Silvia Acevedo receives an outstanding service award - a glass diamond paperweight - from the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators

A diamond award?! For me? *gasps and nearly faints*

Every once in a while someone does something for you that melts your heart. That happened today, when I received this stunning keepsake from Lin Oliver and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. I’ve been a member of SCBWI since 2007 and was so honored to eventually lead my home state of SCBWI-Wisconsin as regional advisor. This big and beautiful desk ornament will get a special place in my home, and I will treasure it always.

Lin officially retired yesterday from running SCBWI full-time. She has touched so many lives that it’s hard to quantify how she’s influenced the world. What a life she’s led and what an amazing organization she’s built, one that’s still changing and growing and learning. And what a legacy she passes to her successors. She’s the gem here. I just got to be in her light. Thanks, Lin and SCBWI. I’m touched and amazed by this.

Silvia Acevedo receives an outstanding service award - a glass diamond paperweight - from the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators

Silvia Acevedo receives an outstanding service award - a glass diamond paperweight - from the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators

Silvia Acevedo receives an outstanding service award - a glass diamond paperweight - from the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators

Silvia Acevedo receives an outstanding service award - a glass diamond paperweight - from the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators

The holidays in New York City

I’ve been at Scholastic four and a half months now, and there’s a lot I can’t talk about because the projects aren’t yet announced or the work is propriety and/or confidential, but here’s the good news: children and teens are reading, and Scholastic provides great stuff for them to lay their eyes on.

I’ve taken (no surprise) hundreds of photos, having seen great friends, enjoyed fabulous sites, and just gotten to know this amazing city. I mean, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Ave, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, Little Italy, SoHo, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Theater District, on and on. Family coming to visit. Snowstorms and nor’easters. Seeing cousins. Making new friends. The fantastic, oh-so-welcome diversity. And, and, and. This has been a cool thing.

I’ll post just a few pictures here because, honestly, a single post can’t encompass it all. But trust me. Visit New York City sometime in your life. Stay awhile if you can make it.

Photo shows Manhattan skyline from beautiful Liberty State Park adjacent to the Statute of Liberty

Scholastic!

The year 2021 is proving to be so transforming.

My previous post in July was about how this year has thrown unexpected things my way. Good things, for sure, like my job at Inkluded (which was temporary and remote), a furry addition to the family (Sketch, the kitten), and a new ride (my awesome orange Scooter).

A week later I was referred for a job at Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books.

You may be able to guess where this is going.

Another week later I was asked to interview for that fantastic job based in New York City. And as I’m typing this, I’m looking at the Statue of Liberty out my new apartment window. Also, the Manhattan skyline is gorgeous from my rooftop.

Say what?! you might be asking. I think I’m still asking that myself to myself, to be honest. Haha. But life is fun when it’s changing things up, isn’t it? This excellent opportunity is one that I certainly didn’t want to pass up and my family encouraged me to pursue. I’m so grateful for that as I’m loving it so far. It was remote for the five weeks it took us to move to the New York area. Now I’m going in once a week on an easy commute to the spectacular offices that are Scholastic Inc.

One more thing happened during all this. The week before we moved here, we adopted a kitten from the Humane Society! Yep, we did it both to give Sketch a playmate and to add some complication to the move because of course we would — haha! Meet Pixel, the once-fearful but becoming-more-confident-by-the-day addition to our family. I love this sweet little guy. Enjoy the cuteness.

So, I’ll leave you with some random pictures of a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the past few weeks. Here’s to new adventures!

Pixel the kitten

 

Pixel posing

 

World Trade Center transportation hub – Milwaukeeans will recognize the architecture!

 

Inspiring

 

Scholastic!

 

The Harry Potter themed stained glass above the Scholastic front desk

 

The Manhattan skyline from across the Hudson River

 

Photo shows Manhattan skyline from beautiful Liberty State Park adjacent to the Statute of Liberty

Manhattan skyline from beautiful Liberty State Park adjacent to the Statute of Liberty

 

Panoramic photo from Liberty State Park showing the Manhattan skyline at left, Ellis Island at center, and the Statue of Liberty at right. It's simply gorgeous.

Panoramic photo from Liberty State Park showing the Manhattan skyline at left, Ellis Island at center, and the Statue of Liberty at right. It’s simply gorgeous.

Image shows cover of book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

Mightier than the Sword

Okay, you know me. I love books and respect the heck out of transformative works. So imagine my delight when I was asked to give an endorsement for a book about revolutionaries who changed the world through writing! Um, yes, please! And even better that the book was written by fellow SCBWI-Wisconsin member Rochelle Melander, who’s a friend and incredible cheerleader for fellow writers.

I just got my advanced copy of Mightier than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing. It releases July 27th and is sure to be a favorite of teachers and parents alike. I’m so happy for Rochelle and proud of this grand achievement. Mightier is compelling and a testament to the power of writing. I’m honored that it’s the first book for which I’ve given a blurb (an accolade quotation). This book is right up my alley.

Enjoy this glance at some inside pages, and remember, writing is revolutionary.

