Something has changed . . .

Take a moment. Look at our sidebar. See if you notice anything new. I'll wait . . . .

See it yet?

What did you say?

YES!!!!!!!!!! Something has changed, indeed. I have just signed with the incredible agent Steven Chudney. Suddenly, I feel validated and legitimate! I'm thrilled to begin working on revisions with help from someone with such brilliance and expertise in the field of children's literature.

Huge, happy sigh.

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Free Books!!

Did the title get your attention?

I am a HUGE Gregory Maguire fan (he's most famous for writing Wicked), and I have just discovered that a friend of mine from college lives down the street from him. They have children the same age and talk about catching the school bus and ballet lessons and birthday parties . . . Can you imagine having conversations like this with Gregory Maguire--I mean, talking to him as if he were a mere mortal???

My friend has hooked me onto a really cool publisher called Concord Free Press, and you can have a Gregory Maguire book for free. You just pledge to donate any amount to charity.

Now, I know most of us are not in a position (YET) to give away our books, but I love this whole concept. And, we can all participate by donating what we would have spent on a book to charity. I'm going to give to our literacy council here in Oxford.

My copy of The Next Queen of Heaven is on its way.

And . . . stay tuned. I've had a crazy week--one that ended in snoopy dancing and champagne sipping!!

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Win a Kindle?!

Leave it to Lisa and Laura to come up with the hottest new contest on the block. They are giving away a KINDLE next week to one of their followers!!! (and don't worry, it's not too late to become one. Go! Join the fun!)

Check it out here!

And save the date for their new book!!!!!!!!
From Publisher's Marketplace: Lisa Roecker and Laura Roecker's A Kate Lowry Mystery: THE HAUNTING OF PEMBERLY BROWN, a quick-witted mystery starring a private-school sleuth with attitude and pearls, who receives an email from her dead best friend, to Daniel Ehrenhaft at Sourcebooks, for publication in Spring 2011, by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management (NA).

May the best man win! (And by that, I mean me :-)

Some books to consider

I just watched this video because of our friend Kathryn Stockett's book, The Help - and because, according to Ms. J, "John Searles is a wonderful man who knows his stuff." As it turns out, he does. I was interested in several of these titles and may pick them up over the holidays. (I realize it's an older video but I had never seen it.) Check it out. Good stuff :-)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Katie's gone Extreme.

I have fully applied to be on Extreme Home Makeover! Wait. Not to receive a home (My house is more wonderful than I could ever imagine.) I want to be on the show to help build a house for someone else - someone who really does need a new house.

It all happened Sunday night as the chickens and I were eating grilled cheeses and watching the show. Right before our eyes they announced a contest to "get on the bus". Well, faster than you can say turnip greens, we made a b-line for my computer and wrote ourselves a doozy of an application.

Now, do us a favor and cross your fingers so we can say -

Move. That. Bus!

Katie

P.S. Those are gonna be my new buddies. We'll be hammerin' together if I get on the show.

And finally for the FAB NEWS OF THE WEEK, Lisa and Laura Roecker just sold their first book!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much I have literally cried over their news thrice! (is that even a word? If not, it should be!) Go Lila! We are so excited for you!!!!

Revising, too . . .

Okay, so it's another post about revisions, but Katie and I are both knee deep into them. Since it's November and NaNoWriMo, I have decided to follow The Intern's lead and commit to NaNoReVisMo. The last thing I need to do is start another novel when I've got three of them sitting here begging me for heavy duty revisions . . . not to mention my picture book.

Anyone else in??

Katie's last post referenced a great revision post by Stephanie Perkins. I just read one by Elana Johnson on querytracker that is every bit as helpful. My favorite thing she says to do is "chunk" your manuscript. By this, she does not mean for us to "chunk" our babies into the recycle bin to be turned into newsprint and cereal boxes. No, she suggests that we divide our manuscript up into "chunks" and work on them that way. Great stuff--be sure to read her entire post here!

So here's where I've been all week.

Working on my picture book revisions. Again. Yes. Again. I've changed the ending and a few things at the beginning of the story. This, of course, means that my sketches have to be redone. Again.

I'm not complaining. It keeps getting better with each revision.

I've got my thumbnails on index cards so that I can look at the entire book in one glance and see where pictures need to be changed for variety in pacing or general flow of the story.

And, yes. That is my Tim Gunn bobblehead lording over my revisions. He says things like "Make it work" and "I can't want you to succeed more than you do". He just may be the force to push me through this.

A few more days of sketches and then it's off to novel revisions. See you on the other side.

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So, I'm revising...

People say to me everyday, "Hey Katie! What's up?" And I know they're bored when I say, "Still revising."

But seriously. It's all I do. I wake up, drink coffee and walk up to my husband's office where I revise. End of story.

I will say, though, it's gotten fun. It was tearful there for a while. I don't know about y'all, but changing the entire storyline of my book was terrifying initially. People told me that changing plot is much easier than changing character or something else, but I whole heartedly disagree. Changing plot is like someone telling me, "You know how SF lives in Mississippi and is married to John and has 3 girls? Well, we want you to make her a lesbian accountant living in NY with 2 dogs."

Also, revising has given me the sad side effect of blog block. Yep, I can barely read them, much less write one. The only entertainment I take in during the week is Modern Family (which was FRIGGIN' hilarious last night!!!!!!!) and GLEE :-)

Beyond that it's words, words and more words.

BUT, I did read a post from one of my favorite bloggers, Stephanie Perkins and it was wonderful, especially for those of you who are revising, so I will link to it here. Do go meet her. She's hysterical. I can't wait for her book. It's one of the few I'm pretty sure I will adore, just by reading her blog.

Peace Out,

Katie