Another Opportunity!

I just submitted two chapters to a book packager, in hopes of being chosen to take over a children's series. It's a series for girls, 8-12, and has a mix of humor and drama and schtick that appeals to me. As a bonus, you get to use lots of ! which are frowned upon in the adult writing world.

I think I nailed the assignment, which was to mimic the style of the previous writer, so that the readers won't be able to tell there's been a change. After so many years of focusing on finding my own "voice," that was a little... different... but the old writer's style was similar to my own in some ways, so it wasn't difficult.

Well, I don't think it was difficult, but then again, I thought I did a bang-up job on the last project this company let me try for, and I didn't get that contract. I can see why, though. Looking back (wouldn't it be nice to see these things BEFORE?) I can see that I turned their characters (teen boys) into people I wanted to write about, instead of writing them the way the company envisioned them. That seems obvious now, but at the time, I missed what I was doing.

This Book Packaging stuff is fascinating to me. I suppose some writers would turn their noses up at it, but I think it's fun. Somebody else provides the characters and the summary of the action, and you write to it. No concerns about "What should happen next?" Just write! The down-side is that you don't get to trumpet your own success and see your name on the cover, but I'll take cash over ego-massage, any day.