Image shows cover of book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

Image shows back cover of book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

Sample pages from book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

Sample pages from book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

Sample pages from book "Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing"

(Mightier Than the Sword: Rebels, Reformers & Revolutionaries Who Changed the World Through Writing is available for pre-order at your local independent bookstore.)

Photo shows Sketch, the kitten, on the prowl

It’s not going to go the way you expect

Back in January, I read an article by Literary Agent Kate McKean on her Agents & Books blog about how your journey (publishing journey, in this case) probably isn’t going to go the way you plan, as there are just so many variables in life, and how that’s okay and might lead to interesting things. That article, and similar articles by author Nathan Bransford, have clearly stuck with me, as I’ve been marinating all year in the theme of “letting the universe tell me how things are going to be because I can only control what I can control.”

So how did Planning Silvia expect 2021 to go? Well, Planning Silvia hoped to wrestle a bit more control of life because, since I can only control that which I can control, I should try to control more! Am I right?

“HAHAHAHA!” the Universe says. “Let’s fix those silly notions!” And it did.

In early May, a close family friend essentially gifted a scooter to me! He’d gotten his enjoyment out of it and wasn’t planning on using it anymore. Whoo hoo! What an awesome surprise! Please don’t think I’m complaining because I’m totally not! I’d wanted a motorcycle or scooter since I was a teenager. This little beauty needed some minor repairs, and I had to set up insurance, and then, surprise! I discovered it’s got enough speed and power to classify as a motorcycle here in the great state of Wisconsin. So suddenly I’m practicing to pass a driving test to earn a motorcycle license. Cool, but, wow, that wasn’t expected for 2021.

Photo of Silvia Acevedo on a bright orange Genuine Buddy 125cc scooter

Safety first.

You know what else I didn’t foresee for 2021? Getting a kitten!!! And that’s mostly because I’m allergic to cats! But I also didn’t expect to go outside on Memorial Day to water some flowers and hear something crying. What the heck is that? A kitten? A crying kitten?! OMG!!! Where is that precious little thing?!

Baby Cat was hungry and scared. Mom Cat never came back, soooo, Silvia to the rescue!

It was actually my pet-loving husband Jeff who decided we were adopting this little cutie. He was buying him a bed and toys before I’d even gotten my bearings on what was going on. Now we all adore Sketch, and so far my allergies haven’t kicked in. Supposedly that might happen when he’s about 12 weeks old. Crossing my fingers that it never happens.

Here’s Sketch, at about four weeks old. And it’s 2021 for the win again, obliterating Planning Silvia’s plans in the best possible way.

Photo shows Sketch, the kitten, at about four weeks old, when Silvia found him.

Tiny Sketch

 

Photo shows Sketch, the kitten, on the prowl

Sketch on the prowl

What next in the universe’s plans? An unexpected, remote job with Inkluded, a New York based nonprofit championing diversity in the publishing industry — and offering a tuition-free course toward that end. How cool is that? Again, unexpected and awesome.

Image shows the homepage of Inkluded.com

GetInkluded.com

Sooooo, yeah, things don’t always go as planned, but, like Kate McKean said, we might end up surprised. Life is full and fun. I’m not doing much writing lately, but I’m enjoying summer, and, once the weather changes, I’ll get back to some creative writing, as creation is good for the soul — planned or not. 😉

Photo shows a computer screen with 21 participants during the SCBWI-WI PAL New Release Meetup of February 24, 2021

A brainchild grows up!

In my last blog post, I mentioned how helpful it was during the pandemic to connect with people online. In mid-2020, when socially-distanced people were badly missing each other, I decided the SCBWI-Wisconsin region could benefit from connecting online just to hang out and chat, like we do at conference socials. It seemed to me that a lot of online meetups at the time revolved around some sort of educational programming, and I thought our members might want an unstructured way to hang out. We also had newly published members who were releasing books during a pandemic, not the ideal time to release, to be sure.

So I came up with the idea of “PAL New Release” meetups that, for a host of reasons, our PAL coordinators couldn’t implement until 2021, but, hey, they’ve been a HUGE success! And they’re something we’ll continue doing well after the pandemic has past.

The PAL New Release meetups allow our members to hear directly from PAL  (Published and Listed) authors about their new books — and they can talk about anything! Like: How did the book come to be? How did you get your original idea? How did the manuscript change over drafts? How did your editor’s editorial advice fit in with your vision? What’s the word count? How did the publisher choose the illustrator for the book? Are you getting a say in your marketing plan? Anything they want to chat about!

The authors aren’t required to answer anything they don’t want to, and they can ask questions too. Maybe an author they admire is in the audience, and they can compare notes, with the rest of the participants gleaning from the talk. Oh, and the whole talk is preceded by a half hour of simple catch-up time. People can dip in whenever they want. It’s all very easy-going, very fun, and a great way to connect with fellow members who may live too far to ever meet outside of a conference. What a great way to connect us all!

For all the fatigue Zoom has given us, there are great ways to connect, and I’m happy this little brainchild has caught on. I hope it lives on forever.

Photo shows a computer screen with 21 participants during the SCBWI-WI PAL New Release Meetup of February 24, 2021

SCBWI-WI PAL New Release meetup of February 24, 2021

Copyright © Silvia Acevedo. All rights reserved.