Deborah Halverson's Blog

I know it’s not actually Bring Your Child to Work Day today, but I came across this photo of one of my first graders doing his math at Starbucks and had a good chuckle. You see, his teacher sends home 50-page math booklets during every school break. His brothers’ teachers do not. They give their students a hug at the classroom door and send them off with good wishes for a fun vacation.

I don’t know if you can truly appreciate the injustice of this if you are not a first grader or living with three first graders. Trust me when I say that it’s a heinous sentence for the one with trudging homeward with a backpack full of unsolved math problems.

And terrible mother that I am, I find it a tad bit funny. I know, I know—I do feel bad about having a chuckle over it. But actually, I respect the teacher’s decision. A little homework is not going to kill the boy and what’s the harm in a bit of math practice to keep the saw sharp? That should be a good thing. So I try to tell my son that his teacher really cares about him and doesn’t want him to back-slide during vacation. That she must truly love her students and that I truly support her practice of vacation math booklets.

He still thinks it’s a raw deal.

So I try to make it less raw. I take said son to Starbucks with me, let him order a large, whipped cream-capped hot chocolate and a muffin, then sit with him while he works on his math. I work on my editing or writing. We work together, sipping and scritch-scratching and having a special little outing. Yes, I know it’s not Disneyland, but I also think it’s not so bad. Know how I know? Because one of my other sons told me last weekend that he wanted to do his extra writing practice—which none of my other sons had—at Starbucks with a drink and a muffin of his own. “Just like you did with my brother, Mommy.”

Further proof that Mommy can make anything better.

Sunday’s Super Moon from the top of Cowles Mountain. What an amazing night hike.

The full “Super Moon,” scientifically known as a “perigee moon,” is the closest and largest full moon of 2012. It appeared 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual as its closest approach to Earth coincided with a full moon. An amazing (and smart) evening for a night hike. Thanks, Mrs. I., for the invitation to join you at the top of the mountain.

Today my three first graders are taking the district-wide first grade writing test. One of my sons and I snuck out Friday night and Saturday morning for some one-on-one writing practice.

Being a writer and all, I thought these were great mother-son getaways.

Being a first grader and all, my son thought these were lovely opportunities to get apple cider and a muffin.

Either way, we got to write together. Now that’s what I call fun cramming.

“The book publishing industry is populated by intelligent, hard-working people, many of whom are delighted to have the opportunity to turn their passion – the printed word – into a paying job.” — Digital Book World

I just came across Digital Book World’s Feb 7, 2012, blog post “Best Publishing Companies to Work For.” I was vaguely interested in seeing how their list shaped up, and what criteria went into it, so I gave it a read. But the results and criteria have pretty much slipped away from me. What has stuck is the first paragraph, which I posted above. They’ve articulated the very reason I loved working within a publishing house—yes, it’s a business, and yes, the bottom line is making money for the company so that it can stay in business, but it’s pretty dang awesome to go to work side-by-side with people who love books and writing so much that they’ll dedicate their lives to it. And that’s what a career is, a choice that defines your entire life. Those who work within a publishing house have blended their personal passions and their employment, and it’s a wonderful place to spend one’s day.

Sometimes I miss reporting to that office and talking books and writing with these “intelligent, hard-working people” almost every day, for the bulk of my day. But only sometimes. The fact is, even though I work from my home now, I still get to talk books and writing almost every day, for the bulk of my day. I just do it through the Internet. Honestly, the publishing community lives in hyperspace! And I get talk talk books and writing with even more people now because of the networking opportunities of social media. So even though I gave up the report-to-the-office, in-house publishing life when my triplets were infants, thanks to modern technology, I can still blend my personal passions and my employment … I just get to do it from my living room. And that’s a wonderful place to spend one’s day.

Charming. Wholesome. Wonderful. My three 7-yr-old boys LOVED Elise Broach’s “Masterpiece.” Hey, it’s about a beetle who creates fine art so beautiful it ends up being hung in a museum—until it’s stolen in a major art heist. Very exciting. We absolutely have to get the audiobook version now.

Desperate to meet a deadline despite the fact that the boys are home with me on Spring Break, I banished my 7-year-old trio upstairs with orders to find something quiet to play. I didn’t want to sit them down in front of a movie in the middle of the day in the cliche “electronic babysitter” maneuver.

Three minutes later, I’m cringing at what sounds like a herd of buffalo pounding across the ceiling over my head. I expected pieces of plaster to rain down into my hair.

“No running in the house!” I hollered up the stairs. “No playing chase in the house! You know that!”

“We’re not running!” they shouted down.

“Then what’s all that noise I’m hearing?”

“We’re playing puppies. That’s the pit pat of our cute little paws.”

If you’re Clifford. I reworded my orders, telling them to find something to play that’s not rowdy, then moved back to my seat in front of the computer. Deadlines care nothing about pit pats, puppies, or 7-year-olds on Spring Break.

And it turns out 7-year-olds care nothing about deadlines. I now sit here cringing as they follow my directions and play something non-rowdy: the drums.

That electronic babysitter is looking much more attractive….

As the San Diego weather vacillates between hot-enough-for-the-beach and dark-and-stormy, I’m putting my summer together. Workwise, it’ll be a fun one, with the  SCBWI 2012 Summer Conference in L.A. Aug 3-6. I’ll present a breakout session on writing dialogue, an intensive on revising your MG/YA novel, an intensive on creating youthful narrative sensibility, and the annual Market Survey. I’ll post descriptions of my presentation below, but you can check out the full info on the SCBWI conference page.

