GIVEAWAY ALERT! Enter to win one manuscript critique with me (either a picture book or the first ten pages of a middle-grade or young-adult novel). To enter, leave a comment below or on one of my giveaway posts on social media before January 31, 2023. I’ll announce the winner on February 2.
One of the reasons I completed an MFA in Writing for Children and Youth was to improve my mentorship skills. In the three years since I graduated, I’ve connected with a wonderful new agent and signed six new book contracts with fabulous publishers. Now I feel ready to offer creative mentorships to writers of fiction and nonfiction for children and youth, and I’m celebrating with a giveaway!
My mentoring is informed by my background as an editor and writing workshop leader as well as my MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. My own published works include fiction and nonfiction picture books, middle-grade and young-adult novels, and short stories for teens.
I see my role as a writing coach who listens to and supports writers in expressing their stories in their way. For me, mentorship is a way to give back, pay it forward, and promote community with the goal of helping all voices in our world feel worthy, heard, and valued. I want to share my writing craft knowledge and experience to help you to write the best book you can.
If you’re looking for a manuscript critique or a long-term mentorship, please check out my Mentoring page or email me to chat about options.
UPDATE: And the lucky winner of my giveaway manuscript critique is Andrea Mack! I’ll message you, Andrea, so we can get started! Thanks to everyone who entered and for those who contacted me about my mentorship services!
I’ve just finished my final semester! What a journey it’s been! Next stop—graduating residency!
For the last six months, I’ve been working with my fabulous faculty advisor Alan Cumyn, author of a slew of wonderful novels, like his latest one, North to Benjamin, about a boy named Edgar and the farty, lovable Newfoundland dog he cares for. My overall creative goal this semester was exploring how to write emotionally rich characters who compel readers to turn the page and publishers to say, “Yes!” Alan provided in-depth responses to my work through on-page comments, editorial letters, and video calls. His big-picture comments prompted deep revision while his enthusiasm and kindness celebrated what worked.
Fourth semester is all about writing a creative thesis, which is submission-ready creative work, and well as an academic lecture. For my creative, I revised twenty-two chapters of a middle-grade novel, and I wrote eight new chapters to complete a full draft. Through discussion with Alan, I have a plan for another round of revisions. I also revised three picture books, and my creative thesis is a combination of a fiction picture book, a nonfiction picture book and chapters from my novel. I leave this program with a pile of manuscripts to continue to work on as well as a writer’s toolbox that’s overflowing!
My lecture is titled “Peeking Beyond Our Cultural Blinders,” and I’ll be delivering it at my graduating residency in January 2020. I plan to talk about how our cultural blinders can get in the way of understanding our characters. Using insights from contemporary cultural anthropologists and touching on the #OwnVoices movement, I’ll introduce tools we can use to identify our characters’ deep-level cultural beliefs as compared to our own. I’ll focus on family culture since that’s where we first learn and express our beliefs, and show how cultural orientations provide motivation for how characters feel, what they do, what they say, and how they change. Writing this lecture has given me more confidence as a speaker and mentor, and I hope I’ll get the chance to share more of my new writing-craft knowledge with others.
At my graduating residency, I’ll also be delivering a reading from my creative thesis. And I’ll be celebrating the many talented writers I’ve been lucky enough to share this journey with. VCFA is a caring, supportive community, and I’ve met so many incredible people who’ve become lifelong friends. Here are a few friends from my class, who I’ll miss seeing at residency every six months!
I kicked off my fourth and final semester with a two-week residency that left me inspired and emotional. I was touched by how many faculty and students read or lectured on topics that left them open and vulnerable. I’m reminded yet again how deeply creators must connect to their characters in order to encourage readers to care for them as well.
A highlight of my residency was a workshop on writing within and across identity elements, facilitated by the inspirational Cynthia Leitich Smith, who’s latest YA novel Hearts Unbroken dismantles stereotypes. In it, Louise Wolfe deals with the challenges of “dating while Native.” She also attempts to uncover who’s behind a coalition against the school musical director’s ethnically inclusive approach to casting. From our workshop, I’ve culled a list of strategies, techniques and issues to ponder when writing within and across identity elements. Thank you, Cynthia!
Now I’m back home and writing my creative thesis, which means I’ll focus on how to use my newly developed skills to bring creative pages to a professional polish. I plan to revise a middle-grade novel as well as several picture books – both fiction and nonfiction. I also hope to explore some new, fledgling ideas.
