Today my editor let me know that Love Can Come in Many Ways has been listed on The Today Show’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide for Best Books for 1-Year Olds.
You might wonder, What’s the big deal, Terry? Well, if you look at the other nine books listed by amazing authors such as Sophie Blackall, Nikki Grimes, Sandra Boynton, Mac Barnett and others, well, I’m kind of excited! These are all writers I admire and have been smitten with for years.
Thank you, The Today Show!
Deborah Diesen (of POUT POUT FISH fame), has another terrific picture book coming out. And she’s doing a giveaway over at Writing & Illustrating.
Deborah Diesen has written a new picture book, SING SOME MORE!, illustrated by Howard Gray. It’s published by Sleeping Bear Press and hit the bookstores on August 15. Sleeping Bear Press has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner.
All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know other things you do to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.
Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Deborah and Howard.
If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I…
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Waiting
Last post, I shared the collaboration process for Love Can Come in Many Ways. I left off after the twenty-eight months of collaboration, followed by Chronicle sending Love off to the press (early this year). The original publication date for Love was August 2020, but like so many book releases this year, Chronicle postponed it until October 20 (plan ahead for holiday shopping!)
So, what does an author do while their book is being printed, which takes a few months (usually about six, in my experience)? I’ve always referred to this period of time as waiting for the slow boat from China (literally, sometimes!). Well, I always do two things—work on the next book, and think about how to promote the upcoming book.
The segue into the next book came fairly easily for me after Love. I had already started working on a “sequel” or “companion” book, hoping Chronicle would be interested (I won’t go into the details here because I don’t like talking about works in progress). To my delight, my editor was interested in discussing future books. We exchanged some ideas, so I sent her a couple of manuscripts that she shared with our amazing illustrator, Suzy Ultman. I felt that—while there was no commitment from Chronicle on any projects—we were moving in a positive direction. Our discussions centered around how to bring more love, kindness, compassion and goodwill into young readers’ lives through books. All great things, in my opinion.
And then Covid-19 hit.
Covid is deadly serious and not something to make light of, as we all know. But in addition to the health crisis, one of its fall-outs has been the uncertainty and disruption to businesses everywhere, including the publishing industry. I won’t pretend to understand all the financial impacts and intricacies, but it has definitely slowed down the cogs and gears of the publishing business. At least, until we have more certainty about the future.
So, my editor kindly and compassionately informed me that our potential projects would have to wait a bit. I can’t imagine how hard it is/was for editors to tell their authors and illustrators about book release delays, projects being put on hold, etc. But I certainly understood. I just said to myself…
Be patient, grasshopper.
Give it some time.
Just take it one step at a time…
And really, with everything happening in our world right now, this is not the worst thing. Sometimes, life makes us stop, take a breath, rethink things; appreciate the good around us and within us. And boy, do I have a lot for which I’m thankful!
Back to writing, while I’m continuing to work on some other manuscripts, I’m also focusing on Love’s book promotion (the other thing I do while waiting for a book to come out). And book promotion during a pandemic has had its challenges! No book launch or in-store signings. But I’m trying other things—I‘ve expanded my social media presence, including revamping my Twitter account (I even opened an Instagram account, which I’m still trying to figure out!). I’m blogging again (obviously!) and in October and November, you’ll find some fun posts, interviews, and giveaways. I’m doing a joint virtual book launch is December and some other virtual events to celebrate the release of Love Can Come in Many Ways (more details to come on those events).
Because, you know, we should all be spreading the love a little!
Stay tuned!
Thanks to Kathy Temean for passing along writing advice from Neil Gaiman.
