Wednesday, November 27, 2019

The Apprehension-Inspiring Art Note by Lynne Marie

OK I admit it. I use art notes. Maybe even more often than most people.

I try to use them as though they cost me money I don't want to spend. However, I have to admit that one might get the impression that I am wealthy. But hey, no one's perfect.

I also admit that I have more art notes in earlier drafts than I do when I send the manuscript. By the time I send the manuscript I have whittled away any non-essential ones that I might have been using as a crutch or just plain old didn't need.

Here's some tips on what should be in the art note:

1.  Something that cannot be shown in the text (but is important).
2.  Something that should not be shown in the text (but is important).

So, don't include colors or other details that are not integral to the story, or details that can be inferred from the text. Remember to leave most details up to the illustrator.

In Little Red Riding Hood, you wouldn't need:                                                                                                         [Art: Cloak is red.] 

I'll likely come back and update this post at a later date and update with examples, but for now, hopefully this will suffice.

Here's how to portray an art note.

This method was passed along by my co-Agent, Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary Agency. I use it currently as well and have never gotten any negative comments about it.

                               [Art: Main character is a Dog, standing on head, viewing the world upside down.] 

1. Use proper capitalization.
2. Use proper punctuation.
3. Right justify.
4. Make blue so the reader can easily skip over when just reading the text.
5. One point smaller font (same font).

I've just recently interviewed Frances Gilbert / Doubleday, for Children's Book Insider, and she agrees that one should do art notes properly but not stress too much about them.

I doubt anyone ever rejected a book they loved because of an art note. Still, in the interest of professionalism, write only essential art notes, in the best way possible. Good luck!


NOTE: If you find this Note helpful, please FOLLOW this page and SIGN UP top right to receive more tips and writing information, as well as special pitch and critique offers, in your in box! THANK YOU!

Sunday, November 24, 2019

THREE REASONS TO READ: Monkey on the Run by Leo Timmers

TITLE: Monkey on the Run

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Leo Timmers
PUBLISHER: Gecko Press, 2018

JACKETFLAP: Monkey is trying to get home. Toot toot! 

THREE REASONS TO READ:

1.    It's active and engaging. 
2.    The art is wonderful. 
3.    Kids will be entertained by the theme on each spread. 
BONUS: Take away -- so many things to discuss and count on each spread. 

Buy the book here:
https://amzn.to/34fC2Xn



Wednesday, November 20, 2019

THE PICTURE BOOK MECHANIC: Zoom Manuscript Tune-Ups - Thursday Opening

DOES YOUR PICTURE BOOK MANUSCRIPT NEED A TUNE-UP?



For those interested, there are a few openings for my Zoom Manuscript Critique Tune-ups on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 1:30 and 7:00 PM EST. 




How does this work? 


Message me to let me know you are interested in participating, and I will add you to the facebook group. 

Once in the group, you can claim your spot in either the Thursday 1:30 PM or the 7:00 PM critique group. 

You can send payment of $10 to me via Venmo to @Lynne-Marie-1 or via Friends-and-Family Paypal (or Paypal with fees added in) to ThePictureBookMechanic@gmail.com. 

Then send your picture book manuscript up to 650 words in Word Document Format to me at ThePictureBookMechanic@gmail.com. If your manuscript is longer, please mark 650 words. If it's not much longer, I may go to the end, it depends on time and how fast it reads. 

Fifteen minutes before the scheduled session, I will post the link to the chat in the Facebook group. Please be in the chat 
by the scheduled time. If you have not downloaded www.zoom.com onto your computer, you will need to do that ahead of time. 

I will screenshare the manuscripts so that we can all see them and I will invite peers to comment when I have completed my thoughts.




If you have any additional questions, please feel to PM me at Lynne Marie on FB or e-mail me at ThePictureBookMechanic@gmail.com.

I look forward to helping you pave your road to success!

Lynne Marie
www.thePictureBookMechanic.com
ThePictureBookMechanic@gmail.com
www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com
LiterallyLynneMarie@gmail.com

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

11th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards - VOTE FOR MOLDILOCKS

                          VOTE FOR  MOLDILOCKS! 


The 11th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards is going on and you can WRITE IN votes! Please help my little adoptee see the light of day by writing her in. 

If you reread this book, you will see that this book is not only a fun Halloween read, but shows an adoptive family and adoptee pre-adoption and examines some of their needs and also subtly shows that it is not easy to acclimate into a new household. Importantly it shows that adopting a child isn't always a wonderful thing for just the child, but the family. Everybody wins! There's so much more to this book than meets the eye! 

For those who don't realized I'm an adoptee and there's little flecks of my own knowledge and experience in this book. 

I've copied and pasted the rules below in case there's any confusion. Moldilocks is not showing up now, but you can write her in, and hopefully will show up as one of the top-five written-in votes. Please help me get this little adoptee the recognition she deserves. A vote for Moldilocks is a vote for bringing families together! 

https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-picture-books-2019



Thanks in advance for your continued support!  


2019 Rules & Eligibility


The 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards have three rounds of voting open to all registered Goodreads members. Winners will be announced December 10, 2019.

Opening Round: Nov 05 - 10

Voting opens to 15 official nominees, and write-in votes can be placed for any eligible book (see eligibility below).

Semifinal Round: Nov 12 - 17

The top five write-in votes in each of the categories become official nominees. Additional write-ins no longer accepted.

Final Round: Nov 19 - Dec 02

The field narrows to the top 10 books in each category, and members have one last chance to vote!

