Author Archives: Lupe Ruiz-Flores

About Lupe Ruiz-Flores

Children's Book Author

Writer’s retreat and poet laureate

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A few days ago, I treated myself to a one-day writer’s retreat in Austin. Smack in the middle of Austin but still secluded is The Writing Barn, perfect for an event like this. The converted barn is large, has lots of character, and is surrounded by trees and cactus and rocks … well, you get the picture. It was rustic. The tree branches groaned as they banged against the barn’s tin roof.  Two deer came out of the woodsy area and meandered around for a while as we watched them from inside the screened-in porch.
 
It was nice to get away, meditate, be around other writers with the same passion as you, and then get inspired to write, write, write. Being in a setting like that brings out the creative juices. My writing flowed and I hardly lifted my pen as I wrote and wrote. No laptops, no IPads, simply notebooks and pens. It was really, really nice. When was the last time you treated yourself to such an outing? There are plenty of opportunities around the Texas area. Ask around and you’ll find them.
 
A few days later, I participated in a Picture Book panel at the Corpus Christi ESC Region 2 event on Tuesday, November 13. While there, I met up with Texas Poet Laureate Jan Seale. It was a thrill seeing her again. I first met her at a Laredo bookfest event a few months earlier where I bought her book, The Wonder Is.  
Author and Poet Laureate Jan Seale

“When you choose a creative life, you never grow old. It’s forever young and forever growing.” — Salome Jens 

Picture book writing tips

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Last summer when I attended the SCBWI-LA conference, one of the workshops I enrolled in was one on picture books headed by author Ann Whitford Paul. Some of her comments: picture books are action! On plot: each event is coming from the event before. The music of picture books: use words that SING! Read your book out loud. Pay attention to the sound of letters. Long vowels are more active and powerful than short ones. Number one rule: main character solves the problem. All this and a lot, lot more. Go to the author’s link above for more of her writing tips.


Mexican pottery at El Mercado

“Listen carefully to first criticisms made of your work. Note just what it is about your work that the critics don’t like — then cultivate it. That’s the only part of your work that’s individual and worth keeping.” — Jean Cocteau  

 

Story Structure

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If you’re a visual type of writer, you might find the following post by Ingrid Sundberg on her blog, Ingrid’s Notes, helpful. We’ve all read about story structure when developing our stories. Ingrid actually shows us the story structure in diagrams, pyramids, arcs, and branches. The breakdown of the story is visually pleasing and helpful to writers.
Pumpkin Patch
And here’s some encouraging news in an article, “Majority of Young Readers Still Use Libraries,” posted on the Publishers Weekly blog. Part of the article reads: “Some 80% of Americans ages 16-29 have read a book in the past year, and 6 in 10 say they have used their local public library, but …”
 

 

“When you choose a creative life, you never grow old. It’s forever young and forever growing.” — Salome Jens
 

Texas Association for Bilingual Education

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Yesterday I attended the 2012 Texas Association for Bilingual Education conference at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio. It was a fun-filled day with teachers from all over Texas in attendance. I spoke to many of them and autographed some of my books. I browsed through the huge hall and was impressed with the many publishers and educators who are involved in bilingual education. It was a great event and I’m glad I attended.
 
 


La Villita

 
Later that afternoon, I walked across to La Villita, the historic arts village where you can shop at many art galleries, arts shops, gift stores, and restaurants. 
 
 If you’re interested in writing picture books, author Pat Mora has an article, “Twenty Tips for Writing Picture Books,” on the Lee & Low Publisher blog. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Mora at some writer events. She has written numerous award-winning books.
 
“The longer you put off getting serious about writing, the longer you put off success. Procrastination is a writer’s biggest enemy.” — Barbara Seuling

Writer and Illustrator Interviews

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Here’s an interesting interview on the Paper Tigers blog about my fellow writer, Rene Colato Lainez. Originally from El Salvador, he now lives in California where he is an elementary school teacher. His books are bilingual as well.
 

For illustrators, here’s another interview on the same blog. This one is about illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi. She was at the SCBWI-LA conference this past August. Her picture book, I’m Bored, should be out by now.
 
Pumpkin Patch

 You need to hurry if you want to submit to the Children’s Writer YA Short Story Writing Contest. The deadline is October 31, 2012. Best of luck!
 
And if you really don’t know what to do with all those books that you love but still want to keep,  here’s a far-out way to do it. A headboard! Really. Take a peek.

