A Writer's Week #69: On the Road

This was an awesome week. I got a chance to do one of the things I love best, a school visit. I just want to give a big thank you to Mrs. Robinson's 5th grade class. You guys asked some awesome questions! It was great getting to meet you all.

Dan draws

This visit was doubly awesome because for the first time I was accompanied by illustrator Daniel Vogel. Dan added another dimension to my presentation, because he was able to answer all the students' questions about the "art" of illustration. I was fascinated by his description of his creative process. I think we were all impressed when he drew something for the class on the spot. The kids asked him to draw a James Bond-type character. Dan went right to work, asking the kids for details such as what type of tie he would wear as he drew.



I know they were impressed. I loved to see him in action. The class was also inspired by the fact that Dan is just 15 years old and had already illustrated one book with a second due out shortly. He showed them the original artwork for the cover of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel as well as the original drawing of the map.

After our talk, Dan and I were treated to an art show of our own as the class showed us the pictures they had drawn of the opening scenes of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. They all did a fantastic job, and I'll be featuring them in another post in the near future. It was a lot of fun to see the different interpretations of the book. Eric and Stig's first meeting and meeting the Gatekeeper in the Hallway of Worlds were two of the most popular choices for subject matter. I had intended to have Dan and I judge the drawings and award some prizes, but I loved them all so much that I couldn't decide which I liked the best, so I kind of scratched that idea. It didn't seem right to pick just one or two. I did take the pictures and will display them on a page of the blog soon.

I really have to credit Mrs. Robinson for instilling such a love of reading in her students. This is the second year I've visited her class and both times it was obvious that the kids were excited by reading, and writing their own stories. By the way, she is one half of the talented writing team (along with Jessica Haight) behind the fantastic middle grade mystery The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow.

Next week I have another school visit scheduled. I can't wait to talk to another class about their writing and to answer all their questions. I'll let you know how it went next week!

Inklings: Questions Answered

For the next few Inklings installments, I'll be answering writing questions that I've been asked by students on my school visits. Today, illustrator Daniel Vogel and I visited Mrs. Robinson's fifth grade class. We had a great time and the students asked some fantastic questions. I'll tell you all about it in a couple of days. One of the questions they asked was How long does it take to write a book?

That's a difficult question. It really depends upon the book--each one is different. For example, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel took six years of off and on writing and rewriting for me to finish, while The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion took a little over a year.

The best answer I can give is  this--until it's done. When you start out on the journey of writing a book, you may have an idea of when you want to finish it, but the truth is until you get it written, and rewritten, you never know for sure exactly how long it will take to complete it.

The worst thing you can do is try to rush it so that it fits into some predetermined time frame. You have to give a book the time it needs to unfold and the time you need to help it do so in a way that makes for a readable story. In short, don't worry about what time you'll arrive at your destination, concentrate on the journey! If you do, you'll find the trip is a lot of fun.

It's May and the next meeting of the Character Book Club (CBC) is coming!!

The exciting thing is, it will be hosted right here! Eric and Stig will be interviewing Millie from Millicent Marie is Not My Name!!

Check back here on May 17th for the scoop from Millie!!

Interview Special: The Deliverers Group Interview

Today is a special anniversary for me. The paperback version of my first novel, The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel was published a year ago today! When I first published the book, I never thought that I'd be able to do the things that I have this past year. For one thing, I've made a ton of friends through this blog. I've been lucky enough to visit many classrooms and talk to student (and parents) of all ages. I've written a sequel and have mapped out a third book.

This last year has been so great, that it makes me wonder what the next 12 months has in store. Right now I have an idea, but who knows how it will actually turn out? Here's what I'm envisioning: the release in the next month of the audio book version of The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel; beginning to write The Deliverers 3; the release early next year of The Deliverers 2: Order of the Crystal Lion; more classroom visits; continuing to grow and improve this blog. Wow, it looks like the coming year will be as busy as the last!

Since this is such a special day, I wanted to do something a little bit different. Normally, I interview someone from a classic children's book or fairy tale. Today, I was able to get all four of The Deliverers here to give us their thoughts on what the past year has been like for them, what they've been doing, and what their future plans are. So, without further ado, I give you Eric Scott, Stig the owl, Kate Endria, and Hallo Tosis the dwarf.

Greg:  Well, thank you all for coming and happy anniversary! I must say that you're all looking well.

Stig:  Thank you. It's quite good of you to say so. Happy anniversary to you as well. A most auspicious occasion if I do say so myself.

Eric:  Yeah, it's pretty cool. Thanks for having us.

Kate:  Yes, it's very exciting. I love anniversaries and birthdays and things like that. They're always such fun!

Hallo:  Yes siree, I love a good party, m'self. M' Pappy always said, work hard, play hard. Thank'ee for havin' us here t' celebrate, don't ya know.

