Picture this

All right, fellow BookWyrms... let's get started talking about books!

There are so many wonderful books out there, for all different age groups. We'll get to the others, I promise, but I want to begin with picture books.

As I've mentioned before, I love to write short stories, hoping they will become picture books someday. But does it surprise you to hear that, even though I'm not a kid any more, I still love to read picture books?

I read them out loud to my son Ben all the time, but I'll let you in on a little secret... sometimes, when I'm all alone at the library or the book store, I read picture books to myself! :) I love the rhythm of the words, the conciseness of the stories, the illustrations... everything.


I had many favorite picture books when I was a little girl. As a mom, I've read many of those favorites to my own children, who also loved them. Here are just a few, classics that have stood the test of time, enjoyed by generations of kids and parents:

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina, 1938... Who doesn't giggle at the antics of those mischievous monkeys and the frustration of that poor peddler?

• Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, 1939... I've always been drawn to the rhymes in this book. That and Madeline's independent spirit. :)

• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, 1962... Beautiful pictures, beautiful prose, the joy of newly-fallen snow ~ this is one of my all-time favorite books.

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, 1963... A liberal dose of imagination, pictures of slightly scary, silly creatures, learning that you can be angry and still be loved... it's no wonder this is such a popular book!
• Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent, 1968... Can you even imagine having a name like Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo?

Which of these books have you read? What do you like best (or least) about them? I'd love to hear from you.

A big dream: Children's author

Photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net

 I have always loved to write. When I was a little girl, I wrote stories and poems, skits, puppet show scripts, and silly song lyrics. As a teenager, I kept a journal and wrote in it almost every day. I wrote more poems and stories, and even wrote two plays ~ one was performed (for our parents) by my Girl Scout troop, some other friends, and me. (I'd written myself the lead part, of course!) The other play was more personal, and I kept it mostly to myself, only showing it to two or three good friends.

When I was in high school, a friend and I came up with some general ideas for a series of children's books, and some specific ideas for a movie script. I remember thinking at the time how cool it would be to actually write the books and get them published, or to see our movie on the big screen. But then the two of us got distracted by things like college and boyfriends, and we never set our ideas down on paper.

By 1995, I had my college degree in social work, I'd gotten married, and I worked with kids full-time at a family services agency. The urge to write was stronger than ever. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really did want to become a published author someday, specifically a children's author. That was the year it became one of my big dreams.


There was only one problem. I had NO idea how to go about getting my work published. And then I came across an ad in a magazine, for the Institute of Children's Literature. The ad talked about the Institute's correspondence course (a class you take through the mail) ~ how the school taught its students to write for children and how to submit manuscripts to publishers. I decided to take the plunge and signed up! I'm very glad that I did. I learned so much!


During that time, I wrote several short stories, poems, and picture book manuscripts. I even had two short stories and a non-fiction article accepted for publication in magazines ~ I'll tell you about them sometime. One day, a cool idea for a longer book popped into my head, and I sketched out a rough outline for it.


Then it was 1996, and my daughter Emmalie was born. My life turned into hours of snuggling, feeding, changing diapers, and just being amazed by the new little human being in my arms. It's not that I forgot about my dream to become an author, but I did set my dream aside. I only intended to set it aside for a short time. Anyone who is a parent knows that time speeds up once you have kids, and before I knew it, that "short time" had turned into 13 years.


In the fall of 2009 when I was taking Ben, my youngest, to his first day of preschool, I realized that I was going to have 4 whole hours all to myself every week. To any kids reading this, that might not seem like a big deal, but trust me ~ it was. All of a sudden, the urge to write struck again.


I dusted off some of my old manuscripts, did some revising, and started mailing them off to publishers once more. I also took out that rough outline, decided that the idea really did have merit, and began writing my very first novel, a fantasy for middle grade readers. By the time Christmas rolled around, I'd written about 175 pages. I set it aside for the holidays, planning to get back to it the following month.


Can you guess what happened? I did not get back to my novel in January. Or in February. Or in March. In fact, I did not write one single thing (if you don't count Facebook statuses or posts on my family blog) for all of 2010. I still don't understand why I let that happen.


On New Year's Day 2011, I vowed to myself that this year, I would get back to writing AGAIN. By the end of January, I had finished the first draft of my novel, now almost 300 pages. I'm currently working on my third draft of it, and am hoping to start sending it to publishers later this summer. I wrote a fun new poem that I've sent to a few magazines. Then, just this week, I wrote a new picture book manuscript for the first time in 15 years!


And now I'm starting this blog. Among other things, I'm hoping that this will help keep me excited about writing and focused on my big dream....

A word

A Word


A word is dead

When it is said,

Some say.

I say it just

Begins to live

That day.

by Emily Dickinson,

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 1924

Part One: Life

LXXXIX

BookWyrm

I've always thought of myself as a bookworm. But just today, I decided that I'm really a BookWyrm*. In case you don't know, "wyrm" is another word for "dragon". Worms nibble; dragons devour. And I devour books. Well... not literally. :)

I am one of those lucky people who reads fast. It's a good thing, because I'm never short on books I want to read. Since I read quickly, I'm able to get through stacks of books much quicker than many people I know. (My daughter, however, reads even faster than me!) Devour means "to swallow up voraciously", and that's what I do to books... chomp, chomp, slurp, gulp!... and then I move on to the next one.

