Revising for Audience

I’m writing a picture book that I know should work. But it’s not.
Consider the Picture Book Audience

Part of the problem with this story is that it’s set in a commercial kitchen and I have a kid who wants to cook. Critiquers tell me that the writing is great, the kid is great, but they [...]

editing

Simplify Your Picture Book Story
I’m currently revising a picture book and my major goal is to simplify the story.

Why simplify the story? At 1200 words, the picture book text is way too long. I needed to cut it about in half. Why? Sue Edwards has just been reading 50 picture books in a short amount [...]

Picture Books 5

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days

I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009
Overall: This was an interesting exercise that I’d like to repeat in a slower month, not May. Why is the Nanowrimo in November and this had to be in [...]

Picture Book 4

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days

I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009

May 7
May 6. Historical Fiction. OK, here comes the rationalization for why I don’t have a good draft done. A couple years ago, a friend told me [...]

Picture Book 3

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days

I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009

May 7
May 6
Note: This is a note of general frustration with writing 7 picture books in 7 days. I want to dig in and revise, which I [...]

Picture Book 2

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days

I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009

May 7
May 6
May 5
May 4: Delaware and Miriam. OK. This is getting hard! Picture books are short, yes, but that doesn’t mean they are easy to [...]

Picture book 1

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days
I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009

May 1: Violet Ivy’s Button Eyes. 1128 words.

May 2: ABC book. OK, so it’s one I had half-way started before and abandoned because I had blanks for [...]

7 in 7

Have you decided to join the National Picture Book Writing Week? It started today and you need to write a picture book (with a beginning, middle and end) each day.
Of course, if you write seven, you’ll need to revise seven! So, come back the next week and read through my series, 30 Days to [...]

Top 10 Picture Book Topics to Avoid

Stiff Competition for These Picture Book Topics
Dial editor, Liz Waniewski (ONE–es-key) spoke at the Arkansas SCBWI 2007 conference. For a couple months before the conference, she kept track of her slush pile picture book submissions by category. This resulted in my 2007 posting 12 Picture Book Topics to Avoid, one of the more popular [...]

Effective Picture Book Subtitles

Do picture books need subtitles? Well, no, not strictly. Just like any other book, a subtitle is a chance to tell the prospective reader something more about the topic of the book.