How long does it take to write a picture book?

 I love telling how long it took to write my first published picture book. It took 20 minutes. 

(and my husband tried to tell me something and I kept saying, wait. just wait. I've got to get it down. When I finished it, he said, "Did you know that eggs will explode in the microwave?" yes, then I had to go clean up the microwave.)  

But wait -- it then took several years of REVISiON. So , did it take 20 minutes, or 3-4 years?

How long does it take to write a picture book?

 I love telling how long it took to write my first published picture book.

 It took 20 minutes. (and my husband tried to tell me something and I kept saying, wait. just wait. I've got to get it down. When I finished it, he said, "Did you know that eggs will explode in the microwave?" yes, then I had to go clean up the microwave.) 

But wait -- it then took several years of REVISiON. So , did it take 20 minutes, or 3-4 years? 

Will I come do a free presentation about writing books? Probably not.

People say to me - This couldn't have taken very long to write.  
It's true.  
It only took me a half hour to write this 200 word picture book.
But it took 3-5 years to revise/ submit/ revise/ submit/ revise/ etc. etc. etc. (and some picture books take even longer to "write.")  
And then there's the 5-year wait for the illustrator and art director to polish up the book.Plus revisions to support the art.  
And now books are being delayed because most picture books are printed in China and there's an epidemic over there.  
Eventually, after the Advance has been paid off, the writer begins to get royalties from each book sold. (I get 2% for two of my books because I share the royalties with a co-writer, 4% on all of the others. Famous writers get 5% to 10%.)
(don't get me started about requests for free school visits or lecture for adults with no compensation except sometimes they buy ONE of my books for their library, which means eventually I'll get about $0.87 [cents] six months later when my royalties arrive. For that all day/ 4 or more group sessions, plus that 40 miles away drive to get there - and to get back, exhausted.

Picture book author - Eric Pinder

"Wait a minute... It's a humbling career moment when you suddenly realize you're actually the stuffed animal's sidekick."

Read more from this interview with picture book author (and college professor), Eric Pinder.
Where he talks about writing picture books, doing school visits, and teaching writing.

Just follow the links.

So - You've written a Picture Book

and now you are wondering if it's any good.

Here's what Kate Messner does about that. She has many picture books published by traditional publishers and knows.

Click here for her latest blog offering which she calls - Picture Book Math (and why you should write something new).

So you're writing a picture book

If you are,
Here are the 10 Commandments of Picture Book Writing.
Or not.

Yes, you have to click the link to understand this cryptic sentence.

Put some Resonance in your Writing

Writing Picture Books?
Here's some advice from Marion Dane Bauer -- Resonance is the key.

Click on over to her blog and read all about it.

More from Jane Yolen

On Facebook, Jane shared a link to an interview on Suite101.com where she shared thoughts about revising picture books. She used as an example something she had scribbled down a while ago about a frog thinking about the changes that come in the fall.

In the article she shares her steps for a first revision.
But she didn't stop there.
After the article was published, the frog idea kept tickling her mind -- and today she posted that the idea wouldn't go away. It really would make a nice picture book. So, she has worked more with this beginning and her revisions have changed the story.

Sooooo --I'm going to examine closely the next frog or autumn book that comes out by her to see just how she changed and improved it with her many revisions. -wendieO

Writer's Retreat Weekend

If you need to get away, taking a writer's retreat is a nice way to get your writer's juices flowing.
This past weekend I attended one on the Eastern Shore of Delaware. Like the view? Well, remember, I saw none of this because it rained all Saturday.

I had intended to work on my Lance (the dog) stories. And maybe fiddle with one or two other things. However, you may have noticed that my Vermont College Advisor, Julie Larios, challenged me to turn a November Blog into a picture book. So that became the first order of the day.

My first attempt, not so good. I simply re-wrote the blog from the viewpoint of a child. hmmmmm.

My second attempt was better. But I realized that I would need the names of many more pies than just pumpkin pie -- delicious as pumpkin pie is. So I ran out of the "quiet" writer's room into the noisy one. Help! Help!

I wrote my plea for pie-help on the whiteboard. (In an attempt not to disturb those intent on their computers) But when I turned around, about seven writers had left their own writing and had crowded around the board. (Any excuse for a break from writing, right?) This pie. That pie. It wasn't but a few minutes until I had enough pies -- many of which I had not thought of before. Yea! I LOVE when the group mind goes to work.

