Just read an article summarizing some interesting research on how kids are practicing the scientific method on video games without realizing it–the same kids who are tuning out of science classes, according to the article. I’m not so sure I agree with that last point–often the kids attracted to gaming tend to be the kids who are more into academia… but then, there are a lot of kids who aren’t interested in anything except their PS3 or whatever. 

Intriguing and food for thought. Makes me especially glad that many librarians are seeing this kind of thing and working on how to get kids into the library via video and tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. YALSA is really big on promoting that to librarians and helping them find resources, and has held a gaming seminar at many (all? I’m not sure) Midwinter conferences lately.

One thing I lea
rned while working at Wizards that I hadn’t known before–because I didn’t know how to play the game before that–is how much math, creative storytelling, strategy, and research skills goes into each D&D game. Players have to be able to calculate their own statistics to create a character, and the game itself is like a group storytelling hour with battle thrown in (hence the strategy, leading to creative and independent thinking). I loved that we had the D&D in the Library program that showed librarians how to play the game and gave them resources like book lists that could encourage players to use the stacks to improve their game play or character (Castle by David MacCauley, for example, is a great book for helping players to see just what a castle might look like in their game).

So I’m not at all surprised by Steinkuehler’s findings. It’s just nice to see academic support of this idea that the way to help kids get excited about science and math and English is to meet them where they are.

I am sitting at my desk, in my newly painted office. Books are on the bookshelves (overflowing them, actually, as usual), and the internet cord is long enough to reach into the office.

Things I still need, however: a chair tall enough for this desk (adjustable legs, but to fit the file cabinet under the desk it has to be up pretty high, which means my little kitchen chair just won’t do), and closet organizer shelves so I can unpack the boxes I’m staring at, full of the miscellanea which you collect as an employee of Wizards of the Coast–dragons, D&D minis, multiple board games like Diplomacy, etc.

The desk is HUGE. I love it. Plenty of workspace, and space enough to put the scanner out too. So huge that the oval ends that I thought I’d need are going back to Ikea tomorrow.

The cats like the new office. I think it’s because it’s the room in the least amount of chaos right now. Living room is next to be painted, and hopefully the carpet guys will be coming back this afternoon, now that it’s plenty dry in there from the flood, and install new pa
dding and clean the carpet.

Last on the list is the bedroom, which has become the catch-all for any boxes I’m not ready to unpack yet. But it’s coming along! Pictures will come along, too, when I’ve got the last of it organized.

Yesterday an old friend from Boston who now lives in Salt Lake Ciy joined me on an expedition to that cheap but sturdy furniture haven we all love, Ikea. She needed a few little things, and I needed a few big things.

Notice that the cart I’m pushing is one of four. The two yellow-bag carts are ours, too–most of those were Mary’s–and the other big cart in front of the one I’m holding is also ours–most of those were mine. A desk, several bookshelves, a storage unit shelf, and a simple bed frame that matches the rest of my bedroom, all for a relatively low price that came well within my budget. You should have seen us on the trek home in my little CRV. Two large flat boxes strapped to the luggage rack, with the long bookshelf boxes coming up into the front between the front seats, leaving us barely enough room to maneuver. I told Mary that it was her responsibility that if we’re about to be sideswiped, she had to tell me. "You’ll probably hear an ‘Ah-ah-ah!’ of panic," she said. And we set off. And even made it home safely.

I painted one office wall last night, and this morning I’ve been assembling shelves, and now the reason that prompted this post: they’re so easy to assemble! I thought Target shelves were easy to assemble, but these are even better–and quicker!

And the best part? Manuscript shelves! This is an idea totally stolen from my friend Kirk who works for Covenant Communications, a local publisher. He has these little shelves that he’s got metiulously organized by author and book. Which means he doesn’t have to have them all spread out on his desk, but also doesn’t have to file them away to be forgotten in a lateral file! It’s ingenious!

(Notice the nice new blue wall behind the white bookshelf.)

And why do I love Ikea for this? Because you can buy extra shelves!

I love Ikea.

More pictures of my office to come as I get it set up and it stops looking like a r
oom chest-high in boxes.

Oh, and a bonus Mogget picture for you. This is what he’s been doing most of the time since I moved in (though he’s ventured out a little more this last week than he did the first week).

