Workshop Transcript

From a Writer to an Author

with Anastasia Suen

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Verla: ah...almost time for the workshop to begin and SQ is here to set up the room. Just in time, sq

Suzy-Q hands out cans of silly string.

Dani25: Thank you

whatie takes TWO cans.

Anastasia: :)

NOTE: :) = a happy face (on its side)

Suzy-Q makes sure the mick is working.. testing, testing.

Anastasia: I'll try, and see if it works first

Verla: Hey, sq! Leave Mick along and pay attention to the MIKE.

Anastasia: we'll go with the flow :)

whatie: mick working? I hope not, he's in the chat room :)

mick13: yeah!

Suzy-Q: I got that too, kia. hehehehehe

_Enchanted: I hate silly string, but we might need it as ammunition. I saw some of Verla's practical jokes on the CW list.

NOTE: CW list = Children's Writers email list (information on joining is on the Writer's Tips page of this website)

Verla: lol. Oh, you did, did you, enchanted. Actually those were my MOTHER'S practical jokes!

NOTE: lol = laughing out loud

Verla frowns at mick. He was entirely too enthusiastic about that!

mick13: I'm always enthusiastic

whatie: mick just doesn't like tests......

Suzy-Q: He will like my tests!

Verla sits on sq to get her under control

Suzy-Q: LOL

Suzy-Q: I'm under control.. Just adjusting things.

Verla: Hey...it's time for the workshop to begin

*** Verla has set the topic on channel #Kidlit to From a Writer to an Author workshop now in progress

Anastasia: hi!

Verla: Okay, everyone...before we begin...

Suzy-Q sets out goodies. (Get them before we start everyone.)

Verla: please keep all personal chit chat and hellos and goodbyes until after the workshop has ended.

Dani25: Ok, QUIET everyone

Verla: But DO join in the discussion and post your comments and questions on the subject being discussed.

Verla: Okay...and now...

Verla: May I introduce Anastasia Suen!

Verla: Anastasia...you are on.

Anastasia: Thank you!

Anastasia: Verla - the cut and paste feature isn't working!

Anastasia: can you past in my bio? please

Verla: okay..I'll paste it for you, Anastasia

Anastasia: thanks!

Verla: THIS IS ANASTASIA TALKING: Anastasia Suen is the author of 16 children's books, including MAN ON

Verla: THE MOON (Viking) an American booksellers Pick of the List, BABY BORN

Verla: (Lee & Low), a Reach Out and Read Selection, and WINDOW MUSIC (Viking),

Verla: A Book of the Month Club Selection.

Verla: A credentialed teacher and

Verla: poet-in-residence, she presents poetry programs in schools, bookstores

Verla: and libraries.

Verla: As a textbook consultant, she has selected poetry for

Verla: phonics and mathematics textbooks series. She is currently writing

Verla: basals for a reading textbook series and speaking at schools,

Verla: bookstores, conferences, book festivals and universities.

Anastasia: thanks!

Anastasia: When you changes roles in life, it not only changes you

Anastasia: , it also changes the way people

Anastasia: treat you

Anastasia: I found this to be true after I sold my first book

Anastasia: I was an "author" now...

Anastasia: When I got "the call", I told everyone

Anastasia: Most people were happy for me,

Anastasia: but the demands started right away

Anastasia: When did my book come out, they wanted to know.

Anastasia: One family member regularly asked me

Anastasia: why my book wasn't out yet

Anastasia: and picture books take 2 years

Anastasia: to illustrate and bring out to the bookstores

Verla: Reminds you of that last month of pregnancy, doesn't it Anastasia?

Anastasia: yes!!!

Verla: MY picture books are taking 4 and 6 years, Anastasia!

Anastasia: And do they still ask you - over and over again?

Verla: Yes, they do, Anastasia.

Anastasia: sigh - my "first" book MAY come out in 2000

Anastasia: luckly, the 3rd one came out...first!

Verla: That's when I get my first book, too, Anastasia...2000. My 2nd & 3rd books will be out in 1999

Anastasia: crazy, isn't it!

