Dear Friends, As some of you know, my third picture book LIGHT UP THE NIGHT, comes out October 11, 2011. What you probably don’t know is that the story – while visibly very American – was inspired by the children of Uganda, many of whom are orphaned by AIDS while others have been displaced due… Read more »
Tools for the Taking
Thoughts from Picture Book Peeks: The PB Pitch
What is your book about? It’s probably the most asked question – second only to “Where can I buy it?” – of writers. But how often do your take your answer seriously? Can you sum up your story before the elevator door slams in your face? We hear a lot about pitches and one-sentence summaries… Read more »
Picture Book Peek Week #12 – A TOO PURPLEY! Board Book Birthday
TOO PURPLEY! comes out in board book format on July 19th. It’s purple. It’s adorable. AND it’s virtually indestructible. Now that’s something to celebrate!So in honor of its board book birthday I’m holding a TOO PURPLEY! Board Book Birthday PeekJuly 19th!! Win a free critique of a selected picture book manuscript. WHEEEEE! Here’s how it… Read more »
Totally Awesome Takeaways from Mary Kole’s Beginnings Workshop
Literary agent, Mary Kole, who specializes in children’s literature at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, recently completed her 5-part Novel Beginnings Workshop. Her thoughtful critiques of 5 submitted novel openers are brimming with tips on writing beginnings that hook your readers. Stop by her blog to read these detailed critiques AND to have a look… Read more »
Writing Book Review: Second Sight
Second Sight: An Editor’s Talks on Writing, Revising and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adultsby Cheryl B. Klein Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Asterisk Books (March 9, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0615420826 When I received the request to support Scholastic (Arthur A. Levine Books) editor, Cheryl Klein, in her endeavor to publish this book, I… 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 »
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 »
Examine Your Scene Arcs with Chapter Titles
I’m currently revising my latest middle grade novel and going through the exercise of dropping the chapters into a spreadsheet with columns labeled for chapter numbers, chapter description, setting, and a column for each major character where I place an “x” if the character appears in the chapter. This helps me find scenes more easily… Read more »
Pay it Forward Friday: Minute Mentoring for Writers
Today I’m participating in a Speed Mentoring program at a local high school. I’m one of 30 mentors giving kids my best 3 minutes of advice, rotating through five groups of 10 kids each. So essentially I’ll be imparting “wisdom” on 50 kids. Wow! Talk about the weight of responsibility. But as I honed that… Read more »
My Books
