Author Archives: Regina Garvie

The Princess and the Pee

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Thanks to my lovely critique partner Gayleen, I have several books by Oklahoma authors to read and review. Of course, I’m taking forever on it, but I really have the best intentions of reading the books and getting them on here.

The latest one I’ve pulled out from the bag was a short children’s book, The Princess and the Pee, by Oklahoma author Susan A. Meyers. Admittedly, my first thought was Ew. Pee. I don’t like the word pee. Of course, with small kids, we use it sometimes, but I much prefer the daintier sounding “pee-pee” or even “tinkle.”

But besides that.

The book is about Princess Pia Scarlet, who wants to sleep on the top bunk so she can see the fireflies outside. Her sister refuses to switch bunks until Pia Scarlet stops wetting the bed. (The sister says “peeing the bed,” which the Fair Queen says is a rude term. I have a few things in common with the Fair Queen!)

Anyway, the girls made a bet. Since the sister understandably doesn’t want to be peed on, she tells Pia Scarlet that if she doesn’t wet the bed for a whole week, she’ll switch with her.

The book is very cute as it goes through Pia Scarlet’s seven nights of attempted dryness. The illustrations (by Manelle Oliphant) are lovely and add to the story.The book is fun, never preachy, and has been enjoyed by my six year old.

Susan is also a member of the Oklahoma chapter of SCBWI, and I’ve gotten the pleasure of starting to get to know her. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more or her and enjoying the rest of her books. She’s a good writer and nice person too!

To learn more about Susan A. Meyers and her work, visit her website: http://susanameyers.com/

 

Anna Myers

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So, after reading Assassin by Anna Myers recently, I went on an all-out Myers binge.

I read Time of the Witches, Tulsa Burning, Stolen by the Sea, Graveyard Girl, Flying Blind, Fire in the Hills, and When the Bough Breaks.

I read them one after another. Some took me one day. Some took a little more.

I enjoyed them all, but my favorite, hands down, was When the Bough Breaks. I liked the complexity of the book. Instead of one storyline, there were two, woven together – and I liked both of them. Sometimes when I read a book from multiple points of view, I prefer one character and want the other to shut up and let me get back to my favorite. This time, both were intriguing. Both had terrible secrets – and both were satisfying to discover.

I also still love the little things you find in a book written by a person you actually know in real life. One of the storylines – the one featuring teenager Ophelia – includes a scene at the cemetery, which is across the street from the school. I’ve been to Myers’ hometown, and the cemetery in that town is indeed right across from the school. I was driving around, killing time before a SCBWI Oklahoma workshop, when I went by the school and noticed the cemetery nearby. I thought it was a little creepy and strange, and wondered what the students though. Later, when I read the When the Bough Breaks, I was delighted to see the school and cemetery put to use in literature.

Myers’ books are such a good way to combine fiction with historical events. We homeschool, and I think her work will be a great way to supplement history when we are doing studies this year. My oldest daughter doesn’t care for history, but I think that’s just because she hasn’t had it come alive for her yet. She enjoyed Assassin. Now I just need to add more historical fiction to the curriculum.

Time of the Witches – This one focuses on the Salem witch trials and the effect on the life of an orphan named Drucilla. She is separated from her bff, Gabe, and moves in with a crazypants woman and her weird family. After she and her foster sister start visiting the servant of the town’s new reverend, several girls, including Drucilla, start claiming they are being attacked by witches.

Tulsa Burning – A story of a boy named Noble who lives in the small town of Wekiwa and faces the Tulsa race riot of 1921. His friend is trapped in Tulsa, and Noble (nicknamed “Nobe”) goes into the burning city to find him. Wekiwa had a lot of twists with who was related to who – I would have liked to have seen a dossier on all of the people who lived in the town!

