Sunday Funday! (30)

Happy Sunday everyone! I spent the day reading a few picture books, and let me tell you - they are AWESOME. I got a list from the assistant director of VCFA's Writing for Children and YAs MFA program called "100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know." (I also got "100 Books that Shaped the Century" and a few suggestions for books on craft. Needless to say, I have a lot of reading to do before January.) I decided to start my picture book reading this weekend, and grabbed a selection from my local library. Then I brought them home and read them aloud. To my dogs. (Maybe this makes me crazy. But I think picture books are meant to be read aloud, and I don't have kids. And hubs was sleeping.)

Of the books I brought home, the one I enjoyed the most was Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. It made me laugh out loud more than once, and the pictures complemented the words so perfectly. I think my dogs liked it, too, because Evie put her paws on me while I was reading, and she even sort of looked at the pictures a little.

OK, now that I've exposed my crazy for all the world to see (thus negating any credibility I may have had) and recommended a fabulous picture book, here are some of the best links from around the Web this week!  

Have you heard about Write on Con? I'm sure you have. But just in case you haven't, let me break it down for you. I bet you've always wanted to go to a writer's conference, but you haven't been able to afford the travel or hotel arrangements, or maybe the registration fees were too steep. Well now, some of your very favorite kid lit bloggers are bringing an online conference to you absolutely FREE!! It sounds phenomenal, and it's happening this summer.  I can't wait!

Over at the Query Tracker blog, 20 agents talk about what gets their attention in a query. (In a good way, not n a crazy-stalker way.)

Have you heard about QUERYPOLITAN? It is awesome. And hilarious. Just like its editor-in-chief. My greatest goal in life is to someday be the editor of a magazine as awesome as QUERYPOLITAN. I guess for now I'll stick with being a lesser editor of a financial magazine. Anyway, here are two fabulous articles from the "magazine." What 81 Percent of Agents Expect on the First Page and 50 Query Tricks


Forever YA Lit gives the low-down on ARC tours, along with some great links to tour sites.


My greatest weakness in writing is dialogue. A dialogue-heavy scene will take me for.ev.er. to write (which you know, if you follow me on Twitter and see my tortured frantic tweets.) Kody Keplinger, teen author of up-and-coming (and much buzzed about) The DUFF, guest blogged on The Other Side of the Story about how to write realistic teen dialogue. Being a teen, a writer, AND a person who can talk, I think Kody knows what she's talking about.

SlushPile Hell. Read it. That is all.

Have a great week everyone!