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Contest Winners and Cool Links

Apr 11, 2010 | | 12 Comments

Congratulations to the seven winners of the Shopping in Korea Contest!!!!!

Here they are:
Silk Bag- Karen Gowen
Bookmark- Jennifer Hammons
Mini Notebook- Julie Dao
Purse- Carol
Necklace- Naomi Thomspon
Coasters- PJ Hoover
Chopsticks- Victoria Dixon
Magnets- Rebecca Thompson

Email me your address and I’ll ship your prize to you. Remember that it will take about 2 weeks with airmail.


There’s been lots going on in the blogsphere and I wanted to point out some other great stuff. Check these blogs out!


1. Lisa and Laura chat about Ms. Booksniper Outs Herself
2. Beth talks about the online presence of an author.
3. Dear Editor is having a fantastic kick-off contest offering a full book critique. WOW 
4. Jill Corcoran blogs about the formula for the query.
5. Need help Connecting Your Characters? Check out my blog post over at MiG Writers.
6. Bish takes on the A-Z Challenge. (very brave if you ask me!)
7. Researching agents? Check out Casey at Literary Rambles.

Need some fun? Check out the game that went along with my Highlights article, Shoot with Power.


A Tour of Insadong (as promised!)

Apr 8, 2010 | | 5 Comments

So last Friday night, while I was at the author dinner (see here), I took lots of pictures for you all of Insadong. Yes, I was thinking of YOU!

Insadong is my favorite place to shop in Seoul. If you come to Seoul, go there! If you’re taking the subway, take line 3 to Anguk Station, walk to the corner and take a left. And you’re there.

In 1988, the Korean government decided that this district would retain its cultural idea of a Korean marketplace. Really, it’s one main cobblestone street with tiny offshoots along the way. On Saturday, Sundays and holidays, all cars are restricted from this street, which gives it a festive feel.
You’ll find traditional painting as well as the rice paper and brushes to do it yourself, celadon pottery, wooden boxes as well as all of the things in my shopping contest.
Everytime I go, I always find something new that I like and MUST buy. There are delicious restaurants as well as tea houses. This is a picture of a man selling boiled chesnuts. And the traditional candy is made right in front of you so its fresh and sweet (I’m going to do a post on that soon!).

So now do you see why I adore Insadong? How about you? Do you have any places that you really like to shop at?

Q & A with Emily Gravett

Apr 6, 2010 | , | 11 Comments

This past weekend, our SCBWI chapter here in Korea had an author dinner with award winning, British author and illustrator, Emily Gravett. What an amazing experience!

The author dinner was located at O SeGyeHyang restaurant in Insadong (yes, I promise to post pics soon!) down this tiny offshoot of the main road. Isn’t it the most adorable restaurant?

At the door, like all traditional Korean restaurants, we took off our shoes and settled on comfy pillows on the floor. I decided to order Shabu-Shabu because it’s been so long since I’ve had it. Plus it’s fun to cook your own dinner without all the work.

Emily has written and illustrated the famous British titles Mouse’s Big Book of Fears and Wolves. We felt so lucky to have Emily come spend time with us amidst her insane tour schedule. And she was open and ready to answer all of our crazy questions.

Here are a few of them:
Where have you been on your tour? And how did you arrange for it to happen?
Actually, my publisher sent me so they provided with flights, hotel and interpreters. I was just in China and after I leave here, I’m off to Singapore. It’s busy, busy, busy though. No shopping or rest. (Poor Emily, we really wanted to take her shopping.)


You are quite the public speaker. How do you keep all those kids in your audience captivated?
I get them to participate. If they are engaged in what I’m saying, they’re less likely to be chatting off with their friends. I have them do things like ‘Put your hands up if you like this’ or ‘Put both hands up if you love it’. Kids like to be involved.

When you start a story, do you come up with the illustrations or the writing first?

They come together at the same time really. When I wrote Little Mouse, I found the story as I drew.

How is it different presenting to an Asian audience opposed to your audience back home in the UK?
The kids react differently. If they know the books and they speak English then it’s easier to get them involved. Often the Asian kids have a harder time to raise their hands since they have a very lecture style approach in their schools. I find I really have to work at it to get the kids to put their hands up. But once they do, they start catching on.

We’ve read that you are active in the publication process of your stories. Tell us a little about that.
Once I draw the book, I scan it into Photoshop and take it to the publisher. They’ll transfer into InDesign but I like to decide how the book will be laid out and such. I even choose the paper for its gloss, smell, and weight. My books are quite interactive with pop-ups and holes. (Me adding in that the mouse bites are just hilarious!)

To top off the evening, Emily’s publisher from Macmillan, Soojin who came from Hong Kong to be Emily’s interpreter (and ‘brilliant’ as the British say), brought books for all of us. And Emily autographed them! I snagged The Cave Baby and The Rabbit Problem for my two boys.

So if you’re looking for lovely picture books, with that witty British humor, you really need to check out Emily’s books.

Stay in Shape!