Stolen by the Sea – A girl named Maggie rides out the Galveston hurricane of 1900. I didn’t even know about this event before reading the book. According to Wikipedia, the Galveston hurricane is the deadliest natural disaster to ever strike the United States. An estimated 6,000-12,000 people died. In the book, Maggie stays in her home, struggling for survival with the help of Felipe, a Mexican boy from the orphanage who works for her father.

Graveyard Girl – Another new event for me – the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis in 1878. I loved the newspaper quotes at the beginning. I also adored a quote from Grace, the Graveyard Girl, about life and death. This was a library book, and I meant to write it down before I returned the book yesterday, but of course I didn’t. Figures. I did not really love the artwork on the front, and I was surprised at how that colored my view of the title character. It reminded me of someone, and that was hard to shake. On Amazon there’s a different cover for the paperback, which obscures Grace’s face. I wish I’d seen that one first.

Flying Blind – Told from two points of view – a young boy named Ben and…wait for it…a macaw named Murphy! I enjoyed it. This book looked at the problem of plume hunting in Florida at the turn of the 20th century. The line between right and wrong isn’t so clear when Ben learns that two of the plume hunters are orphans that use the sales of feathers to survive. Plume hunting took a terrible toll on birds, with millions being killed every year just for fashionable hats for women.

Fire in the Hills – This one was about a girl in a tiny Oklahoma town who loses her mother and cares for an ill military deserter during World War I. I liked the main character, Hallie, quite a bit and wouldn’t have minded this story going on a little longer.

All in all, eight enjoyable books. I probably should have spread them out a little more so I could give each one a post. Or maybe I should get back to writing my own novels.

When you find an author you like, do you rush and read everything by them that you can get your hands on? What authors have inspired you to race through all their books?

The writing mom

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It is hard to be a mom sometimes. Okay. It’s hard a lot of the time.

I stress and worry that I’m not a good enough mom. When I worked in newspaper, I had to put in my 40 hours a week even though I worked from home. I went out to interviews – kids in tow if it was daytime hours – and sometimes hid on the porch so I could talk uninterrupted to mayors and police chiefs on the phone. Favorite kid memory from that era – stopping in front of a burning house and snapping a picture from the car, then waving to the fire chief. “Kids in the car! I’ll call you!” I shouted, and he waved back in agreement.

Small town.

Now I’m in a corner of a different room in the house with my laptop, but I’m still trying to do it all. Headphones help to muffle the bickering of three (sometimes four) children while I slip into the worlds of my novels. A chapter here…a few sentences there.

I write what I can. I spend time with the kids when I can. I take a break from writing to make lunch or put laundry on the clothes line or admire a newly-captured baby frog. Or to yell at someone to clean up their mess. It’s not all sunshine, for sure.

And instead of feeling like I’m doing an adequate job at writing and at parenting, I feel like I’m doing a mediocre job at both.

I guess it’s my perfectionist nature.

Easter

Easter Egg coloring…yay Mom!

When I look at all I’ve accomplished: three awesome children and several completed books – I’m kind of impressed. But when I look at dishes stacked up and stains on the carpet and messy bedrooms and unrevised novels, I feel like I’ll never match up to what I’d like to be.

A friend posted a link to a blog post today that made me feel a little better. I need to remember to read it often, and try to live by it.

I’m not Supermom. I’m a real mom. That is enough.

http://rachelmariemartin.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-being-mom-is-enough.html

 

 

Assassin

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Even as a kid, I always loved Oklahoma authors.

We didn’t buy a lot of books, but read every S.E. Hinton and Bill Wallace book at the school library. I read “A Dog Called Kitty” when I was pretty young. One of the librarians probably turned it face out, so I noticed it. Then I read the blurb about the author. Bill Wallace…from Chickasha? Chickasha, Oklahoma? That was our county seat. It was only half an hour away. And a real-live author lived there?

Didn’t get to S.E. Hinton until later – junior high or high school. Probably high school would have been the first time they would have had her books available for us. But still. Published as a teenager? From Tulsa? What?