Verla: yes, it certainly is.

Dani25: Why does it work that way?

Anastasia: the illustrator

Anastasia: didn't do the book, and kept it for 2 years

Anastasia: sigh

Verla: In my case, they had illustrator problems with the first book, so it got pushed back.

Verla: yep

Verla: It happens

Verla: Mine took 1 1/2 years to do the illustrations...then when they were done, they weren't acceptable..so the publisher paid the illustrator and cancelled the work and started over with a new illustrator

Anastasia: mine lied and said he had sent the book in... and he hadn't!

Anastasia: they made him send the $$ back

Dani25: Well, I'd hope so!

Anastasia: then it was back to square 1 - looking for a new illustrator

Verla: So you can see, that the road after acceptance is not always lined with gold and glitter

Anastasia: nope!

Verla: Okay...so now we have had to wait and wait and wait...

Anastasia: and wait some more!

Dani25: Do you feel pressure now that you have been accepted to keep writng at a certain level of expertise?

Verla: Yes!, Dani! I know I do, anyway...

Dani25: That's what I worry might happen

pearlsue: Dani--absolutely. Not a certain level--but BETTER than your first book(s)

Dani25: Groan

Anastasia: You're famous! People that I knew told me this constantly

Verla: Grin. Yes, people will make comments like, WOW! Now I know someone famous

Anastasia: and the reality was, I was NOT famous

Anastasia: When push came to shove

Verla: No. Unfortunately, it takes more than one book sale to become famous. (except for a VERY rare occasion)

Anastasia: I was "no-one". I was not Eric Carle or Jane Yolen

Anastasia: there is a pecking order!

Anastasia: and I , with my one book did not "rate" at all

Anastasia: , in the public's eyes, in the bookseller's eyes,

Anastasia: nor with the schools and the libraries

Anastasia: No crowds of people lined up to have their books signed. Ha!

Verla: I know authors that have had MANY books published that are still relatively unknown to the children's book world.

Anastasia: so true!

Anastasia: *you have to pay your dues all over again...

Anastasia: In the public eye

Verla: What? No crowds? Rats. I was hoping for BIG crowds....

Anastasia: no big crowds, unless they know you, Verla

pearlsue: Anastasia, Verla, what kind of 'help' do you get from your house's marketing departments?

Anastasia: Marketing help - not much the 1st year, pearl

Verla: So far, I have gotten NONE, pearl...but then, my first book is not out yet, either.

Verla: Are you getting more now, Anastasia?

Anastasia: Yes, I am now, verla

Anastasia: the mktg dept decides WHO gets the $$

pearlsue: Hmmm...so things like school visits, signings, etc.--you set up on your own?

Anastasia: Yes, I set everything up on my own the 1st year

Anastasia: confernces, bookstores, schools, mailings, phots, press releases

Verla: Are they helping you will all of that, Anastasia? Or is that what you did on your own the first year?

Anastasia: I did everything my first year, this year they did the bookstores

Anastasia: And I still have to find time to write NEW books

pearlsue: Anastasia--did you ask for help, the first year? I want to ask but would this be out of line?

Anastasia: They did pay the postage on my postcards

pearlsue: And Anastasia, when you say, you're getting some help now, what kind of form does that help take?

Anastasia: the marketing dept "booked" me for a season

Anastasia: It was a BIG help

Verla: just the bookstores?

Verla: does "doing" the bookstores mean they contacted them with info about your new book?

Anastasia: the marketing rep for bookstores called the chains here

Anastasia: and booked dates for me

Anastasia: a LOT of stores wanted me this time

Anastasia: because the request was coming from New York

Anastasia: and their offices

Anastasia: not little old me just asking in the store

Anastasia: where they all told me - it was too late to do anything

Anastasia: I missed the entire fall season that way!

pearlsue: Interesting, Anastasia...thanks, I'll remember that!

Verla: So it helps a lot to have booksignings set up by the publisher, then.

Anastasia: definitely!

