Martha Brockenbrough - author

So it was a good weekend

2013-05-20T18:32:38Z

Every once in awhile, a couple of days full of goodness attach themselves to each other and I find myself stopping for a moment to appreciate them for the miracle that they are.

This was one of those weekends. I woke up early to talk with a producer from National Public Radio, who wanted my opinion on the beleaguered apostrophe, the star of a Wall Street Journal story about the future of this punctuation mark--at least on our maps. (Read it here.) While I've done local radio, this is the first time I've been on the national version, and on Weekend Edition, no less. It's been one of my favorites for more than twenty years. I was beside myself with the nerves. Maybe I would've been more relaxed talking about the semicolon; in any case, this was the English's major's equivalent of getting called to the majors.

I turned to my Facebook friends for help, but by 8 a.m. or so, more than thirty of them--including my sixth grade English teacher--had weighed in.

I haven't listened to the broadcast and never will, but here it is, if you're so inclined. I was done with this by 9 a.m. and then off to Lucy's first middle school track meet. We bundled up and sat under the bleachers and watched her run the 50- and 100-yard-dashes, and she came home with a second place ribbon and a piece of cardboard marked THIRD PLACE, because there was some sort of ribbon shortage. Disclosure: I like the cardboard ribbon much better. If I were in charge of track meets, I'd hand out single socks and buttons and other lost objects. Look! You made it! Take good care of this lost thing, which is kind of more important than how fast you run.

There is obviously a reason I am not in charge of track meets. As much fun as it was to watch Lucy race, my favorite moment was when a boy shoved a Hershey bar at her and walked off silently. This is the same boy who earlier in the year took the blame for one of her farts. This is what love looks like in middle school, and it breaks my heart in the best of ways.

During the track meet, I kept texting my middle sister for news of our youngest, who was giving birth to her fourth child. Lily was born between the 50 and 100-yard-dashes. My sister gets an actual ribbon for this.

This is Lily, meeting her big sister, Charlotte.

Afterward, we made a big dinner for a friend who was turning forty-five, and while our kids played in the basement, we told funny stories and talked about the truly important things we'd learned along our respective journeys, most especially the value of kindness. And we ate several kinds of dessert, the goodness of which can never be underestimated.

The next day, my friend Cat and I took a hike up to Rattlesnake Ridge, which is a beautiful, gently sloping climb through a tunnel of greenery. Though it was a bit misty, the air was the right temperature, the ground soft beneath my shoes, and the company unbeatable.

After this, I got to hold Lily and marvel at the fact that an entire life, an entire unwritten history, is fully contained in a six-pound parcel of adorable and perfect flesh.

As if that wasn't enough, then we got to watch "Star Trek: Into Darkness," starring everybody's favorite actor, Benedict Cumberbatch. If you haven't seen the BBC version of Sherlock yet, please step away from your computer until you've solved that problem. It's so good, as was the Star Trek movie.

We finished our day with Sunday dinner at my parents' house, where the kids played with their cousins in the late-spring sun, and then we went home together, exhausted, but happy.

Life often has its hard moments. We fear their arrival. We suffer through them and let them occupy our minds and hearts. But there are those good times, too. The times when people are healthy and out in the world, when babies are born safely and well, when we have time to see and talk about things of substance with the friends we love, when generations can sit around a giant table as the sun sets.

So when those good times come, it's nice to stop and consider them a moment, to give them one last polish before tucking them away into our memories. This was a good weekend. I'm glad to have lived it.

An SCBWI success story: Tracy Clark #LA13SCBWI

2013-04-25T00:45:25Z

Tracy Clark's debut SCINTILLATE, the first in a trilogy, comes out in January of 2014.

Are you thinking about going to the SCBWI national conference in Los Angeles this summer? Excellent! I hope you can go. I went to my first national conference in 2008 and it changed my life. It's where the person who would become my editor--the great Arthur Levine--and I came up with the idea that turned into my picture book, THE DINOSAUR TOOTH FAIRY. That book comes out in just a few weeks.

That same conference, my friend Holly Cupala, who'd just one an SCBWI Work in Progress Grant, got the news that her first two books had sold at auction. While we were ironing our dresses before the poolside party, she came up with her third novel, which she is working on as I type.

In short, these conferences can be essential investments. Whether you're building relationships with other writers, agents, and editors--or whether you're looking for the right bit of inspiration, that's exactly what you get. Ready to go? Sign up here.

But don't just take my word for it. Here's what Tracy Clark, whose first novel comes out in 2014, has to say about her experience with the SCBWI and particularly at the conferences.

I first heard about the SCBWI six years ago from an agent who judged a writing contest in which I placed as a finalist. I was very green, having only written a few chapters of my first novel. The agent sat me down and said, “Let me tell you why you didn’t win…”

This might sound harsh but it wasn’t. It was straightforward and extremely helpful. I was appreciative for her feedback and her advice, some of which was to keep writing, read heavily in my genre, and to go forth and join SCBWI.

I did join, and didn’t have the knowledge to know at the time how fortunate I was to be part of a chapter with such phenomenal leadership as Ellen Hopkins and Suzanne Morgan Williams. My first SCBWI conference experience was in Carson City, Nevada, where I met our local group and heard about an amazing program they had started called, The Mentor Program. I applied and was lucky enough to work one-on-one with Ellen Hopkins over a six month period on my first book.