I presented the resulting picture book during the evening reading session.

I'm definitely going to go to next year's writing retreat, even tho it's scheduled to be in West Virginia, which will probably be an even longer drive away.
-wendieO

Kill the Turkeys (writing a picture book)

I sat down today to write another picture book for my December Vermont College packet. (Packet 5 -- the last one. Yea!)

First I noodled.

Then I began thinking about Sara Palin going to an Alaskan turkey slaughterhouse to "pardon" one turkey -- as, right behind her on this video, other turkeys are killed to become Thanksgiving Turkeys. And how horrified people were to see this happening in the background of her Photo Opp. On the other hand, one person made a comment that I fully agree with -- Where do you think Thanksgiving Turkeys come from?

Which kicked off thoughts about writing a story about killing turkeys.
I am so tired of the “save the turkeys” picture books. I really wanted to write a “Kill the Turkeys” book. (The Night Before Thanksgiving was funny. After that, I soon became tired of the trend. Didn't you?)

My husband told me that I probably wouldn't be able to sell "Kill the Turkeys" as a picture book.
But I knew that.

What I ended up with this afternoon, was a family holiday dinner which could be any in-gathering of family. I call it, Gather ‘Round the Table, but it’s actually kind of an Un-Gathering story. Just for fun, most of the names are family names.

I went back to it several times today, trying to get the rhythm better, cutting one stanza, changing names and activities, until it read pretty well. I'll check it again before I send it to my advisor

Now to figure out what the other two picture book manuscripts for the December Packet will be.
-wendieO

Vermont College Residency is over

Vermont College was overwhelming. The picture book certificate group was separate from, and yet part of the whole experience. We went to the same lectures, but met as a separate group for our workshop session -- where it was picture books all the time. (The people in the four semester program had people doing all types of writing in their workshops.)

Now to digest what I've heard and try to apply it. I've already discovered that the other people in the regular program are learning more literary techniques than we picture book people are, but we'll have enough trouble just producing the number of picture books we are assigned -- 20 to 25. We send in five packets -- one each month. They include annotated list of 25 books we have read. 3-5 picture books we wrote. Parts of a research essay we are working on (and will give a lecture on in the Winter residency) and a cover letter talking about what we've done and some of what we are thinking. There may be more. I have to check my notes.

My family is hoping this series of over 95 degree days here in Maryland will break soon. (although it is making the swimming pool warm enough for me to consider swimming in it.)

During my 10 days in Vermont, the temps were in the 70s and low 80s, but it could also be sticky when the humidity rose, so it had some rotten days, too. (because very few places had air conditioning -- and those that did have it, turned off the air conditioning during the lectures because nobody could hear over the roar of the window airconditioner.) The best days were when we simply opened the windows and let the breeze blow through.

I hear that the winter session has minus 5 degrees. Yikes!

Now to finish doing the wash and then to try to organize a Vermont College corner in my office. hmm, that means I have to organize the piles that are already here -- right?
-wendieO

Writing Picture Books is Easy -- Not

With all these celebrities dashing off picture books in less than an hour, the general public is being mislead into believing that writing picture books is easy. (On second thought -- people always think it is easy because they are short. But picture books are like poems. Every word has to be chosen carefully.)

Here is the actual time it took Jane Yolen, the award-winning writer of about 300 books, to write a picture book. It is probably the fastest time ever -- from first thought to purchase. Please note the number of revisions. The rest of us writers need months or several years to refine a picture book into publishable form.

From her public Journal, in May 2008:
"Good news first: Sold a new picture book with daughter Heidi: NOT ALL PRINCESSES DRESS IN PINK to Alexandra Cooper at S&S. Alex and I were chatting in her office several months ago, and as I was leaving, I asked her if she had any books she longed to see. She mentioned a few ideas, and one--with a sigh--was: "I am so tired of princesses in pink." "Well," I responded, as I walked out the door, "Not all princesses dress in pink.” We grinned at one another. We both heard its possibilities. “I'll see what I can do," I added.

At dinner that night, I told Heidi (her daughter) what Alex had said. And before you could say "Princesses in Pink" ten times fast, we had a first verse. Two months and seventeen full revisions later, we sold the book to Alex. That was speedy for us. Take that, Mrs. Bush and Jenna!"

Oh dear. My pink-loving, 8-year old princess is going to be crushed to learn that Not all Princesses Dress in Pink.

-wendieO