I know all of you know these rules, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to read them again.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
Skunk and Badger (Skunk and Badger #1), by Amy Timberlake/Illustrated by Jon Klassen,, (Sept. 2020, Algonquin), $18.95, ISBN: 9781643750057
Ages 8-12
This is an utterly adorable, amusing story of two unlikely friends. Badger, a rock scientist, lives on his own in his aunt’s house, doing very important rock science; when Skunk shows up at his door, he’s a little taken aback – he clearly hasn’t been reading his aunt’s letters, telling him he’ll be getting a roommate! – and he reluctantly lets Skunk into his home, and, slowly but surely, his life. You see, Skunk is much more of a free spirit than Badger: he cooks delicious meals, zings potatoes across the room while he’s cooking, and makes friends with chickens! Badger, who lives a functional and regimented life, is not sure about this whole Skunk business. After a big sleep over with the chickens leads to an…
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Book Production & Collaboration
Inspiration—writing—submission. That’s what I’ve talked about thus far in this series of posts–those first important three steps toward getting a book published. Fortunately, these things happened quickly for Love Can Come in Many Ways. I got the idea in January 2017 and accepted the book deal in July 2017. After a lovely “honeymoon” with Chronicle Books making me feel so incredibly welcome, it was time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Love is my first novelty book and I was incredibly fortunate that my wonderful editor, Ariel Richardson, included me in on the book collaboration. I, who knew very little about novelty book production! But her welcoming nature, gentle guidance, and master ringleader skills in managing everyone involved (her team, the illustrator, and myself) made the experience pure joy.
To give a sense of Love’s timeline, our initial discussion began in August of 2017, when we chatted about some light revisions, the number of page spreads, which animals to include (or remove). A few weeks later, our talented illustrator Suzy Ultman, had already done some rough sketches for the cover, so Ariel asked for my thoughts. We also discussed the felt samples (Chronicle wanted to use felt flaps and found some gorgeous sturdy felt fabric that could withstand the repeated use of small hands).
In January 2018, Suzy had completed the rough sketches for the book, so for the next few weeks, we discussed revisions (to the art and the writing). One of the things we all agreed upon was incorporating diversity into the book (even though there were only two spreads with humans we wanted to make them count so all readers could see themselves in the book). For me, the final spread was where we aimed at being all-inclusive. I mean, this is a book about love, after all!
By late February, Suzy had done more rough sketches based on the revision notes. One of the things we were discussing was a line, “Enclosed in tender toothy jaws” which I wrote based on this photo:
I loved this picture of a mother alligator carrying her young inside her mouth. Wow! That’s some motherly love! But unfortunately, it just didn’t work in the art because no matter how Suzy drew it, it looked like the mom was eating her young! (Yikes! NOT our desired effect!). So, after much discussion, we landed on using a panda. Phew! Kids love pandas and they carry their very pink young in their mouths like cats do (something young readers might be familiar with already).
Our collaboration continued for the next few months. Suzy’s artistic style is charming and whimsical (so fun for very young children), but because I’m a stickler about animal facts, sometimes I’d have a question or concern. I greatly appreciated Ariel and Suzy’s patience with me whenever I’d ask about something in the art that I wasn’t sure of. I also found that sharing the photographs that inspired the writing was helpful. If nothing else, seeing these beautiful animals showing affection to their young was a joy for all of us to see.
We also had to reorder the spreads a bit. Ariel had noticed the animal-to-human order of appearance was off a little. I’m a visual learner, so I printed out the rough sketches and laid it out on my office floor to play with it and see what suggestions I could come up with. Playing with words and pictures is so much fun! (and yes, that’s cat food and water on my office floor—my co-authors must have sustenance!)
After taking a pause for Suzy to complete another project, we were now mid-summer 2018. Our collaboration on the cover and interior illustrations continued, mostly working out the fine details. One of my favorite ideas born of this time was to have a felt speech bubble flap on the final page. When Ariel asked me for suggestions for the text under the flap, I immediately thought of how I often sign my other board book, Mama Loves You So: “You are loved!” Everyone loved this idea so these became the final words that will resonate with every reader. And how important is that?
Our collaborations continued through 2019. Much of this was checking the final art and text, and deciding on the final cover. Checking and rechecking all those delightful details! It wasn’t until late 2019 that the final edits were actually “final.”
So, in case you’ve lost track, the collaboration process took about 28 months (August 2017 through late 2019). That might sound like a long time, but it flew by for me. I love doing deep dives into projects and am so grateful I had this opportunity to do so.
