This series is intended to help my new-to-writing friends, but also should be of interest if you wonder how books are made. In the first installment of Peek Behind the Curtain, I shared the lightbulb moment of a new manuscript [cue copious thank yous to Lin-Manual Miranda, Leslie Odom, and Hamilton]. The idea was a… Read more »
Much of children’s publishing feels like a big ol’ mystery especially when we are getting started in the industry. I thought it might be helpful to share the process of a new children’s book from my original lightbulb moment to the eventual book on a shelf. Caveat: there is no guarantee this will actually be… Read more »
How Knowledge in the Field of Psychology Can Improve Your Writing Credit: Pexels Writers come from various backgrounds, heavily influencing their styles and techniques. However, the goal of writing remains the same: to connect to an audience. It requires more than just literary proficiency to achieve this; writers also need to have empathy and an… Read more »
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 »
Author and empower-er Patricia Newman hosts a blog series called LitLinks for teachers and learners about how to connect English Language Arts (ELA) with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). She’s using children’s books as the connector. I was thrilled to receive an invitation to contribute to the series and talk about how to use STRETCH… Read more »
Recently I had the opportunity to be a special guest as part of the Picture Books and All That Jazz Workshop (PB & J) at the Highlights Foundation Retreat Center. You can see I was jazzed about being part of this workshop. And a Highlights experience has been on my bucket list for years, so…CHECK! Now, I’ve attended… Read more »
creative commons We all want to be the conductor of our manuscripts. We want them to reflect our creativity, our voice, our idea. However, picture books are not solo pieces. Text plays with illustrations. Illustrations play with text. So, what happens when, as writers, we feel we need to offer something that is not text… Read more »
As part of a continuing effort to match my WsIP with publishers’ interests, I scour new online catalogs for publishers that seem like a fit. Usually catalogs release in the fall and spring, so I’m actively looking at them now. This catalog by Sterling Publishing is particularly informative because they provide info on the author, illustrator,… Read more »
courtesy of Amazon.com Consider my mind blown. A 54 page picture book?Of course it’s a biography of Albert Einstein (On a Beam of Light A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne and Vladimir Radunsky) and there’s relativity and quantum physics and atomic particle stuff. But still.We are “taught” to work within 32 (or maybe… Read more »
The term didactic refers to intending or inclined to teach, preach, or advise.In today’s market, writing an overtly didactic children’s story for the trade market is usually a kiss of death for the manuscript. Avoiding didactic writing or themes might be one of the hardest concepts when beginning to write for children. I get it; our adult mind — either… Read more »
Sharing insights on writing children’s books and the publishing industry, and offering trinkets for creators and educators because you rock.