One of the nice things about getting laid off is that the company provided an outplacement specialist consultation for everyone who had to be laid off. I recently spoke to one, and we talked about all the emotions that come with being laid off, even if you have a good plan and a hopeful situation.
Not only was I laid off, but I moved–which makes two major changes rather than just the one of changing jobs. His suggestion was that I get my home life in order as soon as possible so that it’s a comfortable place to be, so that these whirling emotions that are natural even when you really do feel happy about the changes are more likely to settle down.
That made real sense to me, especially since I have mostly been confined to my bedroom this entire week when I’m not out of the house because my living room is being dried out (it’s dry, but they haven’t returned to replace the padding and clean the carpet) and my office isn’t unpacked and organized. I’d been working in the living room until I could completely organize the office, but we all know how that has worked out this week.
So that’s my goal for this weekend–get the office into a working state so that I can really feel like I get up in the morning and "go to the office." I think it will make it much better to separate my work and home life, even if it’s just a room away.
I’ve already gotten some great paint–a really nice dark olive green for the bedroom to contrast with my orange/burnt umber bedding and white furniture; a nice light blue (almost a light slate but bluish) for the office–the Olympic brand calls it "Memory Lane," which is appropriate because it’s about the color that I painted my bedroom growing up; the living room will be a nice tannish/light brown called "Puppy Paws," which I just love the sound of–it will go great with my green couch, black-framed black and white photography, and cherry wood bookshelves, not to mention the prints of a couple of Horn Book covers which I have yet to find frames for; and the kitchen will be a nice cheerful green called "Quaking Grass." Oh, and I’ll also use the olive green in the living room as an accent wall, which will go really nicely with the Puppy Paws and the furniture.
Tomorrow I’m off to Ikea with a friend to get myself a nice desk, bookshelves, and a comfy chair for the office.
I can’t wait to have my house really looking right–and to have
all my books and office equipment unpacked.

Thanks to all the people who had great suggestions for transitioning to freelancer. A common theme is "get where people are where you can still work" and I think that’s exactly what I need to do. I think I’m going to start going to the library even more often, and my friend Howard of Schlock Mercenary is going to take me down to a game store called the Dragon’s Keep next week where he works many days. My friend Janci writes down there a lot of the time, as well, and it might be a good place to work at least occasionally.

I didn’t work much this week, deliberately. I allowed myself to sleep a lot, to try to let the sinus infection go away, and to organize. But next week I have two full books to edit, so my plate is filling up. If anyone here has a lead on more freelancing to fill my calendar with, I’m all ears. I’m also thinking about talking with the local universities about teaching a children’s literature course. The semester is start
ing right now but maybe next semester it might fill a need, even an unknown one (there are so many children’s writers and potential children’s writers in Utah). BYU offers several writing for young readers classes, but the only literature-based children’s lit class that was offered when I was an undergrad was in the elementary education department. I believe they now offer a YA class in the English dept, but I’m not sure if they have a survey class. Makes me wonder. (Except that BYU requires its adjuncts to volunteer their time, so that’s not really a think I’m ready for, I think. UVU, the other college here, might be a better option.)

As for next week, the agenda is to work on the two books I have on my schedule, then reserve a couple hours a day to get writing on my work in progress, which I’ve been working on in various iterations since 2000. I’m going to finish a first draft before I finish freelancing, and hopefully finish enough drafts and polishing that it will be ready to submit. But small goals first: finish a first draft. I’m a good 1/3 of the way through; I just need to get back in the swing of the story and really FINISH it!

So, some bulleted points on freelancing, combining your advice and my experience this week:

• Find a workspace that allows you to concentrate–whether a library full of patrons or an uncluttered home office (still working on the latter)
• Set deadlines for yourself, even if the client hasn’t set a deadline
• Separate work and home space–feel like you’re "going to work" in your office
• Set a daily schedule for yourself
• Be proactive in procuring work–don’t be afraid to mention your new job to professional connections
• Be willing  be eclectic–sometimes the best-paying work won’t come in the field you normally devote yourself to. Naturopathic publishing may not be anywhere near children’s literature, but then, neither were industrial electrical motors, and they got me my start in professional publishing–and paid the bills while doing so. This frees up energy to work on your own personal projects, too.

Any other bullet points you’d add?

