If you are a writer, you have five magic words: I am writing a book.

These simple words (or variations of them) can be used to do a variety of tricks:

Research. If you need research for your novel or your nonfiction words, you need help from experts. The Magic Words often open doors and encourages people to share resources, facts and time with you. You might think that people won’t want to share because THEY want to write about it. But most of the time, experts are experts in their field, but not in writing. Mention their names and they are happy to help.

Teaching. Unfortunately, the majority of writers don’t make a living with their writing. Instead, they need to supplement and teaching is a traditional way to do that. I do not have an English or Writing degree; my B.A. is in Speech Pathology and my M.A. is in Audiology (testing hearing). But I taught Freshman Composition for seven years. How did I get that job? Four magic words: I wrote this book.

Speaking or Platform. Another way to bring in extra income is by speaking. A book, even a fiction title, gives you a “platform,” some reason to be known, something to talk about. Speaking engagements are always easier when you can say, “I wrote this book.”

In-Laws. On a personal note, it helps to tell family and friends, “I am writing a book.” Then, when you appear spacey or forget a birthday, well, it’s not your fault, it’s the book’s fault.

Editors/Agents. The key words here are “I have written a book.” Editors and agents usually want a full mss to evaluate.

Use these magic words today and report back–what magic did they work?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Put your Book in Educator’s Classrooms

A friend and I recently sat down with two librarians to talk about what they like to hear in presentations. Their needs were different: one teaches in an elementary school and one in a high school. Yet, they agreed on several things. Educators are one market for most authors of children’s books, YA books and many adult books – here are 4 tips.

Recognize the differences in organizations.

There are many places a writer of children’s books might speak. In Arkansas, these include (but limited to) the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA), Arkansas Reading Association (ARA), and Arkansas Association of Instructional Media (AAIM).

Different members. It’s important to know the differences in their memberships. The ArLA is mostly public school librarians who are concerned about programming special events, balancing a collection and keeping funding when it relies on politics. The ARA has a large number of classroom teachers who are concerned about teaching reading to kids. The AAIM are librarians, who must follow the state standards for teaching library skills, as well as function as the technology expert for their school. Obviously, each will have special interests and you should know these differences when you develop a presentation.

For the ARA, classroom teachers appreciate take-home materials that they can instantly use in the classroom without any extra work: Make my life easy, please. For the ArLA, they want information to answer their patrons questions. For them, I did a session on “I Wrote a Book: Now What?” as a way to answer that question when a patron asked it. Here’s the free pdf handout of that session. For AAIM, go for technology: your website, a book trailer, Skype, etc. Anything that helps the technology-minded librarian help the classroom teacher with technology or library skills.

Tip: Join a couple organizations and hang out on their listservs to see their concerns; think about how to meet those needs.

Keep abreast of education terminology.

Have you heard of “Bell ringers”? These are short questions or prompt designed to make students think. They are designed to be written on a board, or posted somewhere, so that when the bell rings, students immediately start working on an answer to the question. This practice allows teachers to check roll, do other necessary daily paperwork, and spread writing tasks across the curriculum.

Write your Bell Ringers. So, have you updated your teacher handouts to include Bell Ringers? Are there questions that students can think about BEFORE a teacher reads your book aloud? Are there ideas in your novel that deserve thought and discussion? Look for these and develop a list of ten Bell Ringers and include them with your education materials.

Tip: Listen when teachers are talking and ask them to define education terminology and apply it to your marketing for you book.

Keep abreast of education standards.

It’s important to know what standards teachers must follow. Even with the new Common Core State Standards, only 80% of a state’s standards must follow the national standards. It’s always good to check the state standards. Also, check standards recommended by national teacher organizations: math teachers, social studies teachers, English teachers, etc.

For example, libraries now have to do more technology and are changing from research libraries (since students do most of that online) to libraries full of popular literature for kids to read what they love.

Tip: When you have a new book come out, do the grunt work and check the standards and make a list that your book meets. Yes, they’ll buy your book if it’s popular with the kids, if it’s great literature, if it wins an award. But they’ll be even more likely to buy it if you make it easy for them to use it in instruction.

Remember the audience.

Teachers and librarians are overworked, underpaid, compassionate and committed.

Tips: Make their life easy. Remember to make a personal connection by giving them a behind-the-scenes look at your life and work. Tell them thank you for your hard work and give a personal anecdote about your positive experiences with educators. Respect them and their hard work.

