• Tue, 06:08: Careful this #blogpost from Linda Sue Park is so touching #youmightcry. #scbwi "Good times in Nashville" http://t.co/sQnxiTRN

• Mon, 10:36: Beautiful #row, saw bald eagle, hands blistered, but still smiling.
• Mon, 10:39: RT @dsantat: For those of you who think video games are a waste of time. Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle http://t.co/Oj1dbTW5
• Mon, 10:39: RT @CynLeitichSmith: 2012 Children's Writers & Illustrators Market is Now Available; comment at @Kid_Lit blog for a chance to win a copy ...
• Mon, 10:43: RT @CynLeitichSmith: Thoughts on middle-grade voice by @stacylwhitman, editorial director of @tubooks: http://t.co/O1moIiNi #writing #kidlit

• Sun, 09:43: The Children’s Authors Who Broke the Rules: http://t.co/2rO0yzb8 #kidlit

• Fri, 08:49: Yet another new #independentpublisher. Interesting! Should #NESCBWI do a "Meet the Independents" program? Home Page http://t.co/2iVrzHRf
• Fri, 09:41: "Pure Genius!" RED SLED by Lita Judge | Kirkus Book Reviews http://t.co/dalV2V5C #picturebooks #nescbwi #buythisbook
• Fri, 10:07: 2012 YALSA Best Fiction ALA | Titles Nominated http://t.co/vziqagpE

• Thu, 10:27: #Maine #Women #Write Kick-Off Party & Reading http://t.co/DPvULnPq #mwpa

• Wed, 08:57: Calling all #comics #graphicnovel fans! MICE Expo http://t.co/M4Lf6qC #nescbwi
• Wed, 09:33: for you @carolinetc #Apple #Recipes - Allrecipes.com http://t.co/WY4Nb8W
• Wed, 09:36: I Bike I Vote: http://t.co/EigtN9B
• Wed, 09:54: RT @JessieHarrell: there's a #yalitchat TONIGHT at 9 pm EST hosted by @LM_Preston on MARKETING -- there will be prizes!!

• Mon, 20:22: @the_SDB looking forward to meeting you this weekend in Maine!
• Tue, 08:07: Interesting. #agents Jill Corcoran Books: CLOSED TO QUERIES + UPDATED: THE HOWs AND WHYs OF GETTING PUBLISHED http://t.co/w7foWUK
• Tue, 08:17: It's #RoaldDahlDay in the UK. What's your favorite Roald Dahl book?
• Tue, 13:08: Call for Submissions from Tu Books (an imprint of Lee & Low) http://j.mp/ql52dD

Just the other day I got to be with New England Web guru and ARA Greg Fishbone, author of Galaxy Games published by Tu Books. Check it out then submit your own speculative fiction. Read guidlines carefully please.

Call for Submissions

Tu Books publishes speculative fiction for children and young adults featuring diverse characters and settings. Our focus is on well-told, exciting, adventurous fantasy, science fiction, and mystery novels featuring people of color set in worlds inspired by non-Western folklore or culture. We welcome Western settings if the main character is a person of color.

We are looking specifically for stories for both middle grade (ages 8-12) and young adult (ages 12-18) readers. (We are not looking for picture books, chapter books, or short stories. Please do not send submissions in these formats.)

For more information on how to submit, please see our submission guidelines at http://www.leeandlow.com/p/tu_submissions.mhtml. We are not accepting unagented email submissions at this time.

What we’re particularly interested in seeing lately: Asian steampunk, any African culture, contemporary African-American stories, Latino/a stories, First Nations/Native American/Aboriginal fantasy or science fiction written by tribal members, original postapocalyptic worlds, historical fantasy or mystery set in a non-Western setting.

We look forward to reading your book!