Anastasia: it looks better that way

Anastasia: I also found out - do everything MONTHS in advance

Anastasia: 2 months minimum for a signing

Anastasia: they need time to typeset, etc

Verla: When do you need to set up for the fall season? To contact people/stores

Anastasia: they started calling in July

Verla: Oh. thanks, Anastasia

Anastasia: I had Public Relations photos done in June

pearlsue: One caveat--I had a friend who set up signings and visits for her first book, way in advance. Then the book did NOT come out as scheduled...so she had to do readings, etc. without any books to sell!!

Anastasia: scary!

Verla: Ouch. That's hard, pearl.

Verla: I did my first talk with no books...just illustrations and galleys....

Anastasia: me too!

Verla: but they KNEW my books weren't out yet before they hired me, so it was not a problem

Anastasia: I still do that, even in the bookstore

pearlsue: Hmmm...tough with an unillustrated middle-grade novel...

Anastasia: it's pre-selling

Anastasia: yes, that only works with picture books

Verla: Okay...what are some things a new author should watch out for, Anastasia? What kinds of things can cause problems?

Anastasia: Public person/ private person. (Thanks to Robin Pulver for this one!)

Anastasia: I saw that I had 2 roles now

Anastasia: As an author, I was a public person, and a private person

Anastasia: The public person made appearances

Anastasia: and spoke freely with complete strangers

Verla: hmmm. explain, please? Oh..you are...<blushing red>

Anastasia: The private person bared her soul and wrote books

Verla: ah....

Anastasia: I had decisions to make:

Anastasia: how much time I would spend on each

Anastasia: and indeed, what I would do, or not do...

Anastasia: (And all of this takes time.)

Dani25: Not do?

Anastasia: no can do - too tired!

Verla: yes, that is an important decision. Because when you are giving talks and signings you are not writing

pearlsue: Talks and signings--how much do they *really* affect sales?? (I'd rather be writing!!)

Verla: You mean like picking and choosing which events you would do?

Anastasia: I found they really affected sales!

Verla: They did? Good!

Dani25: I'm scared at the very thought of having to give talks

pearlsue: Wow! OK--good to know, Anastasia.

Anastasia: yes, picking and choosing events

Anastasia: what do you charge?

Verla: It IS scary at first, Dani.

Anastasia: where will you speak or not...

Verla: but after a while, it becomes FUN

Anastasia: speaking is like rding a bike

Anastasia: it comes back to you

Anastasia: as you do it more often

Dani25: I don't know how to ride a bike:-)

Anastasia: uh-oh, Dani

Verla: hmmm. Since I never had a bike, I wouldn't know about that, Anastasia...but I can speak!

Anastasia: oh, no, Verla!

Anastasia: I rode for hours as a kid!

whatie: that makes three of us who never learned to ride a bike :) anyone else? ;)

Verla: Hey! Back to writing talk, folks. The bike talk can wait til we are done.

Gaillynn: Anastasia do you have two books published now?

Anastasia: 3 books, gail

Anastasia: 16 under contract!

Gaillynn: Wow, I'm impressed

Verla: Wow. You have 16 books now under contract, Anastasia?

Anastasia: yes, 16

Dani25: 16. Wow

pearlsue: SIXTEEN!!!

Verla: I am REALLY impressed, Anastasia!

Anastasia: thanks, verla

Verla pushes Anastasia way UP on a pedestal...

Anastasia: I am writing those readers

^MS_SASE^: Gosh...you must be "famous" :-)

Anastasia: not famous! just busy

whatie: so, when will those sixteen books come out Anastasia? *grin*

whatie ducks

Anastasia: 3 are out now - 2 more trade books are being illustrated

Anastasia: the 11 readers come out on 2000 or later

Dani25: Do you have any more recognition now?

NOTE: This question was missed and did not get answered.

Gaillynn: I missed you at the last two SCBWI's meetings, now I know why.

NOTE: SCBWI = Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (Information link to their website can be found on the Links page of this website)

Verla: Anastasia has been a busy lady!

Anastasia: I have been writing fulltime since May!

Verla: 16 books under contract is a LOT.