Lesson Plans for My Books

Download Lesson Plans (zipped pdf file) for my Picture Books.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

For an inside glimpse of the Novel Revision Retreat, here’s a short video podcast or trailer from the recent San Rafael, California retreat.

Read more from Lisa Gottfried of DigitalWeavers.com, who edited this video for me.

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’m just back from a Novel Revision Retreat in San Rafael, CA. What a great time. I always learn so much from other writers.

• My suite-mate wasn’t taking my class, but I watched her hunker down for a weekend of writing and learned that sometimes solitude is just as helpful as working in a group.



• I learned all over again, that critique groups can be more honest and more helpful than anyone expects.
• I learned that continuing a group after a retreat like this means commitment to common goals. We talked about how to extend those goals by creating rituals (For example, a Friday check-in to see how you did that week, as the Summer Revision Smackdown has done.)
• I learned that it is San Ra-FELL, not San RA-fey-ELL. And that is in ma-WREN County, not MARE-in County.
• I learned that young men liked to read Tom Sawyer because they fell in love with Becky Thatcher. (Thanks, Howie, for a great laugh!)
• I learned that we all need to do a better job of sharing information about advances. If you’ve sold a picture book in the last five years, I urge you to fill out Barbara’s Kanninen’s survey. If you do, she will send you a copy of the most recent results of that survey.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

What Do Writers Do All Day?

I’m just back from Illinois where last weekend, I taught a Novel Revision retreat to a fantastic group of writers. One of the humorous things that happened: One writer had a chapter in which a character wrote about a condominium, but the character couldn’t spell, so wrote, “. . . the condom. . .” When the author later decided to cut the whole chapter, it became a password for the retreat: Cut the Condom Chapter!

Then, I did a school visit at a local school yesterday.
Today, I’m trying today to prioritize what needs to be done.

• Speaking. I’ve been asked for proposals to speak at two upcoming events and those must be done today.
• Planning Fall Retreat. I’m still the director of the Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat. (The dates are September 25-27 — hold the dates and look for details soon!) Today, I will be talking to the editor we’ve invited to iron out details.
• Writing. Well, I’m still just a couple chapters away from finishing my WIP! And I have plans for another novel mss that I’m anxious to get to. Plus, there’s the odd picture book thrown in here and there. And a structured approach to finding ideas.
• Publicity. The paperback version of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman comes out in May and I need to do several hours work on publicity for that.
• Life. Oh, yes, I have a life! Besides grocery shopping, cleaning house, etc. there’s also the looming tax deadline of April 15, my daughter’s wedding in May, and my son’s graduation in May.

How do we juggle all this? And people ask me, what do you do all day, since you don’t work?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Why Some Distractions Are OK

I am distracted these days from writing my novel. It’s partly because I’m teaching a Novel Revision Retreat in Illinois this weekend. But I also find these things to be distracting.

• Family. Well, of course, family interferes. Katherine Paterson has said that family takes up so much time and energy, and yet they are the very reason she has something to talk about. It’s a good distraction.
• Critiquing. I don’t do critiques professionally, preferring instead to help writers learn to understand their own work better. But I do critique for my local group, a few online friends and a few writers I mentor. And lately everyone is working hard! I always learn so much by doing these and love to see how the feedback works out or doesn’t work out in their stories.
• Speaking. I’ve done several local school visits, a picture book retreat in Oklahoma, and the retreat in Illinois this week. Often writers need multiple income streams, so this is good.
• Reading. I binged recently on Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series of adult fantasy novels, reveling in the luxury of reading five books in a row that were all fascinating. Seems like reading time is one of the first things to go, but I need to take in language, so there’s something to give out, too. This was good.
• Internet marketing. I’m also studying internet marketing these days, with the idea that it’s the one kind of marketing within the control of writers. Our websites, blogs, Facebooks, MySpaces, etc. represent an opportunity to reach audiences and I’m experimenting, learning and trying out some new ways of doing that. I think this has potential to be very good.
• Fallow. Letting a manuscript cool off is one of the hardest things I do. I’m always excited and want to get it out! So, times like this are valuable for me to let a mss fallow, let me get some perspective on it before it finally gets three more revisions and THEN gets sent out. And this — is very good.

But look out next week! I’ll be back writing like crazy, with no more speaking until July. (Well, a few local things here and there. . .)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win