LEE & LOW BOOKS, Inc.
95 Madison Avenue, Suite 1205
New York, NY 10016

Hello New England Writers and Illustrators!
Yesterday, all of the RA's and ARA's from the New England came together with the Conference Co-Directors to review all the fabulous events and programs that are in the works and to discuss how to best serve the membership. These meetings tend to happy every six months or so. One big one a couple months before the big annual NESCBWI conference, and one a few months after.

The conference plans are cruising along under the enthusiastic and well-organized eyes of Kathryn Hulik and Joyce Johnson. They are working closely with volunteer coordinators, editor/agent recruiters, critique and quick query coordinators, and the registrar to plan a fabulous conference. Remember that all of us who work for SCBWI are volunteers. If you'd like to get involved, follow this link to get more information. The deadline for conference workshop proposals is this Friday, September 16th and the committee reported that they already have over 100 proposals for conference workshops. (Click here if you'd like to know more.) The competition to present will be tight this year but our new venue won't. This year's conference, "Keeping it Real: Reality and World-building in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Illustration" will take place April 20-22, 2012 at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel, Springfield, MA.

The competition to present will be tight this year but our new venue won't. This year's conference, "Keeping it Real: Reality and World-building in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Illustration" will take place April 20-22, 2012 at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel, Springfield, MA. The ballroom is so big that the directors are planning a sit-down lunch. There are also plenty of break-out rooms for great workshops!
 
I’d love for all of you to take a moment to go to the SCBWI site and look at the top menu. You’ll see a pull down tab labeled “Regions.” Click on “Regional Chapters” and find your state in red text in the “United States of America” box. When you click there, you’ll see five tabs. The first is “Basic Information.” This shows a basic blurb about us and our website. Next you’ll see that I’ve uploaded a current copy of the NESCBWI Newsletter. That means that you don’t have to go through a variety of hoops to get it. (It’s also available under the “Regional News” tab.) I’ve also uploaded some of the bigger NESCBWI events that are in the works. (More details on these are on the “Upcoming Events” tab.) Finally, information and links about the annual conference, including volunteering info is located under the “Regional Conference” tab. When the registration link comes out in January, I’ll post that too.
 
The meeting was very productive. Newsletter Features Editor, Francine Puckly is working on a way that you all can share news and events through a Google Form that will get published in the newsletter. We are all working on how to share information from SCBWI national with all of you. And here is some BIG news.

New England SCBWI welcomes Casey Girard as our new Illustrator Coordinator. Casey will work with all three New England RA's to better serve the needs of our illustrator members. Casey and I will be working on establishing an Northern New England ENCORE! program of the best illustrator workshops from our annual conference. We are hoping she can revive our "Illustrator Day" with speakers and demonstrations, and plan sketch crawls and retreats.  Congratulations, Casey and thank you for all the work you've already done to coordinate the conference Illustrator's Academy for the last two years!
 
Keep writing

• Thu, 12:40: I guess Maryland knows how to celebrate the worker and the artist even if Gov. LePage doesn't. http://t.co/ZjycQjD
• Thu, 16:22: Headed to Children's Lit for Marriage Equality fundraiser.Thanx to Kirsten Cappy & Charlotte Agell for organizing. #marriageequality #kidlit
• Thu, 20:05: RT @pbsgwen: Somebody ate his Wheaties today. #jobsspeech
• Thu, 20:06: RT @bengleib: Obama just got his groove back. #countryoverpartyforonceplease #JobsSpeech
• Fri, 09:19: #yawriters Deadline 9/30, Carolrhoda wants #yabooks check it out! http://t.co/PppixZ5 #kidlit
• Fri, 11:13: Got two whole chapters revised here at Starbucks before I went online. #amwriting #cannotbetrusted

• Tue, 12:54: Black Frame Sale,9/9, 5-8pm,Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall, All #Artwork $200, framed & ready to hang http://t.co/DKxlkhA