Apr 2, 2010 | | 15 Comments

Today I went jogging for the first time since I broke my toe two weeks ago. And let me tell you, it was PAINFUL! It sure didn’t take long for me to get out of shape.


The view is gorgeous from the mountain road that I jog along. If you look at the picture here, which was taken from my apartment, the mountain road I run is to the right of the tall apartments.


So while I was huffing and puffing up the mountain, I was thinking how writing is the same way. Work has been taking over my life the last week and I haven’t spent much time on my revisions. I’m getting out of shape in my writing! Because writing every day keeps my eyes sharp for my silly errors, my creative juices flowing, plus I’m in tune with my characters since I’m spending time with them.


So next week my goal is to spend more time running and writing. If I exercise my muscles and even those ‘writing muscles’, I know I’ll be in better shape and that WIP of mine will be too!


Some things I’m going to do to help me out even if I get busy:


1. Pick one random page from my book and edit only that page.


2. Think of 5 things my main character would like and jot them down in the notebook I carry around.


3. Imagine a funny conversation between two characters in the book. Jot it down.


4. Do a writing prompt: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/


I’d love to hear how you keep your writing skills sharp even when you’re busy.

Shopping in Korea Contest!

Mar 28, 2010 | | 23 Comments

Not too long ago, I passed my 100 follower mark. WOW! I’m so thrilled to be a part of the blogging community. This calls for a celebration!

If you like to shop as much as I do, then this is the contest for you. There are so many contests out there, but I wanted something a little different that is uniquly ME. And since much of what I write on this blog is about Korea and my latest WIP is set in Korea, I thought I’d bring the Korean marketplace to you.

So I picked up a few cute, easy-to-mail things in Insadong that I hoped you’d love.  Because I love my fellow bloggers! Take a few minutes and ‘look around’. Then fill out the form below.

Have fun shopping!

A cute notebook with pencil to jot down all your brillant ideas (got one of these for myself too!)

A set of chopsticks with Korean style holders.

Adorable Korean children wearing the traditional hanbok magnets.

A purse or case in traditional Korean colors.

Coasters with the sam-taegeuk symbol.

Bookmark with the traditional Korean doors with the kite (reminded me of the SCBWI kite)

Silk bag holding a handmade necklace.

Large silk bag.

Contest ends on April 10th, 1 pm Korea time. (midnight, Apr. 9th, US eastern standard time)

I wanted to post pictures for you of Insadong but I forgot my camera! But I’ll be going back soon because Insadong is adorable, quaint and you must see it!

Happy Shopping!

A New Look

Mar 28, 2010 | | 9 Comments

I’m trying out a new look here. What do you think? I’m having trouble getting rid of the search function due to my lack of HTML coding abilities. Any advice, I’m open to your thoughts!

Under Construction

Mar 28, 2010 | | 0 Comments

Hey guys! Sorry, but I’m trying out some new templates. Hope I can get things in order soon.

Making Connections

Mar 25, 2010 | | 16 Comments

Yesterday I was out doing errands with my two boys in our dong (that’s Korean for neighborhood). Our first stop was the bakery and while I ordered bread, my boys’ cheeks were pinched and chocolates were handed out. Now this is the same bakery we’ve gone to for eight years, so these ladies have watched my boys grow up and received many scribbly drawings too!

Our next stop was the florist, but when I ordered, I had trouble communicating. Thankfully my six year old knows more Korean than I do and was able to help translate. Evidently the man wanted to know where I was from and when I told him the US, he was all excited because his son is also living in the States. And once we had made that connection, the whole interaction flowed easier.

Connections and relationships are very important to Koreans. It’s how their whole culture runs whether it’s through business or family relationships.

And doesn’t that relate to blogging, too? When I went to SCBWI LA a couple of years ago, I was able to connect with people that I had ‘met’ through the Blueboards. Through blogging, I’ve gained help in my own writing through critiques and insights into the writing industry. Here I am a half a world away from most of my writing friends and critique partners, and yet they have been there for me in the hard times and celebrated with me in the ‘yeah!’ times.

I’d love to know your thoughts on making connections in the writing world. How has blogging or message boards effected you?

End of Publishing?

Mar 21, 2010 | | 11 Comments

Times are changing and with it, so is the publishing business. For some people this is an exciting time. Others worry.

This discussion came up in our latest SCBWI meeting. We talked about how the music industry made the change, but really struggled and resisted it at first. It was I-Tunes who found a way and changed it all.

One of the guys in our group said the key for the book industry is similar. Publishing houses need to provide what I-Tunes does for the music and film industry, which he thought would be to charge less for an e-book than the real book. Get people to take the impulse buy. If it’s affordable, people will buy them.

Interesting. Because the reality is, things are changing. The question is, how will it change and can we evolve to make the business even better. I really believe that those who take the plunge will be successful like Apple has been with I-Tunes.

Yet admist all that, DK has put together an awesome video. If you have 2 minutes, watch it! But don’t stop halfway, you’ll see why because it’s a great twist midway through.

What do you think? What will make the publishing business more successful? What can we do as authors to be cutting edge?

Picture by: Kenneth Sponsler

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