Welcoming Two New Members to WFK

Writers for Kids, an online picture book critique group welcomes two new writers. Hayley and Callie join the three existing writers in the group. Since starting the group back in 2013, we have had some changeover, but also some success too. Two of our former members have published books in the last three years. WFK is a very supportive and helpful group. I have no doubt that both Hayley and Callie will fit in well here.

Hayley is a middle school teacher who happens to run and do triathlons.  She has a healthy living/food blog that she maintains, has experience in the children's writing market and has a goal of becoming a traditionally published author.

Callie works for a educational nonprofit as a curriculum writer and program evaluator and happens to be a professional musician that plays the violin. She has educational curriculum children's publishing experience. She is also pursuing the goal of getting a children's book published.

Writers for Kids is excited to have Hayley and Callie join the group. They will undoubtedly bring their skills to bear and enhance the group!

Ken

NYC SCBWI Conference February 7-9, 2020

First, I would like to congratulate SCBWI for putting on such a great conference. There were numerous technical writing sessions, which covered all aspects of writing so each participant could attend sessions that interested them the most.  Also, the keynote speakers were very good, especially Kate Messner. I have been to many conferences related to environmental issues in my previous job, but this was one of the best I've been to and my first related to children's writing.

My journey from Connecticut to NYC started around 3:00 pm on February 7th as my wife and I made our way to New Haven to catch a Metro-North train into the city. The Metro-North route we took stops at Grand Central Station and our hotel was connected to the station so we didn't even need to go outside. The conference was being held at our hotel too so that made everything so convenient and easy.

I attended three technical writing sessions and enjoyed them all. Unfortunately, I was only able to meet one of the speakers, Ann Whitford Paul, after her session, The Language of Picture Books on Saturday afternooon. My first session on Saturday morning, February 8th was Picture Books From Rough Draft to Submission Ready presented by Lesa Cline, Connie Hsu and Alexandra Penfold. There was a huge group in this session though, which made it almost impossible to speak to any of them. I do appreciate receiving a post-conference email from SCBWI with contact information and an offer to submit some writing to both Connie Hsu, Executive Editor for Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan Publishing and Alexandra Penfold, an agent with Upstart Crow Literary. I'm working on submittals for both of these invitations this week.

My last session on Sunday morning, February 9th, was Picture Book Beginnings and Endings (And How to Get From Here to There), which was supposed to be presented by Jane Yolen and her daughter, Heidi Stemple, but unfortunately Jane injured her hip and was unable to attend. Yolanda Scott, Associate Publisher and Editorial Director of Charlesbridge agreed to take Jane's place and they didn't appear to miss a beat. It was nice to see the video of Jane that was incorporated into the presentation. Unfortunately, during the session, I got distracted and missed writing down Yolanda's email. She had extended an invitation to submit a query to her within 8 weeks after the conference. I ended up snail mailing her a query per Charlesbridge's guidelines just before I received a tweet from Heidi that stated Yolanda had given out her email at the session. For what it's worth, I took about 4 pages of notes in this session.

I plan to attend another writing conference once the Covid-19 issue gets resolved. The NESCWBI conference was one that I had been thinking about since it's only about 35 minutes from my home.

Ken

 

Storystorm 2020

It's almost time for the 2020 version of Storystorm, Tara Lazar's program where writers try to come up with one new story idea for thirty consecutive days this coming January. I plan to participate again this year and hope my critique partners in Writers For Kids join in the fun too.

I have written two new stories in the last month from my 2018 Storystorm story ideas list. I'm in the process of revising several other stories I wrote from my 2017 Storystorm ideas list. Those lists are the gifts that keep on giving.

If you haven't participated in Storystorm, I encourage you to do so. It's very simple to do, it's free, you get a chance to win free critiques and other prizes, and it's fun too.

Ken

Publishing Success for Former Writers For Kids Critique Members

Since 2014, Writers For Kids (WFK) members have been working very hard to create great children's stories and help each other in the process.  In the last year and a half, one former member of Writers For Kids had a picture book published and another has one due out early next year. That's some really exciting news!

