The road to publication can be a long and winding one for writers. To inject some fun in the journey, four of us (Susan Andrews, Jerrold Connors, Laura Cooney, and Jennifer Thomas) teamed up this fall to produce a zine called INVISIBLE THINGS.
INVISIBLE THINGS is about some of the magical creatures who dance at the periphery of our vision, live in our imaginations and scheme just out of eyeshot. Together, we wrote a set of poems about these creatures — imps and fairies, gnomes and monsters — on WhatsApp, Google docs, and Zoom, and then, the illustrious Jerrold illustrated them and, wow, does he make the words shine brighter!
Check out the #InvisibleThings on Twitter and see what’s been going on for the last few weeks.
We’ve had a wonderful time creating our zine and we want to share some of the fun with a series of giveaways to launch it.
Each day during the week of November 21–25, we’ll invite the Twitter community to participate in a raffle for a giveaway. All draws will be random.
Next Saturday (Nov. 26), we’re going to officially launch the zine with a Zoom party at noon PST, 8pm GMT. We’d be delighted if you’d join us! Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdO2sqz8jG9MBF8cknBTuxsy122abCxVN
You do not have to attend the Zoom Launch to take part in the competitions... It's a no purchase necessary type of deal. Though we do appreciate your support!
Our zine is about magical invisible creatures, but there are plenty of other wonderful invisible things too, like kindness and friendship. Each day, we’ll post on Twitter a question about a different type of invisible thing and invite you to reply. We’ll randomly draw the name of one person who replies to win a giveaway each day.
Monday is about: Magic
@jerroldconnors will ask what your favourite invisible creature is — it can be from a book, a movie, a myth, or straight out of your imagination.
Prize: A copy of our zine AND a hand sculpted mini gnome figurine from Jerrold. (Can I have one Jerrold?)
Tuesday is about: Friendship
One of the best things about working on this project has been the chance to deepen friendships that each began with a single exchange on Twitter. @JThomasABC will ask what you most appreciate in a friend.
Prize: A copyedit of up to 10,000 words of your kidlit manuscript. Jennifer is a professional editor and can give your text an extra polish, whether you’re preparing to submit it to an agent or publisher or are planning to publish it independently.
Wednesday is about Creativity
Creativity is the invisible ingredient that enables writers to conjure characters and spin storylines. @lozzawriting will ask about the creative spark that led to one of your current manuscripts.
Prize: A brainstorming session with Laura, @lozzawriting. Are you a writer (in any genre) who is stuck in querying limbo and getting discouraged? Want to try something different? Laura can introduce you to a range of Twitter prompts that will get the creative juices flowing and can help you to start writing flash fiction. If you find you like ultra-short writing, she’ll point you to places to submit your work. Laura will also happily critique one piece of work or picture book up to 1000 words. She’s no expert, but is always happy to be a pair of eyes for a fellow writer.
Thursday is about Joy
We’d like to help you to find joy in your journey too. @AndrewsSusanM will ask you about something that brings you joy.
Prize: Susan, @AndrewsSusanM, the creator and host of haikuSaturday, will coach you on how to write short-form haiku (not the more common 5-7-5 structure) and submit to haiku journals, most of which prefer the short form. Writing these little bubbles of beauty and one day seeing them published is a wonderful way to find joy in the journey!
Friday is about Hope
Kids are more likely to see invisible things than adults are. @jerroldconnors will ask what invisible creature, of any type, you saw (or wish you’d seen) when you were a child.
Prize: If you win this raffle, Jerrold will draw your invisible creature for you.
Saturday is our zine launch party on Zoom
If you’re free at noon PST on Saturday, Nov. 29, we’d love to have you join us as we celebrate the launch of our zine. We’ll announce the winners of the raffles for each daily giveaway, and one attendee will win a special door prize. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdO2sqz8jG9MBF8cknBTuxsy122abCxVN
Thank you for your support. We hope to see you at the launch and we can't wait to see your entries for the competitions.
Sounds brill Laura 🤩