Better Questions This Time Around
I’ve pretty much spent the last year in picture-book revision mode–before the Big Sur workshop to get ready and after the workshop to integrate the feedback I got. I’m sending these stories through my new critique group and then using their comments for yet more revision. But, as I submit to the group and wait […]
Keith Negley’s MARY WEARS WHAT SHE WANTS
I love good nonfiction picture books, but I don’t purchase a lot of them–I’m writing fiction, and so most of my book budget goes toward good examples of that genre. Every now and then, though, I come across a nonfiction book I can’t leave at the store. Keith Negley’s Mary Wears What She Wants was […]
Finding Balance (In Picture Books)
Rhyming in a picture book is one thing–and, so far anyway, it’s definitely one thing I can’t do. (If you want to read a few books by authors who can, I suggest pretty much anything by Sue Fliess; Interstellar Cinderella, written by Deborah Underwood; and Cheerful Chick, written by Martha Brokenbrough,) There’s also rhythm which, I think, is made […]
Fall Writing Plans
For a while now, I haven’t put any real schedules on my writing. I had been in a bit of a slump for a year or so, and I was changing jobs, and…well, life. But the slump seems to have shifted away for now, and the new job came with new hours, which unexpectedly got […]
In Which Pooh Has Fun with Picture Books
Okay, not Pooh, me. I’m having fun with picture books right now. I’m not sure if I’m actually on a roll, or if I lucked out and landed on a couple of older ideas that suddenly turned into something, or if it’s in good part because I’ve been working with a wonderful editor. Whatever the […]
Julia’s House of Lost Creatures: The Art of the Unexplained
Every time I hit the library, I try to bring home a stack of picture books. I have probably reached my 10,000 hours of reading kids’ novels, but I don’t think I’m there yet on the picture book. Plus, hey, I love them. Yesterday, in my stack was a copy of Ben Hatke’s Julia’s House […]
In Which I Look Into the PiBoIdMo List and Find it…Not ALL Heffalumps and Woozles
It’s mid-January, which means 2012 is well on its way. Which means, yes, that I should be doing something with that list of ideas I came up with last November, in Tara Lazar’s PiBoIdMo. How easy would it be for me to let this all go? Oh, too, too easy. So… This weekend, I went […]
PiBoIdMo & My Lightening-Fast Reactions
It’s November 10th. Ten days into the month that is PiBoIdMo. It’s been an interesting week and a half. The guest posts at Tara Lazar’s Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) blog have been great! And it’s as much fun as I thought it would be to just open up my senses and imagination for […]
PiBoIdMo 2011
PiBoIdMo: Picture Book Idea Month. Tara Lazar’s answer to NaNoWriMo for all those picture-book writers who weren’t sure what to do with themselves when November hit. You know, other than order a turkey, buy a turkey, eat a turkey, reheat a turkey and eat more of it. And, hey, let’s all see if we can […]
Picture Book Revision: Note to Myself (and Anyone Else Who Wants to Listen)
Today’s Friday Five is a set of reminders to myself about revising this #$@($*@ a picture book. 1. Don’t push too far into the story until you’ve gotten deep into character. Okay, go ahead, push into that story, but you’re still going to have to go back & figure out those people. 2. Your hero […]
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