• Mon, 14:56: Come check out my new blog post on Creative Chaos II. Original #poetry from Meadow Merrill, #nescbwi member. http://t.co/aNyEsA3
• Tue, 12:18: @FiveRiversArts Thanks for the follow and the retweets.
• Tue, 12:24: Lee & Low New Voices Writers Award - for a PB manuscript by a writer of color. Deadline Sept 30 #contest #writing http://t.co/q0akXja
• Tue, 12:54: Black Frame Sale,9/9, 5-8pm,Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall, All #Artwork $200, framed & ready to hang http://t.co/DKxlkhA

Meadow Merrill is an SCBWI member in Bath, Maine who met me last Tuesday at the Brunswick Farmer's Market. She came to participate in my Farmer's Market Frenzy challenge to New England SCBWI members. It was a beautiful post-Hurricane Irene day and the harvest practically glowed in the late summer sunshine. I met a couple of her children and we spoke about writing and SCBWI. Alas she is the only one who has submitted any writing or illustration. If others still have drawings or poetry that they are just sitting on send it my way via email northernera at nescbwi dot org. We are so lucky Meadow decided to come and accepted the challenge to write a poem. Enjoy!

By Meadow Rue Merrill
 
Keep your stickers off my apples,
Your wax and plastic bags too.
Wrap them in sunshine.
Let me taste the trees in which they grew
And gather them here under spiky, white tents
Staked where cows once grazed and alders blew,
Here at the edge of town on this succulent summer day.




 
 

• Fri, 14:42: Children's Lit Party for Marriage Equality http://t.co/6pJuHju

• Fri, 09:43: #scbwi members, if ur local Vermont library was damaged in #irene please tell me in a message. #irene #relief
• Fri, 09:56: Congrats to @thewritejoyce and @JenniferCarson for their new publishing venture Pugaliscious Press. Subs open Sept 15th #FF @pugaliciouspres
• Fri, 09:57: How cute is that pug logo?! Name the Pug #Contest @pugaliciouspres http://t.co/898NIpZ
• Fri, 10:20: Can you help? donate $5! FB CHALLENGE for the Cherryfield Public Library http://t.co/QGYmMga
• Fri, 10:34: Just sent $10 to Cherryfield, ME Library to help them cut deficit. This is why: SCBWI http://t.co/LHlRAY5
• Fri, 10:53: Lucy dog having a noisy dream. #socute #amwriting.
• Fri, 10:57: RT @Bookgal: 9 Reasons Why Your Content Is Not Shared on Social Networks: New Research http://t.co/hGcbqtK

• Wed, 11:11: Writers! Thoughts about this blog post? @JillCorcoran : Why I don't send rejection letters http://t.co/lLAXVF4 #agent #submissions
• Wed, 11:25: Books for Boys Webcast from @sljournal and pubs 9/15/11 http://t.co/Q9akBhx
• Wed, 11:34: Love this interview with Brian Selznick. Hugo movie coming on Turkey-day, & new fall novel Wonderstruck! http://t.co/oxIMHgX
• Wed, 11:52: RT @KidLitArtists: Tech gadget lust: Wacom Inkling lets you sketch on paper but w/digital capture - http://t.co/9qCPERI
• Wed, 12:30: @carolinetc totally agree about process of rejection(s). think it is professional and courteous to send the decline.
• Wed, 12:30: @carolinetc tech can help w/time issue.
• Wed, 14:00: New blog post Book Review Wednesday: Flutter by Erin Moulton http://t.co/HmPxb78

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From Erin Moulton’s website:
Big things are about the happen at Maple's house. Mama's going to have a baby, which means now there will be four Rittle sisters instead of just three. But when baby Lily is born too early and can't come home from the hospital, Maple knows it's up to her to save her sister. So she and Dawn, armed with a map and some leftover dinner, head off down a river and up a mountain to find the Wise Woman who can grant miracles. Now it's not only Lily's survival that they have to worry about, but also their own. The dangers that Maple and Dawn encounter on their journey makes them realize a thing or two about miracles-and about each other.
 
