Doing my homework

I've always been a huge reader. I have more books than I know what to do with (sometimes I even sleep with them, which is both funny and disturbing at the same time), and I read in every subject and genre around, from physics to children's books, from erotic vampire romance to ancient history.

But what I'm not well versed in is the current state of children's publishing. On my shelves I have classics like "Charlotte's Web", "A Wrinkle In Time" the Narnia books, and dozens of other favorites from MY childhood. But that was thirty-plus years ago (or thereabouts), before I remember the terms "Young Adult (YA)" and "Middle Grade (MG)" being bandied about.

So with the advice that every agent, editor and author gives us (namely, to write well you need to read exstensively in your genre), I've decided I need to sit down and catch up on

a) the classics in children's literature that I've missed and
b) familiarize myself with what's going on right now in the MG, PB and YA markets.

I've also joined Goodreads (Karyn's Goodreads page) so not only will I probably talk about some of the books I check out here on this blog, I'll also be rating (and hopefully posting reviews) over there. My current read is "How to Survive Middle School" by Donna Gephart, who was one of the speakers at the conference I just attended. I have high hopes for the book because I'm betting it's got the same warm, funny, insightful voice that she displayed in her talks.

In other news, no writing today. I'm wearing Editor Girl hat today. My critique group meets tomorrow night, and I'm behind already on my editing. Which I should get back to. So later, taters!

-k.