BIG NEWS!

Happy Wednesday!

You've probably been wondering. . .where's Miranda?

Well, she's been busy preparing a final exam for her high school students (who have 10 days left of school.).

AND. . .

She's been downstairs in her secret laboratory mixing up a super-secret-super-potent-awesome-tasting-magical concoction to help other people learn how to revise their picture book manuscripts so that they scream to editors, "I'm a super-stellar writer!"

Well, the secret's out!  Soon, The Picture Book Academy be doling out vials of launching an e-course called THE GRAMMAR GROOVE.

Mwah! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Miranda Paul's secret ingredient to making grammar fun? Silliness, sprinkled on top of hot-cross puns.

Learning grammar for professional writing is hard, tedious, and overwhelming. OR at least it HAS BEEN in the past. . .

Miranda Paul and Mira Reisberg have created a course (launching soon!) that teaches children's authors what they really need to know about grammar and style, and what they can sort of skip over (don't tell the editors she said that!). With Miranda’s expertise as an English teacher and picture book author, combined with her hilarious “voice,” and Mira’s expertise in pedagogy, course creation, and children’s literature, this course is a “must have” for anyone who ever wonders where to put that comma, quote, apostrophe, em dash, etc. If you struggle with English or have gotten SPAG issue comments on a manuscript (or your manuscripts continue to get form rejections or no response), this may be the workshop for you.

BUT. . .other than creating an awesome course that will help you get your SPAG issues out of your picture book manuscript (no matter how you submit it—electronically or via printed copy), Miranda's got one other piece of BIG NEWS:

RATE YOUR STORY IS OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS AGAIN!

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAA!

However, please note—Because of the overwhelming popularity of our free critique rating service and the number of manuscripts we receive (which put a heavy demand on our volunteers at times), we will be creating a "monthly window" for submissions. 

Beginning this month (May 2013), we will be open for submissions during the first seven days of each month only. Submissions received between 12:01 a.m. Central Time on the first day of the month and 11:59 p.m. Central Time on the 7th of each month will be read and rated for free. We will be closed during all other times of the month. 

If this helps us keep our inbox at a level we can handle, we'll look at modifying it. But, for the rest of the summer and into the fall, we're going to try this schedule. Thanks for understanding, and we look forward to getting your MSS!

By Julie Rowan-Zoch