Banned Book Week, Cheryl Rainfield's challenge, & #SpeakLoudly

It's Banned Book Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. 

Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Cheryl Rainfield (author of SCARS) made a great post recently about Banned Book Week and issued a challenge:

It's Banned Book Week: Speak Up and Pick Up A Good Book!

I hope you’ll consider buying (or borrowing) and reading some of these banned books–and sharing them with others. I hope, too, that you’ll speak out about book banning–write a post about it, share your thoughts on FaceBook or Twitter.

As Cheryl pointed out recently on her blog, you might be surprised at some of the books on the ALA's list of Top 100 Banned Books list (past decade): Harry Potter, for instance. But it's true.

I'm going to go through this list and make a point of reading as many of these banned books as I can.

I feel very lucky to have grown up in an area where books were never banned, but some children aren't as lucky. I'm also naive enough to still be shocked by the depth of ignorance shown by adults in modern-day society, like when an associate professor condemns books like Laurie Halse Anderson's brilliant SPEAK as "soft core pornography."

You can follow the #SpeakLoudly discussion on Twitter.

Find out more about Cheryl Rainfield and her book SCARS at http://www.cherylrainfield.com/.

Happy Punctuation Day!



My post about time management, creative productivity, managing multiple projects

For those interested, I have a new post up on the MiG Writers site:

Time Management, Creative Productivity and Multitasking

Posting morning digital publishing, iPad & ebook news

Thanks for all the crossed fingers about my book projects, all! Much appreciated. :-)

I know I've raved about the SCBWI writers' conference before, but I must rave again. Since the conference, I've been at least twice as productive as usual. Not just because of what happened with the Illustrator Portfolio Showcase, but because of the workshops and talks I heard as well as the people I met.

I still haven't posted some of the takeaways and mentorship session details, but I still plan to. SO much to write and draw, and not enough time! Holy cow. Anyway, thanks for your patience.

Rubin Pfeffer's keynote about digital publishing and the children's book publishing industry really boosted my interest in digital technology and its impact on book publishing. Since Inkygirl (and @inkyelbows on Twitter) has a focus on the craft of writing, I've decided to save most of my digital publishing and e-book posts for my iPadGirl blog (and @ipadgirl on Twitter).

For those who don't have time to browse my iPadGirl tweets, feel free to read my occasional daily round-ups of news about digital publishing, e-books and iPads on iPadGirl instead.

Excited! And here's why...

A children's book publisher I admire a great deal recently invited me to send them a picture book story. Well, I did...and THEY LIKE IT! They've asked for a few sketches, so that's what I'm working on right now. So if I'm a bit scarce in Inkygirl for a little bit, that's why.

Meanwhile, I've just sent a proposal for a nonfiction book to my agent for her comments, and will be sending that off soon.

Sooooooooooo excited! Please keep your fingers crossed for me, thanks. :-)

Coffee with Claudia Osmond and Andrew Tolson

One of the many reasons I'm glad I joined Twitter is because I got to meet the Toronto Middle Grade and YA Author Group. The group was founded by Claudia Osmond (above left), and even though we get together once a month, some of us also meet in smaller gatherings as well.

Fun to hang out with Andrew Tolson (above right) and Claudia this afternoon, talking about kidlit publishing and catching up on each other's writing projects. The photos above & below were taken on my iPhone, and then I tweaked them using the TiltShiftGen app on my iPad. Andrew took the photo below. Andrew's a professional photographer, by the way; his recent photo of Bill Gates is the COVER photo of the current Maclean's magazine!

New comic up on Writer Unboxed

I've posted a new comic over on Writer Unboxed: "The Paperless Office."

How Nelsa Roberto wrote & sold her YA novel debut: ILLEGALLY BLONDE

 

I met YA author Nelsa Roberto through the Toronto Middle Grade and Young Adult group (a.k.a. Torkidlit). Nelsa's one of those people who makes you feel comfortable right away. She's smart, she's funny, she speaks her mind. Read my interview with Nelsa to find out about how she wrote and sold her debut YA novel, ILLEGALLY BLONDE, and her advice for hopeful writers.

Click to read more ...

Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP rejected by almost 50 agents

I've recently been enjoying the audiobook version of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling book, THE HELP. I tend to listen to audiobooks whenever I'm out for a walk (in a safe neighbourhood) or doing household chores.

