I wanted to update my Substack the end of December. But I got sick. That killed my muse for many weeks. I like this definition about muse from Webster’s dictionary: “a state of deep thought or dreamy abstraction.” In fact, I haven’t been very creative or dreamy at all this new year for the whole month of January; thus, the silence on my new newsletter.
How do you bring back your muse so that you can create? I like to surround myself with other creators online, by reading their stories from the library or critiquing their manuscripts. (I’m in 3 online critique groups.) And meeting up in person would be fun. I recently met up with a newbie in the illustration world, a college student, who I got to explain so many aspects of publishing to over tea/coffee. She reminded me of myself when I was new to writing, asking lots of good questions, curious, and full of excitement. What questions do you have about writing or publishing? Ask your questions in the comments, & I’ll try to answer them!
January 27th I sort of watched the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards while teaching. I asked my kindergartners what they thought would make a good book. I’m calling this section of their wisdom,
What makes a good book? These 5-and-6-year-olds know without having taken a formal writing class!
Good story & author writing
Good drawings & illustrations
Nice words
Has characters
Makes sense
Looks good. Beautiful
Good background (setting) in the illustrations
Good title
Has a sticker medal
Did any of your favorites win? But, in my opinion, a book is a winner, if it made an impression on a child! By the way, I’m declaring February as Book Love Month. I occasionally write for the Grog Blog, and my post there will air Wednesday, Feb. 5th. Please hop over on Wednesday to read about how you can win some book giveaways by leaving book reviews!
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!
January 29th was Lunar New Year or Seollal in Korean. During my Christmas break, I made Korean dumplings called mandu. And to celebrate with my class, I taught my students using my book Korean Celebrations.
News & Notes
You readers are the first to publicly hear that my graphic novel, THE OTHER SIDE OF TOMORROW received its 5th starred review from THE HORN BOOK! I can’t wait til their March/April issue to read the review. This is my 1st book to receive 5 stars!(Previous starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, & Kirkus) And I wanted to let you know the paperback version is currently on sale at Amazon!
If you’ve read it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon & Good Reads. And thanks to those who already have! Here’s a short video I made on Tik Tok a while ago regarding a news article and how it relates to my book.
Some books I’ve recently read or reviewed:
Don’t forget—if you want to ask questions about writing or publishing, please do so in the comments. And please check out my Grog Blog post on Wednesday, 2/5 for giveaways & sharing book love!
Stay healthy, warm, safe, and read lots of great books!
Hello Tina, congratulations on your five stars review! I am in NYC and heard today when a book receives three stars, the good buzz starts. Way to go The Other Side of Tomorrow! 👍👍👍
So proud of you! I'd love to hear what you're writing now!