You don't have to be a speedy reader to be a BookWyrm, however. Another definition of devour is "to consume avidly with the senses or mind". I absorb books with enthusiasm.

Dragons also hoard stuff. Valuable stuff. I don't think worms hoard anything, except maybe dirt. I hoard books and consider them to be very valuable. Now, unlike a dragon, I am happy to share my treasure trove of books. I willingly loan them out to friends and share them with my kids. But I do accumulate books. We have shelves, shelves, and more shelves filled with books at our house. And I don't like to get rid of books I own. Ever. Someday I'll show you the pile of books, tattered and well-loved, that I've had since I was young. I (temporarily) accumulate library books, too. Whenever the kids and I visit the library, we always come home with armfuls of books!

Everyone knows that worms keep their feet...err, bodies, that is... on the ground. Dragons tromp around on the ground, too. But they can also do something that worms can't. Dragons fly. They are free spirits, soaring to new and exciting lands. And that's how I feel when I'm reading a good book.

It's true. I'm a BookWyrm. How about you?

*just a little note... I was SO excited when the idea of a bookwyrm came to me this morning! Then I got online and Googled the term. I was more than a little dismayed to find I was not the first to come up with the word. Oh, well. It's still a good idea, and I plan to keep on using it. :)

Invitation

Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er,
a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden
tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!


by Shel Silverstein,
from Where the Sidewalk Ends, 1974

A few notes about this blog...

Before I write anything else on this blog, I want to make a few things clear. This blog, and the things I write, are for everyone. Yes, I said "everyone". Now, I certainly understand that not EVERYONE will be interested in a blog like this. That's okay. But I want to make sure that anyone who stops by to read Blue Sky, Big Dreams feels welcome.


Whatever your

• age
• gender
• skin color
• sexual orientation
• family background
• nationality
• beliefs
• shoe size
• (fill in the blank with whatever kind of distinction you want to make ~ my son Nick, the animal lover, says "species")

you are welcome here.

Also... I am hoping that this will become an interactive blog. Not only do I hope you will read the things I post, I hope you will write comments about them, and we can have a conversation back and forth, all of us together.

At the same time, I want to make this blog a safe place to visit. My settings allow for anonymous comments because I know that many kids and their parents wish to preserve their privacy.


In addition, whenever you make a comment on one of my posts, it won't appear on the site until I have approved it first. You are welcome to disagree with me when I post something. I am not screening comments so that I can weed out any that don't shed a positive light on me and my writing. But, because this site is for kids:

• I will not approve comments with PG-13 (or above) language in them.
• And I will not approve comments that are not respectful of others. There will be NO bullying on this site.

We can all hold different views about various subjects and still accept each other as people of worth. Please treat others the way that you would like to be treated, and I promise to do the same.

Hello there.

Welcome to my blog! My name is Janelle and I am excited to share this little spot on the world wide web with you! I'm hoping to create an interesting, lively site for kids and their parents, especially those who love books, having fun, and dreaming big.


For many years now, one of my big dreams has been to write for kids. I've written stories, poems, articles, and more ~ a few have even been published in magazines. Recently, I realized that a blog like this would be another way for me to write for... and to... kids.


Now, if you've looked at my profile picture over there on the right-hand side of this page, you can tell that I am NOT a kid. I'm a grown-up. (I do like to believe that I am young at heart, however.)


You may be wondering: Janelle, what could you possibly know about kids? Are you an expert on kids, or what? Well, let me tell you a little about my experience with kids, and I'll let you decide whether I could be called an expert or not.


First of all, I am a mom. I have a daughter named Emmalie (15) and two sons, Nick (12), and Benjamin (5-1/2... You know I have to add that half a year ~ it's a big deal to him!). I am home with them full-time, and it's a rare day when they don't teach me something or other about kids.

Me and my kiddos, 2010

Before I had kids of my own, I worked with children and teens for six years. I was a counselor. I helped kids who had been through some very tough times. I taught them things like how to cope with problems they were having and how to express their feelings in appropriate ways. In the process of teaching them, I learned many, many things from those kids. Especially patience.

Before that, I took several classes about kids, in high school and in college, classes like "Growth & Development of a Young Child" and "Child Psychology". As part of my social work courses in college, I spent about 4 months observing and learning at a child psychiatry hospital. I volunteered at a women's shelter where I was in charge of coming up with fun activities for the kids living there. I also worked at a day care center for several months, and did a lot of babysitting, too.

And before that... many, many years ago now... I was a kid myself. Yep, it's true! I really was. :) Back then, I spent my days reading, writing, climbing trees, riding my bicycle, teasing my little sister, and playing with my friends.

Me and my bike in 1975 (I hated my short hair!)

Yes, I am a grown up. But I do know at least a little bit about kids, and I hope you will enjoy the writing I plan to share with you here. Most of it should be a lot more interesting than all this background information. I promise. Once I get all the necessary explanations out of the way, we'll get to the fun stuff! :)