I’m getting ready to read Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need in yet another attempt to understand novel structure. Then I’ll add it to my library of books that has had me trudging along The Hero’s Journey, climbing Freytag’s Triangle, breaking out in hives with my breakout novel, squeezing seven… Read more »
jean
Experiencing serious cover love!
Thank you, Margaret Chodos Irvine.Light Up the Night comes out this October from Disney Hyperion
Writing Book Review: Between the Lines by Jessica Page Morrell
Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing by Jessica Page Morrell Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Writers Digest Books (April 25, 2006) Language: English ISBN-10: 158297392X Buy it here! I didn’t remember the subtitle of Jessica Page Morrell’s book until I looked at the cover again to write this review. I was ready… Read more »
Random Read Alouds – “Books and Blankets”
This Wednesday March 9th is World Read Aloud Day. You can read more about that here. In the morning I’ll be doing Skype Read Alouds with the following schools: Early Childhood School, Frisco, TX Pembroke Hill & Village Schools, Pembroke, NH Bellerose Avenue Elementary, Northport, NYBut for the afternoon, I’m thinking about a random read… Read more »
The Necessary Work of Downtime
How many of you meditate? Take a daily walk? Go for a run without your iPod? If no downtime is built into your day, you may consider it too much of a luxury in an already over-scheduled life. But, in fact, practices like meditation or quiet walks are a necessary part of your writing work… Read more »
Strong Feelings from Light Hearted Article
When I wrote my article Preschool Wardrobe Wars which appeared Monday in the New York Times Motherlode blog, I knew the topic was universal. After all, that’s why I wrote TOO PURPLEY! But I didn’t expect so much emotion to surround what I considered a humorous and mostly harmless issue. Based on the growing list… Read more »
Write When You Least Expect It
I do very few things well under pressure. So when I sit down to work on a book, especially a novel, I usually make sure I’ve set aside a large block of time, giving myself a chance to get back into the story, set up achievable goals for words on the page and then actually… Read more »
World Read Aloud Day – March 9th!! – Where Will You Be Reading?
World Read Aloud Day (WRAD), an international event being held by LitWorld, a global literacy organization based in NYC, is being celebrated on March 9th. And you can be part of the movement. WRAD’s mission is not only to celebrate the power of words and stories, but to rally together and stand up for the… Read more »
Don’t Play it Safe in Picture Books
So often, as I critique picture book manuscripts, I’m drawn into a story that has a fabulous premise which as carried out is “nice.” But “nice” is usually not good enough for a picture book to be competitive in today’s market. In novel writing we talk about “raising the stakes” or “tension on every page.”… Read more »
I Love Picture Books – Peek Week #10 – February 14th!
It’s a Valentine’s Day Picture Book Peek WeekFree critique of a selected picture book manuscript It begins February 14th! Here’s how it works: Sign up for a critique by entering your picture book WORKING TITLE in the comment section of this blog post anytime (midnight to midnight Mountain Time) on February 14th. Titles submitted before… Read more »
My Books