One final thought…I’ve learned many important lessons in my twenty-one years of writing, but one of the most important is to play nice. That might sound obvious, but I can’t say enough how important it is to be kind, respectful and courteous to your fellow creatives and professionals in the book business when you’re collaborating on a project.
Next week, the “radio silence” phase of book production! (and a shorter post, I promise!)
The Submission Process
Last week, I left off with a polished final draft of Love Can Come in Many Ways, ready to send to my agent. For me, this part of the writing-submission process is just as stressful as submitting to an editor. Despite feeling like I had written a strong piece, there were no guarantees that she (or an editor) would feel the same way! We work in a highly subjective business, after all. But as I once heard author and editor Arthur Levine say, “Nobody is going to show up at your door and ask to look in your file cabinet so you have to submit your work.”
So, off it went! I let her know I envisioned the manuscript as a picture book or a board book, depending on an editor’s vision. And of course, I’d be happy to revise. I crossed my fingers after hitting “Send” and, between you and me, was hoping she’d read it right away, especially since it was only 104 words. (by the way, shorter word counts don’t seem to affect how quickly editors or agents will read your work!).
Approximately six weeks passed without a response to Love from my agent (in all fairness, we were discussing other manuscripts as well—Love just hadn’t come up.). But I was so convinced, so completely certain, that Love would sell, I emailed her(after the six weeks) and essentially begged her to send it out. She soon wrote back and said she was still thinking on it. I put on my “patience” cap and waited…
Have I ever mentioned how much patience a writer should have? (probably true for editors and illustrators, as well!).
A week later, she wrote me back with lovely things to say about the manuscript, including that she was going to send it out to five editors THAT DAY. I was so happy to finally have Love out on sub…
…but when we got interest from Chronicle Books FIVE DAYS LATER, I knew my gut was right—it was going to sell.
Woo-hooooo!
Now, getting “interest” is exciting, but it’s no guarantee. And I knew not to get my hopes up too much, after the initial excitement. The editor wanted to share it with her team, and show the manuscript to one of their illustrators. Again, I put on my patience cap (by the way, I don’t really have an actual cap).
A month later, we received an email from Ariel Richardson, editor extraordinaire, letting us know the illustrator, Suzy Ultman, loved the manuscript, so we could expect an offer. But…here was the surprise—they wanted to publish it as a novelty book! A NOVELTY BOOK! They loved the idea of having movable arms, paws, tails, etc. for little ones to manipulate. I’d never published a novelty book before (although I’d certainly thought about it), so this was icing on the cake for me!
Another month passed, and we received the official offer letter with all the details. And I’ll say here that based on that letter alone (positive, enthusiastic, professional), I knew working with Chronicle was going to be amazing. And it has been! Seriously, it’s this writer’s dream.
At that point, we worked out some minor changes to the terms of the contract, so the contract process could move forward. (it can take anywhere from a few weeks to few months for an agent and publisher to finalize a contract). I was walking two feet above the ground, elated that Love had sold, and knowing I was going to get to work on a novelty book with one of the best editors in the business!
I should also note that the process up to this point had happened quickly. I don’t usually get a manuscript to perfection in a couple of months. And this was the second fastest submission response I’d ever received.
Next post, I’ll talk about the collaborative process with the book’s production (warning: the collaboration process took over two years—my post won’t be that long, I promise.).
If you’d like to preorder Love Can Come in Many Ways, just click HERE.
It’s National Blackberry Day (I know, who knew such a day existed? Well, me.). For me, blackberries bring back sweet, warm childhood memories. When my family lived in Washington state, my brother and I would pick wild blackberries in the summer and bring home so many that my mom had no other options than to make a pie. Yum!
I carried this tradition down to my own family. When we vacationed every summer in the Pacific Northwest, we would pick wild berries and I’d always make a fresh berry pie. Double yum when it’s with your child!
Well, the inspiration for my picture book, Blackberry Banquet, came to me one time while I was picking berries. I accidentally stepped on a twig in the forest and watched in surprise as various animals flee from my favorite berry bush. Birds, squirrels, mice! That inspiration turned into an idea that later became Blackberry Banquet.
