President Obama is getting published: his 40-page children’s picture book, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters will have an initial print run of half a million copies when it is released on November 16.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

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In two or three years, will we see lots of books with characters named Isabella and Jacob? It’s likely.

Obama’s and Twilight’s Names are Popular: Barack and Malia

The Social Security Administration tracks the most popular names and says that the changes this year bring Isabella and Jacob to the top. However, President Obama’s family has had the biggest impact on names, followed by the book/movie, Twilight.

The name Barack rose in popularity from 1,993rd to 2,424th in popularity. Not a bad rise percentage-wise. But Barack was outdone by his oldest daughter, Malia. The name Maliyah (a variant spelling) rose from 345th to 192nd in popularity.

The lift for the name Jacob might have come from Twilight. But for sure, Cullen’s rise comes from the popular vampire movie. It rose from 485th to 782nd.

SSA Resource for Names

Character. But how does this affect your novel? Names evoke character. I think I’ve repeated before the story about Scarlett O’Hara. Her name was originally “Pansy.” What a difference a name made here! Of course, you can choose to contrast or compliment character qualities, so maybe Pansy would have worked? Nah! Not in Gone with the Wind!

Historically Appropriate. Probably the best use of the SSA baby name site is to scroll down to the form where you can input a date to see the most popular names by year, starting with 1880! What a great resource for naming characters in a historical novel.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I am woefully behind in sharing some great posts with you! Here’s a ton of links to articles of interest.

• Dori Butler just interviewed me for KidLit Central about my experience of judging the SCBWI Works-In-Progress Grantl
• Meanwhile, check out this podcast: Carla McClafferty is featured on Book Bites for Kids, talking about her new book, In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry. The book has already gotten a Starred Review! Wahoo!
• Suse Haberfeld continues the conversation on the digestive process of writing, taking in words, so you can put words out.
• Janni continues the conversation on Voice. But, Janni, are you talking to your characters lately? I wish you’d put all your conversations together in one place for each book — what a great resource.
• Becky CC summarizes her experiences at the Novel Retreat in Three Acts (I was Act 2). If you want to take a novel from conception, through revision, and present it to an editor and agent – all within a single year! – then you need to check out this series of retreats planned for 2009-10.
• Nancy talking about why she started the Three Act retreats.
• President-Elect Obama is a doodler? Oh, yes.
• Did you know that Bowen Press, the new Harpercollins children’s book imprint headed by Brenda Bowen, now has a blog? Read the Bowen Press Blog.
• What could possibly be good about Rejection Letters?
• You didn’t participate in the National Novel Writing Month? Well, here’s the project for you: The National Novel Writing Decade!
• Anne Marie Pace says, “In 40,000 words, my characters shook their heads 30 times and shrugged 18 times.”
  My verbal tic is “a bit.” As in, “She shook her head a bit.” What’s YOUR verbal tic?

What have you read lately that is interesting?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win