I need to change my bio page so that it doesn’t say I’m an editor at Mirrorstone. This makes me sad. 🙁
One thing I’m finding in my fledgling new life is that a lack of coworkers–especially the awesome, hilarious coworkers I had at WotC–makes working life rather lonely. No one is popping into my cube, teasing me, or sending odd emails with geeky in-jokes. Working at home one day a week wasn’t hard because I would still be in constant contact with my coworkers on one issue or another.
Today I am going to go work at the library, where I will at least be surrounded by people. (And not boxes–another thing about moving when you’re starting to freelance is that it’s more tempting to spend most of your time on housework, or to feel that you can’t start to work until you’ve found the floor to your office.) 
It’s definitely a transition process, going freelance. This solitary life is what a writer feels every day, of course. But as you can imagine, moving and changing jobs at the same time is a huge challenge because it’s two major changes in one. 
F
or you writers out there, and anyone else who works from home: what was your transition like? Are you naturally a solitary person? Do you have to get out of the house to work sometimes? What helped you to transition?

I should be getting ready for church, so I just wanted to quickly say thanks for all the good wishes. I’m already moved down to Utah–it came together quicker than I thought, given that I was already apartment hunting and had found someone for the room in my previous house already–and I’ve got a few freelance editing jobs lined up. 
What I forgot to mention in my last post was that my email here on this LJ–stacylwhitman AT gmail–is the one to reach me at if you have any business concerns/questions/referrals/whathaveyou. Starting tomorrow I’ll be working on just what this new business I’ll be starting needs–right now it’s mostly a little idea that has grown fairly quickly, but I have a few kinks to work out yet.
I’ll be around–probably more than I have been lately, given that I won’t be nearly as busy… once I get unpacked!

Many of you have written to ask about the recent announcement about the Wizards of the Coast publishing program. (See the official news release if you haven’t heard about it.) As you can see, the Discoveries imprint will cease publishing at the end of the year, and Mirrorstone will now focus solely on books inspired by the lore of Dungeons and Dragons, such as the Dragon Codex books and The New York Times best-selling Practical Guide series.

As a result, Mirrorstone’s submission needs have changed. We’ve updated our submission guidelines, which I’m pasting below. Hopefully this will answer most questions people have had.

Mirrorstone™ Books for Young Readers

Submission Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in publishing with Mirrorstone™. Mirrorstone is the children’s/young adult imprint of Wizards of the Coast. We are distributed by Random House, Inc.

Mirrorstone will be shifting direction beginning in 2009 to focus exclusively on publishing novels for young readers inspired by the lore of Dungeons & Dragons. We will continue to publish our Practical Guide series as well as other spin-off series such as the Dragon Codex books, and Forgotten Realms related novels like the Stone of Tymora trilogy.

Though we are no longer able to consider series proposals and standalone manuscripts, we are always looking for talented writers to work with us on the series we develop. We welcome writing samples from writers who wish to work with us on a work-for-hire basis.

Submitting Your Sample

If you are interested in being considered as a writer for one of our series, please send a sample of your writing. We require three chapters from a completed novel for middle-grade or young adult readers (preferably within the fantasy genre) and a one- to two-page plot synopsis.

Your work should be typed, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins. On the first sheet, please include your name, address, phone number, and email address. The pages should be numbered consecutively, with your
name and an abbreviated title somewhere on each page.

With your sample, please include a cover letter, providing some context for the sample you’re submitting (a short overview of the novel it is from and any other relevant information). Include a list of any relevant writing credits. You will need to also submit an unaltered signed legal agreement, included on the website (22k ZIP/PDF) at: http://ww2.wizards.com/books/downloads/SubmissionAgreementOpen2004.zip.

Send submissions to:

Mirrorstone Books
Submissions
P.O. Box 707
Renton, WA 98057-0707

We are not able to accept samples by email.

Please do not send only a query letter; it will be returned to you with a copy of the submission guidelines. We cannot judge your work without a writing sample.

What Happens Next?

Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we are unfortunately no longer able to respond to every sample. If you wish to know that your sample was received, feel free to include a stamped self-addressed postcard that we can drop in the mail to notify you of your sample’s receipt.

If your writing seems like a good fit for us, we will contact you. Please don%E
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Next, we’ll have her cousin’s son’s dragon blogging, too. But you should keep an eye on this, and share it with the kids in your life who love Red Dragon Codex.