Friday was Jane Yolen's birthday.
Remember Jane Yolen? Folklorist, fantasy & science fiction author, and the creator of an almost countless number of bestselling children's books? She has, at last count, over 300 titles to her credit, and she is also the author of that highly popular, phenomenally successful How Do Dinosaurs series, which helps kids understand how to better handle social situations by poetically illustrating the way their dinosaur friends dealt with the same scenarios. Kids love dinosaurs, and kids adore her books. (How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?, How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?, How Do Dinosaurs Cope with Embarrassing Dandruff? ... actually I'm not sure of all the titles, but there are a lot of them.)
So how did she celebrate? She gave me a present.
It all started innocently enough. Jane awoke Friday morning to hundreds of Facebook friends sending short little birthday greetings. Some even started sending them a day early, but most of those were from friends and fans on the other side of the International Date Line. Seeing all their posts, Jane joked that if each had sent a hundred bucks instead, she would have enough cash to repair the old barn she recently lost to inclement weather.
Being a latecomer to the well-wishing party, but having recently sent a manuscript to her publisher, I added my own little birthday quip to her wall... which prompted the following exchange:
M
Jane, I don't have a spare $100 to send toward your barn fund, but if -------- picks up the manuscript I sent them, I'll at least owe you a birthday drink! Heck, for that matter I'll buy you a drink even if they don't. ;)
Happy Birthday to a wonderful lady, a gifted writer, and a still-young photogenic smile!
Friday at 8:00am
Jane Yolen
Hey--if -------- picks up MY next mss., 'll be able to afford the drink myself! LOL
Friday at 8:08am
M
Either way, that sounds like a "win" to me! Good luck with yours... not that you've ever seemed to need luck. ;)
Friday at 8:15am
Jane Yolen
You haven't been reading all my recent rejection letters, then!
Friday at 8:59am
M
Nope. Maybe you should put the best ones in book form (How Do Dinosaurs Deal with Rejection?).
Not that you're a dinosaur, by any stretch of the imagination...
Friday at 9:39am
... and I kid you not, barely ten minutes later, Jane posted the following snippet of paleontological wizardry:
How does a dinosaur deal with rejection. . .
©2011 Jane Yolen All Rights Reserved
OK--Marc Blake challenged me and I couldn't resist:
How does a dinosaur deal with rejection?
By kicking the table, a slight misdirection?
By taking a shower and shouting in pain,
and cursing the editors, each one by name?
No, a dinosaur reads each critique with great care,
and figures out which one's the one she should share.
Courageous, she smiles and she says nothing rash,
then rips up the thing, throws it into the trash.
My job here is done.
Well, not quite done. She agreed to sign a copy for me, if we ever meet.
In a fitting end to the day, I received a rejection letter Friday evening. As per Jane's own "for writers" advice, I at least have enough extant submissions now that each small rejection is less of a sting, and the same story will embark upon a visit to another market tomorrow. Perhaps it will even decide, this time, to stay.
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