... INSULTING. So my radical opinion is, if you're going to write, write for a venue which compensates you properly for your labor and inspiration rather than arrogantly assuming you'll be thrilled with the pittance they're paying just to see your byline in print.

Absurd!

2007-12-10T12:00:00.001-08:00

December 10th, and here I am outside in a t-shirt, STILL picking up pecans, and it's about 76 degrees outside! Ridiculous. Sorry all you folks everywhere else in the country, hunkered down in snow and ice storms.

I thought how absurd it was as I entered the house and felt the heat around the door which sports my Christmas wreath. The only thing that reminds me it's December is this nasty cold. Blecch! Hope my voice is usable by Thursday. I've got a school presentation that night.

And still MORE pecans!

2007-11-23T07:21:00.001-08:00

Pecans!

2007-11-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again, a time I always look forward to... and not just because the temperatures are lower. (Although that's a big part of it!)

It's also the time I can spend hours day dreaming, thinking up new plots, while I harvest pecans. We've got a good crop this year. See...?

In case you're wondering, that long-handled gizmo is a tool many of us have in the south for picking up pecans while sparing our backs.

Something welcome this way comes...

2007-10-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

...and his name is Alan Gratz!

It's my great pleasure to host Alan Gratz on the 2nd day of his book tour. Alan's 2nd book, Something Rotten, has just been released from Dial Books. His first, Samurai Shortstop, came out in 2006. It's great to have you here, Alan. I'm just going to launch into my nosy questions!

1. I know you've written drama as well as "book" fiction. How do your skills as a drama writer come into play when you're writing a book? Is there a difference in pacing, dialogue, etc.?

Dialogue is of course very important on the stage. Most directors want to strip out the stage directions I write anyway, and just use the words I've put into the characters mouths. Writing for directors who do that made me much more conscious of my stage directions. I began putting in only those directions that were vitally important to the scene and leaving out a lot of the little things like "he pours a coffee" or "he stands." I'm learning to cut out a lot of those in my novels as well. There's just so much sitting and standing and looking and nodding and such a character can do before those things become meaningless in a book. I still find them sprinkled throughout my manuscripts, but I'm learning to cut those out as much as possible. Punctuating dialogue with actions like that helps to pace things, but I'm focusing now on making those actions more specific and meaningful, or perhaps expressing them in more creative ways. "The look on his face told me my idea stank worse than a weightlifter's armpit." That kind of thing.

2. I love that you survived a "humid childhood." Haha! So did I! Do you think you write in a southern voice? Or just a moister one?

I've been thinking more and more lately about whether or not I'm a "Southern writer." *Technically* I am, as I was born and raised in the humid climes of East Tennessee and now live in the more temperate mountains of western North Carolina. But geography alone does not define "Southern writer," at least not in the way I think of it. When I think of Southern writers I think of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Lee Smith, Larry Brown, Cormac McCarthy--authors whose stories are in and *of* the South, whose palettes are filled with people and places that are unique to the region. Samurai Shortstop was written in Knoxville, Tennessee, but it certainly does not qualify me as a "Southern writer." Something Rotten comes closer, however. I chose to set my modern retelling of Hamlet in a fictional Denmark, Tennessee, which I place on the map somewhere near Knoxville. The novel's landscape is Appalachia, but does that make me a Southern writer? I'm still up in the air on that one. I'm not sure Something Rotten is *about* the South. It's just set there. I'd like to be thought of as a Southern writer--there's certainly a wonderful literary tradition here--but I may need to write something where the South is almost another character to really put myself on the map.

3. How do you handle the muddy middle of a long book project, when you're past the exciting beginning but far from the breathless finish?

Outlining! My stories used to sag in the middle like a carnival pony until I learned the art of outlining before writing the first word. Now I don't hit that big dead space in the middle anymore between how I knew the story began and how I knew it ended. When constructing the outline, I focus on making sure that something happens in each and every chapter that moves the story forward. That sounds simple, but it's really harder than it sounds. There's all kinds of opportunity in a novel to stop and dwell on the philosophical meaning of something, or veer off into an internal monologue or an aside, and many modern novels relish in this. When writing for young readers though, I try to keep such musings to a minimum--or at least fuse them with action. It's not that young readers can't understand* deep thoughts, it's that many of them don't want to make time for them. There are just too many things begging for the attention of young adults. I feel that competition, and I do everything I can to beat it. Besides, that's the kind of book I enjoy reading too. :-)

4. How do you think YA differs from adult fiction, since so many barriers have come down about sex, language and violence in YA?

