All Things Middle Grade

Eldritch

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I am soooooo jealous!!! I've been trying for three days! Maybe tomorrow's my lucky day.

I almost got it on the second day. I made it as far as the quill, but before I could get to registration, it was closed.

Good luck tomorrow. Make sure you have book 4 nearby so you can use it to answer the trivia question.
 

MorganMarshall

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Hi again! Thank you for all the welcomes. :) I just got the internet back at home (though it doesn't work for everything; apparently wordpress is having issues... pfft), so I can spend a lot more time here.

As far as platform is concerned, I've just started building mine with Twitter, Wordpress and forums (SCBWI and here). The point is to get your name out there so that when you query agents and editors, they can find you easily with a search and see that you're out there and people know who you are. What I've discered from my research on the subject is that they want writers who can market themselves so that they know they're making a good business decision in signing you. So... against my anti-popular-stuff rule, I signed up for Twitter. Pfft. Of course, my friends on Facebook (I know what I JUST said... don't judge ;-), are very happy that I'm no longer posting tons on inane stuff there, since I'm now doing it on Twitter!

My kids know my website. EVERYTHING I write there is G-Rated. ;-)
 

Morrell

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Hiya Morgan! Glad you found your way over. As soon as you rack up 50 posts, you'll be able to post on SYW if you're still looking for crits. AW kidlit folks are the best!
 

elissacruz

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Hey, MGers, here's a blog you will love. Perhaps you know of it already?!

Check out this great list of wonderful MG reads they've posted. :)

http://mglitchat.blogspot.com/2011/07/list.html#more

Thanks for the #MGlitchat blog shoutout, timp67!

I did want to point out that our #MGlitchat blog is more a repository for the transcripts of Twitter chats we have each Thursday 9pm EST (everyone's invited to chat with us, so drop by anytime). For those looking for more in-depth MG info, I thought I'd pass along a link to this blog:

www.fromthemixedupfiles.com

It has MG booklists galore and more information about all things middle-grade than you'll be likely to find anywhere else. It's just as cool as the #MGlitchat blog.

(I'll admit I'm biased, though, since I'm the mastermind behind both blogs.) :)

For those who want a quick link to the book lists, here you go: http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/book-lists/

Happy MG reading!
 
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elissacruz

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Oh, and hi. I've been lurking here since 2009, but never found a good reason to post until now. I've been trying to connect MG writers together for the last year or so, so I am happy to find this thread! *waves at my new MG pals*
 
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Smish

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Oh, and hi. I've been lurking here since 2009, but never found a good reason to post until now. I've been trying to connect MG writers together for the last year or so, so I am happy to find this thread! *waves at my new MG pals*

Glad you came out of lurkdom. :D

You should pop in more often. And you should enter the awesome kidlit contest we have going on right now. :)
 

Mclesh

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Hello, everyone! I've been lurking for quite a while. I was excited to see the announcement for the kidlit contest, so I immediately sat down, wrote a story and sent it in.

My BFF is Ramona the Pest, and I've read THE SECRET GARDEN and THE LITTLE PRINCESS at least four times each. The Hardy Boys, anything by Judy Blume -- I absolutely love children's literature! In 2008, as a hobby and because we wanted to put something positive out in the world, my husband and I created our website StoryRhyme.com. That's really when I started writing -- children's stories and the site's blog. (For those of you wondering what to write about on your blogs, I knew nothing about what a blog was when I started. But the more you write, the easier it gets. It's a mishmash of, basically, life observations. Home, school, family, work -- you name it. But the challenge was to keep it G-rated since our site is family friendly. Sadly, the past year I haven't really kept up with it regularly because of a lack of time.)

For the past year and a half, I've been writing YA and MG with my first two books out to agents right now. (Biting my nails.)

Looking forward to spending time here. (But not too much time because I have writing to do!)

Thanks for the tip on #MGlitchat!

(I started reading this thread from the beginning but stopped after the first hundred or so posts when I noticed my vision was beginning to fail.) :)
 

MsJudy

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Good grief! I was gone for TWO DAYS and you guys rounded up 3 more friends! Nice work.

Welcome, Morgan, McLesh and elissa!
 

timp67

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welcome_mat.jpg
 

timp67

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Wow...that turned out nearly life size. :)
 

elissacruz

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Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! Yeah, I should have de-lurked a long time ago, but I really don't need to be online any more than I already am. Trust me on this. ;)

But I'll *try* to remember to check in here more often. It may be awhile before I do, though. I'm slightly (ha! Try "insanely") busy preparing a presentation I'm giving with my fellow Mixed-Up authors at Kidlit Con next month, plus we're launching our next Skype author giveaway at the Mixed-Up Files blog in a few weeks, and I'm fielding a ton of requests for other various blog-related stuff, too. It's crazysauce in my inbox right now!

(And now you know why I lurk. No time to actually post anything.)
 

that redhead

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I'm so new that I may still have my new car smell. :) Mind if I join in? I'm in the editing phase my first book--it's middle grade, of course.

~JoAnne
 

CheG

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Went to pick the bones of Borders last weekend and came home mostly MG.
I got The Magic Thief bk 2
Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish
School of Fear
and something called Dormia.

I only had $40 or I would have got more!
 

Morrell

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Went to pick the bones of Borders last weekend and came home mostly MG.

Me too. I got:
Bed-knob and Broomstick
The Girl Who Could Fly (Victoria Forester)
The Book of Elsewhere (Jacqueline West)

And in non-MG:
The Lacuna. The hardback cost less than $5, which is really quite sad, but I'm glad to have it.

The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. I read it on the way to/from Omaha, and I highly recommend it! I found it far more readable than most books on writing.

And hello & welcome to Elissa and JoAnne... and anyone else I missed.
 
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trirae

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Can I step in and say, "hi"? Been getting my feet wet all over, and this my genre, but I'm most nervous about joining all you wonderful experts.