2019 Eligibility

Books published in the United States in English, including works in translation and other significant rereleases, between November 16, 2018, and November 15, 2019, are eligible for the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards. Books published between November 16, 2019, and November 15, 2020, will be eligible for the 2020 awards.
We analyze statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads to nominate 15 books in each category. Opening round official nominees must have an average rating of 3.50 or higher at the time of launch. Write-in votes may be cast for eligible books with any average rating, and write-in votes will be weighted by the book's Goodreads statistics to determine the top five books to be added as official nominees in the Semifinal Round. A book may be nominated in no more than one genre category, but can also be nominated in the Debut Novel category. Only one book in a series may be nominated per category. An author may receive multiple nominations within a single category if he or she has more than one eligible series or more than one eligible stand-alone book.



Tuesday, November 5, 2019

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO LET'S EAT! MEALTIME AROUND THE WORLD!

It was a busy day for me today for many reasons, most of all busy with doing important author stuff like promotion and marketing, but that doesn't mean I didn't take some time to celebrate this wonderful book's birthday with a nice bowl of Korean Ramyun. To be honest I just LOVE this book and am so happy with the way it turned out.

My lunch choice was inspired not only by my love for travel and for Korea, but because I was so sad to have finally finished watching all 20 episodes of the K-Drama REPLY 1988 last night. While it took a while to get off the ground with so many characters, it is definitely one of my top favorites!


Here's a Korean Ramyun recipe in case you want to join me!
https://steamykitchen.com/41429-kimchi-ramen-recipe.html


I was too busy to make the authentic Danish Cinnamon rolls and share the recipe and pictures here as I had planned, but I will, soon! These were inspired by my visits to Denmark this summer.



And here's some tasty reading for when you're done!

The appetizers...


2019-11-05 Lets Eat Journey on Writing and Illustrating Blog

2019-11-05 Simply Seven - Jena Benton
https://jenabenton.com/2019/11/05/simply-7-with-lynne-marie-lets-eat/

And here's how to get the main course:

https://amzn.to/2PR4U3O

THANK YOU for Celebrating with me! Let's Eat! 

Friday, November 1, 2019

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY Barnyard Bubbe's Hanukkah by J.Klein-Higger and B. Sharf (by the Authors)


 
JKH: Hi Lynn Marie! Thanks so much for inviting us to share our “story behind the story” with you. I’m Joni Klein-Higger.

BS: I’m Barbara Sharf.

 JKH and BS: And we are the co-authors of Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah.

JKH: The initial concept for our board book, Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah, was inspired by Susanna Leonard Hill’s “Ho Ho Ho” writing challenge: Create a children’s holiday story using the basic format/concept of the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” A song! I thought it would have been a breeze for me to write since I was a songwriter with plenty of holiday songs under my belt.

Wrong. Though I had the nuts and bolts of a cute holiday story, it still needed spunk, so I called my funny (and fun!) friend, Barbara Sharf, to help bring my story to life.

BS: “You want me to help you write a book? You’re kidding, right?” Though Joni and I collaborated on musical spiels in the past, I never thought writing a book would be in my future, let alone writing a children’s picture book. But then I thought, hey, why not? Joni had the idea of a “bubbe,” (Yiddish for “grandmother,”) who makes potato latkes for Hanukkah. I love animals and thought it would be fun to have farm animals anonymously leave a present for Barnyard Bubbe each night of the holiday.


JKH: Barbara and I always worked well together, and once she got involved in writing Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah with me, the creative sparks started to fly. We finished our book in no time flat. The greatest challenge was agreeing to the sounds different animals made.

BS: Baah or Maah?  What sound would a dog’s paw make knocking on a door? You get the idea.

JKH: Then we tweaked, tweaked and tweaked some more until we were ready to send it to Lerner Publishing Group/Kar-Ben Publishing.

BS: Since then, Joni and I have collaborated on several other stories, and I’m proud to say I recently joined SCBWI and am writing picture books of my own.

JKH: I’ve seen her manuscripts, and must say, she’s off to an awesome start!
Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah hit the shelves September 1, 2019, and Barbara and I love sharing it with children around the country.

BS: And we have such a fun musical author presentation. We sing some of Joni’s original songs.

JKH: And “you know who…” that’s right, the funny lady sitting next to me…, uses her acting and singing talents to portray Barnyard Bubbe.

BS: That’s the story behind our story. Thanks for reading, everyone.
JKH: And thank you, Lynne Marie!




Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah was released by Lerner Publishing Group/Kar-Ben Publishing September 1, 2019.

You can view the book trailer for Barnyard Bubbe’s Hanukkah at:

You can see a book sample here:






Joni Klein-Higger is an award-winning children’s book author, songwriter and musical theater playwright. Her middle grade novel, Coby Ryan Harris is Officially Fat, won a Children’s Literary Classics Gold Award, and her picture book, Rainbow of Friendship, is the recipient of the 2015 Creative Child Magazine Book of the Year Award. Joni’s songs have been recorded by various artists, have been featured in motion pictures, and her children’s songs and musicals can be frequently heard ringing throughout the halls of preschools, elementary schools and middle schools across the country. Visit Joni at her website: www.joniworld.com and Facebook: Joni Klein-Higger Books
                                      


Barbara Sharf is a children’s book author and actor who loves writing fun, quirky picture books. Her love for animals frequently shines through in her work. Just ask her dog, Sophie! Originally from Philadelphia, Barbara now lives in Tampa Bay, Florida and is a member of SCBWI and WIFT. This is her debut picture book.