The book, a cumulative story about animals coming to feast at a blackberry bush only to be interrupted by a hungry bear, included fun, educational backmatter including a recipe for blackberry smoothies. But for now, I’m going to share author Jean Ann Williams’s winning recipe for “On Top of the Stove Blackberry Cobbler.” (Yuuuuummmy!)
ON-TOP-OF-THE-STOVE BLACKBERRY COBBLER
By Jean Ann Williams
INGREDIENTS:
1. As many blackberries you managed to pick.
2. Sugar to taste and added in before dough strips.
3. Favorite pie dough recipe made with shortening or lard, not butter.
STEPS:
Prepare pie dough for either one or two crust pie, depending on how many berries.
Wash berries in a colander, careful not to squeeze berries and therefore losing juices. Dump into a pot, not filling more than 2/3 full. DO NOT ADD WATER! Simmer on low to medium heat. Stir occasionally. Add the sugar to taste.
Pull an apricot-sized ball of pie dough and roll thin on a cutting board. Cut long strips like for lattice weave about ¾ inches wide. Then, cut the lattice in half to accommodate layering into pot of berries.
Once berries juices flow and thicken and boil slightly, add first layer of dough strips. Let simmer for five minutes to set the dough, and then stir into berries. Repeat the rolling of dough and continue this until all dough is gone or you have enough dough to suit you in cobbler. After last layer of dough is stirred in, let simmer for five more minutes. Take off stove and let cool to warm in the pot or in bowls.
This cobbler is very tasty warm and with a side of ice cream. IF you have leftovers, refrigerate. Eating cold is another treat, but if you wish to reheat, then add a bit of water to stir into bottom of pan so as not to scorch.
TIPS
I make this for at least twelve servings and use the double pie dough recipe (with maybe a little leftover). We’ve never measured our ingredients, except for the dough and it always comes out tasty. Did I say never add water when making? That is a sure way to lose some of your rich berry flavors. Enjoy! Our family has for three generations.
My own notes: (from Terry)
Because I’m one of those people who likes things in measurements, I’ll share the amounts I used:
four 6-oz. containers of berries (fresh berries are unavailable where I live)
½ cup sugar
Also, I kept a lid on the pot while it simmered to retain the heat and “bake” the piecrust pieces.
I served in custard cups with a choice of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for my judging team.
The Writing Process
On my last post, I ended with my idea and what inspired me to write Love Can Come in Many Ways (available for preorder HERE). This manuscript took a few turns along the path toward becoming submission-ready.
As I mentioned last week, I began writing this in early 2017, when I was feeling so saddened by the lack of civil discourse in our country. I mean, how could be people be so unkind and disrespectful to each other? After being motivated by some beautiful animal photos, I began writing a new picture book, Tummies, Tongues and Twisty Trunks: Love is Everywhere.
I know, I know! That was a mouthful for a title! I loved the alliteration of the first part, but as is, it sounded like a nonfiction book, so I added the subtitle to make sure the concept and tone was clear. But yeah, what a mouthful of words! So, I put the title issue on hold and started to write.
At that point, I knew the topic: animals showing affection. I knew the meter (rhythm pattern) I would use throughout, which I wrote at the top of the page to keep me in rhythm as I wrote:
/ – / – / – /,
/ – / – / – /
Or, if you prefer…
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM,
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
(Note: Sometimes I used a “pause” for the middle unstressed beat:
/ – / || / – /,
/ – / || / – /
DUM da DUM || DUM da DUM,
DUM da DUM || DUM da DUM.
It only took a few weeks to come up with a solid draft. Inspired by gorgeous photos, I made a list of key words that came to mind, such as trunk, fur, arms, paws, tails, etc., depending on the animal. I played with the verbs (gerund form) and prepositions to fit with the rhythm (embracing arms, protecting wings…). This really is the kind of writing I LOVE to do so it was pure joy for me to do this kind of detailed wordplay.
