Things to remember when you write & what I've been doing recently

Jane Yolen was the main speaker at a SCBWI conference recently. (I don't care who else speaks -- Jane is always the main speaker to me.) The artist/ illustrator, Sarah David, was In the audience and sketched a portrait of her speaking, then added some of Jane's advice to writers to the portrait.

She sent it to Jane Yolen's's Facebook page. Jane loved it and posted it for all to see. (I have no idea how to link to a Facebook page, because you have to belong to Facebook to see these things. I think.)
Many people have printed it out to post on the wall of their writing place -- for inspiration.
I did too.

What were those words?

Sarah David wrote that Jane Yolen said:
1. Eschew the exclamation!
2. Go easy on adverbs.
3. Don't let your characters float -- Anchor them with action.
4. Have fun writing. Have fun illustrating.
5. Butt in Chair. Heart on Page.

Jane's been saying BIC (butt in chair) for years. And those of us who followed her advice have managed to get published. So, it works. Stick to it. Whatever you do, stick to it and get it done.

What have I done recently on the writing front?
-- Worked with the other half of C.W. Bowie (Mary Bowman-Kruhm) to smooth out the uneven places in our next book. The manuscript is now on the editor's desk.
-- I've printed out and will soon mail a companion manuscript the the new CW Bowie one, that Mary thinks should be under my own name, since she didn't work on it.
-- Came up with a new idea for the "Busy" series and e-mailed it to Mary for her to consider.

I've read all the readings assigned for the Novel Writing Workshop. One I loved and one I hated. One was plot-oriented and one was character oriented. I'll leave it to you to guess which one I liked best.

I went to the Railroad station in Baltimore yesterday and picked up my ticket. Holding that ticket makes it all seem REAL to me, now. I'm really going back to Vermont and I'm really going to have some serious critique of my attempt at a young novel.
-wendieO