Gas up the car and get ready to roll to your favorite Indie because David Macinnis Gill’s (my crit buddy) SOUL ENCHILADA is hitting the stores on 4/7!! I LOVE this book. But don’t take my word for it.Here’s what folks in the know have to say: An “action-packed, power-punch of a debut” –Kirkus (starred)… Read more »
jean
Hanging with the Stars in NYC
Last week I spent 4 crazy-busy but completely fun days in New York with my husband and kids for Spring Break. Yup, we’re weird that way. We don’t often rocket south like heat seeking missiles this time of year. And having lived in the Big Apple in my long ago past, I still consider East… Read more »
Oh My Goodness! I’ve Sold Another Book!!
Yippee! Here’s the official announcement: CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK: THERE’S A CORNER IN MY HOUSE by Jean Reidy, to be illustrated by Robert Neubecker, creator of WOW! CITY and WOW! SCHOOL! A subversive look at what might happen when a kid with a big imagination is stuck in time out, to Tamson Weston at Disney Hyperion,… Read more »
Top 10 Picture Books – Oh How to Decide?
New York librarian, Elizabeth Bird is currently challenging all her blog readers to list their top 10 favorite picture books. She’ll then compile the results and come up with an overall top 10 from all our top 10s. Believe me, this was tough. Because my choices depend on whether I go back to my childhood,… Read more »
Great Article on Picture Book Writing!
After this past week of blogging about perfect picture book words, a message board buddy asked me to critique her picture book manuscript today. It’s always fun to let the text tumble around in my brain where it can be met with illustrations from my imagination. That’s why they’re called picture books after all. But… Read more »
Cheryl Klein on Voice – Sneak Preview!!
Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic) blogged on “voice” in preparation for her upcoming talk. Cheryl, who’s so generous with her advice to writers posts many of her talks on her website. I urge you to check them out. And for anyone writing or revising and perhaps struggling… Read more »
For the Love of 49 Words: A Revision Story Part 3
Well this is the final post in my series “For the Love of 49 Words” in which I spend hundreds telling you how I’m finding those perfect few. In the last episode you left me plunking my rhymers into my spreadsheet to form the spine of my story. Here’s what happened next: I ordered my… Read more »
For the Love of 49 Words: A Revision Story Part 2
When I first wrote this picture book, I composed a word list — a brainstorm of all possible kid words (and a lot of made-up words) that dealt with my topic, FOOD. Thankfully I still had that word list stored safely in my files. I don’t remember how I’d ever gotten to the text I’d… Read more »
For the Love of 49 Words: A Revision Story Part 1
One of my upcoming picture books was submitted at 45 words and sold at 65. Yesterday I received a very kind and thoughtful revision letter from my editor asking me to cut 16 words and change all the rest. You think I’m joking? Two funny truths about that letter: I completely agree with her suggestions… Read more »
That One Perfect Sentence
So today I went for a 45-minute run on this unseasonably warm Colorado day. And about half way through, I composed a line for the final scene in my current MG WIP. I loved that line. I adored that line. I mentally kissed myself for authoring such a vastly poetic, thematically targeted, perfectly voiced sentence…. Read more »
My Books
