Join me and The Whole Megillah in making 2017 The Year of the Book. Join a community of emerging and established writers of Jewish content. Share your goals and progress, your challenges and satisfactions. Whether you write for adults, kids, or somewhere in between, isn’t it time you got that book written and sent out into the world?
Let’s make this easy. There are no rules, no word count thresholds to hit. Just commit to a book project by commenting to this post. Update us weekly, monthly, quarterly—whatever interval makes sense to you.
Here’s my overly-ambitious personal plan for books in 2017:
- Revise and find a home for my Holocaust-related YA novel in verse.
- Revise and find a home for my Holocaust-related YA novella.
- Find a home for three PB bios.
- Write a new PB (just came up with it during last night’s insomnia).
- Write a new MG book (came up with this idea during a previous bout of insomnia).
- Finish and submit my proposal for an academic book about dance marathons.
- Find a home for my poetry chapbook, Chicken Fat.
I’m revving up all cylinders to have at least one book “sold” by December 31, 2017.
Who’s with me? Who wants to come along on this Year of the Book journey?
The Whole Megillah 
Great idea! I need a push. I too have overly ambitious list:
1.Find a home for a PB I have written on a Latino girl who discovers her Jewish roots. So far no luck with known Jewish children’s book publishers, despite positive feedback. I’m open to suggestions.
2.Revise and find a home for two animal themed PBs based in Israel and inspired by true events.
3.Write a PB on a specific immigrant group in Israel. I already have the outline worked out.
4.Write two PBs on specific Biblical characters I have in mind
5.Revise and find a home for a 3rd Jewish Heirloom story
6.Thinking of starting a new Shabbat connected blog
If I get one of these done, yay! Two, HOORAY! Three — I’ll be in shock.
Tami, sounds like you’ve got a great year in front of you. Have you tried Lee & Low for #1? I don’t know if Cincto Puntos does picture books, but that’s another place to try.
Thanks for these two tips. I have not tried either. Do you know if they accept unsolicited manuscripts? If no, have any agents you can suggest?
From their submission guidelines online, it doesn’t appear you need an agent.
If any readers can help Tami with contacts, that’d be great.
Thank you for your inspiration, Barbara. I am the author of a newly published book entitled Lessons in Love and Fortitude, which shares the holocaust survivor account of Cwetla Erlich, a dear friend of mine and former landlady during my student years when I lived in Toulouse, France. For anyone interested in knowing more, please visit the following Facebook page:-
https://www.facebook.com/Lessons-in-Love-and-Fortitude-The-Story-of-Cwetla-Erlich-223019601436804/
Wishing each and everyone a happy and peaceful new year 2017.
Thanks for sharing, Richard. Happy 2017!
I’m totally with you! I want to:
1) finish my MG novel (I’m on chapter 6),
2) get a new agent (just lost my agent due to her need to take care of her baby),
3) find a home for at least one (or two) of my PB manuscripts, and
4) have my editor accept my sequel to Buster.
Let’s do this! Together we are stronger! Here’s to an amazing 2017!
Thanks so much, Marcia. Great post and welcome to The Year of the Book! Perhaps you’d be interested in writing a guest post about getting your new agent?
Living in Israel, I would love to hear how you go about it Marcia.
Bar, Your website refused my URL: http://www.joanseligersidney.org What to do? Thanks, Joanie
On Sun, Jan 1, 2017 at 9:19 AM, The Whole Megillah wrote:
> Barbara Krasner posted: “Join me and The Whole Megillah in making 2017 The > Year of the Book. Join a community of emerging and established writers of > Jewish content. Share your goals and progress, your challenges and > satisfactions. Whether you write for adults, kids, or somewhere ” >
Joanie, I don’t know what to tell you. Your URL came through with the comment. Were you trying to do something else with it?
Barb
Time for me to get off dead center. I have a finished CB which hasn’t yet found an agent. It is a prequel to the Channukah story through the eyes of a young brother and sister, “The Maccabee Kids.” Not sure whether to go the traditional publisher route or have some place like Amazon publish it for me. I don’t have financial resources to self-publish, yet I vow to find a way to get this book into the hands of thousands of children.;
Thanks for sharing, Neil. Do you have a critique group?
I wonder if agents really take on chapter books. I don’t know, but maybe someone in The Whole Megillah universe does – anyone?
Hi All,
What a great idea for New Year’s! I too, am “overly ambitious.” (Sigh) But what writer isn’t? We all seem to have so many ideas and it’s always a challenge to pick and chose those which seem to call to us most deeply. As for myself, I really want to finish my YA about the garment workers on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 20th century and find a home for “Bread and Roses,” my MG nonfiction history of women in the labor movement. I am a real history maven and enjoy hearing from others who are too. Many thanks Barbara for your blog and best wishes and success to all in 2017.
Pat Sherman
Good to hear from you, Pat. What will it take for you to finish your YA ms.? BTW, I think there is a book called Bread and Roses – a novel about an Italian immigrant, I think, by Katherine Paterson.
Have you tried Calkins Creek for that MG nonfiction book?
Pingback: Year of the Book | Need a Critique Group? | The Whole Megillah
Pingback: 2017 Year of the Book | First Quarter Progress Report | The Whole Megillah
Pingback: 2017 Year of the Book | Second Quarter Progress Report | The Whole Megillah
Pingback: 2017 Year of the Book | Second Quarter Progress Report | The Whole Megillah
Pingback: 2017 Year of the Book | Third Quarter Progress Report | The Whole Megillah