I understand how kids like writers to be accessible on Twitter or blogs nowadays, because that’s how I felt about Wallace and Hinton. The fact that they lived in my state – saw the things I saw and knew the places I knew – made them more accessible to me…more real to me. I felt a kinship with them. I almost felt like I knew them. Reminds me of Twitter.

I think it’s unfortunate that I missed so many other Oklahoma authors, and I’m sure there’s more. I’m trying to find them all now.

I like to think that my librarian would have pointed me to Anna Myers, had she been published then. Her first book came out in 1992, the year I graduated from high school. I apparently missed its release.

I met Anna this year. She’s the regional head of the Oklahoma Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and she’s fantastic. I liked her so much, in fact, that I sought out her books. She’s had nineteen (19!) published.

I started with her first, Red-Dirt Jessie. I enjoyed it, so I picked up the next one, Rosie’s Tiger. That one was good too. They were both middle grade, which really isn’t my favorite genre, but they were well-written and had good ideas and storylines.

And then I was in the library the other day, looking at the YA section for something new, and her books caught my eye. (They’re on the top row in my library, and I don’t even remember seeing them before!) Assassin looked good. I grabbed it, and a couple others, and checked out. Went home and cracked it open.

Oh, My. Word.

So good. So very good.

Assassin tells the story of Bella, a young girl who finds herself between John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln. The handsome, charismatic Booth uses her to help him with his plot to kidnap Lincoln. Even though Bella knows what’s she’s doing is wrong, she helps Booth anyway, endangering the president and causing her to lose the trust of the boy who’s always loved her.

This is spot-on good historical fiction. I read every word and sped through the book. I haven’t read a lot of YA historical fiction, but you can bet I’m going to keep reading these! I also recommended it to my 13-year-old daughter. I know she’s going to enjoy this story too – and even learn a little more about the time period to boot, like I did.

I’ve moved on to Time of the Witches, and it is proving to be as mysterious and exciting as Assassin.

Now I can’t help thinking of what else I’m missing.

I wish the library would have a list of all the books by Oklahoma authors. Full Circle Bookstore in OKC does a pretty good job of identifying books by local writers, but it would be nice if the library would do it too. I know that reading a book by someone from my state meant a lot to me as a kid (and now). I imagine there are other young men and women who would feel inspired and encouraged by these writers, just like me.

Do you have any ideas on how to raise awareness of local authors and their work?

 

S.E. Hinton and Taming the Star Runner

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When I was a teenager, our high school library had four S.E. Hinton books: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, That was Then, This is Now, and Tex.

   

Guess which four S.E. Hinton books I read as a teenager.

I didn’t even know there were any others. That was the only library I got to visit very often, and that was pre-Internet. We had a copy of Books in Print, but it wasn’t that much fun to peruse.

And S.E. Hinton is seriously awesome. She wrote The Outsiders when she was in high school. High school! It was published her freshman year of college. And she’s from Oklahoma. Tulsa…but that’s still close enough to me to be incredible. She was a teenage me’s dream – a young writer of amazing books from the same state I was in. It was almost too much to be believed.

She’s still active in the writing community and interacts with fans online. She is on Twitter (and has replied to my tweets – bliss!) and did a big Q & A on Goodreads this week. She’s done some books for children and adults that are in my To Be Read pile.

ANYWAY! S.E. Hinton wrote one more young adult book – Taming the Star Runner, which was published in 1988.

I was at the Mustang Library the other day, being a grown-up creeper in the young adult section, as usual, when I saw Hinton’s young adult books. I saw the original four, and then I spotted Taming the Star Runner.

My mind puzzled at the name. Taming the Star Runner? I wondered if it was sci-fi and pulled it off the shelf. Even with the horse on the front, I still figured it was going to be in the future or something.

Well, that was wrong. The Star Runner is a horse. Not a space-ship-y thing.

