Gratz Industries

Join me at the Highlights 2012 Whole Novel Workshop!

>> Wednesday, December 28, 2011

This coming March, I'm going to be part of the faculty at the 2012 Whole Novel Workshop run by the Highlights Foundation at their Honesdale, PA compound. It's a week of one-on-one critiques and small-group discussions about writing novels for kids with me, Newbery Honor-winner Kathi Appelt, Christopher Award-winner Jeanette Ingold, and the extraordinarily-awesome Greenwillow editor Martha Mihalik. We'll be reading the attendees' complete manuscripts in advance, writing extensive critique letters, and then spending the week in Honesdale helping you find a revision plan that will make your novel ready for prime time!

The deadline for applying to the workshop is fast approaching though. You only have until the end of the calendar year to apply! For more information on the workshop and how to apply, visit www.highlightsfoundation.org. You can also secure your spot by contacting Jo Lloyd at 570-253-1192, e-mailing her at jo.lloyd@highlightsfoundation.org, or requesting an application at the above link.

Here's more information from the Highlights press release:

Many times when a manuscript is rejected, it isn’t because the writing is weak. It’s because the manuscript isn’t ready. We all want to push our work to the next phase, but sometimes we submit work to agents or publishers before it's ready. Maybe we’ve shown the manuscript to our writing group. Maybe we’ve revised a few times. Maybe we think we’ve done all we can do. But what we really need is a writing coach, a revision plan, and a clear strategy to make the best book we can. In today’s demanding world of publishing, you get only one chance to grab the attention of an agent or editor, so make that chance count. Make sure you are ready.

The Highlights Foundation’s Whole Novel Workshop has been helping writers polish their manuscripts since 2006. Participants receive a reading of and editorial response to their complete manuscript prior to a week dedicated to revision and readying your manuscript for submission. We offer an award-winning faculty of writers, editors, and agents to help make your book the best it can be. Through one-on-one critiques and small-group discussions, we focus on revision plans, query letters, and pitch strategies to get you ready to submit. We also nourish your creativity with a private cabin in which to think and write, farm-style meals, and an environment that will refresh your publishing dreams.

Our first whole novel workshop in 2012 takes place March 11–17. Submission deadline is December 30. The faculty includes award-winning authors and talented teachers Kathi Appelt, Alan Gratz, and Jeannette Ingold, as well as smart and sassy editor Martha Mahalick from Greenwillow Books. Authors Janet Fox and Karen Henley round out the support team as teaching assistants.

Come spend a week in the woods and finally get your manuscript ready for publication!

Hope to see you there!

Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction

>> Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I am very pleased to announce that I have a short story in the upcoming Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction--An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. Sales of Tomo will benefit young people affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake that triggered powerful tsunami waves, devastated the area around Sendai, and killed and injured more than 20,000 people. Even today, people throughout Japan are still dealing with the effects of the earthquake.

Tomo will debut almost exactly one year to the day of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Here's a bit more about it from the Tomo website:

Tomo (meaning “friend” in Japanese) is an anthology of young adult short fiction in prose, verse and graphic art set in or related to Japan. This collection for readers age 12 and up features thirty-six stories—including ten in translation and two graphic narratives—contributed by authors and artists from around the world, all of whom share a connection to Japan. English-language readers will be able to connect with Japan through a wide variety of unique stories, including tales of friendship, mystery, fantasy, science fiction and history.

By sharing “friendship through fiction,” Tomo aims to bring Japan stories to readers worldwide, and in doing so, to help support young people affected or displaced by the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami disasters. Proceeds from the sales of this book will go directly toward long-term relief efforts for teens in Tohoku, the area most affected by the disasters, in the northeast region of Japan’s main island, Honshu.

Edited and with a Foreword by Holly Thompson, Tomo contributing authors and artists include Andrew Fukuda (Crossing), Liza Dalby (The Tale of Murasaki), Tak Toyoshima (Secret Asian Man syndicated comic), Alan Gratz (The Brooklyn Nine), Wendy Nelson Tokunaga (Love in Translation), Deni Y. Béchard (Vandal Love), Debbie Ridpath Ohi (illustrator of I’m Bored), Graham Salisbury (Under the Blood-Red Sun), Naoko Awa (The Fox’s Window and Other Stories), Suzanne Kamata (The Beautiful One Has Come) and Shogo Oketani (J-Boys), among others.

My contribution, a short story called "The Ghost Who Came to Breakfast," is the story of a zashiki warashi (a good luck ghost) whose friendship is financially rewarding--but comes at a high price.

I hope you'll help support relief efforts in Tohoku by purchasing a copy of Tomo when it becomes available. You'll be rewarded with a terrific collection of Japan-themed prose, poetry and sequential art!

Click here to learn more about Tomo, and to pre-order a copy.