The difference for me will always be one of perspective. Adult books may have a teenage protagonist, but are often couched as nostalgia or remembrances, or the books stand away from the character and make observations that come with the maturity of years. Young adult novels, on the other hand, are immediate. The characters live *in the moment,* as real teenagers do, often giving as little thought to what happened last year as they do to what will happen a year later. With no subject taboo anymore, YA isn't an issue of content, it's an issue of point of view. Teenagers have a limited point of view due to their age--they just can't have seen as much of the world as an adult, and so their viewpoint is unique. For them, every relationship is the best they will ever have, every breakup the worst they will ever have. A bad test score means the Worst Day Ever, a sports victory means the Greatest Day Ever. They've yet to learn that these ups and downs are a never-ending part of what it means to be alive, and I love them dearly for that. For young adults the world is constantly new, which means that everything, from the mundane to the taboo, is a totally emotional experience.

5. Do you plan to retool any of Shakespeare's other plots? Or perhaps to continue to write for this character, now that you know him so well?

Yes! I've already sold two sequels. The first is Something Wicked, which is based on Macbeth. My detective Horatio Wilkes will return, this time following his friend Mac and Mac's girlfriend Beth (yes, you may groan now) to a Scottish Highland Festival in the mountains of East Tennessee. There he'll solve a murder, fall in love, and wear a kilt, though not necessarily in that order. Something Wicked will be published by Dial next fall (2008), and will be followed in the fall of 2009 by Something Foolish, based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I haven't written that one yet, but it will be set at an all night keg party where Horatio must solve a date rape and repair a few broken relationships. I have plans too for Julius Caesar (think toga party at a college fraternity) and The Tempest (Horatio interns at a Disney-like theme park ruled by an animatronics wizard), and hope to sell those if the first three books do well. I'll keep writing mysteries based on Shakespeare as long as people keep reading them!

6. Have you any plans to write for a younger audience?

I have sold a middle grade novel (ages 8-12) called The Brooklyn Nine, which follows nine "innings," or generations, of an American family as told through the children's connections to baseball. It's American history, family history, and baseball history all rolled into one. The Brooklyn Nine is currently slated for release in spring of 2009--just in time for baseball season! As for anything younger, I have a few ideas for intermediate reader series, but my plate's so full right now I wouldn't have time to write them!

Thanks Alan.

Thank you, Kim!

Don't miss Alan's other blog appearances this week:
Monday: Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Wednesday: Karen Lee
Thursday: Kerry Madden's Mountain Mist

The Elements

2007-10-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Couldn't help bragging about my son, who -- with a little bribing -- memorized the period table of elements, sung along with the the hilarious Tom Lehrer song... which is, of course, originally a Gilbert & Sullivan song.

If the picture quality is too bad, (and you'll really miss out if you don't see his dancing eyebrows keeping time to the music!), hop on over to YouTube and view it by clicking here.

A truly odd guest!

2007-09-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

No, just kidding! There's nothing odd about my friend, Karen Lee. But she certainly is special! She is the illustrator of two Sylvan Dell titles, One Odd Day and My Even Day, as well as BOTH author & illustrator of ABC Safari. She's joining me today on the 2nd day of her blog book tour.

It's great to have you in for a visit, Karen. I'll just jump right in with my questions!

Who are your favorite illustrators? Do you feel they influenced your work?

My favorite of all time is NC Wyeth – my son’s middle name is Wyeth in his honor. Among contemporary illustrators I admire Adam Rex , Tony DiTerlizzi, Peter Ferguson, Kadir Nelson, and Tim Bower . If you look at the work of these artists you can see some of the same elements; powerful design, masterful execution, drama, style, but all with something uneasy about them. These artists’s work all challenge the viewer rather than simply lull them. That is exciting to me and something I aspire to do with my art.

Now that you're a southern girl like me, (after your Ohio childhood) do you think your southern lifestyle has had an effect on your work? Or does it just make your materials melt faster?

