30,000 Stitches: A Book of Hope, Unity, and Healing

Hello wonderful readers! I hope your May is finishing up nicely. Over here, we are one day away from the end of the longest year of our life. My Kindergartener will finish virtual school and while it was absolutely the right choice for our family to stay virtual... we are exhausted and so ready for lazy summer days. I'm also excited for the extra time that I'll have now to write, blog, and share more books. I'm going to be getting back into both #TuesdayFromTheTrenches and #ForLittleReaders, so I hope you'll join me for this wonderful book-filled summer!

I'm beyond excited to share a new book today from debut author, Amanda Davis, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. I had the chance to read an ARC of 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag and I was truly touched by its beauty.

This book was absolutely stunning. The text was just the right mix of informative and lyrical, inspiring and instructive. Amanda did such a nice job of telling a story that I personally did not know. She shares the true story of a flag flown over the destruction following the tragic events of 9/11 and its journey through repair and display. I was captivated from the start and so intrigued by the journey of a battered and scarred flag to become whole and complete again through the hands of people from across the nation. I loved reading about the people who sewed the flag back together. I loved seeing diversity bring connection and healing. I loved the gorgeous illustrations and felt hope and healing pouring through the pages.

The book gave me a renewed sense that our differences are our strengths. That we can come together and find unity through diversity. I hope for that. I work for that. This book is a lovely manifestation of that.

For our activity to go with this book, I had my girls make their own flag, working together, piece by piece. We talked about the book while they worked on the project and about how everyone has something to contribute to make a beautiful, complete work of art.

I let the kids cut out the stripes and the stars in their own way. It didn't matter that the stripes weren't straight and the stars were mostly rectangles. They did it themselves and they were really proud of their efforts. They remembered parts of the book and talked about how they could be helpers too. It was really a great morning!

After reading and making our own pieced-together flag, we enjoyed visiting the website we found in the sources of the book and learning about the people from Arizona (our state) who helped piece the flag together. We loved browsing further through the "Flag Stitcher Stories" page and learning more about the people who helped sew the flag back together. The flag visited all 50 states, and it was really neat to read about the people who participated. Highly recommend.

I hope you will all take the time to read 30,000 Stitches. With the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001 quickly approaching this book is a lovely tribute and reminder to all of us. If you make your own flags, I would love to see them! Tag them on social media with #ForLittleReaders for me to see what you're doing. Truly this is a book you don't want to miss.

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Happy Summer, my friends! I hope you'll join me on For Little Readers throughout the summer for activities to keep the littles busy and engaged. I love paring activities with gorgeous books and bringing together reading, art, and imagination. It's a magical connection.

How I Got My Book Deal and Started Writing Middle Grade

Hello friends! Welcome back to the dear old blog. I'm sorry that there haven't been any Tuesday From The Trenches posts recently. I've been busy with things!

I HAVE A BOOK DEAL!!!!! I still am in complete shock and just can't believe it. I love reading "how I got my book deal" stories, so I figured I'd share mine for anyone who is interested.

If you haven't read my story about signing with the incomparable Emily Forney of Bookends Literary, you can check that out HERE. That story is truly a huge piece of this story.

After I signed with Emily, we worked on edits from September til about November. We went on submission briefly in November, but then virtually all editors were taking time off for the holidays, so we put it on hold. (For my non-writer friends reading this, going on submission means that your agent started sending out your story and/or pitching your story to editors. Sometimes you pitch it without sending the manuscript and sometimes you send the full manuscript right away. It's all strategic stuff that I don't really understand, but I don't have to. That's why I have Emily and she's a rock star, so I am so grateful to just be able to fully trust her with those decisions).

At this time, KID MADE (my now-to-be-debut book) was a picture book. It highlighted 20 kid inventors in a really simple way for the youngest of readers.

Emily sent out a round of submissions on January 19th. I was hoping to hear some news by March since I knew things were slow and I tried not to bother Emily too much with my anxious excitement about going on sub (read: I totally bothered her too much and she is a saint for not just dropping me after way too many texts and emails).

January 20th (one day after sending out subs) was already a really awesome day. Inauguration day. I had been excited and looking forward to it. But I wasn't prepared for just how emotional I would be. When I watched Kamala Harris walk up the capital steps, I teared right up. A woman was about to become our Vice President! And then everything from the speeches to the music to Amanda Gorman (if you watched nothing else of the inauguration, PLEASE watch her recitation). Anyways... I digress. The point is, it already felt like a great day.

