Anita VP

          Pictured: The saddest-looking, distraught baby, who has become disgruntled over his mangos. Listen to (or read) this neat bit on the etymology of some common words with negative prefixes .   Most of us are familiar with the construction of adding prefixes like dis- to the beginning of words like “agree” to make the root word negative.   That is “agree” becomes “disagree”, meaning to not   agree. But what about words like “disgruntled”?   Or “disheveled”? The apparent root of the word is not a free-standing word, like in the case of “agree”.   Although the article doesn’t nerd out this far, generally these root “words” are considered to be bound morphemes .   The development of these words is logical, despite the fact that we don’t really “gruntle” or “shevel”. In addition to the words mentioned in the article , some words following this concept that came to my mind were: -           Inept Latin ineptus In- = not Ept = Latin aptus, or “apt”

Yesterday, I participated in the #PBPitch Twitter Party.   (The idea is that writers tweet their picture book pitches and agents/editors will like the tweets that intrigue them.)   I submitted the following tweets for my front-running manuscripts: twitter.com/AnitaVanProyen I did not get any “hearts” for my pitches – bummer.   But you know, that’s alright.   I’m trying.   Failure is inevitable.   Perhaps the next go around.   It’s Friday and it’s a great day to be alive. #AnitaVP #Justtry #picturebook #kidlit #betterlucknexttime #friday #friyay

Let’s be honest.   The internet is awesome.   One of my latest favorites is “Ruin a book in one letter.”    Some of my favs have been: -           Madame Ovary -           Lard of the Flies -           The Old Man and the Spa -           Gone with the Wine Check out these examples for more fun.   Making sure you’ve got all your typos out is clearly key.   It would b so embarrassing if there were a tyop in something you were righting. What book/movie/tv show titles can you ruin with only one letter?   What about famous quotes or expressions? #AnitaVP #ruinabook #fun #typo #gonewiththewine

Admittedly, developing routines with two small children is not easy.   One thing I do have down is playing classical music in the mornings for my kids. Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are some of my favorite movies of all time.   I am genuinely dismayed that the kid’s cartoons today, with the exception of Little Einsteins , do not feature classical music.   My parents are super into classical music and it’s something they incorporated into my life.   For me and my tiny humans, sometimes it’s traditional, Motzart-y stuff; sometimes it’s newer, less traditional stuff like this , from YoungMin You. At the risk of feeling like I have turned into my dad, let me share at a high level why I find this to be beneficial: -           We all feel more zen this way.   No one likes to start of their morning un-zen. -           It’s the right time of day for it.   (Unlike my dad, I do not jam out to classical mid-afternoon driving in my truck. (Love you, Dad.)) -           It’s good

So, it turns out that I’m not the only storyteller in my house.  Human  #1  is most definitely one to craft her own stories as well.   At present, I am working on picture books on the following: -  Stories about Human  #1  and doggos -  A pig story -  A dog-squirrel shenanigans story -  A book about feelings Feels like a lot – maybe it is?! Too many ideas and too little time. If you were picking, what would there be more of in new picture books?  What’s missing in the picture book world? #AnitaVP   #parenting   #moms   #dad #writingcommunity   #kidlit   #picturebooks #writingjourney   #doggos   #amwriting

My husband is a true man’s man – a macho man.   Physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, etc.   And I wouldn’t have him any other way.   He’s big and bulky and buff and gruff.   He has a beard most men would envy.   He makes grunts Tim Allen style and he may be convinced that a little snus has him turned into a sexual tyrannosaurus.   When asked what he wants to eat, the answer typically is “meat.”   He, and I quote, “[doesn’t] have to work out, [he gets] to work out.”   Little bit Paul Bunyan, little bit Spartan, little bit Teddy Roosevelt, little bit Marlboro Man.   From here on out, we can call him Macho Man.   Every fiber of his being is characterized by testosterone – a bona fide, red-blooded, he-man. I’d like to think my feminine charm is some form of black magic antidote.   Perhaps it is – at least in a small and sufficient enough way.   Nonetheless, my black magic or otherwise, we make a great partnership.   Shared values and upbringings mesh; our personal

What do the people want?   What they want! How do the people want it?   How they want it! When do the people want it?   Now! In my research regarding attaining agented representation and publication, there is so much talk about trends, what sells, and what’s popular now.   Which, I get it – we all have to eat, agents and publishers included. I’m going to go out on a limb here though and make the following statement:   In my humble opinion, the beloved Poky Little Puppy would not even be able to get an agent today.    Poor Poky Puppy.   He’s adorable and naughty and we all learned something.   But by today’s standards, (I think strongly) it would be considered boring and lacking character development.   Let’s not even get into the fact that no one would want to publish something that suggests that you feed your snowflake dog anything other than  the most premium, artisan dog food. Granted, this is all speculation and many, many parents still own copies of

Human #1 has just turned four – and neither my husband nor I know how we hit this big milestone that fast.  Naturally, over the past couple of years there has been lots and lots of ABC talk.  We do flashcards.  I sing  The Backwards Alphabet .  We watch lots of ABC videos, etc. etc.  But let’s kick Alphabet videos up a notch, shall we?  I  stumbled across  this  phenomenal  History of the Alphabet video  and  chart  by  Matt Baker from Useful Charts .  The linguistics nerd in me is just tickled to death.  In the video, he does an awesome job of making the info easy to follow and understand. Even if you’re not a linguistics nerd, this is a very interesting comprehensive view of how the Alphabet has developed over thousands of years.  Baker even breaks down how the letter F is one of the most interesting letters – and not like that, get your minds out of the gutter, haha. Enjoy!