School Presentation at Sir Wm. Stephenson
By Erin Thomas | January 29, 2010
Yesterday afternoon, Cheryl Rainfield and I presented to grade five and six classes at Sir William Stephenson public school in Whitby.
I didn’t attend Stephenson, but I did attend Kathleen Rowe, the much older, much smaller and much loved school that used to exist on the site where Stephenson now stands. The roof beams in Stephenson’s library are the same ones that held up the K. Rowe library, and the large mural of stones in the front hall is the one I used to look at and touch on the few occasions when I had a reason to be at K. Rowe’s front doors.
This was my first author presentation in a school. I can’t think of a better way to start than by going back to K. Rowe ground. But that’s not the real reason why it was a perfect first visit. Most of the credit for that goes to the amazing librarian, Andrea Laroque, and to the teachers who read the books with the students, and to the wonderful students who got involved with the presentation from the start and had such insightful ideas and comments and questions. They had created posters for the books, and written letters to the characters! Cheryl and I will treasure the posters, and we have promised that the characters will write back.
Cheryl and I did a writing workshop with the kids. We took them through the steps of planning a story, and looked at story structure with references to the Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, to the Dragon Speaker books, and to the first Spider Man movie. Guess which one resonated?
Actually, the kids shocked me. I knew they would relate to Spider Man. What I wasn’t prepared for was how readily they connected the story structure ideas to Cheryl’s book and mine. They were brilliant. Really, truly brilliant.
We brainstormed to come up with a story idea and outline as a group. I had jotted down a back-up idea, just in case things didn’t go well. Turns out I didn’t need to do that! These students came up with story concepts that would look at home on any bookstore shelf. I’ve gone into them in more detail on my dragonspeakerbooks.com post about the school presentation, but to summarize–the sixth graders created a YA thriller about a viral outbreak in a small town, while the fifth graders took us on a prehistoric volcano fantasy/adventure with a little boy who ends up working with the same bullies from whom he was fleeing at the start of the story.
I hope they write the books, because I want to read them. And as if that weren’t enough creativity for a day, each student then came up with his or her own story idea and did some outlining, writing, and setting work on it. These kids worked hard, and they did it happily. They were a wonderful audience. I’m sure there are some future writers in that group, because their ideas were just too good to be wasted.
They make me proud to be counted among the K.Rowe/Stephenson alumni. 
Attempting to convince the kids that I really do outline
Student art for Draco's Fire
Topics: Writing | No Comments »
It’s About the Audience…
By Erin Thomas | December 5, 2009
I’m just back from “Breakfast with Santa” with my six year old daughter. It’s a fundraiser event put on by the Ontario Ladies’ College, at Trafalgar Castle, which is right here in Whitby. This is Sarah’s fourth time attending, I think. She had a great time… except for the entertainment.
My two year old niece, who is generally very confident and open to new experiences, cried and left early. Honestly, I don’t blame her. The musician was just too darned loud. Loud guitar, loud voice, giant acoustic system, cover-your-ears kind of loud.
It’s been about fifteen years since I frequented the university bar scene, but I remember loud. I remember lean-in-and-shout-in-your-roommate’s-ear-on-the-dancefloor loud, and music that was felt more than it was heard. Fine for nineteen year olds. Not so great for the Santa Claus crowd.
This singer (who shall remain nameless) wasn’t reaching bar scene decibels, but he wasn’t playing to the Santa Claus crowd, either.
I think he forgot his audience. He put on a show for middle graders in a room full of primaries and preschoolers. Most of the younger kids, the ones who weren’t scared off like my niece, stayed at the tables with their parents, looking overwhelmed. Some, like my daughter, sat through part of the show (she covered her ears), then drifted away. And some, of course, loved it. It was a good show. Just really, really loud.
I just think he might have had more kids loving it had he looked around the room, taken stock of the age of the kids, and unplugged his guitar. Maybe mixed a little gentle in with the zany. And then maybe my niece might have stayed to see Santa. But I guess he didn’t see the little kids… because they were the ones too scared to come join in the show.
My take-home writing lesson for the day? Remember the audience. I’m overhauling a manuscript for middle graders right now. I’m going to try to put my nine-year-old boy brain on and get to work, and remember that it’s not about me–it’s about the audience.
Topics: Writing | No Comments »
Boarder Patrol Cover Image!
By Erin Thomas | November 30, 2009
My editor, Sarah Harvey at Orca Books, says I’m allowed to share this. I think it’s gorgeous. (I’ve tried to convince friends that it’s really me on the cover, but I don’t think anyone believes me.)
Boarder Patrol Cover
Sarah and I just finished discussing the final changes to the novel. All that’s left now is the proofs–no big changes at that point. The book is scheduled for release in the spring. I’m excited!
Topics: Writing | 6 Comments »
Book Launch was Brilliant
By Erin Thomas | November 30, 2009
Two days ago, Cheryl Rainfield, Deb Ouellet, Charlie Hnatiuk and I launched our Dragon Speaker trilogy at Another Story bookstore in Toronto (if you haven’t been there, you need to go. Lovely bookstore, great staff. Cheryl and I are already planning to go back on a day when we can look around properly).