“The book is written by Erin Moulton who also graduated from VCFA.” I told this to my twelve and a half year old son who looked over my shoulder as I finished the Flutter, by Erin Moulton. “So you know that it’s good.” If you are a writer, you know that it takes a village to raise a writer and her story. I knew when I read Ms. Moulton’s acknowledgements that the story of Flutter, was born in a village that respects children, story and literary craft.
 
Ms. Moulton’s characters grow up in a wonderful family full of love. Love for each other certainly, but also a deep love for the Vermont mountains. Their father has them memorize the Latin names for birds, teaches them map skills and first aid, and appreciates the call of the coyote and the lights of the Aurora Borealis. The back-story to Maple and Dawn’s knowledge makes them both believable and likeable. Ms. Moulton never pauses the story to give the reader this backstory but weaves it in a way that keeps the narrative moving forward.
 
The author does a wonderful job portraying the sibling dynamic between the older bossypants sister and the middle sister (the narrator) who is desperately trying to define herself by her own achievements, know-how, and bravery. Her use of first-person present tense, keeps us in the moment for many of the tense and suspenseful moments of the girl’s quest.Whether we are reading about a white water scare, or a knock down drag out between the sisters we are in the midst of the action.
 
It was refreshing to read a survival/adventure story with smart and savvy girls as the protagonists. The book is a true hero’s journey where Maple (our heroine) questions then accepts the call for adventure. Moulton includes supernatural intervention in the form of a butterfly and the Wise Woman of the Mountain. She and Dawn move beyond their ordinary world, encounter trials, and return (ultimately with help from without) to a greater understanding of life, death, strength, truth, and hope for their future. All this with the added benefit of beautiful language, fabulous pacing, and true-to-life wilderness adventure.
 
 

• Mon, 14:02: New blog post! Farmer’s Market Frenzy! Send me your farm & market inspired #poetry & #illustration #scbwi #nescbwi http://t.co/pLgrIWY

Farmer’s Markets are full of color, families, dogs, and all-around community. They are great places to draw, write, and be inspired.

In the last two weeks we have left of good summertime, I've invited my SCBWI members to meet up at local farmer's markets around Northern New England to write poetry and sketch. Unfortunately, I only have a few takers so far. Therefore, I'd like to open it up to all SCBWI members.

Visit a farmer's market between August 29th and Labor Day (September 5th). After your Farmer’s Market Frenzy visit, choose your favorite poem or image and email it directly to me at NorthernNERA at nescbwi dot org with the subject: “Farmer’s Market Frenzy.”

Poetry no more than ten lines and in the body of the email.
Images (sketches fine!) should be 72 dpi as attachments.

Make sure you give me the credit name and any links you want me to include- blog, facebook, twitter addresses all fine.

On September 7th, 12th, and 14th, I’ll publish the images and poems on my blog and link to my facebook & twitter sites with the credit and links you provided.


Happy Harvest time!

• Sat, 12:39: RT @jobourne: NYC publishers above 10th floor are protecting the windows with towers of slush mss. #wildrumor
• Sat, 12:43: #rudreaming #back2school RT @momswithapps: RT @coolmompicks 10+ ways to pass the weekend indoors with kids http://t.co/PZbFjh3
• Sat, 12:44: RT @danidraws: I'm happy to announce a new video series I've created "5 Quick Photoshop Tricks". It's now available on the new... http:/ ...
• Sat, 13:06: RT @booksforkidsorg: A fantastic list of picture books that were released this summer, courtesy of @ImaginationSoup. http://ow.ly/6d0tw
• Sat, 13:08: Recs in the comments #readaloud #kidlit RT @bkshelvesofdoom: Read-aloud recommendations requested! http://t.co/x6z5MWg
• Sat, 13:11: @KmSmmns suggesting @brownbookshelf Hugs to you
• Sat, 13:17: RT @SCBWISWTexas: From Cynsations - Agent Ginger Knowlton Interviews Author Cynthia Leitich Smith http://t.co/dFSDlD3
• Sat, 20:08: @katemessner Kate's Book Blog - Created in the Path of #irene…An Invitation to #write #illustrate http://t.co/HTxkzaf