Greg:  What has the last year been like for all of you?

Hallo:  It's been like a ride on a dragon's back, don't ya know. Lotsa comin's an' goin's. Everybody sayin' hey, really like the tale, whatcha doin' for an encore. We've also been enjoyin' visits from a large number o' Big Folk. It's a big change from the old days, don't ya know.

Eric:  It's been really exciting. Lots of people have told me they really like the book. I don't think a lot of people at school really believe that it actually happened. They think you just used my name. That's okay, though, because everyone thinks that's cool, so I don't mind. If they really believed I did those things, it would make me feel kind of, like, weird and they might treat me differently. So I'm happy with things as they are. There's an election coming up tomorrow, so everyone's, like, excited. 

Stig:  Things have been rather quiet in my neck of the woods. We owls tend to take things in our stride, and don't get all a twitter about our deeds. To be honest, most owls tend to lead rather exciting lives, so in some respects it's rather old hat back home. I've been doing a little bit of lecturing at university in my spare time.

Kate:  Calendria is still buzzing about everything that happened, but to tell you the truth, I think I can speak for all of us in saying that we really haven't had too much time to rest on our laurels. I've been working with Papa. He's been showing me what I'll have to do when he retires and I become the first Lady Mayor of Calendria. The audio book is coming out soon, and we all spent some time with Jimm Singer, the nice man who's narrating it, so that he could get our voices sounding as realistic as possible. 

Eric:  Yeah, he did a really great job. It was kind of freaky, because he'd be talking to me and it was like listening to me talking to me.

Greg:  So, how has that process been?

Stig:  Quite fascinating, really. It is really quite remarkable how well he's been able to capture the tone of my voice. Mind you, it is extremely difficult for a human to capture all the nuances of the owlish accent, but he has done much better than I had expected.

Hallo:  Aye, he's a fine lad is ol' Jimm. He's got m' way o' speakin' down pat. M' Pappy heard a recordin' an' thought it was me talkin'. Wouldn't believe it weren't until Jimm done it for him in person, then Pap about keeled over he were so amazed.

Kate:  It's going to be a wonderful production. I can't wait for everyone to hear it. Everyone in Calendria is really excited about it. You should hear Jimm do Sharky--it's like he was right there in the same room with us. It was quite scary.

Eric:  It's really cool. My friends are so jealous that I'm going to be in an audio book. They think it's my voice, but they still don't believe that I actually did the things in the book. Maybe they will after they read about our next Assignment. Oh well, I still find it hard to believe myself! 

Greg:  Can you tell us a little bit about the next Assignment?

Kate:  Well, we really can't tell you too much, we wouldn't want to spoil anything. But we can say that it was really exciting, and a little scary.

Eric:  Yeah, we have to stop this civil war. These people called the Vynistri and their leader, Chancellor Trelango take the DNA of lions and combines them with humans to form a warrior class called the Chazum. Anyway, they're fighting to be free and equal. It's different from the first Assignment.

Stig:  Thet's the way it is with Assignments, you see. They are all different. You never know what might happen. That's what keeps things interesting.

Eric:  Yeah, it was scary there for a while, but it was cool, too. I learned that I could do more than I thought I could.

Hallo:  Aye, I think we all learned some hard lessons on this here Assignment. It were a tough one, don't ya know.

Greg:  Well, thanks for taking some time to fill us in on what's been going on this past year. It looks like the coming year will be just as exciting, so please stay in touch.

A Writer's Week #23: School's Out (Almost)

This was another terrific week. First of all, I was privileged to be interviewed by the gang at Lollipops and Books. They asked some great questions. You can check it out here. Once again, thanks a lot for letting me chat with you!

Today, I visited Mrs. Brenning's 5th grade class. It was a lot of fun. The kids were great, and had a lot of questions. This was the first class that read the whole book before I visited them. That was really cool. I was able to talk to them about what they were writing.

They had been writing in journals. One of the things they did was write a description of their favorite scene in The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel, and draw a picture of it. It was great to see what they drew--they were all very good! Since they'd read the whole book, I was able to ask them about their favorite scenes. It was a great perspective that I hadn't had before.

Hey, we all match!

I had a really great time, and I'd like to thank Mrs. Brenning and her entire class for making me feel so welcome. The muffins and juice at the end were great, too! This visit was a great way to end the school year. All in all, I visited seven schools and spoke with ten classes, and I enjoyed every visit! I'm looking forward to visiting more classes next year.

On the writing front, I've hit a little snag. I know what I want to write next, but I'm not quite sure of how I'm going to get there. So, I've been wrestling with that this week. Oh well, no one said it would be easy. I know when I figure it out, the solution will be great, and it will set the stage for the resolution of the whole book. I guess that's why I'm struggling so much with it.