And I’ll be preparing an academic lecture based on the critical thesis I wrote last semester. I want to help writers, including myself, peek behind our cultural blinders to identify our characters’ deep-level cultural beliefs as well as our own. I’ll touch on the #OwnVoices movement and explore how to develop culturally rich characters.
And lucky me! I get to do all this with my new faculty advisor Alan Cumyn! If you haven’t yet read his latest, North to Benjamin, you’re in for a treat. In it, Edgar moves to Dawson City with his mother so she can start over yet again, but this time their new home comes with a dog-sitting job. As Edgar’s mother starts to upend the lives of those around them one more time, Edgar takes refuge in his friendship with the farty, lovable Newfoundland dog, Benjamin, so much so that his words come out as barks. I love Edgar’s doggy traits as he tries to figure out what to do next.
Wish me luck as I start my deep dive into my semester work!
I’m finishing my third semester with my fabulous faculty advisor Will Alexander, author of fantasy and science fiction for young readers, including his most recent book, A Festival of Ghosts, which you must read if you haven’t already!
This semester, Will suggested on-point mentor texts and critical essays that shaped my thinking, he provided writing exercises that gave me techniques to address challenges, and he provided feedback that inspired and challenged me to succeed. He confirmed when I was on track and guided me with enthusiasm when I was not. He celebrated successes with me, both big and small, and truly cared about my development as a writer. Will, I’m so very grateful!
The third semester is all about the critical thesis, which is actually more fun than it sounds because you pick a writing-craft topic that you want to learn about in more detail. For me, that topic was culture and character development.
My premise was that cultural development is not only for characters who are labeled as diverse; it is for all characters. I limited this exploration to family culture, which shows where our characters first develop their beliefs, and peer culture, which shows where they apply those beliefs. I demonstrated that our characters’ cultural orientations provide motivation for how they feel, what they do and say, and how they change—all of which are basic building blocks for story. I developed character cultural development tools that writers can use to gain story insights as well as insights into how they relate to their characters, and I connected this topic to the #OwnVoices movement.
This topic is personally important to me because I want to authentically portray the diverse community in which I live and write. As writers, we’re familiar with how to integrate surface-level cultural elements into a story, perhaps by using slang, describing food or fashion, or using a festival as a setting. However, we should also understand the deep-level beliefs behind those elements. In addition, awareness of how our own cultural orientations differ from our characters’ will help us identify beliefs, feelings, and behaviours that come from ourselves, rather than them. It can also help us identify if we are the ideal writer to tell a particular story.
Now, my critical thesis will join the many others at VCFA’s Gary Library as part of their canon of critical thought on children’s literature. I must be a geek because that makes me excited!
This semester, I also read and analyzed books in a wide range of genres — picture books, chapter books, poetry, novels for kids and teens, graphic novels, novels in verse, short stories for kids and teens, fairy tales, nonfiction, memoir, and essays on writing craft. I listened to 21 audio-recorded VCFA lectures and read many critical theses.
For my creative work, my overall goal this semester was to explore the micro-level craft techniques for emotional depth on the page and macro-level techniques for the emotional structure of a story in both short fiction and novels. Here’s what I wrote over the last six months:
I wrote three flash fiction stories to play with how to generate emotionally deep characters.
I wrote and revised a new narrative nonfiction picture book, which I’m super excited about!
I wrote a solid draft of over three-quarters of a middle-grade fantasy novel that I can’t stop thinking about!
I can’t begin to explain all the ways this program has changed me as a writer. With one more semester to go, it’s not over yet.
My fourth semester starts in July with a residency filled with workshops, lectures, and readings — and a new faculty advisor. In my final semester, I’ll be completing a creative thesis and preparing a lecture. But first, I need a few weeks to rest up for the fun and hard work to come!
I recently started Kan’t Draw Komics, and you can read my first one here. Since I just returned from the whirlwind of my third residency at the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) in Writing for Children and Young Adults, border crossings are on my mind. So my second comic is on that theme, and it’s actually based on a true story from one of my trips. I hope you enjoy it!
In this semester, I’m writing my critical thesis, which I’m very excited about, and I’ll share more about my topic later. When I started this program, I expected the critical writing to be a chore, but I discovered how much it feeds my creative work. I’ll also be working on creative writing projects, of course. I’m thrilled to be paired with the talented faculty advisor and program chair Will Alexander, author of fantasy and science fiction for young readers. His most recent book, A Festival of Ghosts, is a fun, ghostly romp!