To be honest, I was dreading it. I was afraid no one would come and we’d feel silly. I was afraid too many people would come, and we’d run out of food and have no room in the bookstore. I was afraid of getting up and reading even the little 200-word chunk of text that I’d selected. We hadn’t ironed out quite all the details, and none of us really knew exactly what needed doing, and I was nervous.
Still, one of the perks of being part of a team of three writers is that you never have to go through any part of the process alone. We read and commented on one another’s work, and we planned the launch together. It was a lot easier to stand up to read our work knowing that there were three of us there.
It was a wonderful day. I’m so very, very grateful to all my friends and family who came, and to the people I just met that day who came out to support Cheryl and Deb and Charlie. One of Cheryl’s friends, I recognized from her Twitter picture! (Hello, @claudiaosmond, nice to meet you in person!)
Most of my writing group was there, and my wonderful family (from Whitby and Hamilton and points in between), and friends from university and from DapaSoft, where I used to work. Cheryl and I were both thrilled to see friends from Peter Carver’s writing course there–no one ever graduates, so the class builds a nice sense of community as people come back year after year.
The bookstore was crowded, but we didn’t run out of food. My mom made the cake, decorated with images of our book covers, and we had an entire back-up cake left over at the end. (Hiding under the table, in case it was needed. You never knew it was there, did you?)
People seemed to be having a good time. I think the door prizes were fun–we had book bags that my mom made, a lovely framed picture that our artist, Charlie, made up specially, and gift certificates for Another Story. My sister-in-law, artist Stephanie Vegh, won the jar of chocolates (sorry, “dragon coal”) by guessing closest to the number of chocolates in the jar (128, btw–her guess was 113). Who knew she was a math whiz?
A lot of the event was kind of ad-libbed. We never quite figured out how to handle book signings, or where to put a table, or even if it would be needed, so we ended up just signing books as asked, when we ran into people we knew. It led to messier handwriting, I suppose, but I liked it better than being stuck in one place. It gave me the chance to visit with more people. And for me, at least, that was the best part of the day.
Thank you, everyone who came out, and everyone who couldn’t be there but sent their best wishes anyhow!
Our publisher, Paul Kropp, shared some good news with us. The books are doing well, even better than expected, and he would like a second set to be published next year. Cheryl, Deb and I are already brainstorming, and Charlie has agreed to do the illustrations again. These books will be linked, but not a series–they’ll share a common world, but we’ll each write our own characters and story. Deb came up with a great concept, and I’m excited to get to work.
Pictures to follow! Check out Cheryl’s blog post on the book launch, as well.
Topics: Writing | 1 Comment »
Revisions on ‘Boarder Patrol’ Submitted!
By Erin Thomas | November 20, 2009
I just sent my latest revisions on Boarder Patrol to my editor. She’s been very kind, pointing out ways to improve the story and “talking me down from my tree” (as my husband would say) when I wanted to scrap the beginning and get into a big structural overhaul fairly late in the game.
I’m happy with these changes, and I think they’re all for the better. This will probably be my last set of changes before the proofs, unless there’s something new in this version that needs fixing.
It feels good to have this finished, for now. I need to get back to work on ‘Tyler’s Intergalactic Spy School’, but I’m going to catch up on some administrative things first. The book launch for the Dragon Speaker series is coming up (November 28 at Another Story bookstore), so that will need to be a focus this week, too.
Next planned post: things I learned from judging a short story contest.
Topics: Writing | No Comments »
So Very Behind…
By Erin Thomas | November 18, 2009
I haven’t updated in ages. The past month or two has been crazy-busy, writing-wise.
My revisions on Boarder Patrol were due October 31. There wasn’t that much to change, but some of what needed fixing took some thought. Since the book is under contract, I didn’t feel right working on anything else until I had that work done.
My newest manuscript, Tyler’s Intergalactic Spy School, won the juvenile category in the Muskoka Novel Marathon. I was able to revise it a little before sending it to the level-two judges, Kevin Craig, Anne Millyard and Roy McGregor, for feedback. (Well, Kevin was gracious enough to look at the raw manuscript, but that was due to a scheduling issue.)
The next step will be preparing it to go to a Canadian children’s publisher for January. The publisher is going to give feedback and not necessarily consider the manuscript for publication, but obviously I want to do the best job I can before submitting it. And there’s a lot of work to do before January! Especially around the ending…
My short story, ‘Julia’, was published in On Spec; I finally received my copies just this past week. It’s exciting! I’m especially grateful to the readers who got in touch with me and had very kind things to say about the story. My first reader feedback! I won’t mention names, but that first email that appeared in my in-box made my week. Thank you so much!
I learned some great things in Brian Henry’s writing course and at the CANSCAIP conference, Packaging Your Imagination, which I’ll try to share here when things slow down a bit. I’m working on more changes to Boarder Patrol this week, and planning a book launch. The book launch will get its own post.