Verla: all at once.

Anastasia: 3 are out now

Verla: So 13 are under contract still?

_Lyra: all picture books?

Anastasia: 5 pic books, 11 easy readers

Gaillynn: What one thing would you like to tell me as a new writer.

Verla: Yes, what would you recommend a new writer do to get published?

Anastasia: new writer: keep writing

Gaillynn: good advice! I will.

Anastasia: :)

Verla: Also...keep submitting. All the writing in the world won't get you published unless the editors see it.

Anastasia: yes yes yes

Anastasia: mail mail mail

Anastasia: find your writing voice, & study the market

Verla: Finding your voice is VERY important.

Anastasia: very

Anastasia: and you only find it - if you write

Anastasia: if

Anastasia: you

Anastasia: write

Verla: You need to keep writing until what you are writing feels like ONLY you...like no one else could ever write THAT story in just THAT way

Gaillynn: Do you advise against stories in verse?

Anastasia: nope

Gaillynn: I have done a really cute one I read to the group last month. They liked it.

Anastasia: I write poetry - and it sells

Anastasia: if that is your voice, then write it that way

Anastasia: but it has to be very good

Anastasia: or it stinks! :(

Verla: I do NOT advise against verse, gaillynn..only BAD verse. :-) Verse that doesn't really "sing" to the reader and tell a story - is NOT good to send to market.

Gaillynn: When you say good, exactly what do you mean? from a literary standpoint

Gaillynn: or from a story standpoint?

Anastasia: a poem that is a picture book has to tell a story and still be a perfect poem

Anastasia: it's tricky

Gaillynn: by perfect do you mean meter, etc?

Anastasia: yes

Anastasia: rhythm

Anastasia: rhyme

Anastasia: repetition

Anastasia: everything!

Anastasia: and the meaning has to be clear as a bell, too

Anastasia: character develpoement, etc

Verla: No wasted words. No words stuck in just because they rhyme...

Anastasia: easy to read, hard to write

Anastasia: and Verla and I write nonfiction, too

Anastasia: then all of the FACTS have to be right, also

Anastasia: it has to tell a story, too

Anastasia: with a story arc,

Dani25: It's very hard. For me, anyway

Anastasia: I storyboard everything!

Gaillynn: that helps

Verla: ¥es, gaillynn...everything MUST be perfect in verse for it to "work"

Gaillynn: Yes, I have studied that part.

Anastasia: writng without rhyme is a LOT easier

Verla: LOTS easier! And it is usually easier to sell prose than rhyme, too.

Verla: That's why it takes me 2-3 years to write ONE 200 word picture book in rhyme

Verla: It takes that long to work all the "kinks" out of the story

_Lyra: Verla is VERY patient...unlike me

ClaraRose: unlike me, too

Gaillynn: Do you and Verla have English degrees?

Anastasia: nope

Anastasia: I'm a teacher

Verla: I only have a high school degree, gaillynn

Gaillynn: Thanks verla, I feel better now.

Anastasia: it's your "ear" that you need, not a degree

Verla: I took one semester of college English...then I took the ICL (Institute of Children's Literature) correspondence course in my 40's.

NOTE: Information on ICL can be found on the Writer's Tips page of this website

Anastasia: and I dropped out of ICL

Dani25: Wow, so did I

Dani25: I dropped out because of financial difficulties

Anastasia: I studied with mentors instead

mick13: why did you drop out, Anastasia?

Anastasia: Pregancy!

Anastasia: I was in bed for 3 mos

Anastasia: (she's 10 now!)

Anastasia: and I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote

^MS_SASE^: I have a degree...I use it to impress the cat

_Lyra: I only have high school degree, too

_Lyra: But I have spent 12 years in IMARITER-University

_Lyra: (I am a writer University)

Gaillynn: Yes I do have some college also, including freshman english.

Verla: The BEST teachers are writing more and more...and reading GOOD books...more and more.