I love living in the south and have for about nineteen of my adult years which is crazy because Im only 29, but that is a whole other interview. It's pretty laid back and I love being able to be outdoors year round. I can't seem to think clearly unless Im moving. We are fortunate to have a paved greenway path near our house and I do almost all of my best thinking while walking the dog every morning. There is also a strong writing tradition in the south and I think it has given me access to some phenomenal role models.

And what ABOUT that Ohio childhood... how did it affect the artist you are now? (And I mean artist in all senses, including your writing and any other arts to which you may lend your talents.)

I am the second oldest of five kids born within five and a half years so my poor mom didn't have much time to entertain me she hardly had time to breathe can you imagine? Just about all of my most vivid early memories are of either art or of books. I read all the time and I remember feeling anxious that my small town library was running out of things I hadn't read. I read anything I could get my hands on from my dads scientific journals to my moms Redbook Magazine. Back then Redbook featured great fiction and always had lots of short stories coupled with art from wonderful illustrators. It was my introduction to writers like Judith Viorst and artists like Charles Santore. I even read almost all my dads collection of classics from Shakespeares comedies (couldn't do the histories and only a few of the tragedies) to Hawthorne, Doyle, and Dickens.

The books I remember the most from my childhood are an illustrated David and Goliath that I checked out of the library over and over, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, and Illusions by Richard Bach. Its interesting to me that several of these books have essentially the same theme the triumph of good over evil at great odds. It is such a universal story.

We lived in a small suburb of Cleveland and, as a teenager, I took a bus into Cleveland to attend Saturday classes at the Cleveland Institute of Art. That was the perfect combination of freedom and creative stimulation for me and probably influenced my decision to go to an art college more than anything else.

Do you prefer illustrating your own books or the books of other authors?

That's an interesting question and Im not sure how well I can answer it yet because Ive only illustrated one of my own books. I can say that while it is satisfying to be able to have control over the entirety of a book it also comes with the burden of being solely responsible for the success of that creation. There is something to the gestalt that comes from two or more minds coming together to make something greater than the sum of its parts and I think that has happened with One Odd Day and My Even Day.

Do you have other books in the works that you have authored?

I have two manuscripts that I am currently storyboarding and maybe here I can shed some light about how I feel about illustrating my own work. One of these stories is a quirky, creepy story that I dont feel adequate to do the finished art for. I have convinced my husband, illustrator Tim Lee www.leeillo.com to collaborate with me on the art in the event that it gets accepted. He can bring something to this picture book that I cant pull off alone and he also is much more experimental than I am and will push the art to a level that matches the story better.

The other picture book I am working on is also a story that wouldn't be well matched for the style of work I am currently doing but this one is my challenge. I am hoping that when I begin the sketches for this I will launch my work into a new direction. This particular story has also been a departure for me - it is written in prose after several years of writing primarily in rhyme.

I know Sylvan Dell is a well-respected publisher which does a good job of promoting its authors and illustrators. I've met Lee German, your publisher at Sylvan Dell and he's a great guy! Since many beginners start out thinking they would like to be published only by a "big" house, can you share some of the things a smaller publishing house has to offer which may even be superior to a big publisher?

I have loved working with Sylvan Dell. Besides being extraordinarily friendly, they have a real passion for what they are publishing. For me the assets are that the author or illustrator has greater creative freedom. They will also keep these books in print and remain committed to them long after most big-house books are out of print.

Karen is also on tour the rest of this week, so to get more in depth information, follow her to the blogs of our other talented friends:

Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Kim Norman
Ruth McNally Barshaw
Barbara Johansen Newman
Dotti Enderle
Kerry Madden

Here piggy piggy... SOLD!!

2007-09-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Wee haw! Just sold book number three a few days ago!! To my editor at Dutton. What a relief. I was beginning to worry that my first sale to her was a fluke and I'd never write anything which appealed to her again.

This is a rhyming pic book based on "I know an old woman who swallowed a fly." If we don't change the title, the new book is called "I know a wee piggy who wallowed in brown." Color concept book, obviously.

This will be my 3rd book. I'm almost starting to feel like a real-live author! (I guess the "rich-and-famous" prefix will come later!)

Apples!

2007-09-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

Played Martha Stewart for a while on vacation. Picked apples from my grandfather's old apple trees, planted over 50 years ago, and made two batches of applesauce. (The first batch, more virtuous with cinnamon & Splenda, and the second with plain old sugar.)

