I have SO much to write about and so little time… First off, I want to mention that one of my picture book pitches will be “airing” today on author Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog for her Would You Read it Wednesday (WYRIW) feature. I’m excited to see if any of Susanna’s followers WOULD actually read the book, based on the pitch alone. Check it out on her home page.
And I’m especially looking forward to the feedback because of something that Mary Kole told me about that very same pitch recently. That’s right– Mary Kole. Literary agent extraordinaire, blogger behind KidLit.com (with tens of THOUSANDS of followers) and now published author of the hit new guide for children’s writers, Writing Irresistible Kidlit. I’ve written about her in previous posts, but have kept her somewhat anonymous. Well, I can officially tell you that it’s Mary who has helped me tremendously with my writing. AND she also took a look at my near-twenty PB ideas, written in synopsis and/or “pitch” format. And one of them, dear friends, was the pitch found on WYRIW today. That’s why I was a major PITA for Susanna… because she already had a different pitch/different book set for today… and I switched gears on her at the 11th hour. (Sorry again, Susanna!)
I’m going to leave you in suspense about what Mary said… he he he. More on that, along with some of the things I’ve learned from her, in a future post. (Hey, suspense is part of good fiction writing, right? And that INCLUDES the world of picture books, of course! So sue me!) 🙂
Mary’s not the only one who’s been helping me. As many of you know, I’ve been writing a lot of rhyming stories lately, and I sent the one I felt the 
strongest about to none other than 1 Zany Zoo author Lori Degman! Lori is a true expert on rhyming and meter… and she gave me some great insights and advice on how I can make that particular manuscript much better.
For the record, both Mary and Lori offer freelance critiquing services– I’d recommend both of them highly. (Check them out at MaryKole.com and LoriDegman.com.)
Something funny happened as a result of taking the advice of both Mary and Lori– I went into serious revision mode… but what I ended up with is a completely new, completely different story with an actual theme, unique (yet not) conflict, and a strong central character. I started out by trying to flesh out the original character more… and the rest kind of wrote itself. I’m not completely finished with this one, but I’m really happy with where this one’s going. No, scratch that. I’m really excited about this one! My goal is to wrap it up and start submitting to agents at the end of this month. (Yikes! Is it already November 14th? Hmmm… maybe I’ll make that deadline end of the year!)
This post is getting long– I’ll save the rest (more about loosening up) for a later post. Maybe– gasp!– I’ll post it tomorrow!
Happy Wednesday, All!
Kid Lit Dish 
Oooohh! I can’t wait to chat with you about all this! Sounds like you are working in amazing ways! And getting great feedback! I can’t wait to hear everything! Let’s do coffee again soon 🙂
Most definitely, Shanda! BTW, I sent a link to your portfolio to one of Ian’s tennis coaches who, I just found out, wrote a children’s book, wants to self-publish, and is looking for an illustrator! Hope she calls you! Let me know a few good days and times we can get together…?
I’m VERY interested to hear what Mary had to say about this! And I also just got my copy of her book! 🙂
I just ordered it too! I am loving it! Will post her feedback shortly…
Thanks for the kind words, Kim! I got your email with your revised story, but haven’t had a chance to look at it. Hopefully will tomorrow – can’t wait to see what you’ve done with it!! You’re a natural rhymer and that’s more than half the battle with rhyming picture books!! I’ll be heading over to Susanna’s blog tomorrow too, to check out your pitch!