Seeking I'M BORED "In The Wild" photos

I'm creating a gallery of photos featuring people reading I'M BORED in fun places and situations, and I welcome submissions! Photo below is an example: I'm reading I'M BORED on the Toronto Transit system. :-)

If you're interested in submitting a photo (hey, you may win a PRIZE), read the details here.

Photo below: Shara Alexa, Children's Sales Manager at Simon & Schuster Canada:

I'M BORED is A Junior Library Guild Selection!

Last week, I was tickled to get a package from  Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers that contained a letter of congratulations from the Junior Library Guild (see bottom of post) as well as a certificate….

... and a cool lapel pin:

I had seen "A Junior Library Guild Selection" on book covers before but confess that up to now, I didn't know that much about the designation. So in addition to asking my editor and publisher (Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster Children's), I also did some research online.

What I found: Having your book selected by the Junior Library Guild  is a BIG DEAL.

Apparently the JLG editorial team reviews thousands of new titles each year, in manuscript or prepublication stage, and end up choosing what they say is "the best of the best."  According to the Junior Library Guild website, nearly 95 percent of their selections go on to receive awards and/or favorable reviews. 

JLG's mission: to help libraries wade through the mass of books published every season and pick what’s best for their collections. You can read about different ways that schools and libraries have been using JLG to cope with staff and budget cuts, etc.

What does all this mean for an author and illustrator? Good things. It means that JLG orders a bulk quantity of your book from your publisher, then includes your book in their recommend lists…and these lists are used by schools and libraries. When I posted the announcement on my personal Facebook Wall, one friend said:

"Excellent! That means that there is a high probability that my school district will buy it for all of our elementary schools; they rely on the JLG lists for purchases!"

Yay! :-)

In summary:

I am absolutely thrilled to have I'M BORED chosen as A Junior Library Selection, and am grateful to the JLG for the honor.

More more info about the Junior Library Guild:

Junior Library Guild website

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JrLibraryGuild

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Junior-Library-Guild/329843906949

Wikipedia entry on Junior Library Guild

Fun "Call me Maybe" video by Pilot bookstore, newspaper & magazine

What a great promo video for The County Bookshop and its sibling entities. You can read how the video was made here.

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the link!

I'M BORED Music Video - 11 more days until the launch, woohoo!

I'm Bored Music Video (inspired by the new picture book from Simon & Schuster BFYR) from debsanderrol on Vimeo.

Thanks to my friend Errol Elumir for co-writing the I'M BORED song and creating the video above to help celebrate my upcoming book launch. Note that the song is only loosely based on the book. To find out what REALLY happened to the potato and the end, please buy the book! :-)

And special thanks to 7-year-old Zoe Elumir for playing the part of the girl in this homemade video!

I've posted some behind-the-scenes photos and info about the video plus lyrics/chords to the song in the I'M BORED Scrapbook.

SCBWI-LA Takeaway #1: Don't expect everything to happen at your first conference. Experience breeds opportunity.

Instead of trying to do a long report about the 2012 SCBWI Summer Conference, I'm going to do takeaways; it'll increase the possibility that I'll actually post them. :-)

So here's my first:

SCBWI-LA Takeaway #1: Don't expect everything to happen at your first conference. Experience breeds opportunity. 

At my first SCBWI conference (the first time I decided to start going regularly, that is), I didn't know anyone, or at least not very well. When I made the decision to go in 2009, I was WAY nervous about the possibility of going home feeling like I had wasted all that time and money. And yes, a tiny part of me couldn't help but secretly hope that HEY, maybe I'd be "discovered" and land a book contract.

While I enjoyed that conference, however, I didn't come home with a book contract. My manuscript critique had not gone well, and I couldn't help but wonder whether the editor had even read my mss; she had only made one mark on my submission, and that was to correct a typo in one of the early pages. She never referred to anything in my mss but asked me to summarize my plot on the spot, then critiqued my clumsy and unprepared verbal pitch. No wonder she wasn't impressed.

