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Hello, everyone, and welcome to silviaacevedo.com! This is your best place to find my latest news, works, and musings.
Please take a look around the site, and feel free to reply to posts. I love hearing from fellow writers, journalists, and people from all walks of life.
Posted August 16th, 2009 by Silvia
I’ve been doing quite a lot of research lately for a young adult story involving high school football. Frankly, I’d forgotten a lot of the rules that differentiate professional, collegiate, and high school ball — things like the height of goalposts, ball placement for kickoff, and two-foot/one-foot rules for completed passes.
All this research is not only giving me nice details for the piece, but it’s also getting me all revved up for the season. Packers just won their first preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. Go Pack!
And it’s great to be researching something I really enjoy. Adding to my knowledge base and the authenticity of the story. Nice.
Posted in A Writer Writes | No Comments »
Posted August 15th, 2009 by Silvia
You’re supposed to treat your speedskates really well. They’re expensive and touchy and easily broken. So what do I do today on the ice but goof off, doing figure-skating spins on my long track speedskates. Naughty. That’s really bad for blades, but I figured I’d be resharpening the blades tonight anyway. Harmless fun.
Then I’m doing laps and feeling my clap blade hitting differently. Sure enough, I’d lost the screw holding it on and had to cut short my workout.
Coinky dink? Probably not. I eventually found the screw and made up for the shortened workout with a spin on my bike when I got home, but let that be a lesson to all the speedskaters visiting here. Go forward on your blades — not spinning round and round! But we all knew that…
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Posted August 2nd, 2009 by Silvia
Should authors and illustrators who come into contact with children at schools be required to undergo a background check? Before you answer, picture a school reading — either at the individual class level where there might be 15 children seated around an author, or at the assembly level where a hundred children or more are seated in an auditorium listening to an illustrator who requires a microphone to be heard. These events are not one-on-one readings with a single child left unattended by teachers.
So I ask, do visiting authors and illustrators need to be proven innocent before being allowed to speak to a crowd? What if they’ve been reading to kids for years? Does that matter? Is their having to pay more than $100 for a government clearance acceptable?
Some of Britain’s leading authors say no, it’s no okay. They’re refusing to do readings in schools because of a new requirement that they be registered in a national database proving they’re not sex offenders. We’re talking authors like Michael Morpurgo (War Horse) and Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials trilogy) among others fighting this policy.
You can hear what some of those creators have to say in this fascinating Philadelphia Inquirer article.
These creators can take a stand that perhaps newer authors can’t. For many new authors, a school reading is a chance to reach an audience they might never otherwise. It can launch a career.
The intellectually curious person must ask how far this policy would reach and possible unintended consequences. Sane, loving people all want to protect children, of course. Of course. But let’s advance this thinking for the sake of intellectual exercise. The policy would be eventually extended to apply to all parents who act as teachers’ aides and to the delivery driver and construction worker and any other adult who wants to step foot onto school grounds. What of those parents who can’t pay such a fee or don’t want to on principal? You can imagine some parents might take offense to being told to pay $100 to visit their own children’s school. And are children only to come into contact with those people who are well-off enough to afford this or who fall in line with government thinking? Even if they’re never alone with them? Is that okay? Or not? Would the requirement spread to other institutions, such as government-run libraries, where many such readings take place? Should it? Shouldn’t it?
Interesting ideas to mull over here. And we should — because often what one government can do, another will consider. For bad or good. It’s a UK thing now, but, in the future, who can say?
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Posted July 8th, 2009 by Silvia
It’s now going to be one of my favorite places to write. Sure, the Starbucks I usually hit has a lively atmosphere, which can help set the mood for knocking out a fast, tense scene, but when you need to settle into the emotions of a character, loud music can stymie your progress. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking Starbucks. It is what it is, and that’s a coffee shop.
It’s not pretending to be a quiet place for writers. And sometimes you need that.
The new Greenfield Library opened July 4th, 2009, and it’s got some great private study rooms, which I know will be the perfect retreat for me. No reservation, two hours, and longer if no one else is waiting.
There are even vending machines and kitchenette nearby. What more could you ask for?
Here are some pictures of the new place. Kudos to those who made it happen. It looks great!
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Posted July 7th, 2009 by Silvia
My test readers are done with my manuscript (Thank you, all!) and helped make it a better work. Now it’s in the hands of those professionals who actually make a living selling books. I’m sure they’ll find ways to improve it, which is a good thing.
Meanwhile, I’m back to work on a young adult fantasy that I started some time ago. First, however, I had to reorganize my notes because they were an absolute mess. Usually I’m very, very organized, so I was surprised to see just how sloppily I’d left my jottings. The trouble came when I was working out different outlines in a notebook and just turned pages as I abandoned certain plotlines. I should have ripped out the pages, but I didn’t, thus I really had my work cut out for me when I revisited them later.
