Z = ZZZZ!

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-six!

ZZZZZZ

I Completed the Challenge!

There are a lot of words that begin with the letter "Z" but for my final A to Z post I'm blogging about ZZZZZZZ because I'm off to sleep. Tomorrow starts bright and early with a flight to Austin, TX where I'll be participating in the Complete Children's Picture Book Workshop at the Writing Barn.

There is always something new to learn and I look forward to meeting new people who are as passionate as me about
what they do.
Goodnight!
 

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

Y = Year

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-five

YEAR

For authors who do school visits, there is a calendar year and a school year. This school year I had the opportunity to visit many wonderful schools and meet some fabulous principals, media specialists, and most importantly those parents who volunteer their time. It was a difficult task scheduling school visits around PARCC testing in March which is typically my busiest time of the year for visits and I only had to reschedule two visits due to the snow. Now it's time to hang my book dress up in the back of my closet until September. As my school year ends my calendar year has just begun.

 Since my school visits are complete for  this school year, I treasure the extra time to write. It's also that time of the year when the weather turns beautiful and you want to spend time outdoors. But this early in the calendar year is when I nurture all those ideas and seeds I planted during the winter months. 2015 started without a list of writing any goals, which is something new for me. Instead I made one goal for the entire year. That was to spend time each day to help advance my writing career. So far, this has helped in making this year a productive one. I look forward to seeing what the rest of this year brings!

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

 

X = Xylophone

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-four

XYLOPHONE

Because I'm using the children's dictionary for my A to Z challenge I have a choice of only four words: Xerox, Xmas, Xray, and Xylophone. Now that presents a challenge!

I chose xylophone because it's a musical instrument with bars of different lengths that are struck to give different notes. Writing often reminds me of music.

There are so many books out there on the same subject, theme, or story yet depending on how the author strikes their words they can create something new. Like the xylophone combines different notes, authors can combine words and sentences of different lengths in a unique way. Each author brings their own rhythm and style to make their story sing.

Imagine a xylophone next time you're writing and try to combine your words in new and exciting ways to make your story sound like music to your reader's ears.

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

 

W = Write-In

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-three

WRITE-IN

If the weather is bad or schedules just don't jive, your critique group might want to try a write-in. My group did several of these this past winter. What is a write-in? You basically don't go out, you write in.

First, we decide on a two or three hour window that everyone is available. Then we agree to start at a certain time, let's say 9 a.m. for example. We check in at 9 a.m. via email and begin writing for one hour. At 10:00 a.m. we check in with each again via email. At this point, we either exchange what we worked on via email or we share it in Google Docs. We spend the next 30 minutes or so critiquing each other's work with general comments, this takes us to around 10:30 a.m. Then we write for another hour based on the feedback we received from each other. At 11:30 we stop again and share our works in progress. Then if time allows we spend another 30 minutes commenting.

This process worked well this winter when bad weather kept us from traveling to our meeting place. Our time was already carved out so we wanted it to be productive. In other instances, when the day of the week or time of day didn't work for us, we figured out a time that allowed us to work from home.

The guidelines for our write-ins are flexible and can depend on what each one of us wants to accomplish, which we usually state before we start. The important thing is that we use our time productively and sometimes that means not going out but writing in.

 

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

V = Volunteer

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-two

VOLUNTEER

I'd like to use the letter "V" to remind people to volunteer. I used to volunteer a lot when my daughters were in school. I choreographed plays, created costumes, chaperoned trips, and whatever else I was able to do to help. Book fairs were the best, except that time I agreed to dress in that Clifford costume!



Cub Scouts

When my children were no longer in school, I have to admit, it was a bit of relief not to have so many commitments. But I also felt a void. I realized that with grown children I had more time to commit to my writing career so I wanted to commit some of that time to volunteering as an author. I like to encourage others to do the same.

Some ways you can volunteer as an author is to offer to do free Skype visits. When a librarian took extra time to write a letter to my publisher to tell them how much they enjoyed using my joke books in her school and how much they enjoyed the books, I decided to give back with a free Skype visit.


Gigi's



Career Day

 Consider doing free author visits for children who might not otherwise experience meeting an author.  For me that meant visiting a children's hospital. Check your local newspaper and calendar of events for organizations in your community that might benefit from your services. That's how I discovered Gigi's and was able to arrange a special author 

Children's Hospital

visit with a holiday-themed craft. Consider a volunteering for a Career Day or a scouting event. These are just a few ways authors can give back.






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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

U = Universal

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty-one

UNIVERSAL

What is a universal theme for a book? It's basically something that be shared or understood by everyone, often based on emotions. Common universal themes for children's books include friendship, family, and loss.

But how do you use universal themes in your own writing? When I start out writing a new story I don't think about the universal theme or if it ties to curriculum. I create a story from my heart. In doing so I trust that a universal theme will emerge. I recently started working on a new picture book idea. My first draft didn't have a clear theme. As I revised my story, a universal theme was quick to show itself and I was able to start to take the story in a more focused direction. As the creative process continues I make sure that my story stays true and focused to this universal theme.

For information on universal themes, you can check out:
101 Common Book Themes and Common Themes in Children's Literature

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.



T = Tap

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Twenty

TAP

I chose the word "tap" for the letter "T" because of course the blog is about reading, writing, AND dancing. Besides writing, tap dancing is another passion of mine. I share this with students at school visits because I think it's important to know how things you're passionate about can shape your writing. I've been tap dancing for almost my entire life as a student and a teacher, so how could it not influence my writing?