Gathered the apples in this grand old picnic basket of my grandmother's. Knocked off the cobwebs and removed the little shelf inside which was obviously an innovation to allow for "non-squashed" sandwich transport.

Apples were a popular theme during this vacation. I discovered these old cookbooks on my grandmother's shelves by "Mrs. Appleyard." They're a hoot. More like novels than cookbooks, written by a woman named Louise Andrews Kent in the 40s & early 50s. Mrs. Appleyard is an invention with her crisp New England matron's attitude and speech patterns. Often very funny. The funniest part was that my 13-year-old son decided the books were funny, too, so he began to read them aloud to me, only, instead of trying to sound like, say, Julia Child, he read them in his deep "movie announcer voice." Either way, it was a pleasant way to pass the time while I peeled apples. Nice to get him away from the video games and spend time with his old mom.

I made enough to bring home a batch to his older brother who had stayed home to work.

Turkeys!!

2007-08-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

So here's a little video of the turkeys I spotted that day near the farmhouse in Maine. It was a nice surprise to look out the window and see them there. We'd been watching them way up in the field with binoculars. This was much better!

Now how's THAT for a room with a view?

2007-08-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is the window where I sat earlier this month, at my grandparents' old farmhouse in Maine, working on a revision. Who wouldn't be inspired by this? (Although this is sunset and I mostly wrote in the early mornings looking over misty fields.) Was even visited by a flock of wild turkeys one day. They came around the side of the house, stopped to snack around the oak tree stump, then ambled up the road.

And then there's the "feelin' famous" part: having my name show up in big bold letters on the public library sign in Lovell, Maine. What a great group of folks! Made me feel so welcome!

You won't accept "no!"

2007-07-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

A new song! I've put it on my podcast, The Kimmy Awards, but since some folks were having trouble, I also uploaded it to YouTube, or you can view below. Many thanks to my talented friend, Layne Rowland, who plays the pushy newbie writer in this dialog between writer and overworked, under-appreciated editor.

Warning: One naughty word at the end of the song.

Hi kimnorman!

2007-07-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

I was telling my friend Sara today about an odd phenomenon I've noticed since doing some school visits in my own town -- where I'm likely to encounter the children again. When they see me elsewhere, (even if they already knew me as Mrs. Norman from church, say) suddenly I'm their best friend: "Hi Kimnorman!" The name comes out like one word.

This has happened 3 or 4 times now. Very odd. "Hey, aren't you kimnorman?" "Hey, Mom! It's kimnorman!" (The moms, many of whom already me as Kim Norman -- two words -- are always mightily impressed, let me tell you.)

Just wondering if other authors have experienced that after an appearance.

By the way, if you're curious about the above photo, she's one of my Evil Inner Editors. View the rest of them here.

And don't forget to listen to my hilarious new song featuring an overworked editor and a pushy writer on my podcast, The Kimmy Awards.

Announcing "The Kimmy Awards!"

2007-07-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll admit I'm not handing out any awards... yet. It just seemed like a good, short dot.com name to buy for my podcast.

And today we have a new song!! Your editors are going to love this one. A dialog between a harried editor and a pushy newbie writer. Listen to my newest song, You won't accept "no!" here:
www.kimmyawards.com

A gift from a dream

2007-07-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

For the first time that I recall, I came up with a story idea in a dream last night. In my dream, I watched this little boy singing a song that sounded like a nice premise for a picture book. I even began scribbling the idea down in my dream -- with the usual plot twists and interruptions. Does everybody dream like that, with lots of obstacles in the way of their intentions, or is it just my cluttered life that makes me dream that way?

Within the dream, as I wrote down the story idea, I suddenly thought, "Wait a minute. What if that was a real, copyrighted song he was singing?" Because when I first heard him, I was sure it was original. You know, one of those tuneless, chant-like songs children sing when they're busy doing something else. But as I wrote down the idea, I began to worry maybe he was just tone deaf.

Before I had a chance to finish writing down the idea, I woke up coughing. Makes me wonder: was that a real cough, or my body trying to wake me to write down the dream? Of course, I always have allergies, but no cold or cold "remnants" right now. Curious.

