Writers’ Mill Minutes Feb 21st 2021
We tried out a new Zoom meeting format this month, with a ten-minute snack-and-get-to-know-you break in the middle, to emulate those delicious snack breaks we used to have in real life. Matthew reminded us that this was the one-year anniversary of our last real-world meeting, so a good date for reinstituting snacks. Also we have lots of knew people who we’d love to get to know. In fact, we had so many members at the meeting, there were too many for a single Zoom screen for while! A great achievement, and we hope you all enjoyed the meeting.
Zita opened the meeting with an amazing (animated) display for the contest awards:
- First place went to David Porter for his poem “A Physics of Our Lives”
- Second place went to Haylee Ergenekan for her poem “The Reader”
- And third place went to Ruth Leibowitz for “Let Me Count the Ways: Things That Are True”
The complete list of entries is:
| David Porter | A Physics of Our Lives | poem |
| Catherin Violante | Before Today | poem |
| Joanne DeHaan | Candles | story |
| Lester Roddy | Count Me | story |
| Sheila Deeth | How to be Psychedelic | story |
| Iain Yuill | Kisses | poem |
| Michael Fryer | Let Me Count | poem |
| Ruth Leibowitz | Let Me Count the Ways: Things That Are True | story |
| Von Pelot | Remembering | poem |
| Jessie Collins | School At Last | story |
| Darrel Boyd | Stubs | poem |
| Catherin Violante | Telling Words | poem |
| Peter Letts | The Milkmaid | story |
| Haylee Ergenekan | The Reader | poem |
| Robin Layne | Where Did You Get That Five? | essay |
| Mindy Black | Why I’m Not Going Home | essay |
Jim Mockford was our speaker this month, and gave an engaging and fascinating talk about the creation and distribution of a picture book, plus the added inconveniences of Covid. See below for notes from his talk.
Then we broke for “snacks.”
Then Matthew led a critique of Catherin and Iain’s upcoming poetry book, Poems and Po-yums. We started with one of Catherin’s poems, then one of Iain’s, then the book blurb, then the cover, so it really was a critique of the whole book creation process.
In critiquing the poems, we covered such topics as:
- The relative importance of image and literalism in poetry. How does metaphor affect the reader, and how tied to reality do metaphors need to be?
- The value of sound and word repetition: e.g. “Breathless, beautiful” repeating the “b” sound, and “… would find you / … would find me” repeating words. We talked about hoe words echo against each other, and how that provides emphasis and depth to the poem.
- The importance or otherwise of honesty in poetry: e.g. Can a poet says “If I were a poet” to start a thoroughly poetic poem? We concluded that the question implies a feeling deeper than just the words, a desire to express something too big for words. So maybe it’s honest of feeling rather than honesty of fact that’s required.
- The value of “soft rhymes”: e.g. “end, sent” “trashed, passed” “hearth, worth”
- The value of rhythm and how it creates its own punctuation
- Poetic structure – tight vs loose rhyming, right vs loose rhythm
- The concept of poetic motion, where a poem takes the reader from, say, a building to the general passerby to a specific passerby
- How to tell when a poem is finished. What sort of emotion do we want to leave the reader with. Is it okay to leave the reader wanting more?
- And then… how does reading vs. hearing a poem work? Both Catherin and Iain read their poems. We all thoroughly enjoyed hearing them. But to what extent does a poem have to work even for the outside reader? This led to further questions below:
- How do capital letters function as punctuation in poetry: e.g. “… trashed / its laughter…” might be read as “trashed its laughter.” Is a line-end sufficient to avoid this, or should a capital letter or a period be used to separate the “sentences,” or does it depend on how punctuation is being used in the rest of the poem?
- So, thinking of punctuation, to what extent can you recognize and remove unnecessary commas?
- Finally, Iain’s poem included a picture, so we asked to what extent a poem can assume the reader sees and understands the image, and to what extent it should stand alone. We concluded that standing alone might require the use of more nouns.