And then I get this text from Emily

I couldn't believe it. Someone at MACMILLAN wanted to talk about my book??? Emily soon sent a follow up text that this editor--Holly West--got back to her and actually wanted to move the call up to the NEXT day! Woah! So Emily and I hopped on a call and talked about what it might mean, what I was willing to accept or not accept, and Emily prepped for the call with Holly.

The next day I waited anxiously all day. And then I got a text from Emily asking if I had time for a call. Umm... YES!

The call with Holly had gone really well. She loved the book. She loved the voice. She loved the concept. But she didn't want it to be a picture book. She wanted it to be a middle grade book! Emily knew that I wasn't willing to budge on this being illustrated. I want this book to be really whimsical and yet still STEM focused, and I feel deeply that illustrations are the key to this. Holly absolutely agreed and assured Emily that it would be a fully illustrated MG book if I was interested. They chatted vision and Holly let Emily know that if I could prepare one sample section that she would then take it to the acquisitions meeting. (Again, for non-writer friends, this is a meeting where all of the imprints under a publisher--Macmillan in this case--meet together and the acquiring editors pitch the books that they want to buy. They have to convince the financial and marketing teams, and ultimately the CEO type people. Writers know that acquisitions meetings don't always come out the way you hope they will).

Emily and I talked for a long time about Middle Grade Nonfiction. I was thrilled and slightly terrified by the idea. I had wanted to get into MG NF for quite a long time. I had even started learning the craft. But I had spent 2 years learning and polishing picture book craft. I didn't know if I was ready to write Middle Grade. But I loved the idea and I figured I might as well try.

I read a LOT of MG NF. It's such a fun genre. I talked to middle grade aged kids who really eat up nonfiction at that age! And I wrote. And I revised. And I wrote some more. My critique partners were amazing to help me polish. And Emily really helped me to develop my MG voice. I was so used to making picture books as tight as possible (you have to get a lot of info into a small word count on PB). But now I could really expand and paint a picture and develop the stories. Where the PB had really limited info, the MG version could now tell the full stories. I was loving it so much. It felt right. I really hoped that Holly would love this new version and that it could make it through acquisitions because telling the stories this way was amazing.

I also had a lot of research to do. If this was going to be middle grade, I needed to highlight more than 20 kids. I needed 40. I was so excited about the kids that I found. My research skills got way better and I was finding things that I had never found before in my earlier days of researching. I had interviews with a bunch of the kids and/or their relatives and friends. It was all coming together.

We had originally planned to take our time on this, but it was just flowing out of me. After some revisions back and forth with Emily, it was ready to go to Holly on February 2nd! We sent it off and crossed all our fingers.

On February 10th, we heard back from Holly. She loved it! And she was preparing to take it to acquisitions!!!! If you thought I was a nervous wreck before, I was an absolute disaster now. For reals. Emily was the best and again, didn't drop me when I was so terribly annoying with my endless questions and *moments.*

We had thought we'd hear back about the meeting on the 17th. But then we found out they were a bit behind and Holly asked if she could have til the 24th to which we agreed.

On the 24th, I was a mess. I couldn't focus on anything. Nervous excitement. I was trying to be hopeful but not too hopeful, you know? I didn't want to be totally crushed if it was a no. By 2:00 my time (4:00 Eastern) I had decided that something must have been delayed and we weren't going to hear anything that day. I poured myself a bowl of cereal to wallow (because sometimes I'm a 5 year old) and sat down at my kitchen table to watch my kiddos playing outside. One bite in, my phone rang. It was Emily!!!!!

I answered and immediately burst into tears when she told me that we had an offer!

Emily emailed over the offer and she walked me through the details of it. We talked about next steps and cried and screamed and it was all the things you dream it will be.

I got off the phone and my husband and I danced and screamed around the kitchen and then brought the kiddos in to dance and scream. There was cake and there was much joy.

Emily told the other Editors who had the MS that we had an offer. But the next day, we ended up talking more to Holly and her vision and after a new offer, we pulled all of the other submissions and officially accepted from Holly West and Feiwel and Friends / Macmillan!!!

It's been an absolute dream since then. Holly, Emily, and I all had a call to talk more vision and I've been writing my little heart out. Going from a 32 page picture book to a 250ish page middle grade means a lot more research and writing. Talking to these amazing kid inventors and their family members has been incredible. I love these stories and I love getting to know these kids and I just cannot wait until you can all have these stories in your hands.

