I’ve been involved in some contentious issues lately, including gun violence prevention. It is a scary, sad, frustrating issue. In order to stay strong, sometimes I need to find peaceful moments. I use the Stop, Breathe and Think app to meditate as often as I can, even if it’s only five minutes in a day…. Read more »
General writing
Building a Hut
My fingers are a little sappy as I write this. By sappy, I don’t mean weepy and dramatic, I mean sticky and covered in sap. Because even though I bought garden gloves for my boys so they wouldn’t use mine, I didn’t go and grab my garden gloves when it was time to drag pine… Read more »
Where to Find Ideas for Stories
Ever wonder where to find ideas for stories? Here are fifteen places I find ideas for stories. 1. On a run. “What would happen if I crawled through that drainage culvert?” 2. Reading other books. “What if I combined Polar Express with The Martian?” 3. Cooking. “What if there was a story about spices?” 4. Showering…. Read more »
Stop Summer Slide
Download your own printable Summer TechList pdf!!
How to Run a Critique Group
What do you need to run a good critique group? First you need people. But once you have enough people, running a good critique group needs something more than just kind words and cheerleading. They need structure. We’re working on tightening up our critique group structure in our SCBWI group and I feel like we’ve… Read more »
Six Storytelling Tips for Kids (and Adults, too)
Our brains are made for stories. Our brains LOVE stories. More areas of our brain are activated when we hear stories, our memory works better, and our emotions kick in. If you want to sell more products or if you are a parent and want your kids to listen!!!) Tell them a story. Some people… Read more »
How to Write a Story A Month
If you want to be a writer, you need to write and you need to write a lot. In fact, there’s a lot of advice out there that suggests writers should write a story a month. I’ve been writing regularly for many years. I have a tidy stack of rejections that serve as a time… Read more »
Cool Ways Facebook Helps (not Hurts) Writers
There’s some debate if Facebook helps anyone at all. A good friend of mine who is also a great writer recently turned off her Facebook in order to complete a major project. It was a good decision for her because she knows that like many of us, social media can be distracting. It is… Read more »
Newbery Award Book Shelf at My Library!
This is a post of mini-updates about writing. I’m in a really cool work group of fellow writers and illustrators that is working to support each other and promote each other for school visits. Exciting! 2. I was super excited to discover that my local library has an entire shelf full of the Newbery Award… Read more »
Protagonist v. Main Character v. Antagonist
Protagonist v. Main Character I’m struggling with characters in my story and their jobs. I think I have one main character and one protagonist. But I was thrilled to find this post from elements of cinema that provides great examples of stories where the main character isn’t always the protagonist, or the protagonist isn’t… Read more »