I felt humiliated and embarrassed, especially since I had gone in with such (unrealistically) high expectations. I was also envious of others I chatted with, who were critiqued by published authors in the program... most had received pages of useful notes and advice from these authors, plus encouragement. Later on, I heard at least one of these turned into a book contract when the critiquing author passed the mss on to their editor. (Side note #1: Don't be disappointed if you get an author critiquing your mss instead of an editor or agent!)

BUT I did enjoy meeting a lot of writers and illustrators, plus was inspired by the keynotes and workshops. I was determined to come back the next year, and would be more prepared.

For the manuscript critique, for example, I wanted to be ready for the possibility that the person critiquing my mss had not had time to read it. The mss might have slipped by the wayside somehow, or the editor might have run out of time. Or maybe she really did just hate my story so much she didn't have any suggestions on how to improve it. :-)

But even in that case, I needed to be able to give my elevator pitch more coherently AND have questions ready, so that I could still get something out of the session. I could have asked more info about the publishing house, her process, opinions on publishing industry topics, and so on.

[Side note #2: I did try the mss critique again at last year's SCBWI conference LA and it went wonderfully. I learned a ton from Jen Rofé's comments at the session and on my brand new YA mss, plus she ended up nominating my mss for the Sue Alexander "Most Promising For Publication" Award! I didn't win, but am still super-inspired. :-)]

If you're an illustrator disappointed about not being "discovered" at the Portfolio Showcase, don't forget that in most cases, art directors and editors and other industry people collect cards at the Showcase for later. I've heard so many stories of artists who got work months (sometimes years) later because of someone seeing their work in a Showcase. Just because you didn't win an award doesn't mean people didn't like your work. Just participating in the Showcase is great exposure -- SO many people are going to be browsing your portfolio. 

Something else I learned since I began going regularly to these conferences: the more you go, the more you'll get out of it. You'll be familiar with a wider network of people in the industry and be able to have deeper conversations. You'll stop feeling like a "newbie trying this out" and will have a better idea of what you hope to achieve at the event.

More experienced types will start to recognize you and see that you're seriously pursuing children's book writing and/or illustration rather than just testing the waters. And if they like you and see potential, they will be more likely to take some time to offer advice or info. DON'T be one of those people who so clearly scan name badges and are only interested in talking with editors, agents and Big Name Authors.

Very, very few conference attendees get a book offer at the conference. Adjust your expectations next time, and look for the many other ways that the event has helped you and could help you in the future in terms of knowledge, inspiration, connections and friendship (the latter two are not exclusive).

So…if you just came back from your first conference disappointed about how it went: instead of being bitter or resentful, try to focus on the positive aspects. What did you learn? What cool people did you meet (and how can you maintain contact with them during the year, even if it's just reading and commenting on their blogs or tweets or FB posts)? What can you do differently next year? Make some notes NOW, while everything is fresh in your mind.

But most of all, remember that this was only your FIRST CONVENTION.

Lee Wind with first-timer Cherryl Chow.

Kudos to you for going in the first place. You've already made an important early step in pursuing what you want; most aspiring writers and illustrators never get that far, so you're already ahead of the game. 

And who knows what might happen next time?

p.s. Note to those who can't afford to go to the SCBWI convention in LA: look for similar opportunities closer to home. Join your local writers' organizations and attend meetings. Or if you can't find one, try starting your own group. Online networking is great but I've found that nothing beats chatting in person.

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You can see my photos from the SCBWI Summer Conference on Flickr: Set 1 - Set 2 - Set 3

Photos from SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles 2012

Recently came back from the annual summer conference in LA held by the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators). What an amazing, inspiring event! I'll be posting some personal takeaways and photo faces from the conference, but for now, here are links to my photo sets:

ON FLICKR:

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 1

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 2

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 3

ON FACEBOOK:

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 1

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 2

SCBWI-LA 2012 photos - Part 3

I've started to get a lot of requests for individual photos to be mailed -- I'm uploading my photos to both FB and Flickr, so please do feel free to scoop any for personal or self-promo use. If you post any publicly, I'd appreciate a photo credit (something like "Photo: Debbie Ridpath Ohi - DebbieOhi.com; or "Photo: Debbie Ridpath Ohi (DebbieOhi.com), illustrator of I'M BORED" or just "via @inkyelbows" on Twitter). Thanks! 