It’s about this kid named Travis, who loves to write but doesn’t love his stepfather, and gets sent to live with his dad’s brother in Oklahoma. The uncle has horses and kids come out for lessons, and people board their horses there. The instructor, Casey, owns the Star Runner, this wild-acting stallion. Casey also becomes Travis’ love interest.

I liked this book for several reasons.

First, I really connected with the horse aspects of the story. I know Hinton loves horses, and it’s obvious she knows her way around a barn. My daughter actually has a horse and we board it near our house. My daughter also takes lessons there. Having this experience really let me see the books’ horse stuff clearly in my mind. There was even a horse show in the story, and we’ve done that too. I still feel awkward at the barn and at shows, but it was neat reading about it in the story.

Second, Travis is a writer, and he has sent his book off to a publisher. Now, I’m sure that Travis’ experiences are not exactly S.E. Hinton’s, but I imagine she let some of her life shine through these pages. Travis’ thoughts and emotions during the submission and revision process felt almost like a mini-biography of Hinton’s life during publishing of The Outsiders. As an aspiring author, that was a real gem tucked away in the book.

Third. Dang, just reading a S.E. Hinton book again was good. She’s a great writer. Taming the Star Runner was different than a lot of the books I see today. Young Adult books today seem to really have to be quick paced to make the cut. Every page is just go, go, go, go, go! Every plot line and action is sharp and purposeful. Taming the Star Runner feels more like real life. There’s not always a huge incredible climax. Sometimes life just happens, and it’s not whiz-bang capers all the time. This book is more about feelings and emotions and less about action – although there is a big action scene at the end that was almost too fast for me to keep up!

I’m a little sad that unless she writes another, I won’t be reading another young adult book by S.E. Hinton again (at least for the first time.)

She was the person who first taught me that a kid from Oklahoma could be an acclaimed author, writing books she loved. She planted the seed that allowed me to start work on a first novel when I was in high school. That book was never finished, but I still think about it sometimes. Maybe I can do something with it in the future.

S.E. Hinton still provides inspiration to me today.

Do you have a favorite S.E. Hinton book? Who inspires you?

The Babbs Switch Story

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Last week I found another book by Oklahoma author Darleen Bailey Beard. I had never read The Babbs Switch Story and had no idea what it was about.

The Babbs Switch Story is fiction, but is set amid the real story of the town of Babbs Switch, Oklahoma.

I consider myself kind of a Oklahoma history buff, but I did not recognize Babbs Switch as the community where a tragic fire burned a schoolhouse and killed 35 people in 1924. I also feel like I should have at least realized Babbs Switch was a town name, based on the train car and tracks on the cover. The Sooner Switch is near my town, and I know that is a place that was used as a train switchyard. I didn’t connect the dots, however, and thought that the book must be about a girl named Babbs Switch.

The book is actually about a girl named Ruth. The book opens with the death of a kitten, killed by her mentally disabled sister Daphne. Daphne doesn’t mean to kill the kitten – she loves soft things, and she doesn’t understand that squeezing them tight can hurt them.

When Daphne almost hurts a neighbor’s baby, the girls’ parents decide that Ruth shouldn’t sing at the Christmas Eve celebration at the schoolhouse – to protect both girls from accusations from the other townspeople. Ruth is angry. She sings the big solo each year at the celebration, and her “daffy” sister is ruining it for her.

This leads up to the fire that destroyed the schoolhouse and took the lives of thirty-five people. Before the sun rises on Christmas morning, Ruth realizes what is truly important.

Marker at the site of the fire

I liked this book. Like I said before, Oklahoma history is one of my big things, and I had heard about this story. I know the site is near the Wichita Mountains, and for some reason, I think we might have gone there at one time and seen the monument there. But…I have a terrible memory for someone who likes history so much. I’d like to go see the monument next time we’re over that way, just in case I’m just dreaming that I was there.

This book had a lot of difficult themes – from the death of the little kitten at the beginning to the horror of the fire and aftermath. I think some children might not be ready for this subject matter, even if it was at their reading level, but it would be a good book for a classroom of students studying Oklahoma history. It really brought the event to life.

