Scammers

I was answering some messages on MySpace yesterday and I saw an ad for a children's lit agency on my page. It caught my eye, as I'm pretty sure real agencies a) don't advertise, and b) wouldn't advertise on myspace!

So I clicked through and checked it out and it's called the Writers Literary Children's Agency and has a long song and dance about how legit they are and blah blah, but no actual bios of who the "agents" are, or their experience, or their authors.

I checked Preditors and Editors and of course they are strongly not recommended and considered a fraud. What I'm wondering, though, is what are they doing? They say they don't charge to read mss, and only make money if they sell something. But they don't seem to have sold anything and yet still pay to advertise.

Anyone know anything about these weird scam agencies? If they don't charge reading fees, why then do they bother?

*caroline hickey

Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood...

I am really stuck between two mss. One is a fun early middle grade, and the other is an angsty tween. One is zippy and plotty, and one is voicey and moody. I like them both. I think they both have potential. But diddling back and forth between the two of them every week or so is not helping me to make any progress. It's helping me to procrastinate! For me to write well, I need to fully invest myself in one of them, and for the life of me I can't decide which.

So what do I do? Let my writing group decide? My agent? Flip a coin? I've been asking my gut to tell me but it's got commitment issues.

Help me!

*caroline hickey

And the Oscar Goes to...

Yesterday the DC Kidlit Book Club met to discuss the ALA winners announced last week. One of our members, Susan Kusel, is a children's librarian and was in Denver at the conference so she shared with us the reactions of the audience as the winners were announced.

Similar to our awards discussion last year, there was a lot of disagreement about whether the "right" books got the big awards or were relegated to the position of Honor books. Particularly in the Caldecott category, where A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever was favored over The House in the Night. In the Printz category, Nation was highly praised as perhaps a smidge more Printz-y than Jellicoe Road. And in the Newbery category, we were (not surprisingly) all in agreement that The Graveyard Book was an excellent choice.

I still haven't read all the of the winners and honor books but that is my mission for the next few weeks. In March, our group meets again to discuss the Cybils winners which will be announced on the 14th. I love awards season!

*caroline hickey

PS- The darling baby in the picture is, sadly, not mine, but Amber Lough's son Henry. He is 10 weeks old. Fabulous, isn't he?