• Fri, 14:32: RT @AALBooks: RT @_JessicaLove Eeek! B&N has a bindup of all three of Markus Zusak's Wolfe books including Underdog! MUST HAVE! http://t ...
• Fri, 14:39: I have just created a new list titled 'Agents' using TweetDeck, adding new ones daily. Follow it here: @annawritedraw/agents
• Sat, 11:58: #poetry #contest Deadline 8/31: "To the Lighthouse" $1000&Publication Prize:A Room Of Her Own:Women Artists and Writers http://t.co/OtKPVrn

• Tue, 17:07: Have you already seen this? Rally, friends, rally. Daily Kos: Fantasy author Jane Yolen under attack by Tea Party http://t.co/dqVVm3j
• Tue, 23:27: Go @mariannabaer Frost is #fullofawesome What’s Obama Reading? - Tevi Troy - National Review Online http://t.co/akptL6d
• Wed, 07:32: Stop by to read my newest #bookreview for @libbabray Beauty Queens http://t.co/oGZGmgM
• Wed, 07:35: RT @libbabray: I am waiting for @ScrivenerApp to come up with the program that finishes my novel for me.
• Wed, 12:06: @karalareau hooray, hooray! If you need a retreat, the Maine schmooze is 9/16-9/18.
• Wed, 12:19: Love the #tri - #run - #bike emails I get warning me about "overtraining" Would that that were my problem. #iwish

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I am a note taker. The fact that I took absolutely no notes during Libba Bray’s recent speech at SCBWI’s 40th Anniversary Conference in LA has nothing to do with a lack of content and everything to do with the fact that I was laughing hysterically. When I started reading her most recent young adult release, Beauty Queens, I knew I could expect more laughs. How could you not when the author started with the premise, “A plane full of beauty queens crashes on a deserted island.” What Ms. Bray has ended up with (in addition to marvelous humor and witty satire) is a smart and biting commentary on feminism, beauty, motherhood, and commercialization in our modern world.

Now before you groan and go get a cheese sandwich let me say that what is masterful about this book is how none of this is shoved down your throat. There are wonderful, imaginative, quirky characters here. Through tight and realistic dialogue and a fresh structure, Ms. Bray takes readers behind the stereotypes, behind the masks of her main characters allowing us to glimpse their heart and soul, their fears and vulnerabilities.

There is no “message” here, but there is theme. Theme comes after the book is written. Theme is the questions that the text forces each reader to ask but leaves each reader to answer. “Can girls (and boys) be themselves in our current culture?” “Has corporate greed corrupted the media?” “What is beauty?” “Has the beauty industry run amok?” “What are we doing to empower girls and boys in our current commercial culture?” “How do our parents shape us? Can we be us- apart from them?” “How does our sexual schizophrenia (American puritanical/commercialized) effect our sexuality and health?” “What is the responsibility of our elected officials in all of this?”

If you are teaching Lord of the Flies this year, I highly recommend that you included Beauty Queens, as a comp lit piece. The discussion opportunities would be endless. And while you’re at it, add in Golden Kite Winner Tanya Lee Stone’s The Good, The Bad and The Barbie. By the way, I was so engrossed in Beauty Queens that again I failed to take notes. However I did underline a favorite quote on page 177:

“Maybe girls need an island to find themselves. Maybe they need a place where no one’s watching them so they can be who they really are.”

Ah, yes, Libba. An island-- or a room of one’s own.

• Wed, 14:32: Save our schools, stand with teachers. "America’s Premiere Teachers: Demoralized, Infantilized, and Fearful?" http://t.co/E9540V8

• Wed, 10:13: A new blog post! Creative Chaos II - Book Review Wednesday: The LA Dodger http://t.co/1u0sH5V
• Wed, 11:55: LASCBWI Conference Wrap-up: Quotes Aplenty! http://j.mp/q9cn6r