A post on Dystel & Goderich Literary Management site about a NYTimes article points out that Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP was initially rejected by almost 50 agents before it was picked up.

From DGLM:

But that's the way the game is played: you win some, you lose some, and the take-away for me from this story for authors is that confidence in your work, persistence, and of course a good dose of luck and timing, can make all the difference. It's a great success story, and in a time where there are so many grim reports about book publishing, it's refreshing to see a story about a book that got it all right, even if it had some stumbling blocks along the way.

Khaled Hosseini likes to read a few lines from a favourite novel before he starts to write

I find reading about other people's work habits inspiring. The Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini, for example, typically gets up at 4 a.m. Has some coffee and breakfast, reads the paper, then writes for 2-3 hours before going to his other job. He says that reading a few lines from a favourite novel before he gets started helps him get into the flow of things.

Read more in this Red Room profile.

New iPad comic created entirely on my iPad

Click on the image to the left to see a bigger version of the iPad comic I created this morning. If you're curious about what apps I used to create it, you can read the whole post in iPadGirl.

#Kidlitchat tonight on Twitter at 9 pm EST

If you're interested in writing for young people, consider coming to #kidlitchat on Twitter tonight. It's my favourite Twitter chat -- it's always fun, and I always come away inspired.

You can see the transcripts of previous #kidlitchat sessions by browsing the archives.

To find out more about how you can participate (or just to eavesdrop), see my Twitter Chats For Writers FAQ.

Wordcount Challenge Check-in For Writers: 250, 500, 1000 Words/Day

Haven't heard of the Inkygirl Wordcount Challenge? The goal of this challenge is to help provide goal-oriented inspiration, with flexibility to avoid giving up in frustration. Please click on any of the buttons above for more info.

So how did you all do this past week? And what are your current writing goals?

Good luck with your writing, all!



iPad Apps For Writers

I've updated my list of iPad Apps For Writers with a review of Black Mana Studio's Manuscript for the iPad.

Message to my younger self

What I just posted on Twitter this morning:

No one loves their iPad more than I love my iPad

I've been featured on the Padgadget site! You can read the article here:

Padgadget Creative Corner - iPad Artist Debbie Ridpath Ohi

JoNoWriMo+1.5

From Jo Knowles on the JoNoWriMo Livejournal community site:

Inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), JoNoWriMo+1.5 is similar, but allows writers 2.5 months to complete a project(s) of their choice. On September 16, participants will state their goals, and then for the next 2.5 months we will work on those goals together. Our challenge ends on midnight, December 1.
On official check-in days, I will make a post to the group and ask everyone who has signed up to leave comments and report their progress so far. These dates are:

October 14
November 11
November 25
December 1—OUR FINAL CHECK IN! PARTY!!!!! :-)

On these days, we ask that no one else make an individual post so that the check-in post is easy to find. PLEASE REMEMBER: This community is set up for members to post their questions, ask for encouragement, share their progress, and cheer on others. We are here as a supportive community only. This is not a competition in any way.

For more info, sign up at JoNoWriMo+1.5.

For those who liked the Apostrophe Song...

Shaun McNicholas from Cool Rules posted the following comment in response to The Apostrophe Song video I posted a few days ago:

 Thanks for posting this Debbie. You might like to know that it relates to an iPhone App, The Apostrophe Song, that has hip hop, rock, acoustic and dance versions of the song. The App also has quizzes that test users' knowledge of apostrophes, and classroom ready materials for teachers.There is also an opportunity for schools worldwide to be included on the next update of the App. You can buy it for only $1 (see www.coolrules.com ). Hope you don't mind this blatent self-promotion :-). The Apostrophe Song has been a labour of love...

Multi-talented speculative fiction writer Maya Bohnhoff sings on video

A while back I interviewed speculative fiction author, Maya Bohnhoff. Some of you may not know that Maya also sings and performs with her husband, Jeff Bohnhoff, and that they have CDs available. Well, they took their song Midichlorian Rhapsody (from their Grated Hits album) and created this highly amusing video:

Yes, that's Maya singing lead. Wow, what a voice!

You can hear samples from their other parodies on their Grated Hits CDBaby page. And while you're there, be sure to check out Track 5. Heh. :-)

Comic: Back To School