How to (Almost) Ruin Your Summer by Taryn Souders

But my husband is a great support and soĪre my critique groups.

Rejections are never fun so when I get a few of those in a I was just as excited when Dead Possums Are Fair Game made the Georgia Children’s Book Award list the following year. When How to (Almost) Ruin Your Summer made Florida’s Sunshine State Young Reader Award list I was ECSTATIC! I got absolutely no work done that day and stayed on cloud nine for weeks. And if I run into a snag (writer’sīlock or a plot hole) I usually walk around the house talking to myself to try That requirement! I always listen to music. Well, I MUST have coffee-but I think a lot of writers have Ideally I’d like to knock out around 600 words a day. Get a lot of writing done during the summer. Sally then usually editsĪnd sends me suggestions that take a couple more months.īecause I have school-age children still, I usually don’t I’m a slow writer-it takes me a couple years to produce aīook that I’m happy enough with to send to my agent. They published How to (Almost) Ruin Your Summer and will also be publishing Remains to be Seen. My first middle grade novel was Dead Possums Are Fair Game (with Sky Pony), followed by a two-book contract with Sourcebook/Jabberwocky. Then I got an awesome agent, Sally Apokedak of Apokedak Literary Agency. People don’t always realize how long publishing can take, but that was an eye-opener for me. Then, in 2008, I received an email from SBP asking if the project was still available! I’d forgotten all about it! I signed with them and then the book released in 2010. I started sending Whole-y Cow out in 2006 then stopped after a few months because we began a remodel on our home and I was pregnant. My first book, Whole-y Cow! Fractions Are Fun was published by Sleeping Bear but the paperback rights were sold to Scholastic-so to me that was “major”. I have three different publishers: Sleeping Bear Press, Sky Pony, and Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky. Get your first major book contract? Or are you published non-traditionally? How I write for the general market so my goals are to write funĬlean books that are exciting (and hopefully humorous) for kids, teachers, and

All signs point to murderĪnd Coop’s beloved Gramps is the number one suspect! Skeleton is uncovered at the abandoned playground. It’s a mystery titled Remains To Be Seen (to beīegin for thirteen-year old Coop Goodman in the small town of Windy Bottom, a

How to (Almost) Ruin Your Summer by Taryn Souders