In critiquing the book blurb, we questioned whether a subtitle “sublime to the ridiculous” would require the poems inside to start with sublime and move toward ridiculous; how to make a blurb stand out from other blurbs – what might need to be included or left out; and specifically whether the fact of the authors’ meeting during Covid should be left out as a overused concept.
You can find the back cover images at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cover-3.jpg, https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cover-2.jpg, and https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cover-1.jpg. We discussed:
- How the image conveys the ideas of separation and together
- How color choices convey mood or genre
- How images that mean a lot today might mean less when Covid is gone (who will remember elbow-bumps?)
We ended the meeting with a reminder of upcoming contests (and even a brief suggestion of a writing exercise:
- March: Winds of Change https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/march-2021-contest-page/
- April: Sea and Me https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-2021-contests/
- May: The Mystery of…
All contest entries should be emailed to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org by the end of the first Sunday of the month, 1200 word limits, any genre. And if you want to try that writing exercise, here it is:
For a Winds of Change writing exercise:
- Think of a type of wind – storm, emotion, spiritual… – and write one sentence using the word “wind” to set the scene.
- Think of a type of change and write one sentence using the word “change” to create the conflict.
- Then write a one sentence conclusion to your (very short) story or poem.
And then send it in, of course!
Our next meeting is on March 21st (third Sunday of the month) when Cindy Brown will lead her much-anticipated novel-writing workshop. It should be invaluable for all of us writers, whether we prefer story, poem or essay. And we’ll look forward to seeing you all.
The Story of a Bilingual Picture Book in a Time of Covid, from Jim Mockford’s talk, 02/21/21
Sheila met Jim Mockford at a Willamette Writers’ virtual coffee morning, and was fascinated by all the ways he was planning to advertise his book, so she and Jean invited him to speak to us and were delighted when he accepted. We were even more delighted when he joined our group as a new member a few months back!
What prompted him to write this book?
Jim started writing The Kite that Touched the Sky when his first two grandchildren were born, continents apart—one in China and on in the US. He wanted to create a bilingual picture book involving his grandchildren and kites. His daughter Jenny Famer is the co-author.
As Jim reminded us, there was once “pingpong diplomacy” between our two countries, back in the seventies. In the eighties, “kite diplomacy” began, and Jim won a truly amazing dragon kite trophy at the 1987 Weifang International Kite Festival in Weifang, China. He’s also been involved in the World Kite Festival at Long Beach WA (the longest beach in the world). As Jim worked on his book, displaying and engaging in readings from a preview copy, his Chinese contacts results in an invitation to visit Wuhan… just before Covid. The visit, of course, was cancelled. But the book release continued.
How did he decide to self-publish the book?
Jim’s daughter was interested in business, so after meeting people at a Willamette Writers Conference, Jim decided to self-publish with help and support from Luminare Press: https://www.luminarepress.com/ Conferences are a great way to meet people, find out what has worked for other people, and get suggestions and contact information.
The book is published by Kumquat Kids Productions: https://kumquatkids.com/.
How did he find an illustrator?
Theresa Johnson illustrated childrens picture books about Rojo the Llama, and… well, a dragon-kite in the air is not so different from an animal on the ground. If you go to Theresa’s website, https://theresajohnson.com/, you’ll not only see the sort of books she’s worked on, but also learn about concepts such as character design, storyboard art, and more.
How does translation work in a bilingual book?
The initial translation into Chinese was done in the US by Willow Zheng. Jim’s Chinese daughter-in-law, Lynn Xiaoyu Wang Mockford, then made revisions based on how the language would play to young listeners. If you’re looking for serious translation, you should start with a translation of the text, then “test” your translation on your intended audience.
Also, a bilingual book might be used for ESL education, so Jim used used https://lexile.com/ to check on the reading level of the English text.
How did he make the cover?
The “preview copy” had a cover, but the final cover uses different fonts for the Chinese text. Fonts matter!
How did he advertise the book before its release?
