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 »
General writing
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 »
Submissions, Rejections, and Acceptances
I’ve been keeping track of my writing submissions, rejections, and acceptances in a fancy little notebook for the past three years. In a private Facebook group, I recently participated in a discussion about how much money other full-time freelancers make annually. Many of them are doing full-time journalism and copywriting and not trying to make… Read more »
How to Write an Animal Fantasy Story
I juggle a lot of projects simultaneously, but every once in awhile I dive in full force on a project and decide to work on it until it’s ready to go. I’ve kind of dabbled on a certain story about bees for awhile. Back in April 2014, I went on an SCBWI writing retreat back… Read more »
Read All the Newbery Medal Books, March 2016 Update
We’re into March of 2016 and I feel like I’m finally starting to tackle my “read all the Newbery Medal Books” project. I was stalled at the beginning of the year because I wanted to finish Ulysses. While that book is an excellent but very long read. Then in the process of researching the biology… Read more »
Advice Wanted: Should I Finish this Story?
Sometimes it’s really hard to tell if I should finish a story. I have several writing projects happening all at once. Some are non-fiction articles I’m researching, some are fiction stories I’m writing. Since most of the stories aren’t on assignment but are things I’ve decided to work on during my own time. I jump around… Read more »
Find a Writing Critique Group
If you want to be a writer, for children or otherwise, it’s really important to find a writing critique group. Right now, I’m a member of three different writing critique groups and each one has it’s own flavor, pros and cons. SCBWI There are lots of ways to find writing critique groups online, but if… Read more »
Setting up Shop on Facebook
Have you visited my Shop on Facebook? My Shop on Facebook offers direct links to three of my self-published books, including The Bumpy, Grumpy Road, My Food Notebook, and Dinosaur Boogie. Pros It was super easy to set up, once I had the books ready to sell. There are few requirements to setting up a Shop… Read more »
Is the Problem Bad Reading or Bad Writing?
Let’s say you’re reading a book and the author makes a reference to something and you just don’t get it. It could be a phrase, a symbol, a name. Whatever it is, it doesn’t make sense to you. Some readers might feel confused and give the book a bad review. Some readers might just skip… Read more »