I just signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I’m s-o-o-o-o excited. NaNoWriMo begins November 1st. It’s touted as “Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon!” How can I resist? I’ve written three other novels which are at various stages of resting and revision. But they weren’t written under pressure. I noodled around with… Read more »
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Pay it Forward Friday: Deb Cushman and WRITER SITES
Deb Cushman fired up her blog, Writer Sites, just a few months ago as “A place where Deb Cushman organizes her favorite writer websites and blogs!” And it’s one of my favorite feeds. I was instantly drawn to Deb’s mission because a) I’m always on the lookout for new writing resources and b) I started… Read more »
Talking about Titles
In many of my manuscript critiques, I discuss the importance of titles. As a matter of fact, the only part of a story posted for my Picture Book Peek Weeks is a working title. I understand that titles submitted are often not finalized – maybe a first thought or afterthought. Perhaps the writer intends to… Read more »
Pay it Forward Friday: Mary Bartek
Mary Bartek, one of my oldest (meaning going back a long time with no reference to age because we don’t talk about age in our crit group) writing buddies published her award-winning FUNERALS AND FLY FISHING in 2004. And now 5 years later, this fun book has been released again in paperback. And it has… Read more »
An Ode to the Slush Pile
To all my Chicago relatives, “the slush pile” is not a dirty March remnant of a long snowy winter, but instead is the ever-growing stack of unsolicited book manuscripts an editor or an agent accumulates from a host of hopeful authors. My first book which comes out next February, TOO PURPLEY!, was pulled from just… Read more »
Thoughts from Picture Book Peek Week #3
Picture Book Peek Week #3 brought me three highly original and beautifully written stories. And as always, I’m learning by critiquing. Four important questions for all PB writers popped up from this Peek Week. 1. What is your story really about?Hopefully you can answer this in one brief sentence. Then examine your text for any… Read more »
Pay It Forward Friday – Elizabeth Dulemba
Darcy Pattison’s Random Acts of Publicity Week left me inspired with the power of the simple promotional push. So I’m adding to my blog “Pay It Forward Fridays.” When I can, I’ll be highlighting books, events and other news in the life of one of my fellow writers. This week it’s: Elizabeth Dulemba’s Blog Tour… Read more »
Picture Book Peek Week #3 – And the Winners Are…
What a terrific batch of titles. And it looks like everyone was able to post without a problem this time – I hope. So without further ado … the winners of Picture Book Peek Week #3 are IT’S A SECRETFAR ABOVESANDY ANDY Please e-mail your manuscripts as Word attachments to reidy(dot)jean(at)gmail(dot)com.
Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the RMC-SCBWI Conference
My Top 10 Picture Book Takeaways from the RMC-SCBWI Conference 10. Beware of dialog-heavy picture book manuscripts. 9. The only beef editors and agents have against rhyming picture books is that they’re so often poorly written. 8. Manuscripts need to be more perfect than ever before they’re ready for submission. 7. While marketing yourself is… Read more »
Folksingers – Some of the Grandest Storytellers of All
Back in the day, before music videos, before CDs, even before 8-Track Tapes (if you owned one, fess up now – I never did) there was Puff the Magic Dragon and Peter, Paul and Mary. All drug culture references aside (I was too young to know of such things) the song became one of my… Read more »