_Lyra: I READ a lot ...just finished my 130 book this year (half kid & half adult books)

Verla: Especially books that are the same kind as the ones you want to write

Anastasia: defintely the ones that are the same as you write

Gaillynn: I am so glad to have your book Man on the Moon. I look forward to the

Gaillynn: day I can read it to my grandchildren

Anastasia: thanks, gail

Gaillynn: Don't have any yet.

Anastasia: I read everything aloud

Anastasia: over and over again

Verla: Yes. With picture books, and even other stuff..I read all of it aloud.

Verla: It helps, too, to read to kids.

Verla: You can see what they like and don't like when you read to them.

Verla: So you can see what works and what doesn't work with them.

Dani25: How do you find the kids? (I don't have any)

Anastasia: schools

_Lyra: Verla volunteers at a library

Verla: Library story hour for toddlers

Verla: Or preschools

Verla: and schools for older kids

_Lyra: And I am thinking about volunteering to help in a classroom...if I get the nerve

Verla: Yes...schools LOVE volunteers

Dani25: You just go and ask if you can read a story? How does it work?

Verla: Call them, tell them you would like to volunteer as a reader...and tell them what age you want to read to.

Verla: They will usually be thrilled to have someone come in and read to the kids.

Verla: It frees a teacher (or two or three...) to do other things

Dani25: Do you read published books, or test out your new stories?

Verla: I would start with published books, dani.

Verla: See which ones they really like.

Verla: What they enjoy the most.

Anastasia: and what you enjoy, too

Verla: Sometimes, you can even sneak in a manuscript of your own.

Verla: Then, you can analyze those books and see how to make yours have the same "kid appeal"

Dani25: Sounds good

Anastasia: and see how much they wiggle

Anastasia: I call it "the wiggle factor"

_Lyra: cute, Anastasia (g)

Anastasia: thanks, Lyra!

Anastasia: if they wiggle too much, you know you've LOST them

Verla: The wiggle factor, eh? cute

Anastasia: thanks, Verla

_Lyra: When I read at a childrens' museum opening to 3 year olds, I read my friends' books (including GOOD KNIGHT by Linda R. Rhymill)

_Lyra: I have THREE really good ones to read now that I've collected

Gaillynn: If they all fall asleep, time for major rewrite.

Verla: And being around kids, will give you great ideas, too!

Gaillynn: You don't want "nap appeal"

Verla: no, no nap appeal

Verla: yikes. We only have 10 minutes left...

Anastasia: ok

Verla: Does anyone have any other questions?

Gaillynn: Let us think a minute

Verla: What about unpublished writers trying to scoot into your publisher's house on your coat-tails, Anastasia?

Anastasia: ooh my

Anastasia: that's a hot one

Verla: I have had people ask me to recommend them... and I don't even know what they write!

Anastasia: People call me and want my editor's name, Verla!

Verla: I always told them that I have NO influence with my publisher.

Anastasia: me, too, verla

mick13: If you had it to do over again, how would You have marketed your first book?

Anastasia: marketing - I would have started earlier with the bookstores

ClaraRose: start what with the bookstores?

Anastasia: start calling for storytime with the bookstores

Anastasia: I called after they were already booked for the season

Gaillynn: do you mean to sit in or to read your books?

Anastasia: to read my books, gail

Gaillynn: If a publisher really likes your story will you hear sooner than the time shown.

Verla: Sometimes, gaillynn..but not always! It depends on when they "found" it in the slush pile

Don_S: So Anastasia tell us some things about contracts things they leave out or sneek in.

Anastasia: contracts:

Anastasia: you do NOT want them to bundle the royalties from all of your book together

Anastasia: Let each book pay for itself

Verla: Yes, no book should be able to take away royalties from another one...if it doesn't "earn out" its advance.

_Lyra: lots of confusing phrasing that basically gives almost everything to the publisher

Anastasia: legalese

Anastasia: watch the option clause!

Verla: Yes! WATCH THE OPTION CLAUSE!

Anastasia: Payment upon publication... my first book MAY come out in 2000

Anastasia: and I sold it in 96!