Hopefully, I'll get it right this week. Whatever happens, I'll let you know all about it next week!

A Writer's Week #22: Another Productive Week

This was a fantastic writing week. While work remains busy and will be for the foreseeable future, I was still able to buckle down and get some serious writing and editing done on the new book. In addition, I resumed my school visits this week. On top of that, I received a great review a couple weekends ago in A Book A Day. So things are moving along pretty well in Writer's Land.

As far as the new book goes, the sequel to The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel is back on track. After the massive rewriting/editing job I was working on last week, I still had another, smaller section that needed some work. So, I finished that up early this week. I turned a journey through a sewer where there was one small problem into a flight through the sewer where Eric and company were pursued by a horde of beasts and attacked by some nasty creatures. The whole Chapter is muuch more tense and scary now. That's become my writing mantra lately--instill a sense of urgency. I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm getting there!

With that finished, I was able to start moving the story forward again. In addition to adding about 500 words in the rewrite, I wrote about 1,000 words of totally new stuff. So, my word count now stands at 26,500, and I've just started chapter 32. My first book was only 27 chapters and it was 200 pages and 53,000 words long. Obviously the chapters in the new book are shorter, mainly because I'm cutting back and forth between two sets of characters. Eventually, they'll meet up again, but they seem to be doing everything in their power to keep that from happening.

Today, I was privileged to spend some time with Mrs. Baird's 7th grade classes. I sat in on three classes, and really had a blast. These were the oldest students that I've met with so far, and I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure how into it they would be.

Thankfully, I didn't have to worry. For the most part they were enthusiastic, and asked great questions. I also enjoyed hearing about their writing projects. Mrs. Baird let me read a few of them, and they really had some great ideas--things that I never would have thought of, but which were extremely creative.

I am always amazed at the ideas and insights that students of all ages provide when I visit. I remember the affect that authors who visited my classes had on me when I was in school. I can only hope that my visits have a similar affect for at least one or two students. That alone would make this whole writer thing worthwhile.

I was talking to Mrs. Baird and Mrs. Riter, another teacher at the school who is a friend of mine and a big supporter, between periods. We were talking about how this generation's texting and emailing has become more important to them than actually talking. It's true things are changing, but being able to speak to people directly is a skill that we as a society cannot afford to let die.

Thankfully, one thing that seems to be going strong is our students' love of reading and literature. When it comes right down to it, kids can't pass up a good story. But they have to be introduced to those stories and the main source is our teachers. So to all the teachers out there who are so passionate about reading and writing and are dedicated to passing that on to your students, thank you!

A Writer's Week: Making a Breakthrough

After last week's challenges, I was worried that this week would be more of the same. Happily, that wasn't the case. I had a great week. On Saturday, I came up with a solution to the sticking point that I'd run into on the new book. I was able to map out a solution, which led to an improvement in another area. That gave me a great outlook for the rest of the week.

I was concerned that I would not have enough time to put my solution down on paper. I had an evening meeting on Monday, and a school visit after work on Wednesday, so my time was at a premium. I had to scramble just to get some blog posts written. In spite of this, I was able to carve out a little bit of time to make a start. I was able to rewrite and edit one thread in the story. The really big change remains to be made, but I've got the road map, so that shouldn't be a problem as long as I have the time. Stay tuned.

The other great writing-related event that I was able to participate in this week happened on Wednesday night. Yes, you guessed it--another school visit. However, this visit was a little different from the others that I've made. Before I go any further, I'd like to thank Mrs. Pote, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Magliaro, and everyone at Morris Street School for allowing me to come and be a part of such a great event.

I was able to participate in an after school event for students and parents where I was able to share what inspired me as a writer. I also got a chance to ask the kids what kind of writing they did, and what inspired them.

This was a new experience for me because the grades ranged from kindergarten to fifth grade. In addition, their parents were there, too. The kids were one thing, but would I be able to interest the parents? Well, I have to say that it was a challenge to engage such a wide age range, but I have to say that I think I managed to pull it off.

Most of the children were pretty excited, and they asked great questions, and had some great insights. The parents seemed to enjoy it, too. I even managed to give them a chuckle a time or two. I spoke to two groups for a little over 20 minutes each. Afterwards, I was able to sell a few books, which was the icing on the cake.

The school year is starting to wind down, but I have one more visit scheduled in June, and I'm looking forward to it. As I've said before, school visits are the best part of writing a book. I still remember the affect that having Christopher Collier visit our class when I was young to talk about writing My Brother Son is Dead and autographing my copy. It is humbling to think that I might be able to have the same affect, I some small way at least, to have the same sort of affect on the classes that I visit. Who knows, maybe I've already spoken with the next Rick Riordan. 

This young man had a couple of very interesting questions. He's definitely one of the youngest readers I've spoken with. It was pajama day, by the way. Wish I'd worn mine!