Once I got the animal part down, I knew I wanted to include humans in the mix, as well. I decided to do this by creating two couplets to include ways that humans show affection, love, and kindness (one in the middle, one at the end). I brainstormed another list, everything from hugging and kissing to holding hands to playing games to simply smiling at one another. Here’s another favorite inspirational photos…doesn’t this child’s face say it all?
I tinkered with the rhyme and rhythm a lot. One “trick” I always do when I write in rhyme is to walk while reading my story out loud (thank you, Ann Whitford Paul, for sharing that trick with me so very many years ago!). This is a sure-fire way of “feeling” any glitches in the rhythm (like tripping on a crack in sidewalk if your meter is off!). The other thing I do is ask my husband to read it out loud to me. One of the best tips for checking your work–prose or verse–is to have someone read it aloud who is NOT used to reading aloud. This is a great way to hear how a future book buyer might read your work (and you might be surprised at how differently someone might read a sentence than how you hear it when you write it!).
And of course, I did multiple scans of my text, to make sure my rhythmic pattern was consistent. Because this book was so simple and intended for very young readers, I chose to keep a consistent meter. With longer picture books, I’ll often break the rhythm at an appropriate time, such as a pivot point in the story or where the action is disrupted. But with LOVE, that wasn’t necessary.
After about two months into working on the manuscript, I asked my writing group to review it for me. Their initial response was hugely positive. A couple of concerns were the title (too nonfiction-y sounding), and they guided me towards submitting it as a board book, not a picture book. Multiple people said it was “too thin” for a picture book, that the simplicity and “list” feeling of ways of affection seemed to read “board book” more than “picture book.” Did I mention how helpful writing groups can be? (or writing partners!)
I made a few small changes, including changing the title to Love Can Come in Many Ways. Then, I felt like it was ready to send out (I got the idea in January 2017 and it was now early April). I was super excited about the manuscript and had a good feeling about it. Now, it was a matter of hoping my agent would be as excited about it as much as I was.
Next post, I’ll talk about the submission process. Stay tuned!
Idea and Inspiration
I’ve never written an “idea to published book” account so I thought this would be great time to start! My first novelty book, Love Can Come in Many Ways (Chronicle Books), is coming out October 20! (to preorder, click HERE).
So! Let’s start with the idea because all stories begin with a spark. Sometimes the spark is like a tiny spark jumping off a flint stick and other times it’s a roaring fire. Either way, inspiration comes, and when it does the idea doesn’t let go. It burns in my mind until I get serious and sit down to write.
In “Love’s” case, the spark came in early 2017. I, like many others, were coming off a challenging 2016. Our country, one way or another, was dealing with the outcome of the 2016 election. And in early 2017, I found myself feeling increasingly disturbed by the way people were treating each other.So much unkindness, nonacceptance, unwillingness to listen. None of it being what I try to live my life by—love, compassion, acceptance, and kindness.
So one day, as I sat pondering over how to deal with all the negativity, it occurred to me to write a book about love. Now, being a writer for young children, I didn’t want to just write about love, I wanted to write about…
But how, I wondered, could I present love in a kid-friendly way that didn’t seem like I was hitting them over the head with a heart- and glitter-filled stuffed bunny?
Animals! That’s how. I’m a huge animal-lover and have been since I was a kid. I mean, what kid doesn’t like animals? So, I now had a theme (love) and a main topic (animals). Next I thought about how to present the story. Because I wanted love to be the focus of the book, I wondered about how animals express love and affection to each other? To get ideas, I went to the internet. Here are a few photos I’d saved…
I couldn’t get over this giraffe image, and as I was perusing through so many heartwarming images, my opening line came to me…
Nose to nose,
Gaze to gaze,
Love can come in many ways.
I didn’t necessarily start out wanting to write in rhyme, but like much of when I begin writing for younger children, the rhyme just happens. And once I had what I thought was a perfect opening, I knew I had my rhythm pattern for the remainder of the book.
So, that’s how the idea for Love Can Come in Many Ways came to be. Next post, I’ll talk more about the actual writing process of this piece. But for now, I’ll leave you with a few more inspiring photos.
Terry Pierce 
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