And then, of course, out for my morning walk to think about it. Snapped a few photos along the way, including one of my favorite subject, that old farmhouse which is bound for doom with developers encroaching. Sigh.

All in one place...

2007-06-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

It was fun doing all those interviews last week. A form of self-analysis. I was embarrassed at how nebulous I had to be about my next project. Also was dismayed at how long it has been since I had a good, solid habit of early morning walks followed by journaling. (Which I always find to be a good way to "center" myself for the day.)

So, even if NOBODY read the interviews, I got something out of them. Have started back my early morning walks, have started a new journal and have gotten a solid start on that revision I've owed one of my editors for way too long!

Thank you thank you to everyone who hosted me, forcing me to take a look at myself.

Here's a recap of the blogs I visited last week:

Monday - Elizabeth Dulemba's blog
Tuesday - Dotti Enderle's blog
Wednesday - Kerry Madden's blog
Thursday - Barbara Johansen Newman's blog
Friday - Karen Lee's blog
Saturday - Ruth McNally Barshaw's blog

Here are some views I enjoyed on my sunrise walk this morning near the marsh, including the photo at the top...

And here's where I journaled when I got back... my new gazebo!

Got that great hanging ornament for only SIX BUCKS!

And last, but by NO means least...

2007-06-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

My blog book tour completed over the weekend with a stop at my friend Ruth Barshaw's blog. Ruth is the author of the newly released Ellie McDoodle, Have Pen, Will Travel. She is carving her own exciting niche in the graphic novel field. My friend Ruth -- the pioneer!

Click HERE to read the interview.

Party!

2007-06-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

My book launch party was lovely. It took place June 14th in the garden at The Smithfield Inn. The weather was perfect, (67 degrees in the summer!); the company was delightful; the crowd size was just right.

Aside from delighting in celebrating the long-awaited release of my book, it was also gratifying for me to see that people looked like they were having a really good time. Many thanks to John and Anne Edwards of The Smithfield Times for generously hosting the party. And of course, to my family and friends who came out to celebrate with me.

Here's a glimpse:

At my friend Karen's "house!"

2007-06-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday I visited my friend Karen Lee's blog. Karen is an author AND illustrator. She's' got a great new book called ABC SAFARI which just came out from Sylvan Dell.

Like me, Karen is fascinated by the creative process. We discuss it on her blog, Karen's News.

Today I'm at Barb's!

2007-06-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Barb Newman, that is, my good friend and fellow critique group member. Barb's new book, Tex and Sugar just came out. It's party time at Barb's house! (Or, it was last weekend when she hosted her western themed launch party.) Check out photos of her party on Liz Dubois' blog. Lucky Liz lives close enough that she could go and even bring the family!

Anyhoo, visit Barb's blog, Cats and Jammers Studio, to read the latest interview!

Two places at once!

2007-06-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

As my blog book tour continues, today I'm two places at once... and I'm not even dizzy! (Kind of like doing Good Morning America at 8:30, then scooting up the street to appear on Regis by 9:15.)

Today you can find separate interviews at:

Dotti Enderle's blog
and Kerry Madden's blog

And if you can't get enough writer interviews, (I can't!) check out the great answers they gave me a few weeks back:

On May 24th, I interviewed Kerry,

and...

On May 3rd, I interviewed Dotti.

I'm on TOUR!

2007-06-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to say those words! I'm on a week-long "blog book tour" among my blogging author and/or illustrator friends. Today, (Monday) I'm visiting Elizabeth Dulemba, illustrator of such books as Glitter Girl and the Crazy Cheese.

To read the interview, click her name above or HERE.

See you there!

Happy birthday tooo Jaaaaack!

2007-06-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's our birthday. JACK OF ALL TAILS' official publication date, June 14, 2007. Sometimes I thought this day would never come. But my hair is already fixed and I'm gettin' ready to go upstairs and put on my fancy duds for my book's birthday party.

I've had 4 years to prepare for this. So how come I just picked out my outfit a few hours ago?

Anyway, as of today, I'm officially published. To borrow and paraphrase a hokey line from the old musical 110 in the Shade: "Ya been published, Kimmy. Ya don't ever have to go thru life a gal who ain't been published."

See you after the party!