Anastasia: make it say - upon publication or within 18 months or 2 years or something

Gaillynn: I see

_Lyra: The option is the BIG one

_Lyra: My agent made sure I only had to show each series book, not other works to that publisher

Verla: And MY first contract had a clause in it that was a KILLER.

Gaillynn: What's that

whatie: what clause?

Verla: My option clause said, "You have to show us your next picture book...and we have until 3 months AFTER PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST BOOK to make a decision on that book. You may not submit ANY picture books ANYWHERE else until we have made a decision."

Gaillynn: Verla what do you do about that now?

Gaillynn: could you have gotten them to change that?

Anastasia: you negotiate

Dani25: Yikes, Verla

Verla: And if I had signed that...I would have had to wait until the year 2000 to submit another book!

Verla: I sold my first book in 1994.

Anastasia: that's why we read the fine print

Gaillynn: So you just refused.

Verla: I told them I could NOT sign the contract with that clause in it...and they removed it.

Verla: changed it, I mean.

Gaillynn: A first time author is a little intimadated you know & might agree to that.

Dani25: Did you notice the clause yourself, or did a professional help you read it?

Christyy: is it something that a normal person could understand?

Verla: I used a book, christy & Dani

Christyy: what is it called? do you know?

Anastasia: read Mary Flowers book, it helps

Anastasia: it's about children's book contracts

Verla: I used Buisness & Legal Forms for Authors & Self-Publishers by Tad Crawford. Published by Allworth Press, NY

Christyy: how many pages is a contract? (estimate)

Anastasia: 4-8

Anastasia: tiny print!

Verla: LOL. My contracts have super itsy bitsy print....on legal size paper...and they are each 10 pages long. (and that's for 200 word books!)

redtail19: uh-oh, Verla--even with my reading glasses I can't *see* itsy bitsy print--lol

whatie: redtail: if you really can't see it, take it to a photocopy shop and copy it with magnification.

Gaillynn: Don't you have to agree on the phone to advance, before they will send a contract to you?

_Lyra: Often they will try to pin you down the for advance during the excited rush of the phone call...

Anastasia: But nothing is legal unless it's in writing

DonnaB2: How much is settled on the phone before a contract is sent out?

Verla: I told them the advance sounded good...

_Lyra: For the first book, you'd usually accept the advance, but check the clauses and you can always ask for more free books

Anastasia: free books are an easy giveaway for them

Gaillynn: how many free books are an acceptable amount?

Verla: I asked for more free books...they offered 10...I asked for 20 and GOT it. And at $16 per book...that's a nice little bonus.

Anastasia: free books - I ask for 15-20

DonnaB2: What do you do with the free books? Give as gifts to school libraries where you speak?

Anastasia: your family wants them all!

_Lyra: I asked for 25 books--but paperbacks, so not as expensive

Verla: My family will PAY for their books! I'll give'em my discounted price...

Verla: ONLY my grandchildren will get free books.

Verla: and my Mother In Law, of course

Gaillynn: of course

Anastasia: see, Verla it adds up! :)

Verla: I know it does.

ClaraRose: I don't know.. I think I might give a freebie to someone who might be a walking advertisement.

_Lyra: I often give my books away for free to libraries, kids, etc...but they are $3 paperbacks

Dani25: What is 'THE PHONE CALL' like? What do they say? What do you say?

_Lyra: The phone call is a breathless, dizzy moment, where you have no idea what you said later--so take notes

Verla: Yes, TAKE NOTES!

Anastasia: they mention an advance

Verla: they told me the amount of the advance and the royalties...

Verla: Then I told them to go ahead and send the contract and I'd look it over.

Harazin: What's a reasonable advance for a YA?

Anastasia: ?? I write picture books

Verla: Advances for first books can be anywhere from $500 to $3000, Harazin. But most first advances run around $1000 - $2000, I think.

Gaillynn: can you buy your own books at wholesale price?

Verla: Yes, that is also in your contract, gaillynn

_Lyra: usually...at 40 percent off

Gaillynn: that's pretty good.

