If you are struggling to describe your manuscript from a marketing perspective, check out this example. Bookshop’s description (shown below) of The Elephants Come Home: A True Story of Seven Elephants, Two People, and One Extraordinary Friendship (by Kim Tomsic, Hadley Hooper, and Chronicle Books) highlights all the elements that will help sell this book. These… Read more »
Hi friends. Since we’ve last connected here, we elected and installed a new president — despite unparalleled challenges to our democracy. Scientists created a vaccine with unprecedented efficacy to combat a deadly virus and deployment of that vaccine has begun. And sadly, my sweet father passed away due to an unrelated disease. Sometimes it seems we… Read more »
Many teachers are creating a Bitmoji classroom or banner to welcome students into their virtual learning environment. I thought it would be fun to create one for my office. I’m hoping this will show some solidarity to teachers who are facing monumental challenges and be a fun opener for children to see when we start… Read more »
I’m so excited to share the news of this upcoming picture book that I am authoring. Expected to launch in late 2022, the book is an anthology of princesses living in our current times who are accomplishing surprising and important things. They are deploying their positions and communities to make new laws, help the environment,… Read more »
Democracy is on all of our minds. And well it should be; this is a pivotal year for our country and our people. Educator and author Donalyn Miller presents the case that because literacy is so important, it has been and is currently used as a weapon of discrimination and a strategy to maintain power. Creators,… Read more »
As a creator, are you surprised how much time you spend revising? I am. In fact, its one piece of being a full-time author that has surprised me the most. Oh, I knew I would be drafting and redrafting, but I didn’t imagine how many times each manuscript would need revising before I could send… Read more »
Yesterday, I posted this visual on my author Instagram feed. [Feel free to check it out but come right back!] It speaks to the need we all have to try to maintain a sense of control in difficult times. I imagine most of us have had to adjust our courses because our pre-pandemic methods and… Read more »
This Nerdy Book Club blog post, The Power of Listening, by staff development expert Clare Landrigan stopped me in my reading tracks. More accurately, the third to last line is what did it — “Our conversations with them [students] are what spark the love of reading and help them develop a reading identity.” Say what? A reading… Read more »
The Great Lakes Great Reads award bestowed by the Michigan Reading Association is an annual program to recognize excellence in writing for books about or written by authors with ties to the Great Lakes region. The awards given annually are for Adult and Children’s Books. Children vote for their favorite book and winners are announced… Read more »
SCBWI-Iowa is hosting my presentation, Finding Your Agent Match, via webinar on February 10, 2020. This is a topic near and dear to me because I know that the right agent partner is invaluable. Yes, it took me many years and two tries before I found the right match for me. But I can help… Read more »
Sharing insights on writing children’s books and the publishing industry, and offering trinkets for creators and educators because you rock.