Feelin' like a rock star

2007-06-02T07:26:00.001-07:00

Enjoyed a fabulous visit to my local elementary school yesterday. What a great group of enthusiastic kids! So much for the old saying about a prophet not being accepted in his own land. (Or however that saying goes!) My hometown kids at Hardy Elementary treated me like a rock star. Because they're so nearby, I had stopped in to meet the lovely librarian some weeks ago to give her an advance CD of my song, "The Storytime Boogie." By the time my visit rolled around, the kids were familiar with the song. (A big thanks to my friend Mrs. Chapman, the music teacher, for taking the time to introduce the kids to the song.)

What a great audience! (Both groups, K & 1st and 2nd & 3rd.) The younger ones worked themselves into a cheering frenzy as I pulled stuffed "pets" from my big bag -- culminating in that huge crocodile I found in a 2nd hand store a few weeks ago. The older kids were equally entertained by my photos of my Evil Inner Editor. But they never got out of control. They'd quickly quiet with a simple "shhh" into the microphone so I could bring up the next image. You couldn't ask for a better audience!

Both groups laughed in all the right places when I read Jack of All Tails especially at David Clark's illustrations. It's important for kids to understand how much of the story is being told by the illustrator. I tell students that the illustrations do more than depict the actions described by my words. As we read, I point out humorous details in David's art that don't even show up in my text. Sometimes we guess what's going to happen next in an illustration, such as when the mom -- dressed as a cat and lying on top of a piano -- is mischievously eyeing a child's chewing gum bubble. When my sons were little, we'd see if they could name other books illustrated by that artist just by looking at the covers of our library books. It's amazing how often they could. I really admire a strong signature style like that.

I don't usually give out postcards to the entire student body, but I happened to have a batch of 1000 "free" postcards because my printer messed up my order a few weeks ago. The full-color front showing the bookcover looked fine, but the back side was unacceptably light. So they reprinted and shipped new ones, leaving me with a box of 1000 extras. So I put stickers on the back announcing my booklaunch party for any kid who can talk his/her parents into bringing them. (This, since the book isn't being released for another two weeks, so I couldn't sell them during the visit.)

I closed with "The Storytime Boogie" at both presentations as kids clapped along. Hey! Hardy Elementary has rhythm, too! All in all, a very fun afternoon.

(Jack of All Tails published by Dutton Children's Books - Illustrations copyright ©2007 by David Clark)

Meme. I've been tagged!

2007-05-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Just found out my buddy Barb Newman has "tagged" me to participate in a game of Meme. In a meme each player lists 8 habits/facts about themselves, then tags 8 others at the end of her post.

Here's my 8:

1. My parents restored a Victorian home in which my father left one deliberate flaw: a hole in the first floor ceiling for my dad’s pet raccoon to stick her upper body through, hang from, and wave at you. Really.

2. Since my parents raised innumerable foster children, I fit into nearly every possible birth-order category.

3. In junior high, my best friend and I used to experimentally snap Butterfinger bars in two, (searching for a “fresh one”), buy one each, then eat them over teen magazines in the snack bar, after which we’d return the mags to the rack.

4. I've never tasted even a nibble of a mango since I learned, during my family's two years in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, (yes, the currently infamous "Gitmo"), in the late 60s, that I’m allergic to them. (Used to breakout when kids brought them on the bus.)

5. I took up tap dancing at the age of 44… and found that I wasn’t half bad at it, for an old broad.
This is me and my friend Rene tappin' our hearts out. Rene is tall, gorgeous one with the cheekbones to die for. I'm... the other one.

6. After school in junior high, I’d watch an afternoon re-run of Star Trek, then listen to Broadway albums for hours.

7. Because of the above misspent youth, I can amaze my children by singing along with Robert Preston to the "Trouble" song from The Music Man and not miss a single syllable. Sadly, I cannot do the same with Yul Brynner in “A Puzzlement.”

8. Our yellow Labrador retriever actually dashes out and fetches the paper every morning. Watch the amazing movie of her paper-retrieving exploits here...

Okay, at the risk that they've already been tagged, I'll tag a few folks from my book marketing group:
Elizabeth Dulemba
Joe Kulka
Alan Gratz
Ruth McNally Barshaw
Karen Lee
Greg Fishbone
From my crit group:
Liz Dubois
and also, my friend, illustrator Amy Cullings Moreno