Actually, I suppose I could say that the trouble really started when I chose to write my outlines on paper at all. I usually do everything on my computer specifically because it’s easy to cut and paste, etc. Must have had a reason for trying the outline freehand, but darned if I can remember what the reason was.
So let that be a lesson to myself — and anyone else who may choose to heed it. Don’t drop work for awhile that’s in a messy state. Makes it slow-going to get started up again.
Happily, I’m done reorganizing and back to writing (Finally!) and I’m having fun again. I like this story a lot and hope to finish it this summer.
Posted in A Writer Writes | No Comments »
Posted June 13th, 2009 by Silvia
I’ve finished rewriting an earlier manuscript that needed work, and it’s now at the stage of being reviewed by test readers. That’s a bit unnerving because you never know how people will view your work, but it’s also really useful and kind of fun to see their take on certain scenes and twists of plot. Test readers have fresh eyes that, let’s face it, authors lack, as they’ve been living with the project forever.
I’ve got a simple method. I ask readers to write along the margins whatever pops into their head. If a section made them smile, I ask them to draw a smiley face. If they didn’t understand, put a question mark or ask a question. If a section’s boring, say so! If the readers are simply gripped by the amazing awesomeness of the story, well, congratulations are in order. Yay, me! 
No matter how the comments go, I need honesty here. I need to know what works. So far, my test readers have been great at telling me like it is, which is exactly what I need!
I found an interesting article about test readers here at the American Book Publishing site. Enjoy, and thanks to all you test readers out there who make good books better!
Posted in A Writer Writes, In The News | No Comments »
Posted June 1st, 2009 by Silvia
The speedskating season is over, but you’ll find that the really dedicated skaters aren’t spending their newly-freed-up workout times sitting in lawn chairs, drinking margaritas, and finding shapes in passing clouds. Oh, I plan to do that at least once this summer, don’t get me wrong, but the point is we’re supposed to not let ourselves get out of shape, which would make our autumn transition back onto the ice painful.
To that end, my coach has been holding dryland workouts, including “low walking” (walking low to the ground in speedskater stance) to strengthen those thighs — feel the burn, baby — and sprints for bursts of speed. I haven’t been able to travel for the weekly workouts, but I’ve been making up for it by exercising in other ways, including working on an elliptical machine, on steps, using weights, and running.
Let me just say that I used to run quite a lot in college and loved it. It was always exhausting the first mile but got much easier the longer I ran, and I had a great running partner who was much faster than me and thus motivated me to keep up — Diane, if you’re out there, email me, hun.
Now I’m running with my kids, and it’s turning out to be a really nice way to spend time with them. We only run together about twice a week and about a mile per session, but it’s been great to have them as running mates. We’re all seeing improvement in our strength and stamina and we’re having fun — and preparing to set the ice on fire come September!
Posted in Speedskating | No Comments »
Posted May 23rd, 2009 by Silvia
I’m really pleased to announce that I now have a literary agent to help guide my career, the exceptionally professional and wonderfully warm Kimberly Witherspoon of Inkwell Management. We’re working on a very exciting project together, which I’ll explain as it progresses.
You can learn more about Inkwell here. They’ve got wonderful agents and great books. Pick up some of their work and see for yourself.
Posted in A Writer Writes, In The News | No Comments »
Posted May 10th, 2009 by Silvia
It just came out Tuesday and, so far, it’s a really fun read. I’m a little more than 100 pages into The Last Olympian, the final book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, written by Rick Riordan. My daughter and I have enjoyed reading the series together, and this one looks like it’ll be action-packed.
I’m taking a lot longer to read this one than I had the others because, happily, I’m under deadline, but I’m sure I’ll finish it soon and enjoy it as much as the rest.
Another book which I just loved and read, oh, probably six months ago now, was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It won the John Newbery Medal, the most prestigious writing award for American children’s literature. Such a strange and fantastical and gripping story! A feature film of another of his books, Coraline, is out in theaters now, so those who aren’t familiar with his fabulous stories can become so.
If you like contemporary children’s literature, you can’t go wrong with these!
Posted in A Writer Writes | No Comments »
Posted May 9th, 2009 by Silvia
Children’s Book Week is about celebrating children’s literature and the marvelous effect it can have in the life of a child.
One very exciting event for kids is happening this Tuesday, May 12th, from 6 – 8 p.m. at the South Milwaukee Public Library. Kids and their parents can meet talented illustrators Jeff Miracola, who’s also my hubby and illustrator of Welcome to Monster Isle, and the very friendly Carol Schwartz. Readers can also chat up authors Janet Halfmann and Gibbs Davis.
The event is put on by South Milwaukee Public Schools, the library, and the Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. You can find more information here.
Come on down and bring the kiddies! Everyone will be happy to see you!
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
I’ve been doing quite a lot of research lately for a young adult story involving high school football. Frankly, I’d forgotten a lot of the rules that differentiate professional, collegiate, and high school ball — things like the height of goalposts, ball placement for kickoff, and two-foot/one-foot rules for completed passes.