“The feeling for words, the driving need to tell a story, the love of characters who constantly inhabit your mind waiting to be born, these are the inherent things that make us writers.” — Eve Bunting

School Library Journal and Alicia’s Fruity Drinks

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Today I made a school visit where the librarian and her helpers made the healthy fruit drinks, aguas frescas, for the students to drink right after the reading of my bilingual picture book, Alicia’s Fruity Drinks/Las aguas frescas de Alicia. It was a delightful visit and, as usual, the students were enthusiastic and asked really good questions after the presentation. They were also happy to have refreshing aguas frescas like those mentioned in my book.
I am very proud that this same book was mentioned in an article, “Building Collections and Connections: A Taste of Latino Culture | Libro por libro,” in the School Library Journal. Written by Tim Wadham, the article reads: “… Rather than simply offering random reviews, the focus of this column will be building core collections and using those books to create connections with readers. With each column I’ll be introducing a topic(s) or theme(s) and I’ll include both new and backlist titles, and discuss how they can be effectively used in schools and public libraries. The books reviewed in this column are all recommended for school or public library collections that serve bilingual and Spanish-speaking readers. And they are not recommended simply because they are good books. These books also provide young Spanish-speaking readers with something more intangible, yet vitally important: a sense of their cultural heritage. In these books, they will see themselves, they will hear the music of the Spanish language, and they will explore the many varieties of the Latino cultural experience.”

Aguas Frescas
 
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said; people will forget what you do; but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

School visits and book sales

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Once your book is published and out there in the universe, you might want to do school visits to connect the students with your books. I came across this article, “The Truth About School Visits: Book Sales,” written by Alexis O’Neill and printed with permission on the Lee & Low publisher blog. It covers not only school visits, but sales of your books at the schools. Sometimes schools allow this, sometimes not.
 
At my recent school visit two weeks ago, the librarian had printed out order forms for my books before my presentation date. Based on how many were ordered by the parents, she was able to order the books from my publisher with plenty of time before my visit. She placed the order form with the student’s name inside each book and after the presentation, I autographed each one while the students returned to class. Later that day, she distributed the signed books to the teachers of those students. I was impressed with this librarian’s efficiency and orderly way of getting my books into the student’s hands.
 
Below is a welcome sign made by the students during one of my school visits where I read, The Battle of the Snow Cones.
 
School visit sign
 

“The struggle to master a medium, whether it’s words, notes, paint, or marble, is the heroic part of making art.” — Chris Van Allsburg

Great time for children’s books

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This is a great time for children’s books. According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch blog, “Market in children’s books thrives, with promise found in fall releases,” written by Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times, there is still hope for these books. She mentions in her article that, “Naysayers forecasting ‘the end of books,’ however, haven’t explored the children’s section lately or considered the releases for the coming season — from picture books to teen titles. The autumn offerings, which span a variety of topics, suggest why children’s books have become the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry.”
This, of course, is encouraging news for authors of children’s books. This is indeed inspiring news for all of us. In fact, Ms. Carpenter has another article on the Los Angeles Times blog that addresses the topic of adult books being republished in kid version ones. Interesting read.  
California

Also, read the latest book review of Alicia’s Fruity Drinksby MAMIVERSE(Universal Empowerment for Latina Moms and Families).
“Identifying research needs is a project-specific task. The best time to do this is during the outlining stage. As you add each scene, make note of any research required to complete that section.” – Writing Tip from Writer’s Digest Weekly Planner  

Developing characters in your story

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Do you have trouble understanding your character? I know. I know. As writers, we’re told to do a character sketch to learn our character’s physical characteristics, fears, flaws, desires, etc. But sometimes, we are still stuck.
 
Sarah Blake Johnson takes it a step further in her article, “The Prism of Roles: Another View of Character Identity and Narrative,” in the Hunger Mountain blog.
 
She mentions that “ … every role may carry different weight in the plot and in each scene as the character adjusts the role he plays according to his current status, situation, interaction, and desires. Just as we adjust the way we act according to the different situations we encounter, our characters step into and out of their roles.” 
 
She gives us an example: “A character’s attempt to change her role, and her resulting success or failure, is at the heart of many books. The tale of Cinderella, who switched from the role of a servant to that of a princess, is an example of this type of story.”
 
I found her article absolutely fascinating. You will too.
 
Sandia Mountains
 
“Touch magic–pass it on.” — Jane Yolen

One or two spaces after a period?

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I know this sounds mundane, but hey, ever wondered why we are now asked to space once after a period? When I was learning how to type a million years ago, the rule was to space twice after each period. When I worked for a local newspaper a while back, I was told that the reason was that it saved space in the final printed text.
 
Well, here is a brief article by Brian Klems, online editor blogger for Writer’s Digest . He explains why the big mystery about that extra space in his article, “How Many Spaces After a Period?”
California
 
Well, now you know. It took me a while to get used to this. I wanted to hit that space bar twice every time I ended with a period. I still do sometimes, so every once in a while, I run the Find and Replace All feature on Word. That gets rid of those pesky spaces.
 
“I like the idea that magic can be hidden under the surface of everyday life.” — Trina Schart Hyman