Tara Kressler On Libraries and Being A Librarian

Thanks so much to Tara Kressler (@taralibrara on Twitter) for being my 20,000th follower on Twitter! As a prize, I let Tara pick whichever item she wanted from my I'M BORED swag shop (proceeds to go Riley Carney's Breaking The Chain nonprofit literacy).

Tara works for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about being librarian.

Why did you decide to become a librarian? 

Becoming a librarian was one of those situations where life sort of took me there but looking back, I can see no other path for myself other than this one.  During senior year in college I was doing my thesis for Art History. The dumbest of dumb things happened: I found out how much a museum worker got paid annually and I thought, oh sh*t, time for a Plan B.  A classmate and friend of mine was working part time for the library and as I was lamenting my future to her, she suggested I get a part time job at the local public library.  

Once I got into the job, it was like why didn't I think of this in the first place?  Have you ever done something and found you were just good at it?  And it surprised you?  That's how I felt about working at the library.  I'd been there for just a short time and experienced this.  At that point, several months in, I started to study for the GRE. And that is where my fate took me.

What do you like most about being a librarian? 

My answer is going to be very narcissistic.  I love being a librarian because of the way it makes me feel.  Purely selfish reasons.  I work each day doing something different, challenging, meaningful.  

I give people the answers they are looking for.  They are grateful for my expertise, they are appreciative for my help.  This is with both customers and staff.  Staff look to me to help them grow professionally, to create a positive working experience for them and I do that willingly.  It is a nice stroke of the ego.

 I like taking care of people and providing for them.  I like the detective work of the job, finding the answer and then the big reveal.  It is all very exciting stuff.

If someone was trying to cut library funding, what argument would you give them to keep it?  

I don't really see it as an argument but rather an enlightenment.  Everyone has benefited from the library in some way, it is just a matter of having a conversation, finding out what that is and to appeal to them to want to continue that legacy.  

A library has always been an integral part of a community, had some sort of involvement in the upbringing of people and despite the materials changing, those concepts do not. 

What attracts you to a book and makes you want to read it?  

 I do two community book clubs a month and with two little kids, it doesn't give me a lot of time to read all of my guilty pleasures.  Often I try to marry the two and force my book clubs to read what interests me, like recently it was the Night Circus and In the Garden of Beasts.  

Fortunately, they are good sports about it and those are good discussable books to incorporate.  My most recent non book club selection was Game of Thrones.  I ordinarily would never pick up such a book but my staffer teased me into it, even giving me a paperback copy to lug around.  It was quite a commitment at almost 1000 pages but it hooked me and I went with it.  

So essentially, if you twist my arm and bully me enough, I will read what you tell me!  Otherwise, I keep a nice list on Goodreads of things my customers recommend or reviews in magazines or whatever comes through the Branch that has a pretty cover.  My secret guilty pleasure is cook books, but don't tell anyone....

What are some of your favourite recent reads? 

Some of favorite recent reads have been The Night Circus by Morgenstern which I listened to on audio in complete rapt attention because Jim Dale read it amazingly.  Also, Ready Player One was an audio I listened to and thank god Wil Weaton read it, otherwise I would have no idea what was going on and would have abandoned it immediately.  I love Lee Child books and was heartbroken to learn Tom Cruise would be Jack Reacher in the movie adaptation of One Shot, but enjoyed The Affair. Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers was so subtle but powerful and I threw in Habibi, an epic graphic novel for fun.  

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You can follow Tara on Twitter at @taralibrara.

Comic: Revision Angst

Thanks to Writers Write Creative Blog for making this particular comic so popular on Facebook right now. :-)

I'm posting some of my older comics here as I catalog and tag them in prep for a print book compilation. You can find my comics for writers on Inkygirl (http://inkygirl.com), Tumblr (http://inkygirl.tumblr.com) and Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/inkyelbows/comics-for-writers-inkygirl-com)