Sheltering in Place: In Which Pooh Searches for Clear Boundaries Between Work Space and Creative Space
I suspect I’m going to start many posts over the next few months, if not all, in the same way: with a list of the ways in which I know how lucky I am. Possibly unnecessary, but a good exercise in gratitude for myself and (hopefully) a counter to anything I write here that leans […]
Creatives in the Time of Social Distancing
Crazy times, right? Hard, frightening times for some more than others–if you’re sick or know someone who’s sick, if you’ve lost your job or have to take time off without pay, if you’re trying to juggle anything with caring for children–homeschooling or not. I’m counting myself on the incredibly lucky side–I have work, I can do […]
Getting My Dream Ducks in Order
As good as I am at multi-tasking, my natural, happy mind-state is to think and act in a linear path. One thing at a time, put it down, pick up the next, work on that, repeat. And for many years that has worked for my writing. Until recently, I was never popping with story ideas–I […]
Book Riot’s 2020 Read Harder Challenge
Yes, I’m posting a lot lately. No, it probably won’t continue, since I head back to the day-job tomorrow, will be doing Storystorm all month, and will be digging into two or three new picture books. Not to mention getting my yarn stash down to a non-intimidating size. But…maybe I’ll be posting about challenge books. […]
Looking Back & Moving Forward: My Word for 2020
I’ve been reading and enjoying people’s posts about their last decade. I kept thinking, though, I don’t even remember what I was doing two years ago, let alone ten. But then I put some actual numbers to the years and said–oh, okay! So I’m adding my list to the mix. Published The Writing & Critique […]
Storystorm 2020: I’m in!
I just signed up for Storystorm 2020. If you aren’t familiar with Storystorm, it’s the creation of Tara Lazar–author of so many fantastic picture books. To name just a few you should definitely check out: The Monstore, Normal Norman, and The Upper Case: Trouble in Capital City. Every January picture book writers sign up to participate in Storystorm […]
Some Favorite Books from 2019
Without description and with only a hint of organizing, here’s a list of (some of the) books I read and loved in 2020. Picture Books Pluto Gets the Call, written by Adam Rex & illustrated by Laurie Keller Maximillian Villainous, written by Margaret Chiu Greanias & illustrated by Lesley Breen Withrow Mary Wears What She Wants, written […]
Writing without a Critique Group: Looking Back
When I published The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide in 2010, I wrote a lot about the process of finding a critique group and a little bit about waiting until you found the right one. Maybe I should have written more about the waiting. For various reasons, I was recently without my own critique group […]
Where to Find those 10,000 Books
So at some point in Outliers, I guess Malcolm Gladwell said a few things about putting 10,000 hours into something you want to do well. And possibly there is debate about not only what he said, but about whether he was right. Whatever Gladwell actually said, how many times have you heard other writers, publishers, agents, […]
Fuse 8’s List of Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books
If you haven’t seen this post, take a look. Good books in these genres were the hardest to find when my son was young. These look so wonderful, I’m putting some on my to-read list just for myself. http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/07/02/easy-readers-and-early-chapter-books-some-of-the-best-of-2019/
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