How did I gain 1.2 pounds by working out?  The instructor said it must be magic!

Another comment from reader of Golden Gate … who just started reading it … “Edgy … raw.” This reader is the daughter and wife of Marines. I think she was humoring me.

I went to the Virginia Writers Club conference this past weekend. It was held at the University of Mary Washington (formerly Mary Washington College) and the guest speaker was Professor Steve Watkins, author of “Down Sand Mountain”, a Golden Kite award winner in 2009. Steve is a UMW faculty member in English, Historic Preservation and Modern Foreign Languages Department … The Golden Kite was presented by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Steve was very casually dressed, with his shirt out and only sort of buttoned – it was  casual Saturday for his speech to VA Writers. He started off his a 15 minute video of his acceptance speech for the Golden Kite Award, a national prize from SCBWI.

“Down Sand Mountain” is written for YA and he provided some insights about that audience. They will read “up” to more adult books, but not down (agewise), and he said his experience shows they read actual books, not Kindle e-books. His novel is set in the 1960s and is a “coming of age” YA novel about a young man experiencing/struggling through youth in Florida. He was a character, like many YA charactters who are deeply fallible, examining the society around themmselves, thinking they are out of step even if they are perfectly in step. He advised that YA protaganists/characters jump right off the page (with their sense of action, emotion). YA books are written from point of view/perspective of a youth, young adult – usually in first or third person. They typically are written to that point of an author’s life. First person accounts often center around self authentication, of validating time honored values. He said YA books are expected to have a happy ending. The prime chracter often starts as innocent, confused, unknowledgeable, but grows as the plot advances – to maturity, confidence, self assurance …but still occasionally fallible. YA books are lots of action, with few flashbacks (can’t go back to diaper land – my words). They are dialog driven, without “rumination” (self analysis).

He mentioned the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and the obvious occasions of just sitting around the campfire thinking. Fantasy is perhaps the dominant genre. The Number One draw for YA books …. Is SEQUELS!!!. Publishers love to ride fast, profitable horses.

YA books are not prohibitted from using the F word, but it must be called for in the context of the character and scene. Political correctness is a factor, but the wors must match the times and locations … the society in which the story evolves. Candelewick Press wasn’t insistent about PC wording, as the Sixties were another whole world. “If you have to … “ covered the issue of words which would not be acceptable today.

Book review and editing process … This included his wife (who he remarked humorously gave him three pages of “suggestions.” first and second readers, then others whose reviews, and hos book updates become like the dance of a swan around the campfire (my words). Steve mentioned like a “death trance…” He noted finally that as his novel was historical fiction the copy editor had him adjust certain scenes to ensure the phases of the moon he had written of … were factual.

Book titling process – for two full years the authors title was XXX, then for six months it became Sand Mountain, then in final countdown it became “Down Sand Mountain.”  The final title was driven by some “Proof editor” suggestion.

Contractual areas – his contract had an option clause covering “his next work. At signing for his first the publisher asked him, “What are you working on now?” He wasn’t working on another, but soon started.

An audience member asking a question, and he smiled – “You gave me an idea for another chapter.”

Insights noted not associated specifically with the speakers’ Young Adult (YA) genre focus –

1)      Check out Candlewick Press (his publisher) as he recommends them honestly.

2)      SCBWI has a member fee of $70.00 per year and he was very glowing in his remarks of the group. He mentioned that its website has some sort of guidelines for various genres. I’ve looked them up, and submitted a request to becomne a member of their Yahoo Group site.

3)      Avoid tangential (gratuitous) action or dialog

4)      Try to identify Free or Internet based creative writing courses, or programs that will review novel drafts … I found several Universities offering free reviews and will pursue that opportunity.

He sold signed copies of his novel after the meeting. I stopped and received a referral to Jane Gatewood, UMW Writing Center Director. I was hopeful of the potential to have UMW students review my novel drafts.

I’ve come to a fateful realization, giving books away doesn’t get them in circulation, or apparently please many readers. So I’ve decide to go the commercial route … market my first book while I write the second.

It has been awhile since I was here, blogging. I’ve been entranced by a bright shiny bit of family research. I now have that data, burned to CDs and ready to mail to far distant lands … in the mill.

Now I can back to writing.