I'm so grateful to my husband for all of his support as I write and research long hours. I'm so grateful to my kiddos for their love and support. I'm so grateful to Emily for being the absolute perfect agent for not only this project, but my entire career. And to all my critique partners, agents siblings, and writing buddies as well. Thank you ALL. It truly takes a village to write a book. If you missed my Twitter announcement, you can see that HERE.

Thank you, friends for reading about my journey. I can't wait to see where else this path takes me.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY!

To celebrate my news, I'll be giving away the winner's choice of a PB MS Critique, 1st 5 Pages of a NF MG critique, or a 20 min zoom call. To enter, follow me on Twitter and retweet THIS tweet. For a bonus entry, subscribe to my blog and tell me in the comments below that you did so. Good luck everyone! Winner will be announced on Twitter 4/16

About Kailei Pew

Kailei Pew is a wife, mother, and children's book author represented by the amazing Emily Forney of Bookends Literary. She is an active member of SCBWI, a 2019 Write Mentor Mentee, and a finalist in Susanna Leonard Hill's 2019 Holiday Writing Contest. She loves writing picture books that help kids see they can do anything they set their minds to.

Kailei's debut Middle Grade Book, KID MADE will be coming to you from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan Summer 2023

Tuesday From The Trenches: Laken Slate

Hello lovely readers and welcome to this week's Tuesday From the Trenches! I'm still loving these interviews and I get SO much from each of them. I hope more than anything that you see that there is truly no "right" path to representation. Every path is so unique and I LOVE that!! This week's story is really unlike any others I've shared on the blog, and I'm so happy to be sharing it with you today.

As a partial side note, Laken reached out to me about an interview and I was SO glad she did. I can't see every single announcement and so if any of you have hoped to join me for Tuesday From The Trenches, I would absolutely love for you to reach out to me! I love sharing these stories and if I'm missing yours, please please please get in touch!!

And now, join me in welcoming Laken Slate to the blog today!!

Thank you so much for joining us today, Laken! I was so excited to see that you recently signed with Joyce! And I’m thrilled to share your query story with my readers.

To get started, can you share your query stats with us?

Time Spent in the Query Trenches: Eight Months

Number of Agents Queried: 44

Number of Requests for Additional Work/Full Manuscript: 3

Number of Twitter Pitch “Likes”: 0.00…Well, more like 0.5. Someone from a comic book press liked one of my pitches, but they didn’t mean to participate in the pitch event. They simply liked the idea. Haha.

Number of R&Rs: 0.00

Number of Rejections: 42

Number of Offers: 2

Agent and Agency: JOYCE SWEENEY😊from The Seymour Agency!

Wahoo!! Congrats again!! How did you keep track of it all? What was your method for organizing queries? Spread sheet? Query Tracker? Etc.

I used a combination of Excel and Query Tracker.

I documented who I sent stories to, what agency the person belonged to, why I chose to submit to them, the date I made the submission (!), and the response the agent gave.

I didn’t “track” much on Query Tracker. The “comments” feature was incredibly useful, and the “timeline” feature was incredibly addictive…lol.

Oh my goodness, YES! That timeline feature is a blessing but also a curse. I would tell myself to not check, but then I just had to. Seeing the responses get closer and closer to my submission was somehow both stressful and helpful... Weird, I know.

How did you handle rejections? Did any sting more than others?

Ah... rejections. Will we ever escape them?

I handled rejection badly as a child! Somehow, I handle it well as an adult.

While querying, I viewed every pass as feedback. I always made changes after rejections. Some may disagree with this method, because one person’s subjective opinion doesn’t warrant alterations, but I felt propelled to take a deeper look at my work after a pass.

The rejections that stung ended up being the most helpful. They stung like a shot at the doctor’s office, not like a bee (if that makes any sense at all).

A rejection after a request hit me hard, at the beginning of my query journey. But earning that initial request gave me the confidence to keep trying.

Another rejection after a request hit me harder, in the middle of my query journey. But it was from my now agent.

It sounds like you really did learn so well how to cope with rejections. And I agree... those passes after requests for more were the hardest for me too. But I love that you circled back to Joyce in the end! But here I am getting ahead of myself...

How did you find agents to query/how did you decide who to query?

I Googled agencies at random and used Manuscript Wishlist. At first, I only looked to see if an agent represented picture books. Later, I made sure to only query agents who represented picture books similar to mine, or who mentioned a Wishlist item similar to my stories. I had to work smarter and harder!