Margaret Greanias was a WFK member back in 2016. Her picture book, Maximillian Villainous, came out on August 28, 2018 from Running Press Kids. The book was illustrated by Lesley Breen Withrow.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37487231-maximillian-villainous

Also, Rebecca Koehn, a member the last several years, has a picture book, After the Rain,  set to be published on March 3, 2020 by Beaming Books. The book was illustrated by Simone Kruger.

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47317288-after-the-rain

Congratulations to both  Margaret and Rebecca. All Writers for Kids members hope to follow in their footsteps and get a book published too.

Ken

Susanna Leonard Hill's Halloweensie Writing Contest

It's that time of year again to enter Susanna's Halloweensie writing contest. I have been working on several stories to enter this year. Each entry has to be 100 words or less and include the words cobweb, trick and potion. You can also use other forms of these three words too. It's an interesting and challenging thing to write a story using such a small amount of words. Here are my two entries so far. I will most likely change things a bit before midnight on October 31st. Good luck to all those entering.

Ken

                                                                                 Word Count: 100                    

I WANT MY MUMMY

By Ken Major

“I found this mummy at a tag sale,” said Mom.

“It looks real,” said Max.

Max cleaned cobwebs off it, found a button labeled

“magic potion” and pushed it.

Liquid dripped down the mummy onto the porch.

Max’s friends came over for trick or treating.

A strange kid joined in.

Later on Max saw his sister trick or treating.

“Our mummy’s missing,” said Sarah.

“Where’s the strange kid in the mummy costume?’ asked

Max.

Sarah and Max walked home together.

“The mummy’s back on the porch,” said Sarah.

“Someone left candy near it too.”

“Want some candy?” moaned the mummy.

                                                                        Word Count: 100

TRICK OR TREAT, SPIDER HIDER

By Ken Major

Guess what? Spiders like Halloween too!

I used cobwebs to reach Jordan’s candy bucket.

I hid in there because you can’t beat free rides and candy.

The trick was to beat Jordan to our favorite candy, chocolate.

 

Houses 1-4 didn’t give out chocolate.

Houses 5 and 6 did, but Jordan ate it.

House 7 gave out apples.

House 8 gave out sodas marked “Potion”.

House 9 gave out chocolate-less cupcakes.

House 10 came through with chocolate-covered pretzels.

Long before we reached House 20, I fell asleep, totally full.

I woke up back home surrounded by chocolate candies. What a night! 

The 21st Annual New York SCBWI Winter Conference-February 7-9, 2020

 

I just registered for the 21st Annual New York SCBWI Winter Conference. The schedule looks great. I can't wait to attend. I plan to attend sessions that focus on picture books. I have signed up to attend sessions with Lesa Cline, Connie Hsu, Alexandra Penfold, Ann Whitford Paul, Jane Yolen and Heidi Y. Stemple.

Ken

Dementia and Coping with the Disease

I have been away from this blog for quite a while. I have continued to work on my writing though despite some difficult challenges. I was preoccupied during this period trying to deal with my mom's dementia. Below is a brief summary of this difficult journey for me and my family.

In October of 2018, my mom passed away after a fairly rapid decline from dementia over an eleven month period. However, the signs of the disease had surfaced long before that period . It started when she was having problems taking her medications. She used to keep a forensic list of her daily doses with the exact times taken down to the minute. That process developed holes in it back in 2017 to a point that I was in regular arguments with her about the need to take her meds properly. She kept telling me to mind my own business and accusing me of implying she was stupid. She refused to accept the fact that this was happening to her.

My mom was still driving in 2017, which was a major concern for my family. She was living in a senior apartment by herself, but needed help with getting groceries and managing her bills. One afternoon her heart stopped beating for thirteen seconds and she felt faint and called 911. This incident lead to her getting a pacemaker shortly thereafter. She wasn't allowed to drive during the recovery and that's when things got really ugly. She had lost a lot of  her independence and was super upset about it. She had to rely on family and friends for rides and that wasn't enough. Her anger often bubbled up and made it very difficult for me and my sister. My dad died in 2016 so he wasn't around to help. The dementia had progressed to a point where she lost her license to drive permanently.

We ended up placing my mom in a local nursing home and on October 25, 2018, she passed away. At the end, she stopped eating and talking almost completely and didn't have any idea where she was. This whole process was extremely sad and taxing on us. We felt so helpless as we watched our mom rapidly deteriorate. We did have a good support system of family and friends that helped during this period though.

Ken