On another personal note, I was surprised when another of the kittens was named Nutmeg. I thought I was being so creative when I suggested that name for my daughter’s cat.

And, even more of a shock was the name of Ruth’s friend’s big sister. LeNora. That’s my daughter’s name (except we don’t capitalize the N.) When I ran across that name in the story, I flipped to the copyright date – 2002. My daughter was born about two years before…and I personally know Darleen Bailey Beard. She used to live in the same town as us, and we went to the same small church. They moved away years ago, and we haven’t been in contact until recently.

I don’t know this for a fact, but it seems awfully coincidental that her character would have the same uncommon name as my little girl. I’m going to have to choose to believe that the inspiration for LeNora came from my daughter’s name. And I like that very much.

Of course I recommend this book! Maybe it’s not right for younger kids – especially very sensitive ones or those who might harbor excessive fear of fire. But I do think that it is a well-written book that adults and older kids will learn a lot from – both about the true fire at Babbs Switch, and about the fictional relationship between a young girl and her unconventional sister.

Great link with reprints of stories from the Oklahoman about that awful night.

 

Tornado

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I’m still processing my feelings after a killer tornado ripped through central Oklahoma yesterday. Although the majority of damage was in Moore, the tornado started in Newcastle.

Newcastle’s the next town over from ours. They’ve been hit by several tornadoes in recent years. The tornado destroyed a subdivision behind a shopping center we frequent.

It also ruined the old Canadian River bridge linking our area to Oklahoma City.

The old North Canadian River bridge, after the May 20, 2013 tornado. Photo by Darla Welchel.

I know that there are more important things than a bridge.

I’ve loved that bridge since I was a little girl. My late sister loved that bridge. One time, she drove us there and we walked on it. This was deliciously illicit, because it was closed long ago.

I always thought it should be renovated for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. I think they only kept it because there were gas lines under it. I guess now they will just tear it down. I wish it could be saved.

This comes right on the heels of a fire in our town that destroyed the old Opera House that was also desperately important to me and my sister. But that’s another story.

My friend Darla wrote a post about the bridge, complete with damage photos, at her blog, Through the Lens. It’s pretty incredible. I found out things about the bridge I never knew. It makes the loss even more tragic.

A Bridge with a Past but No Future

Thirty-seven bats in the attic

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This is Number 37 in the 100 Journal Topics from this old angelfire page.

Write about the best attic or basement you’ve ever been in.

I don’t know about other parts of the country. It seems like attics and basements are pretty common things, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of them around here.

Vinson Hall at NWOSU, in Alva, OK

I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a real-live attic. I have been in the basement of a couple of the buildings at my college, and that was admittedly pretty awesome. The best was Vinson Hall before they renovated it. Stuff from all over the college was stored in this old men’s dorm, and I loved looking at the televisions and couches from the 60s, and all the other things crammed in there. One room in that building was all chairs. They were piled on top of each other. You couldn’t even get into “the chair room.”

That room wasn’t really in the basement though. I don’t really remember the basement as its own thing. My memories are of the building as a whole. (And I just got a sniff of a memory of a recurring dream I sometimes have about that building…and it’s more than a little creepy. Off-topic though.)

I also got to go in the cool basement at the old junior high here in town before it was demolished. That was for an article for the newspaper. Best part was that nobody went in with me, so I really got to snoop around as much as I wanted. There was so much junk stored in there! It was like going through some kind of crazy, unwanted stuff museum. I really like doing that kind of thing.

I went in my parents’ attic crawlspace a couple of times. We had Christmas stuff stored up there, and some of my old toys were kept there too. You couldn’t stand up in the crawlspace, and there wasn’t a floor – just a big piece of wood laying on the wooden joists. It was exciting the first time I went up there. Not so much later.

*Not the actual snakeskin from our attic. It seems like it was this big though. I hate snakes.