• Breakout Session – How to Talk Like a Teen When You’re So Not One: Writing Dialogue in YA/MG Fiction
  Teen readers want to hear directly from the teen characters in their books. The dialogue you write must be able to entertain your young readers, intrigue them, inform them, comfort them, and, depending on which characters are moving their lips, sound like them. By applying the techniques in this session, you can craft successful dialogue for young adult fiction.
• Intensive -  Going from Good to Great: Revising Your MG/YA Novel
  This workshop teaches you how to analyze your YA/MG manuscript and arms you with techniques for revising the elements you find lacking. Participants must have completed a draft of a YA or MG novel.
• Intensive – Writing for Teens? Then Think Like One
  Whether your narrator is your young main character or an all-knowing omniscient being, there are ways to convince young readers that you understand them and their view of the world—and to hook’em good and hard in the process. This workshop teaches techniques for creating a narrative sensibility that reflects the way teens think, resulting in teen fiction that “clicks” with young readers.

Want to get people talking books and celebrating reading? Take a hit song, parody it brilliantly, then watch it become a viral video sensation.

Listen carefully, because there are so many great lines. Well done, ladies!

All week long I’ve been hosting an event called Revision Week on my writers’ advice site DearEditor.com. It’s been so fantastic!

Revision Week brings together eight prolific, bestselling, award-winning authors for a week of revision tips, insights, and stories from the trenches. Each day I post a new interview in the hopes that the writers who visit DearEditor.com can learn from writers who turn first drafts into lauded books every day. To make it extra fun, I’ve been giving away a free partial edit each day, with a full manuscript edit giveaway lined up for Saturday.

Here are the amazing writers who have made Revision Week so inspiring that readers have asked for it to be an annual event (and I’ve agreed wholeheartedly!): Read More…

The third born of my trio takes after me in that he thinks he can do anything he sets his mind to. Alas, UNlike me, he tends to set his mind to extreme acts of physical daring.

One belly flop and two chest x-rays later, the Halversons have a new rule: No back flips on the monkey bars.

Deborah will appear live on “Writers Voices” 1-2pm CST, Feb 17, 2012. “Writers Voices” airs on KRUU FM 100.1, an open source, solar-powered community radio station that broadcasts to the larger Fairfield, Iowa, area and has worldwide listenership via the web.  Each week we air an hour-long interview with a writer, agent, editor, publisher, or someone else connected to the world of writing.

To listen to the show live, tune in to KRUU FM radio or go to online at  http://www.writersvoices.com.

Hear the rebroadcast Monday Feb 20 8 AM on KRUU FM or download it from the archives: http://www.writersvoices.com or  http://www.kruufm.com/station/archives/61.

January was a whirlwind of new projects and writing adventures. This is just some of it:

New Project: a Picture Book about Santa
I’ve been signed to write a picture book about the mighty man in red, to be published Christmas 2012. I’ll post more details when they’re available. Fun!

New Project: 3 Books for Struggling Readers
I’ve also signed on to write three books in a new “hi/lo” series for struggling readers. More details will be announced when the series launches.

“How to Promote Your Book” Podcast Appearance
As part of her blog tour for her ebook How to Promote Your Children’s Books, author/illustrator Katie Davis focused her regular podcast on “Promoting Your Book.” I make a guest appearance. See the episode description here. Or click here to hear it directly.

2011 was a wonderful year for me professionally and personally. My husband and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary, our three now-7-year-olds went into first grade and their reading (reading!) skills skyrocketed, and my book Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies was published, with two other book contracts coming my way in the last days of the year.

I am grateful for these wonderful things—and I am grateful for the people who supported my family and I in our adventures. Dozens of people helped me launch my book and contributed to the content within it. And my whole family made new friends at school and in our community. We are all honored by the way we were embraced in 2011.

Thank you so much to everyone in our lives. May 2012 bring you all adventures and wonder.

Most people ring in the new year by smooching their loved one at midnight. Since I’m now two weeks behind in sending out the Halverson’s new year wishes, we will put our own twist on the tradition… in the form of this smooch from a big ol’ sea lion. Now THAT was worth waiting for, right?

Kenneth Oppel has taken swashbuckling pirates and the ocean liners of the early twentieth century and thrown them upward for an adventure series that has my three sons enthralled. Airborn is like Titanic in the sky, with zepplins instead of ships… and with pirates attacking Titanic and shipwrecking her, her crew, and her passengers on a deserted isle. Jolly good stuff, I’m telling you.

Oppel’s books are for older readers, so I have to censor some details when I read them to my not-quite-seven-year-olds. That’s okay by me. We’re now halfway through book two, Skybreaker, and the boys are begging for more. Literally begging. I had to threaten and cajole them into bed tonight as they pleaded, “Just one more chapter! Just one more page! Just one more minute!” But bedtime had come and gone . . . and quite honestly my throat was sore from reading for more than an hour already. That, after the boys had spent half an hour sitting in the van in our garage, refusing to exit because the Airborn audio book was playing its last chapter on our van’s cd player. That’s how great these books are.

And here’s another great thing: Read More…