Review: Just Right – Searching for the Goldilocks Planet
I have a bit of an infatuation with nonfiction picture books. Yes, I love them, but infatuation implies a sense of distance, of something out of reach. At this point, writing a nonfiction picture book feels out of my reach. In a good way–yes, someday I might write one–but for now I get to experience that […]
Review: The Remember Balloons
I don’t remember why I put The Remember Balloons on my to-read list. I’m very glad I did, though. The book, written by Jessie Oliveros and illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte, is a lovely story that does an absolutely beautiful job depicting the magic relationship that can exist between a child and their grandparent, what it looks like […]
Knit-Thinking
Knit-thinking is what I’m calling my writing sessions during which I use yarn to get me away from my actual computer, making brain-room for actually brainstorming ideas about whatever isn’t working in a WIP. For years, I’ve heard other writers talk about the activities they do to clear their head so their minds can wander […]
A List of Books I Couldn’t Find
Yesterday, I went book shopping. I went to one of my favorite stores, where they are wonderful and helpful and where I almost always find something I haven’t seen that looks like something I want to read. I was looking for a book to give as a gift. But it’s not a big store, and they […]
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 […]
A Cookie Would Be Nice
First you decide it’s time to do “a little bit” with your website. You look through a few templates and browse some pictures. Then, of course, you find the picture you want, but can’t find a template where the picture will fit. And once you manage to do that, then you are faced with what […]
Playing with Wonder
Kristi Wright posted this blog entry at KidLitCraft a few weeks ago, and the idea of wonder has apparently been simmering in my brain since then. I’m going back to a picture book idea I had just begun to play with in December, when I went to the Big Sur Writing Workshop. During the revise […]
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 […]
Sunshine
The rain hasn’t completely stopped, but we are on Day Two of at least four days of sunshine, and I am wallowing in it. Normally, I consider myself a cool temps and misty grey type of person, but this winter–for whatever gazillion reasons–got to me. Today, I’m in my office, wearing shorts, looking out the […]
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