 

The rhythm from my taps has worked its way into creating rhythm for my stories. I discovered early on, from editors, that my writing had rhythm before I even knew what rhythm in writing was. I knew it was a good thing but it took me a little while to figure out how it existed without me intentionally trying to add it. I knew it came naturally for me but I didn't know why. I eventually realized that the tap rhythms I am able to create with my feet also flow easily through my fingertips. I hear things that maybe other people don't. The need for an extra beat. A pause. An accent. Call it what you will but to me it's tap dancing through my fingertips.

 



Me with my two daughters who also enjoyed tapping!

Besides tap dancing allowing me to create rhythms, it is also the theme of many of my fiction stories. Sometimes my story begins with a dance theme, other times it works its way into the story. It can be in a small detail, like a name (Mrs. Tapp) or an entire character or plot. I especially like to feature tap dancing because I feel like it is a dance form that is often overshadowed by a more popular theme of ballet but sometimes it's because I have this fear of tap dancing becoming a lost art.

That's me on right tapping next to Gregory Hines!

 

I even tap danced on the Rosie O'Donnell Show!

 

I encourage writers of all ages to take what they're passionate about and use it in their writing in some way, shape or form. Your passion will shine through and help make your writing a unique experience for both you and your readers. 

 

Tapping at a fundraising event.

Tap's it for now, folks!

 

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

 

S = Sleuth

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Nineteen

SLEUTH

You need to be a super sleuth to write great nonfiction so it's no surprise that I always wanted to be this guy . . .

Columbo! I watched this show all the time. Little did I know that someday I would be writing mysteries of my own and using my sleuthing skills to uncover fascinating facts for my nonfiction books. My goal when writing nonfiction is to uncover some little known fact or facts about a particular topic. I found the best way to do this is to track down primary sources and interview them over the phone or in person. I find through conversation, as opposed to just a laundry list of questions, you are able to uncover golden nuggets of information. I even had a primary resource that searched his attic for photos that he was willing to contribute to one of my books. Sleuths often don't work alone.

As a nonfiction sleuth you might have to work your way through gatekeepers and relatives or past secretaries and assistants. But I've found that persistence pays off and when you are finally able to connect with an expert in a particular field they are usually passionate about what they do and are willing to share their knowledge. Sleuths search libraries, historical records, newspapers, and do whatever it takes to track down the information needed to write a great book.

Research is what kept from initially writing nonfiction. What I discovered is that although it's the hardest part of the job, it's also what I love most about it. I think Columbo would be proud!  

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

R = Reading

 

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Eighteen

 

READ

 

 

Want to become a better writer? Read!

I take home a new haul of books from the library around every two weeks. I create an ongoing list of books that I want to read and then reserve them through my public library. When I go to pick them up I also browse the new book section and add some of these (okay, a lot of  these) to my bag.  I read each of these books looking for mentor texts and to decide what I like and don't like about them and why. It's a great way to discover new formats for my own stories. Then I decide which stories I want to type up and save in my "book studies" file. Typing them helps me remember them better and embeds them into my brain so hopefully some of those same techniques will work their way into my own stories. It's like when I write a grocery list and even though I forget the list at home, the fact that I wrote it helps me remember it. It's also helpful to go back to this file when I'm looking for mentor texts. I'm at Barnes and Noble once a week, so I try to browse what they have on their shelves that I wasn't able to find at the library.

 

You never stop learning how to become a better writer and reading is one thing that I think whether you're a beginning or a seasoned writer, you must read what you want to write!

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.

Q = Quandary

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Seventeen

QUANDARY

Often, as writers, we find ourselves in a quandary about a particular story. We become confused about our characters. Do they have enough personality? We don't know what to do to create a better story arc. We're confused about our ending.

HELP!!!!

I thought I would share some of the things I do when I find myself in a writing quandary.

I often go for a walk. Alone. No music. No distractions. I don't try to problem solve. I just allow my mind wander and many times by the end of my walk I have several options that might help me move forward in my story.

Other times, I do something else creative like scrapbooking or coloring. I find if I take a break from my story and my problem but still do something creative then when I return I am able to think with a fresh mind.

Many of my quandaries are resolved in the shower. Not sure why, but I take a shower whether I need one or not. If I'm in the middle of a writing project than most likely I need one anyway.

Most of my quandaries are solved in that place right before I fall asleep. That's why I always keep a notepad and pen next to my bed. Too often I've allowed myself to fall asleep thinking I will remember my solution in the morning only to find myself in the middle of a whole new quandary when I wake up.

I find that changing the scenery helps too. I have all my resources at my fingertips at my desk but I also have distractions. I might go to a local eatery, coffee shop, or just go sit out on the deck with my laptop.

In the end when I finally persevere (yesterday's word) my biggest quandary becomes whether to reward myself with a glass of red wine or white wine. Decisions, decisions!

P = Persevere

A to Z Blog Challenge: Day Sixteen

PERSEVERE

Persevere . . . persist . . . you choose. But I can assure you, if want to be published these two verbs must be in your vocabulary. I've also often referred to it as being stubborn, but that sounds so negative.Those who don't have the ability to persist or persevere will likely give up writing long before they are published. There have been many times in my life when my perseverance and persistence has gotten me into trouble. More times than I care to count. It wasn't until I began writing that I realized to persevere and to persist were essential if I was ever going to become a successful published writer.
I think the best way to teach someone how to persevere or persist is show them by example. Believe me there are those times when you want to just give up, throw in the towel, and quit. Fortunately, for me that lasts less than two minutes. That's the power of perseverance and persistence!

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Linda Bozzo has published more than 50 nonfiction books for the school and library market. For more information about Linda and her books, you can visit her website.