Q&Q Writer Series Featuring Patricia Storms

Website: www.patriciastorms.com

Published Book(s): http://www.patriciastorms.com/books/

Notable Review (s):

Good Reads

CM Magazine

The Q&Q:

1) In one word, how would you describe your personality?
Challenging, especially to myself.

2) What is your deepest desire?
Peace of mind.

3) Your greatest fear?
The sudden loss of the life I’ve built for myself.

4) Your favourite colour?
Green.

5) A song you can't help singing along with, every time you hear it?
Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre

6) A movie that made you cry?
So many movies make me cry. For example, I got quite blubbery watching ‘Up’.

7) A book you have read more than five times?
Anne of Green Gables.

8) From your own oeuvre: your favorite child?
Well, since I’ve only written one kid to date, ‘The Pirate and the Penguin’ would be the favourite child.

9) One thing you hate about being a writer?
Crippling self-doubt.

10) One thing no one knows about you (and now will)?
As a teenager I fell in love with the music of Noel Coward, and went to great lengths to memorize pretty much all of his songs. For some incomprehensible reason, this did not impress my peers.

Thanks, Patricia!

Q&Q Writer Series Featuring Adrienne Kress

Adrienne Kress is a writer and actress born and raised in Toronto, Canada.  I met her for the first time at the Toronto MG/YA Writers Group. A vibrant, bubbly personality, and a great writer to boot, Adrienne is a fun person to while away the evening with.
The starred review in Publishers Weekly praised her first novel Alex &  the Ironic Gentleman as “a wonderful blend of whimsy and moral” and at the heart of this story is Alex Morningside, a lovable tomboy with a knack for trouble and a quest for adventure

Read more about Adrienne on her website here. Her latest book The Friday Society will be released December 6, 2012 by Dial. Can't wait!

Here's the Q&Q scoop:

1) In one word, how would you describe your personality?

Awe-inspiring.

2) What is your deepest desire?

Buttered toast.

3) Your greatest fear?

Yes.

4) Your favourite colour?

Red.

5) A song you can't help singing along with, every time you hear it?

Any Disney/Musical number. But definitely also Adam Lambert's "What Do You Want From Me". Which can only be sung loud and proud. While doing the cool-down for Body Pump at the gym.

6) A movie that made you cry?

Wait, there's a movie that doesn't make me cry?

7) A book you have read more than five times? Or a book that influenced you the most?

As an answer to both questions: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

8) From your own oeuvre: your favorite child?

I don't answer questions that use the word "oeuvre". But I am now hungry for eggs.

9) One thing you hate about being a writer?

The voices in my head.

10) One thing no one knows about you (and now will)?

That despite evidence to the contrary, every time I see Steven Spielberg interviewed, there's a moment where I truly think he's related to me and that we've met several times. I have no idea why this is.

Thanks for spending time here, Adrienne!



 

 

Tara Trilogy published by Rupa Publications

Aaaarrrghh! Have I really been away since May? Shame on me. The only excuse I have is this was the last summer with my son who started University this year. I wanted one glorious summer when we were still a huge part of his world. I know there'll be many more summers but they will never be the same. Nuff said!
So, here are the covers of the Tara Trilogy published by Rupa Publications in July this year. I love all the book covers and here they are:

Beautifully done!

Children's Story Jam at the TPL with Small Print Toronto

Someone Stole The Toilet...

A lively workshop to get feedback on my latest work-in-progress from a discerning audience at the Northern District Branch of the Toronto Public Library courtesy of Small Print Toronto with Chris Reed, Artistic Director, and Vikki Vansikkle, Writer and Mediator.
June 6, 2012 from 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm.

So if you like Mumbai, exotic foods, and er...toilets...come on down and give me some feedback!

Blue Met Festival in Montreal

This past Wednesday and Thursday I was invited to present at the Blue Met Festival for Children 2012, in Montreal. My first time there, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I came away tired and strangely energized, wanting to do it all over again.
For the first one at the Montreal Children's Library, Richmond Branch, I was welcomed by the librarian, Carmen Mandrila and the wonderful Monique Polak who dropped by with a bunch of her journalism students. Here she is enroute to my prez with her students. Great students with some very insightful questions.
My second presentation was at the Westmount Public Library. The wonderful Wendy Wayling had invited a Grade 6 class from a nearby school and I have to say they were a fabulous bunch of kids who had me impressed from "good morning."
Here's me having a blast in Mon-real! Enjoy...