When we moved into our house here, Ben went up in the attic (I’ve never been, as the access is through a small hole in the ceiling above the stairs, accessed by sticking a ladder on said stairs, no thank you) and came down with a big snake skin. Sometimes I wonder if the snake that shed it is still slithering around somewhere. I did see a tiny snake in the upstairs bathroom a few years ago and I about died. I don’t know if our attic is more than a crawlspace or not. Based on the roof, it seems like you could walk up there, but not very far.

We don’t have a basement here, but we have two cellars. They are pretty sweet.

Cellar one is the storm cellar. It is in front of our house, under the big elm tree. It has two entry doors. They are big heavy mofos, and lifting one during a storm isn’t fun at all. It’s kind of interesting to have a storm cellar and get to go down there with the weather radio when we’re in a tornado watch. Ben also uses this cellar as his personal automotive garage. He parks the car over one entrance and goes down the other and changes his oil and stuff. Pretty inventive. I assume there’s two doors in case a tree or something falls on one.

Cellar two is the root cellar. It is under the house. I really, really like it. The stairs kind of stink though. They used to be all broken, but Ben got all new wood and fixed them. But…the wood was a bit more narrow than it should have been, so you’re going in and thinking you’re going to miss and break your leg the whole way down. There’s a light bulb down there, and old shelves from when people were cool and used to store their summer’s bounty in the cellar to eat all winter. We tried to store some things but I couldn’t really get the hang of it. This cellar has a hallway that leads to the main room. The hallway has…get this…an arched ceiling. It’s made of brick. Every time I see it, I am amazed that this awesome arched ceiling is under my house. I don’t see it very often (remember the breaky-leg stairs).

Blogging experts say to include art to make your stuff more interesting. This is a picture of what I don’t want to be under if a tornado hits.

Sometimes people ask me why we go to the storm cellar when bad weather hits, instead of the root cellar. After all, we don’t have to go out in the rain for the root cellar. The entry door is part of our covered wraparound porch. Never an issue. I am afraid our cool hundred year old farmhouse might collapse on us in a tornado if we were in the root cellar. That’s a no-brainer for me.

Not my favorite topic so far.

I was going to add a link to this cool website, abandoned oklahoma, that has pictures of all kinds of places like Vinson Hall and my old junior high, except they haven’t been renovated or town down. Unfortunately, when I went to it, my malware popup binged and it tried to redirect to something else. Maybe they got hacked. I’ll add the link if it clears up in the next few days.

Oklahoma authors!

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I am continuing my quest to read as many books by Oklahoma authors as I can. I’m still sticking with children’s books – they read quickly and give me more accomplishments, and I like sharing them with my kids. It’s also great to read other books in my genre…and I love reading books by people I have met at SCBWI.

At the last monthly Oklahoma City Schmooze, I got to meet picture book author Tammi Sauer. She brought a copy of her newest book, Nugget and Fang: Friends Forever — or Snack Time?, and I quickly devoured it when it was passed around. The story and accompanying pictures were fantastic, and I wish I’d had more time to spend reading it. It’s the story of a minnow and shark that are best friends…until the minnow goes to school and is taught that minnows and sharks don’t mix.

I enjoyed Nugget and Fang so much that I followed it with Bawk & Roll – the story of two nervous hens that perform backup for an Elvis-style rooster; Mr. Duck Means Business, which tells the story of a duck that doesn’t want to share his quiet pond with rowdy barnyard animals; and Me Want Pet!, a cute tale of a cave boy looking for a pet to call his own. These are just a few of Tammi’s books – she has sold more than a dozen to major publishing houses. As if that’s not enough, she’s also incredibly nice. I had a great time visiting with her at the schmooze.