Anastasia: without royalty - you can buy thenm 40% off from the publisher

_Lyra: If you know a bookstore, they can order your books at the 40% discount and you still get the royalty (if they work out a deal with you)

Verla: Yikes...we are out of time!

_Lyra: Nice job, Anastasia

Suzy-Q: Great job Anastasia.

DonnaB2: Thanks Anastasia and Verla.

whatie claps and cheers

redtail19: A-S thanks!

Dani25: Thanks, Anastasia

Anastasia: thanks!

Christyy: thank you A Suen

_Enchanted: Thank you, Anastasia

Suzy-Q hands Anastasia a gourmet caramel apple.

ClaraRose: good job

Anastasia: munch!

^MS_SASE^: Yes, very interesting Anastasia

Anastasia: thanks!

Suzy-Q: You're welcome.

Suzy-Q shoots silly string into the air for a job well done.

Verla: Anastasia! That was a GREAT workshop! Thank you SO much!

zbell: there goes SQ's silly string

Gaillynn: Verla thanks for setting this up..

Anastasia: yeah, Verla!

Verla: Ta da!

Don_S: Thanks for the workshop Anastasia. :)

Gaillynn: Bye now.

Suzy-Q untangles the mike cord from around mick.

Anastasia: bye

mick13: finally, I can breathe again

Suzy-Q: LOL

whatie smiles ;)

Suzy-Q: I have behaved for a whole hour... Fun time!

zbell: SQ, you behaved all that time?

zbell asks in amazement!

Suzy-Q: yes I did, aren't you proud of me?

Verla: I am VERY proud of you, sq!

Suzy-Q checks out mick to make sure he isn't damaged from the mike cord.

mick13: I'm ok SQ

Verla: Anastasia...you had a NICE sized crowd here. Most of the time 16-17 people at once.

Anastasia: hooray, Verla!

Verla: Hey! Next week's workshop is with Janis Waldrop...and it is on FINDING MARKETS

Anastasia: go janis!

ClaraRose: hmmm... sounds very interesting

zbell: yes!!! yes!!!! yes!!!

^MS_SASE^: I have been working on it...well, when I haven't been necking

^MS_SASE^: Newly engaged people are sooooo busy

Suzy-Q: necking? sounds interesting.

redtail19: necking????

Verla: Janis is our very own MS SASE...

Verla: from North Carolina. (Hear that accent?)

Anastasia: oh my

Suzy-Q: I haven't been necking in over 20 years!

^MS_SASE^: I have actually gotten some sales from the new market ideas I brainstormed up

Anastasia: while necking?

zbell has forgotten what necking its

_Lyra: what kind of sales, MS?

Verla thinks she never knew what necking was...

^MS_SASE^: No...when I am necking I concentrate, Anastasia

mick13: Janis, are you going to Southern Breeze?

^MS_SASE^: I don't think so, mick, if I got any busier my head would fall off

Suzy-Q wraps ^MS_SASE^ head with tape to prevent it from falling off.

mick13: tape is stronger than silly string

Verla: Use DUCT TAPE! It holds the world together.

Suzy-Q: I already did Verla

Verla: Don't lose your head, MS SASE!

^MS_SASE^: I shall try not to, Verla

Suzy-Q: Of course I used industrial strength duct tape.

zbell: you can fix anything with duct tape

^MS_SASE^: I dunno, my sweetie duct taped his car back together but it did not stay so well

Suzy-Q: I'm sorry if I hurt you, Mick

_Lyra: SQ hurt Mick?

_Lyra: Was it that silly string?

Suzy-Q: I got his head caught in the mike cord.

Suzy-Q: didn't notice it until the workshop was over with, and he was a lovely shade of blue.

zbell: SQ, that sounds painful

Suzy-Q: he said he was fine....

Suzy-Q: Good night Anastasia

job.

Anastasia: nite all :)

Verla: night, Anastasia. THANKS!!!!!!

Anastasia: you're welcome, thanks for asking me! :)

*** Verla has set the topic on channel #Kidlit to Writers & Illustrators of Children's Literature meet here