Grass and trees covered in a good dusting of snow.

Well this was unexpected. We’ve had more snow in April than we have all winter.

I wish it were my nap time right now.

A brown and white tabby cat sitting on a bed that is currently made and does not contain his human, who he is asking very politely to take a nap with him

Someone is demanding to know why it is not currently nap time for both of us. CAUSE I’M TRYING TO GET SOME WORK DONE, KITTY.

I swear my inbox is trying to swallow me whole. If you're missing a response from me . . . I'm working on it. And embarrassed I didn't realize some things had slipped passed me without a response. I've been busy for a good reason *vague publishing news jazz hands* but the inbox waits for no one.

A printed sign that says: STOP MEASLES SYMPTOMS RED OR WATERY EYES + COUGH OR RUNNY NOSE + RECENT FEVER + RASH STARTING ON FACE = RETURN TO YOUR CAR AND WE WILL ARRANGE TO HAVE YOU SEEN

It’s pretty scary (and indicative of the current situation in Utah) that this is what they have to put at the entrance of medical clinics now.

A two-panel comic featuring two black cats against a soft teal background with green hill shapes. In the first panel, one cat holds a microphone toward the other and asks, “Do you have any advice for anyone watching us today?” The speaking cat has a wide, slightly mischievous expression with large white eyes and small fangs. In the second panel, the other cat, now with big round eyes and a calm, sincere expression, responds into the microphone: “Just be nice if you can. A lot of us need more kindness.” The style is soft and textured, with a gentle, wholesome tone.

Excellent article on the current recalibration of the children’s book market. For writers trying to understand why word counts are shrinking in mg and ya, this explains it incredibly well.

Modern Cosmic Horror - A Weekend Workshop with Premee Mohamed This webinar will be held in Zoom. After you register you'll get the link along with other important information.

Also NEWS! I am teaching an updated and improved, also I would say cyclopean and batrachian, perhaps cthonic, version of my MODERN COSMIC HORROR WRITING class for @carlbrandon.bsky.social ! May 16-17!

This is a deep dive with text analysis, examples, a reading/resource list, and exercises!

Absolutely endorse the book, but maybe not the murderous deer hiding in the darkness.

I didn’t know if I’d ever sleep again after that fright. Took ages for my heart rate to return to normal.

The deer in my neighborhood were very much alive, thankfully, but I was not prepared to meet them at that very moment.

Driving home in the dark the other night I was listening to @premeemohamed.com‘s Butcher of the Forest. As the narrator is describing in detail the undead deer, I turn a corner and the headlights of my car land on several deer that were hiding in the darkness and the scream I scrumpt—

Lighter blue sky above dark gray clouds, with trees and houses beneath.

Gorgeous sky tonight after a thunderstorm earlier this evening.

A fruit trees filled with white blossoms. I’m terrible at knowing trees, so your guess is probably better than mine on what tree this is.

It’s definitely spring in Utah, with fruit blossoms and brilliant blue skies. Let’s just hope the cold front coming in next week doesn’t kill off the fruit harvest for the year.

Stop worrying about what YA books to let your kids read and let them sort it out with V C Andrews and cocaine era Stephen King as God intended

Apparently they’re called grape hyacinths, but the flowers are purplish blue and look like lots of miniature bells. Or a bunch of grapes.

Purplish blue grape hyacinths with a cement barrier in front of them and mulch behind. The first vestiges of spring.

First flowers of spring showing up in my yard. These are volunteers and I never remember what they’re called. I just know spring is on the way whenever I see them.

Nice. I’ve been making tteokbokki with gochujang and loving the flavor, so I’ll have to try that the next time I make chili.

I’m curious about the flavor this adds. More umami and kick?

“I am political,” Ms. Rachel told me of her new effort to free kids from ICE detention.

“It’s political to believe that children are worthy of love … and that our care shouldn’t stop at what we look like, our family, at our religion, at a border. Mr. Rogers was very political.”

If you’re worried they won’t like the art, it’s probably better to leave it out and just submit the text in a word document when querying agents or publishers. Most books are submitted just as text, unless the author has strong illustrations that make the book better.

Absolutely. I would prefer they be less interesting, please and thank you.

You're looking in the wrong direction. What's going on in the states politically? Book banning, curriculums controlled by legislatures, money spent on tech not books. School districts and library systems cutting back. It's not the kids. It's the adults.

Awful but not entirely surprising news after the layoffs at smaller pubs last year. The school and library market is hurting--which we don't see in Bookscan numbers.

I honestly think it’s too early to tell how widespread it’ll be, but right now I’m mostly noticing it with publishers in the U.S.

As someone else said, it’s usually a symptom of problems in the overall industry. Children’s books are struggling in general for many reasons, so some publishers are focusing their efforts on other categories that they know are selling better right now.

Others are discussing now, so it’s probably fine to share, but it was at Penguin children’s imprints. Don’t be surprised if other publishers also follow suit, though Simon and Schuster had their round already in January. These things usually come in waves, from what I’ve seen in the past.

For picture books, if you’re the artist doing both text and illustrations, you generally want to include both as part of a dummy book and proposal. If you just wrote the text, only send the text and the publisher will usually want to select the illustrator.

All of the above, unfortunately. But also layoffs.

It's a volatile time in publishing right now. Don't be surprised if you see progressively bad news the next few months. But as I'm telling all of my authors, we've weathered bad times before and books won't go away completely. Don't lose hope, but definitely gird your loins. It's gonna be bumpy.

Ooh, I’ll have to look into that…

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