I moved on to middle grade novels after enjoying Tammi’s stories. A few more books by Darleen Bailey Beard fit the bill perfectly. I started with Annie Glover is Not a Tree Lover. This was a cute, refreshing story and was perfect for light reading. I enjoyed most of it while my son was at soccer practice. She recently posted on Facebook that the book has been translated into Korean. I love the idea of schoolchildren in Korea reading about the little Oklahoma world she created. I followed it with Operation Clean Sweep, a cool story based on true events of a small town in Oregon in 1916. In the book, a boy discovers that his mother is planning on running for mayor against the incumbent – his father. At the time, Oregon was only one of a handful of states that had given women the right to vote.

My final Oklahoma author this week was Anna Myers, author of Rosie’s Tiger. Rosie is a young girl in 1952 who is upset when her brother returns from the Korean War with a new Korean wife and her young son. She enlists the help of a new friend, but ultimately has to learn to conquer her jealousy. I was particularly interested in this because my grandfather was in Korea. It was interesting to see what life was like in Oklahoma during that time.

There are so many Oklahoma authors! I think it is fantastic that so many here have found success in the publishing industry. I hope that someday I will be lucky enough to join their ranks. For now, though, I’m satisfied to keep writing and keep reading the work of those who have gotten there already.

SCBWI Oklahoma Spring 2013 Conference

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So I went to my first writers’ conference on Saturday!

SCBWI_HeaderI have been excited and nervous about it for months. I’ve only been a part of SCBWI since January, but I’ve been attending all the gatherings faithfully. I wanted to make sure I knew people before going to my conference. I’m so glad I did!

This year’s conference was in Tulsa, but I couldn’t spend the night there because of $$ concerns. The eldest daughter also had a dance competition all weekend, so I was at that with her on Friday until late. I ended up getting about four hours of sleep, and then I met with some writer friends and we drove to Tulsa together. (I’ve only been to Tulsa a handful of times, so I was thankful for my mom’s GPS.)

The conference was absolutely perfect. I cannot think of a way it could have gone any better. Of course, we’re not supposed to discuss specifics from the speakers, but they were all great. Here’s a little overview.

First we heard from Maria Middleton, Associate Art Director at Abrams Books for Young Readers. Since my focus is on YA, I didn’t think that I would get much from this speaker, but it was really enjoyable. I had no idea how many steps were needed to tie art into a manuscript. Her step-by-step discussion allowed us to learn about the fascinating process. I particularly enjoyed seeing early sketches and polished artwork compared via Powerpoint.

Next was Katie Carella, an editor at Scholastic. She was so cute, funny, and just a joy to listen to! She focused on Scholastic’s newest line, Branches, which will launch on May 1. These books are aimed at ages 5-8 will bridge the gap between picture books and chapter books. I took a lot of notes for this one – I may attempt to write something in this vein after I’ve gotten caught up with my current ideas.

Claire Evans was next. She is assistant editor for Dial Books for Young Readers and Kathy Dawson Books. She talked about some facets of the publishing world that writers might not consider, like money management, sales force, and marketing. She also had us do several exercises with our own writing…and she gave prizes. I did not raise my hand and share my work because it wasn’t particularly fantastic, but I thought the exercise was a great way to get the audience involved.

Then came lunch, hooray! We had sandwiches and some kind of chocolate caramel pie dessert. I also grabbed one of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten. We moved to assigned tables at that point, and each table had a published author, editor, or agent at it. I was at table six, and was giddy when I realized Claire would be at our table! I read some info about her before the conference, and it looked like she might be interested in manuscripts like Pairs. We each got to take a turn talking to her about our work. My hands started shaking when the person just to my right was speaking, but when it was my turn, I was able to get through it. I think I probably talked very loud and fast, but it went all right.

After we all introduced ourselves, we talked a little more, and then she excused herself to look at the portfolios on display by our group’s illustrators. I got a second cookie, ate half and wrapped the rest in a napkin and put it in my pocket, and headed to the art room. (No food allowed in the art room!)

