Friday, May 22, 2009

Friday Links

Hi folks,

I'm not calling today "Fabulous Friday" because of my previous post. I know you'll understand. But today is (or was) STILL a good day because, well, it's the start of the Memorial Day weekend. And the sun did shine beautifully today. Well, at least here in the NYC/NJ area it did.
So without further ado, here's my news for today:

1) First, I want to offer my CONGRATULATIONS again to one of my newest writer friends, Tess Hilmo, on getting . . . AN AGENT!! WHOO HOO!!! See this post to see how she surprised her readers with the news. Also, if you have time, check out her book trailer. It's wonderfully captivating. I just know this book will be snapped up by an editor/publisher soon!

2) Attention all children's writers:
Registration for the 2009 Rutgers One-on-One Plus Conference is now OPEN.
Having attended the conference last year, I can honestly say that my work-in-progress has really improved. And I have to give credit to the editorial assistant I was assigned to for that improvement. The suggestions/ideas she offered were dead-on, and really made me think more about where I wanted to go with my storyline. I was so excited I started writing out scenes right after my one-on-one session! My mentor was Shauna Fay, an editorial assistant (she may be an asst. editor now) from G.P. Putnam's Books for Young Readers. Folks, she is sharp! And, she's very much interested in historical fiction. Yay!

For official details, go here. The deadline for applications is JULY 8th! Good Luck!

3) Aspiring author Casey McCormick of Literary Rambles shines the Agent Spotlight this week on Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident Media Group, LLC. Very informative! Thanks, Casey! You've got me looking forward to this every week now.

4) Aspiring author Beth Revis over at writing it out interviews Cindy Pon, debut author of the much-heralded historical fantasy novel, Silver Phoenix. I don't usually read fantasy but I'd LOVE to read this! It sounds like an awesome story! And the cover is gorgeous, too.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone!
:)

8 comments:

Casey Something said...

Thanks Crystal! I'll be focusing on the agents doing breakout sessions for the SCBWI LA conference up for the next several weeks. A couple are on the list you sent. I'll also have time to fit in a few of the others you requested.

: )

Have the best weekend you possibly can. Try not to worry too much.

Crystal said...

Thanks, Casey! I'm looking forward to those agent profiles, even though I'm not going to the LA conf.

Unknown said...

Oh, thanks for linking to my interview!

You'll love Cindy's new book...it's been great so far, and I can't wait to finish it!

Crystal said...

You're welcome, Beth! I'm really looking forward to reading Cindy's book!

Jean said...

Crystal,

Welcome to my blog. I'm sorry I haven't zipped over sooner to welcome you personally.

I look forward to seeing your name on a book jacket some day!

Jean
http://www.jeanmatthewhallwords.blogspot.com

Crystal said...

Thanks so much for those kind words, Jean! I'm glad to see you made it over here. Hope you enjoyed your time here at my blog!

Tess said...

Thanks for the shout out friend! I hope you are having a better week and that good news is just around the corner :)

And, regarding the book trailer -- YOU CAN DO IT! Just go to 'onetruemedia(dot)com and sign up -- I also had to sign up for a flickr(dot)com account. This is what I did:

I signed up on flickr.

Then I wrote a basic script.

Then I thought of what kind of pictures would go with each line in the script.

Then I searched for them on flickr (for example, I typed in 'candle' or 'heart' --just click the 'search' word at the bottom and then type the search key word in the box at the top)

Once I found the pic I liked, I right clicked on it, chose 'send to' then chose 'desktop'

Once all the pics were on my desktop, I went to one true media. Their basic trailer set up is all there...easy to follow and free!

It gave me the option to bring in the pics that were easily found on my desktop

At the end, I brought in the music

You can totally figure it out!! It takes time to search flickr for all the pictures and some time to work out your script -- but it is easier than it looks. Give it a try...I can't wait to see your awesome trailer once you've got it all done!

Crystal said...

Tess, girl, you have more faith in me than I have in myself. God bless you! One day soon I am definitely going to give this book trailer thing a try. Thanks so much for those step-by-step instructions . . . I feel like The Little Engine That Could . . . "I think I can, I think I can"!