Anna Staniszewski

Categories: Enchanted Inkpot

• What Makes a Book Event Successful?

  Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting R.L. LaFevers and hearing her speak about her books. For those of you who don’t know, Robin is the author of the Theodosia Throckmorton series and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series, both of which are filled with fantasy and adventure. She is also a fellow Inkie and agency-mate,

• NESCBWI Conference Highlights

  On Saturday I headed up to Fitchburg, Mass. for the New England SCBWI conference. I only stayed for the day, but I left there mentally energized and inspired. The keynote speakers were Cynthia Leitich Smith, Marla Frazee, and Marla’s editor Allyn Johnston. Their speeches were all filled with brilliance. Here are some highlights:
  Cynthia Leitich Smith
  -Writing

• Mistwood Launch Party!

  This weekend I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for Leah Cypess’s new YA fantasy, Mistwood. Leah and I are both members of the Enchanted Inkpot, so it was great to meet her in person. The event was a lot of fun, and of course I left with my shiny new signed copy

• Saving Your WIP and Question Time!

  If you recall my post on beta readers recently, it was inspired by a question from my lovely friend Kate from high school. Recently she posed another question which I thought would make a good blog post: How do I save my WIP? Do I have different versions, or do I keep adding to one

• Don’t Let Readers Hang Up on Your Story

  Over the weekend a friend of mine was telling me how little patience she has for long voicemail messages. “Make sure you say the important stuff at the beginning,” she told me, “because after a few seconds I delete the message without listening to the whole thing.” When I thought about it afterwards, I realized

• Learning to Give Feedback

  Last week I had the opportunity to visit a sixth grade English class and do a lesson on revision. It was a lot of fun. The students admitted that revision is NOT their favorite thing, but they were still willing to give me a chance. We not only talked about why revision is important, we

• Choosing a Point of View

  Choosing the best POV for your story is an important step, but often people’s definitions of the different POVs vary so it can be tricky to know what you’re choosing and why you’re choosing it. Here’s my attempt at a simple breakdown of the most popular types of POV, with the pros and cons of

• ALA Midwinter Recap

  First, just a reminder that today is your last chance to enter my New Year Book Giveaway! If you want to win some free books, you only have until midnight tonight to enter!
  Also, check out the fancy new search feature on the right-hand side of the page. A big thank you to my husband for

• Help a Librarian!

  Since I managed to crash two computers yesterday, I’m going to take a hint and stay away from technology as much as I can today. But before I go, I want to send you over to the Enchanted Inkpot, where I interviewed a middle school librarian on the fantasy reading trends in her school. As