I think that is very wise. I also queried very widely in the beginning, but narrowing to those "better fits" saved me so much time, emotion, and energy. How did you ultimately connect with your agent? Did you cold query? Participate in a twitter pitch event? Or connect in some other way?

It all started in September 2020. I sent a story to Joyce, and she loved it! She requested more stories but said she didn’t want to take on new clients until the new year. She asked me to query again in December.

I queried in December and received a pass. I had so been hoping to work with her.

I decided to take a step back in January 2021. I wanted to focus less on querying and more on crafting. I wanted to attend conferences about storytelling, not webinars on acquiring an agent. I felt I needed to go back to the basics.

Two weeks later, an agent I queried in 2020 asked to schedule “The Call.” I was absolutely floored. He clearly advocated for an author’s best interest, throughout our conversation, and he said that I should take the standard two weeks to make my decision.

I began reaching out to the handful of agents who still had my stories. Out of the blue, a few days later, Joyce emailed me. She was not one of the agents I contacted about the offer, because she had given a pass in December. She asked if I still needed an agent and said she remembered my work! On “The Call” with her, a few days later, she said she had a feeling she needed to contact me soon. Signing with her felt like it was meant to be!

Oh wow! What a unique journey. I've never heard a story like yours and I love it so much!! So how much time passed between querying Joyce to getting “the call”?

5 Months

Could you tell us a little about your book that landed your agent?

The story I sent Joyce in September is an imagined adventure, starring real Martian machines. Perseverance and Ingenuity attempt to rescue one of the lost solar sisters of NASA’s past.

I re-watched WALL-E recently, for the first time since High School. It is an absolute masterpiece. I kept dreaming, while watching, that my story could introduce children to the Martian rovers, in a similar, adventurous, adorable fashion.

Oh, that sounds absolutely out of this world! (sorry... couldn't help myself! But truly it does sound like an amazing book!!)

If you could give querying authors a piece of advice, what would that be?

Every time a generous professional offers an #askagent, #askauthor, or #askkidlit session, I see aspiring writers ask questions like, “Is a query letter that important for picture books?”

This is a valid question, and I have asked it myself. Looking back, however, I know my mindset wasn’t spot on. A query letter is your chance to sell your story to someone who could help you achieve your dream. Your pitch, or query blurb, could be sent to an editor one day or could be printed on the jacket of your book. If you believe in yourself, think big.

Does that mean your query must be perfect? Heavens no! I wrote the world’s worst queries! But I thought I was sending my best each time. (CPs, reflection, and growth always reveal necessary edits.)

More than anything, the story matters. Focus on the story most! But, at the end of the day, all the silly little things add up. Word count matters. Blurbs matter. Queries matter.

Give your absolute best, in every part of the process, and don’t give up!

I love that so much! Such a good reminder to not cut corners and give this journey our all! Where can we connect with you online?

I absolutely love the #Kidlit writing community. You can find me on Twitter at @LakenSlate

I am developing an early childhood writing curriculum for my M. Ed. Capstone. My website combines my love for education and writing. I share ideas for teaching little learners to write, and I blog about my own writing journey.

Oooh, that sounds like a wonderful blog! Thanks so much for joining us today! I’ve had a blast chatting and learning more about your journey. Best of luck on this journey! I can’t wait to see your books in the world.

Kailei, thank YOU so much, for including me in your fantastic series! Like so many others, I’ve read each Tuesday’s post and thought, “I wish I could be out of the trenches like they are!” This interview is a dream come true😊

Oh I so love that!! It was absolutely my pleasure to have you!!

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY!!

Laken is very generously offering a complete Query Package to one luck winner! Simply follow both Laken and Kailei on twitter and retweet THIS tweet to enter. Good luck and the winner will be announced on Twitter!

About Laken Slate

Laken Slate is a teacher, toddler mom, and Navy spouse. She's had a lifelong love of picture books, even though she once failed the Accelerated Reader test for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Laken writes about the adventure and quirky humor we find in nature and the shared tumbles we take along the way. She enjoys traveling with her husband, playing with her son, shopping with her mom, laughing with her sister, and fishing with her dad.

About Kailei Pew

Kailei Pew is a wife, mother, and picture book author represented by the amazing Emily Forney of Bookends Literary. She is an active member of SCBWI, a 2019 Write Mentor Mentee, and a finalist in Susanna Leonard Hill's 2019 Holiday Writing Contest. She loves writing picture books that help kids see they can do anything they set their minds to.

Kailei can't wait to get her stories into your hands.