With Monique and a friend at the Blue Met Reception at the OPUS Hotel

Met a fellow Cormorant author Peter Dube

Monique with husband, Michael and friends.

Monique et moi

With Wendy Wayling of Westmount

"There's No Frigate Like a Book To Bear us Leagues Away."My sentiments precisely!

A riveted audience. I can't tell you who had more fun :)

Q&Q Writer Series featuring Linda Granfield

I first met Linda Granfield through email when we were discussing the "Mash-up" planned for the launch of the Anthology,  Piece by Piece: Stories About Fitting Into Canada edited by Teresa Toten and published by Penguin. Her wit and humour won me over as we wondered just how this mash-up was going to mesh out. She was even more wonderful in person!

Linda loves writing historical non-fiction and she has a really cool website. She lives by the motto:
"Every Day Is Remembrance Day/Veterans Day." Linda is best known for her book: In Flanders Fields: The Story of The Poem by John Mccrae. The entire list of books can be found here.

And here's a peek at make Linda who she is... 

1) In one word, how would you describe your personality?

Curious
 

2) What is your deepest desire?

I want to see my now-adult children (2) remain healthy and happy.

3) Your greatest fear?

Snakes, even pictures of the real things.

4) Your favourite colour?

Blue

5) A song you can't help singing along with, every time you hear it?

Any Beatles or Dusty Springfield song.

6) A movie that made you cry?

Field of Dreams (every time!)

7) A book you have read more than five times? Or a book that influenced you the most?

"Little Women" made me want to be a writer.

8) From your own oeuvre: your favorite child?

No favourite child--but "In Flanders Fields: the Story of the Poem by John McCrae" changed my writing-life.

9) One thing you hate about being a writer?

The paper "mess"--from research, drafts, letters, edits. After recycling, I'm still running out of places to put it! And I can't write and file at the same time, so the paper piles grow.....and grow....

10) One thing no one knows about you (and now will)?

I collect "perfume cards" from the fragrance counters in stores. Well-designed, free, mini-art made of paper, wood, ribbon, silk, etc. I have nearly 500 different perfumes represented, from stores in a few countries. (See what I mean about "paper"!)

Thanks, Linda!

And the Final Day at SCBWI: Sunday, Jan 29, 2012

Having stayed up way past my bedtime the night before, I looked like a sleepy raccoon on Sunday morning. Thank God for the coffee and cake in the morning. The sugar rush helped as we headed back into the huge ballroom for some final doses of advice, panel discussions and information.

It started out with the announcement of the Tomie dePaola Awards and Art Showcase winners. All the entried were shown and they were beautiful. The judges must have had a tough choice.

Lin Oliver kept us laughing (and awake!) with entries from the Joke Contest: Pick a character from a children's book and create a campaign slogan for him/her/it. Here's one I remember: Captain Underpants - You can't get more transparent than this :)

Jane Yolen came on stage with a lovely announcement: she had started a grant to help midlist authors and had nominated a couple of writers already. It was heartwarming to hear of such a lovely gesture!

The illustrators were not left out in the cold and we had a chance to see the Bookmakers Dozen Panel comprising artists and illustrators in the Brooklyn area. This was moderated by Laurent Linn of Simon and Schuster. Amazing and talented panel which included: Selina Alko, Sophie Blackall, Peter Brown, Brian Floca, David Gordon, Brett Helquist, Aileen Leitjen, John Bemelmans Marciano, Sean Qualls, John Rocco, Sergio Ruzzier and Dan Yaccarino.

The last panel was about The Current Market for your Work: Four Agents' Views and comprised Ginger Knowlton (Curtis Brown), Regina Brooks (Serendipity Literary Agency), Chris Richman (Upstart Crow Literary) and Ken Wright (Writers House). A great discussion moderated by Lin Oliver.
The Good News: The market is still robust and there's always a place for a good story. But this is a "bestseller business" and the competition is fierce so your manuscript really has to stand out for it to get published.

What are they looking for?

• A great hook
• A classic story that is timeless rather than following a trend.
• Do not follow trends (they were all unanimous about this)
• Good, clean writing.
• Universally identifiable theme with a global reach.
• A twist on a known theme or an unusual POV. EG: A baseball story told from the POV of the Umpire.

And finally, a warm and inspiring talk from Katherine Erskine who told us to FOCUS on our work.

Finally it was time for the autograph party and goodbyes with promises to return. And I shall...soon.

Hope you enjoyed these posts. And hope to run into you someday, at a future conference. Ciao.