I’ve also plunged into CANSCAIP and volunteered as the new co-recording secretary. Taking the meeting notes, I’m fine with. Voting on issues feels somewhat less comfortable, given that I have all of two months’ experience as a member. I suppose I can balance out the more established authors and illustrators, or stretch out the bell curve, or something.
Finally, my husband insists on dragging me into the twenty-first century despite my misgivings. I caved and opened a Twitter account. I’m still not sure I’m doing it right, but I’m following some people who have interesting things to say (including said husband, because otherwise he’ll get cranky). Every now and then I pop up with a reply or a link, and I’m learning how to “retweet”. I’m @erinlthomas, because erinthomas was taken.
More later. Back to work.
Topics: Editing, Novel marathons, Writing | No Comments »
Novel Marathon Wrap-Up
By Erin Thomas | October 16, 2009
My friend Susan and I are heading up north this weekend for the Muskoka Novel Marathon wrap-up on Sunday. We’ll make a weekend of it, taking Brian Henry’s writing class in Gravenhurst on the way up on Saturday.
We’re spending the night at my parents’ cottage, which at this time of year is rather chilly and free of running water (unless you count the lake), but free and close to Huntsville. I expect we’ll do some writing Saturday night — a writing nerd’s idea of a good time, and Susan and I both qualify — but only if we can thaw out our fingers enough.
I’ve got these wonderful half-mittens… kind of like fingerless gloves, but much easier to type with. They might be making an appearance. Actually, I wish I’d had them the summer before last, at the Nova Scotia writing retreat–early mornings in the fish house were lovely but chilly.
Anyhow, links:
Karen Wehrstein, a novel marathoner, wrote this summary of the novel marathon, complete with pictures.
Brian Henry’s course list is here; the class we’re taking is here.
I’ll post the novel marathon results sometime next week!
Topics: Novel marathons, Writing | No Comments »
Short Story in On Spec
By Erin Thomas | September 30, 2009
My short story ‘Julia’ will appear in the Fall 2009 issue of On Spec–Canada’s science fiction magazine! I sold the story to them more than a year ago, so it’s exciting to see it finally being published. One of the editors wrote to tell me that the issue is with the printers now.
Topics: Writing | 5 Comments »
We have the books!
By Erin Thomas | September 11, 2009
Last weekend Paul Kropp, the publisher of the Dragon Speaker book series, had Cheryl, Deb and I over for lunch because the books were in!!!
I think we spent the first little while just looking at the books and holding them and flipping through them… there was something rather surreal about it.
I’m having trouble uploading pictures right now, but I have cover shots and some other photos that I’ll post later.
The books are available from the HIP-Books web site (it doesn’t look like you can order them yet–the teacher’s guide isn’t back from the printers yet, which may be why), and in about a month, will be on Amazon.
On Wednesday night, Cheryl, Deb and I introduced the books at the CANSCAIP meeting in Toronto… nerve-wracking, but everyone was friendly and supportive. We had a few questions about what it was like, working together on the series and how we managed the logistics of it (gotta love the web). The last question, I think, was whether we’d work together again–of course we would!
Sylvia McNicoll, who has written about eight zillion excellent YA books, was there and gave us our first ever book sale. That might have been exciting regardless, but the fact that it was Sylvia made it special. I found a good home for the actual bill she gave me–and no, it’s not my bulletin board, although the cheque from my first-ever writing sale (Globe and Mail, 2002) is still there. Sorry about that, Accounting people.
There’s a web site for the series: www.dragonspeakerbooks.com. The Art section is worth checking out–Charlie Hnatiuk, the artist for the series, contributed some really interesting process sketches and a blurb on how he goes from sketch to book-ready art.
Topics: Writing | No Comments »
Book Promotion Contest!
By Erin Thomas | August 5, 2009
My friend and co-author, Cheryl Rainfield, is holding a contest to spread the word about her two upcoming books. You can find the details here, on her web site. She’s offering book store gift certificates and signed copies of all three books in the Dragon Speaker trilogy (embarrassing aside: I still sign my name the way I did in grade eight. Guess I should work on that), as well as some fancy pens and magnets she’s had made up as promotional pieces.
The first book mentioned, The Last Dragon, is book one in the Dragon Speaker trilogy from HIP Books. Deb Ouelett wrote book two, and I wrote book three.
Cheryl’s other book, Scars, has been longer in the making, and will be available from Westside Books in the spring. It’s an edgy teen novel that deals with cutting. Cheryl can write dark and edgy very well, but there’s always a trace of hope in her stories. I haven’t had the chance to read this one yet, but I look forward to it.
Cheryl’s promotional YouTube videos, however, are not dark and edgy. They’re sweet and funny. You can see them here:
Check them out! Enter the contest! You’ll make Cheryl very happy.
Topics: Writing | No Comments »
« Previous Entries Next Entries »