It resulted in so much growth for me as a writer that I applied a second time and happily, was accepted again to work with Susan Hart Lindquist. I learned very different things from each of my mentors. I’m so grateful to have had that experience and it’s a program that’s still going strong and benefiting many other artists and illustrators. I also joined our local critique group and continue to learn from the other talented writers I’m fortunate to know. I don’t even want to think of the lonely, long path I’d have climbed if I hadn’t joined SCBWI when I did.

In the summer of 2008, I attended my first SCBWI national conference in Los Angeles. There is nothing like the energy of one of the national conferences to stoke your fire! I met people there that I’m still friends with to this day and left inspired and feeling like I had truly found my tribe. These were people who understood the drive, the coffee stained (and sometimes tear-stained) pages, the all-consuming thing that is creating books for kids.

Winning the 2009 Work in Progress Grant from SCBWI was such a thrill! I’d been working so hard on my second novel, and was plagued by doubts about my abilities; an affliction I’m learning doesn’t actually go away, no matter where you are in the process. The timing couldn’t have been better and was the confidence boost I needed to continue on with that novel. I used the grant money to attend the national conference in New York which turned out to be a very fortuitous choice because that’s where I first met the man who would later become my agent, the incomparable and wonderful Michael Bourret.

The story goes: An editor attending the New York conference, who’d been one of the judges of the Work in Progress Grant, approached me at the Writer’s Intensive, and asked about my progress with the novel. Was I agented? When I told her I was not (namely because I was too chicken to send it out) she recommended I talk to Michael Bourret.

This editor didn’t know it, but Michael was at the very top of my agent dream list and I was intimidated (though I needn’t have been) to approach him at the conference. This, my friends, is where participation in SCBWI and knowing people can really help. I asked my mentor, Ellen Hopkins, if she would kindly make an introduction at some point, maybe later, um… sometime…if, you know, she had time… She literally took me by the elbow right that minute, marched me into a party, and right up to my dream agent for a personal introduction! He was very gracious and warm and I ended up signing with him about five months later.

People are always curious about that book in particular because many of the WIP Grant winners have gone on to great success. That novel is a very personal one and I have hopes it will find its home someday when the timing is right. I’ve learned that timing plays a big part in this business and I’ve learned to trust my agent’s advice about when and what to submit.

I’m thrilled to say that I am officially soon to be published with a different project! My debut novel, a YA and the first in a trilogy, SCINTILLATE, will be published by Entangled Teen in January of 2014. I’m thrilled to share this story with everyone as it’s full of metaphysical mystery, adventure, and romance!

The good things that have happened so far in my career have depended upon putting myself out there and availing myself of the opportunities that SCBWI has to offer by attending both my local SCBWI events and the national SCBWI conferences. If there is any advice I’d give to someone considering one of the national conferences for the first time, it is not to go with the singular goal of getting “discovered” though that can and does happen.

Go! But go to meet fascinating and passionate people. Go to find out that editors, agents, and published authors are approachable, helpful, and open-hearted. Go to learn more about the business so you can navigate the publishing world more easily. Go to learn more about craft so you can continue to grow as an artist. Go to where they understand you. Go to be inspired! If those are your goals, there is no way to leave disappointed. Any other magic that happens is a bonus!

Tracy Clark

www.tracyclark.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TracyClark_TLC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TracyClarkAuthor?ref=hl

Costco! My book + 200 muffins = yes

2013-04-16T16:06:54Z

My pals on the You Are Next tour and I are headed to the Issaquah Costco on April 27. This is your chance to buy my book AND frozen corndogs AND an unholy variety of paper products ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Seriously, though, if you're in the Seattle area, please stop by. We promise all sorts of giveaways. We will also help you with your shopping. We'll put the free samples directly into your mouth so you don't have to tire your hands. That's how much we'd love to see you there.

A Great Question about Author Events

2013-03-27T12:55:12Z

Awkward questions are the best. So often, those are the ones EVERYONE has but is afraid to ask--and this one is timely for me as I leave in a few hours for a stop in Los Angeles with my three tour partners, Sean Beaudoin, Kevin Emerson, and Cat Patrick.

Do I have to buy all four books, one reader wondered.

Answer? Heck no!

In my perfect world, of course, everyone would have an unlimited book budget and equally unlimited shelf space. It looks like this.

As the picture demonstrates, though, only statues live in a perfect world.

When authors visit bookstores, they hope people buy their books. Mostly, though, they just hope people show up and enjoy themselves. Almost every author you ever talk to will have a story about that time she went to a store and sat by herself at a table while people behaved like avoidant bacteria spores in the presence of deadly penicillin.

If you can show up at an author event, you are supporting an author. If you check that author's book out of the library, you are supporting an author. If you read an author's book and mention on your blog, on Twitter, on Facebook or in real life, it helps an author.

Buying books is also important when you're able to, particularly when those books are not already bestsellers. That helps keep a variety of stories and a diversity of voices available and in general make reading more interesting.

Here's to all the readers supporting us in so many ways. We can't wait to see you in Southern California and beyond.

Things That Happen in My Basement

2013-03-25T21:01:56Z

Fred, Velma, Shaggy and Daphne! Thanks to the ever excellent Adam Berliant for snapping the photo.

I don't think this requires a whole lot of words. Let me just say that I'm incredibly proud to be touring the country in the Mystery Machine with Fred, Shaggy, and Daphne. I'm sorry we had to leave Scooby behind, but someone (KEVIN) has allergies.

You can catch me and the Scooby gang in Southern California later this week--including all day at Disneyland on March 30. You're invited to this. Click here to RSVP.

And here are the details of our bookstore visits: