Emily R. King

Pages

17 June 2013

Busy Doing Nothing

You know when you're on submission and more than anything in the whole world you want to hear back from agents/editors, so you check your e-mail a bazillion times a day, stalk their Twitter feeds and blogs, and all in all spend way too much time actively waiting for SOMETHING to happen?

Yeah. I've been in the "Waiting Room" for over three weeks, and I'm done. The watched pot never boils, people! Time to ditch the "if I sit here and stare at the computer screen, someone will get back to me in record time" optimism and get real. Agents are busy. My MS is slowly moving toward the top of their piles. It'll get there eventually.

Until that happens, what should I do? Write! Writing is the best distraction from, well, everything. Drafting a shiny new idea is always a ton of fun and it focuses my nervous energy on something productive. Which I really need.

Anyone else in the waiting room with me? Do you use writing as an escape?

11 June 2013

The Next Generation of Book Lovers: Raising Readers

This came across Publishers Lunch this morning:

Children's/YA sales suffered a downturn...Sales of $100.3 million represented a 23.6 percent decline from the same period a year ago, largely due to a big drop in hardcover sales (down 29.3 percent to $44.7 million.) And ebook sales also declined a significant 36 percent in January, at $14.4 million...

No, no, no! I'm alarmed not only because I write for children, but because a drop in sales could indicate children are reading less. You have to admit, the correlation isn't a stretch. But even if I'm wrong, just the possibility makes me want to stand on a rooftop and yell: "PEOPLE! READ TO YOUR CHILDREN!"

Start when they are infants. Pack books in your diaper bag, car, and have a bookshelf low enough for them to reach on their own. As soon as your baby can crawl, he'll be looking at books (and chewing on them).

Find books that interest your child and download them, buy them, borrow them. Your child likes pirates? Read about pirates! No matter their age or gender, there is a book for them.

Attend storytime at your local library and support book fairs at your schools.

Take your children to the library and don't leave until you have a huge stack of books.

Read to your children at least fifteen minutes a day—and have fun!

Let them see YOU reading.

Make reading a part of your life! Before my oldest son left for school today, I put a new book in his backpack. He always has one with him during the bus ride home, and you know what? He reads them!

Credit

Can you tell I feel passionately about this? And I know I'm not alone. If you write CB, PB, MG, YA, or even adult, it is your duty to encourage reading for all ages. We are grooming future readers! As someone who hopes to have a successful writing career in the years to come, I feel it's my responsibility to ensure children CAN read, WILL read, and LOVE to read.

Support childhood literacy! Increase sales on children's/YA books by buying a book for a child you love. Then READ, READ, READ!

How do you support young readers?

03 June 2013

My Summer To-Be-Read List

I always have a tall stack of books waiting for me to read during the long summer days. Right now my Summer To-Be-Read List is significantly longer than my Summer Cleaning/Gardening List, which is as it should be.

Here are a few books I'm eager to sit in the sun and read. Some have yet to be released, while others are already out—or will be very soon.

I'm so excited to have lots of great books to read! What will you be reading this summer?

28 May 2013

The Writer's Voice Wrap-Up

Well, Team Cupid didn't win first place, but we did place second! Woot! M&M's for EVERYONE!

Photo Credit

I'm so glad I participated in this contest. Thank you to Deana for talking me into it, Team Cupid for the tough love, and Cupid for choosing me. And a big thank you to YOU for your supportive comments and tweets.

Also, thanks to all the agents who voted on my entry! I was blown away by their interest. DAGGER ISLAND is on the way! (Go here to see how awesome my team did.)

Have you participated in any online writing contests? What do you think of them?

22 May 2013

Secondary Characters Blog Hop

Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris and Suzi Retzlaff are co-hosting the Secondary Characters Blog Hop today.

These lovely ladies have generously offered critiques and ebooks as prizes!Awesome, right? Here are my picks. One literary and one film.

But first, I must wish my youngest a very happy birthday! He's one today. Happy birthday Ryan!

Photo Credit

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

Clever, studious, loyal, brave, and kind. She's my favorite sidekick of all time!
(Some of you may consider Hermione a MC, but I will forever consider her second only to Harry Potter, which of course puts her in the role of sidekick. Sorry Hermione!)