Privacy Policy
Are you attending the American Library Association in New Orleans, LA this summer? I’m going! I’m speaking! In an exciting group effort, I’ve joined with nine other non-fiction authors to propose a session, NON-FICTION BOOKBLAST! Here’s what we’ve done so far: Formed a group. Once the session was proposed on a mailing list of non-fiction [...]
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 [...]
Timeline: two decades ago. There are legendary stories told about how word spread throughout the US about the winners of the Caldecott, Newbery and other awards announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference. Stories of people standing in the room, scribbling down the winners list, then rushing to a bank of phones to send [...]
There is such unexpected power and exhilaration about seeing any child taking so much joy from a book. It never grows old.
I’ll be speaking a couple times this month. Stop by and say hello! Say Hello Weekend on the Water, Western Washington SCBWI Professional Retreat. This retreat, I’ll be teaching about Voice and Scenes. Arkansas Curriculum Conference, Little Rock, AR. Geared toward teachers, I”ll be presenting PAPER LIGHTNING: Prewriting Activities to Spark Creativity to English Language [...]
You’ve made some major changes in your text, but it’s time for micro-changes. Examples of microcuts and microchanges Micro-cuts Once you’re happy with your text, go back and edit out another 100 words. Again, it’s an arbitrary number, but it works so well. Think of this as a poem, which is the tightest writing possible. [...]
30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book Fiction for children, especially younger children, comes in the form of picture books. This series of 30 posts explains how to write and edit the basic picture book, and goes on to discuss specific types of picture books. Get regular updates from Fiction Notes Email Address Close var [...]
Privacy Policy