Anyway, I feel like I'm back on the right road with my writing, and getting some good feedback on The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel, so I'm expecting to make some good progress next week. Check back on Friday to learn how I made out.

A Writer's Week: Nothing to Shout About

This week was probably my toughest, writing-wise, since I started this column at the beginning of the year. For one thing, I did not do much promotion at all. After making the Kindle edition of my book free for three days last week, I'm just sitting back now to give folks a chance to read it. I'm hoping I'll get a few reviews out of that over the next month or so.

For the first time in a few weeks, I didn't have any school visits scheduled. I was kind of bummed about that, because they're a lot of fun. I love to see the kids, and hear about what they're writing. Last week, a lot of the class had uploaded my book on their Kindles (during the free promotion), and they all seemed excited to finish reading it.

About the only productive thing I managed to do was jot down a couple of alternate ideas for Stig to help out Eric, Kate & Hallo. I've got Stig doing something that's a little out of character, so I have to come up with something else. My ideas on the subject were okay, but I wasn't thrilled with them.

It's not a huge thing, but it's become a real sticking point, and it's kind of demotivated me a bit. Now, I know this won't last forever, but it's really aggravating me. I may be overthinking things just a bit. It doesn't help that my free time has been limited lately. Oh well, this too shall pass--eventually.


Things are not all black. Next week, I'll be making another school visit. I'll be giving three 20 minute talks about what inspires me as a writer after hours to students and their parents. Now, I've also got some meetings after work this week, so time will still be at a premium, but I hope that I'll get off the snide this week. Anyway, I'll tell you all about what happens--or doesn't--next week.

A Writer's Week: Giving It All Away

First things first. I made another school visit this week. A big thank you to Ms. Gaipa's 4th grade class! I loved your questions and hearing all about your different writing projects! The kids had some great observations about the book and writing in general. Thank you very much, I had a great time. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the visit.

It's always great to visit classes and connect with the kids. They also come up with some interesting questions. I always seem to meet at least one that's writing a book. They all have great ideas.School visits are a great way to get the word out about The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. Lately, though, I've been trying to figure out a good way to drum up some interest beyond my rather limited sphere of influence.

Then, I hit upon an idea. Actually, the opportunity had been staring me in the face, I just hadn't been alert enough to see it. Amazon has a program where you can offer the Kindle version of your book for free for up to five days within a 90 day period. So, that's what I decided to do. I figured everybody likes free stuff, right? It might be a good opportunity to get the book into the hands of people I don't know. The more people that read it, the more chance they'll like it and spread the word, right?

I made the book available for free for three days this week. I have to say that it was a success. Overall, I gave away 1,343 copies of the book in the U.S., 16 in England, seven in Germany, and one in Spain. For a couple of hours, I was giving away a book a minute! In Kindle's ranking of bestselling free books, I made it as high as #204. I was #5 in children's action & adventure, and #5 in children's science fiction & fantasy.

So, I got the book into the hands of a lot of people that would not have even known it existed. That's great. Now I'll have to wait and see if this results in increased sales and some more reviews on my Amazon page. My hope is that at least half the people who got the book will actually read it, and some of those will like it and spread the word.  If it works out, I might try it again for a day or two every few months.

That was my big marketing push this week. On the writing side, I've got to rewrite part of the new book. Stig does something that works the first couple of times he does it. I mean that he does it for two valid reasons. The third time he does it, it's not convincing, so I'm trying to think of something he can do instead that would work. I'll come up with a good alternative. Hopefully I can fill you in on some progress next week!

The Deliverers Hits the Road

Hello, all! Tonight I've got a special post. I wanted to post a few pictures from Friday's visit to Mrs. Robinson's fifth grade class. I wrote about the visit on Friday. I had a great time, and the kids asked a ton of great questions.

My thanks fo Mrs. Robinson for inviting me, and for the following pictures.



That's me, happy they're asking questions!





Hey, they're interested!



When it was all over, I handed out some Deliverers bookmarks and pencils--you know, snazzy marketing stuff. They all wanted me to sign their bookmarks--pretty cool. Luckily, Mrs. Robinson had a Sharpie--I'll have to make a note of that for next time.



This is me signing. Albert looks bored behind me!



Still signing--guys, don't miss the bus!



The students were great, and Mrs. Robinson is a fantastic teacher! I can't thank them enough for letting me come and spend some time with them.



Teacher & Author Stephanie Robinson holding some snazzy
bookmarks. Nice hat!



So, it was a great afternoon that I won't soon forget. It was the perfect first school visit for this shy, reclusive author. I'm ready for more. If you're a teacher in western/central CT, or Westchester County, New York, I'd love to come to your class and do a reading and answer questions, or whatever you'd like. Leave a comment, or message me on Facebook!