DEATH MASKS - What's on Your Wall Wednesday

Grits and Glamour offers inspiration for your walls and mine. She is the muse that inspired me to post some of the art on my walls.

My husband's uncle is an artist over in Denmark. Every year he gives us a piece of art for New Year's to wish us a Happy one. I thought I'd share a couple pieces he's given us.

The last time my husband, Lars, was in Denmark, his uncle wanted to immortalize his face with a Death Mask. When Lars came home, his brother wanted to make masks of the rest of the family. My daughter had a cold and couldn't do it because you have to put straws up your nose to breath, when the plaster is poured over your face. We still have to get hers done. But here are the rest.


This piece of art was a present from my husband's uncle, on our last trip to Denmark. I call this The Balloon Trees.


We've bought a couple pieces of art too. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

WORD FOR WEDNESDAY: Staccato

Do you know the meaning?

Come on, no goggling until 3:00 and then just pop back by here to find out.

Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press

Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press was a guest speaker at our SCBWI Conference here in Portland, Oregon.

And she talked about the 12-steps of writing.

She had a great sense of humor and imparted a good deal of information.

She said that the first step to writing is admitting that you need to revise.

She was talking about picture books and the 12 steps to writing a picture book.

She said some people think writing a picture book is easy but that’s not the case. Each word has to carry its weight in the story and when you have so few words the weight is a heavy one to bear.

Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are: 1) Does this book need illustrations, 2) Does it stand up to multiple readings, 3) Is it too short for a 32 page picture book format – or perhaps too long. 4) Would a parent or librarian pay $14.95 for this story?

Elana Roth at the Caren Johnson Literary Agency

(Elana's the one on the left)

I spent part of the weekend at the SCBWI conference here in Portland, Oregon, where Elana Roth was a guest speaker.

Elana is building her list. She is with the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She accepts no snail mail submissions. She spoke about the Author-Agent relationship at the SCBWI Oregon Spring Conference.

She made a great comparison between looking for an agent and looking for a lasting relationship. Relationships begin with dating then it can progress—if you’re lucky enough to find a great match—to marriage. And if things don’t work out so well, there’s the breakup or the dreaded D word: Divorce.

This is like querying an agent, signing with the agent, and sometimes - yes - breaking up and moving on.

Elana added a lot of humor to her talk, dispersing words of wisdom along with a few giggles and smiles along the way.

She also talked a little bit about query letters and the three separate paragraphs each author should include:

1) The book
2) The hook
3) The cook

She explained, every query should tell something about your book, what makes it special and end with a bit about yourself as the author.

Miriam Hees - Blooming Tree Press

Fabulous Swedish Chef, Miriam Hees from Austin, Texas was a guest speaker at the SCBWI Oregon Step in the Write Direction conference on Saturday, May 16th.

She talked about having a great opening sentence. She also said, "Don't write about what's hot now." She warned us that audiences want what's new and what's hot right now won't be by the time new acquisitions are published.

She said always check out an agent's or publisher's website to make sure you are submitting the right materials. And you can read her blog here.

But most important she said to always Hope and Dream. Don't stop hoping and don't ever stop dreaming!

A STEP IN THE WRITE DIRECTION with Noa Wheeler and Elana Roth

Noa Wheeler from Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and Elana Roth from Caren Johnson Literary Agency shared their words of wisdom with us at the Shilo Inn near the Portland Airport.

I spent Friday at the SCBWI conference in Portland, Oregon.

We were soooo lucky to have an editor, Noa Wheeler, and an agent, Elana Roth, in attendance.

This was a WOW Them With Words session: or a large-group critique session.

Each author brought 30 copies of the first page of their manuscript to share. Each conference attendee took a copy to write their comments and notes on it.

The author got up in front of the podium and read the page for the audience. All of us in the audience wrote our own comments, while Noa and Elana took turns giving their verbal comments for everyone to hear.

I learned a lot.

One of the most common comments was Show don’t Tell—easier said than done.

I can’t wait to go back tomorrow for more.

ONE CAN OF GARBAGE PER YEAR - IS IT POSSIBLE?

LIVING WITH ONLY ONE GARBAGE CAN OF WASTE PER YEAR



Did you know Jeanne Roy and her husband have managed to cut their waste production to one garbage can - per year? If you are interested in reading more about her programs and the Center for Earth Leadership, check out her site Center for Earth Leadership. But here are a few tips I learned from her on Wednesday:

1) Americans make up less than 5% of the world’s population yet consume 25-30% of the resources;

2) 1992-2006 recycling more than doubled but landfill usage (waste generated and deposited in the metro region) has gone up;

3) You have options for garbage collection: you can use either a 32 gallon can, 22 gallon can, have monthly service, or even on-call service;

4) In Oregon, the amount of energy saved by recycling is equivalent in energy used by 470,000 cars. So essentially, by recycling, it’s like we’re keeping 470,000 cars off the road;

5) And if you recycle you are cutting your garbage production by about 40%;

6) If you compost, you boost that number to 75%;

7) By carrying your own fabric or net bag with you to the grocery store, you will save about 500 bags per year;

8) Most cities offer composting classes through community classes – here, in Portland, you can find a class through Metro: (503) 234-3000.