Annie Velter » Writing

Re-Write? Yipe!

Gudrun — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:28:58 +0000

Okay, its the end of a very quiet week where I could have gotten a lot of writing done but instead I hid behind excuses of “research” and “backstory” and “Winter Olympics” instead of tackling head on the Annie’s Fish rewrite that must be conquered.

I went through stages of “I’m not good enough,” “the story’s not good enough,” “why did I ever think I could write a book, everyone in the WORLD wants to write a book, the competition is too high,” and other familiar feelings of inadequacy and self loathing. This went to the point of keeping me, and

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Preparing for Bologna

Gudrun — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:00:02 +0000

As the author of this blog and the book Annie’s Fish, I am in preparation mode for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, an annual event that could be described as the European Mecca of children’s book publishing. New York has the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference, as does Los Angeles, but if you want a big English speaking event like this in Europe, where I live, Bologna, Italy is the place.

It’s an hour and a half long flight from Paris, and there will be a day long conference put on by SCBWI before the fair starts.

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How Big is the World?

Gudrun — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:26:23 +0000

Our fish tank is maybe 4 feet wide, and holds about 20 fish. Of those 20 there are 3 couples, one male and his harem, and 4 clown fish. The couples stick together and have their little territories within the tank.

One of the couples is of the species Neolamprologus brevis. They have a shell for a house. The female, Samantha, is often in the shell, and the male, Jean-Claude, floats above it to keep guard, but at night they both sleep in the shell together. In another corner there is a couple of Altolamprologus compressiceps, who are tall and flat,

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Inspiration for Antoinette’s Fish

Gudrun — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:17:28 +0000

The premise for Antoinette’s Fish was inspired by a number of different, seemingly unremarkable events and factoids that all came together at just the right moment.

First is me. It’s unremarkable that I grew up in Maine, and have a fascination with Africa. Everybody grew up somewhere, and everyone is intrigued by something.

Second, is the 300 liter aquarium my husband keeps. At the beginning of our relationship I thought his fish were little more than an expensive hobby that took too much of his precious time away from me. But as I got to know them, I became more interested. They

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