There were too many portfolios to really give them the time they deserved, and it was crowded in the room, so I browsed through a few. I’ve enjoyed visiting with SCBWI Oklahoma’s Illustrator Coordinator, Jerry Bennett, so I made a point of looking through his entire portfolio. Wow. Just wow. I thought he mainly focused on comic book art, but his gift was apparent in his selected pages. He had some comic art, and some whimsical pieces that I think of as picture book art – and then there was this pencil sketch that was absolutely beautiful. What caught my attention the most was two young boys sitting on a couch. Their legs and feet were bare, and I am still awed at the beauty of their legs and feet. It seriously was like a photograph – but with a pencil. I’d really like a chance to look at it again, because I felt like I needed to hurry back to the conference room. It was really just a work of art…and that doesn’t really describe it. It just…it moved me.

With Jerry’s art still on my mind, I headed back to the conference room. Part two of the to-die-for cookie was gone before I got back to my seat.

Our first speaker after lunch was Katie Bignell, Assistant Editor at Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books. We didn’t have to take a lot of notes for Katie, because she thoughtfully provided us with an outline of her talk. Good thing, since everyone was in a sort of post-lunch stupor! I was especially thankful for the outline, because halfway through her presentation, my phone started vibrating. My eldest daughter, who was continuing the dance competition with my mom as her chaperone, could not find her hip hop shoes. I ended up taking four frantic calls out in the hall from various family members regarding the shoes. (They ended up being in the back of Mom’s car.) Back to Katie, who was concentrating on picture books! She also spent some time taking about rhythm and rhyming books, which was of particular interest to me, since I’ve always loved writing verse. She had several good tips that I’m planning to use when I revise some of my poetry.

The last guest speaker was Karen Grencik, an agent with Red Fox Literary. Karen went over many of the reasons that books are rejected, and what to do about it. She told us her history in publishing; how she got started and the challenges she faced along the way. It was very interesting to hear her journey from court reporter to agent. She also provided a thick handout of 101 + Reasons for Rejection! I’ve been going over it, and it’s helpful to see what to avoid.

After Karen’s presentation, there was a speakers’ panel with pitch critiques and Q & A. I didn’t submit anything for the pitch critique; they had to be typed and I don’t have a printer right now, and I never found time to run by the copy shop. It was great listening to other pitches though, gathering ideas and hearing what the professionals liked best.

Finally came announcements. Jerry announced the Best of Show from the Portfolio Critiques, and our regional advisor, Anna Myers, named the winners in the Nita Buckley Scholarship Contest. I was interested in this, because I had participated in the contest, which required writing 250 words from a prompt. The winner would receive a paid trip to California for the SCBWI conference there. Well, I didn’t win first, but I did win second! It was very exciting. I got a copy of the book “The Fault in Our Stars,” (which I read yesterday – wow) and free tuition for next year’s SCBWI Oklahoma conference! It was the perfect prize for me. I mean, I would have liked to win first, but I was honestly a little nervous about going to California and attending the big conference. I think I’d like a little more time to pass before I dive into that pool!

After the conference, we were welcome to go to sort of an after-party at a local restaurant, where we could visit with the speakers. I really wanted to go and speak to Karen Grencik. She had critiqued the beginning of Pairs and the synopsis, and she was very complimentary of it. She mentioned during the conference that anyone with one of her critiques was welcome to come talk to her about it. The ladies I drove with were very gracious about going to the restaurant, even though we still had to get back to Oklahoma City.

I’m so glad we went. I was able to talk to Karen, and she went over the critique with me. She was very gracious and kind, and I left the restaurant feeling very encouraged!

I swear I have hardly stopped smiling since Saturday!

Like I said – perfect, perfect day.

Thank you to all the people who made this day possible. I’m not sure who wants their name published on my blog, so I’ll just express my appreciation to everyone at SCBWI Oklahoma who helped to make this conference a reality. I also need to thank my family for taking care of my children’s needs so I could be a part of such a special day. I am so lucky!

I’m still smiling!