- Jim (and family) gave readings from the “preview
version” of the book and translation from 2018-2019, making appropriate changes
over time. These would happen at:
- Libraries
- Chinese immersion classes in elementary schools
- Locations related to the book (such as the Kite Festival)
- Jim set up social media accounts, which provide
a way to connect with people who have similar interests – children, picture
books, China, dragon-kites etc, not just with fellow writers, and gave him a
good place to advertise his book:
- Facebook – Kumquat Kids Productions page on Mockford link to book groupsFacebook
- Instagram – Kumquat Kids Productions page on Instagram
- Twitter–Kumquat Kids Productions Twitter account
- Linkedin – Jim Mockford https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmockford/ (and yes, LinkedIn does have children’s groups!)
- And he set up his website with the help of Waterlink in Portland, https://waterlinkweb.com/. He’s got a very cool logo there, and logos definitely help.
The book launch was scheduled for 2020, with release parties at the Willamette Writers Conference and the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators https://oregon.scbwi.org/). Of course, Covid turned the conferences into virtual events.
How do you do a reading (or virtual reading) for children?
Props help. The story is about a baby seeing a kite on the ceiling of his room and wanting to reach it. Then he sees dragon kites and wants to fly them. Then he visits Portland… In reading to children, Jim uses a model kite to attract their attention. And in readings for larger groups, where he’ll read to the children and interact with the adults afterward. His website includes coloring projects for kids, which would keep them occupied while he talks to the parents.
Where would you do a reading?
Having real locations in the storybook helps with community engagement, as do real-world details. For example:
- the arrival in Portland includes an image with the PDX carpet
- Kite-flying includes the World Kite Festival in Long Beach, WA
- Chinese language offers the chance to speak at Chinese immersion programs such as the one at Woodstock Elementary.
- The Chinese Garden
- Chinese museums
How did he plan to market and advertise the book before Covid?
- SCBWI 2020 – plan for announcement at Summer Spectacular
- Willamette Writers – Member News
- Kiting Magazine – World Kite Museum and American Kite Association, WFGKC “5 Kite Stories from 2020”
- Chinese Language Schools – International School, Woodstock Elementary, Chinese Language Teachers Assoc. OR
- Orion Mandarin Authors and Illustrators Book Fair – California
- China related organizations: Lansu Chinese Garden, Portland-Suzhou Sister City Association, S Northwest China Council Chinese New Year 2021 Door Prize, Portland Chinatown Museum Winter Book and Art Bazaar
- Independent Publishing Resource Center – Zine
- Independent Bookstores – Dicken’s Children’s Books Vancouver WA –closed. Powells PDX Airport store closed-
- Local – Green Bean, Broadway, Annie Bloom’s, Powell’s online, etc.
- Libraries: Words & Pictures Festival Fort Vancouver Regional Library, Multnomah County Library
- AMAZON – Review, Other online stories such as AbeBooks, Alibris, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Goodreads,etc.
How does he market now, with Covid lock-downs?
Jim uses his website and blog, posting lots of pictures.
- Starting from pictures of Jim holding his book in different locations, he goes on to:
- Holding the book in front of local bookstores, with info on how to order it locally to support struggling businesses (sadly, some of those stores have gone out of business)
- Holding the book in specific locations related to the book
- Letting a statue hold the book for “book sightings”
- Fastening a mask on the book, for a “book unmasking”
He wanted to sell through local bookstores first, but was frequently asked “is your book on Amazon.” Although local stores won’t buy if you publish through Amazon (he published through IngramSpark https://www.ingramspark.com/) they do like to see an author page and book reviews, which are easiest to get through Amazon.
Various community organizations are hosting virtual events too:
- Northwest China Council https://nwchina.org/
- Portland Chinatown Museum https://www.portlandchinatownmuseum.org/
- Lansu Chinese Garden https://lansugarden.org/
- Multnomah County Library It’s Storytime https://multcolib.org/its-storytime
- Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators – Oregon https://oregon.scbwi.org/
- Willamette Writer’s https://willamettewriters.org/
- World Kite Museum http://www.worldkitemuseum.com/
Plus, his website offers a place to “meet” him and his book. There’s a QR code on the back of the book which takes readers to his website. And on Instagram he advertises with an Instagram square.
Thank you Jim, for a really entertaining and informative session.