The Lonely Brainstormer

Searching for the Right Ideas
Brainstorming, created by advertising genius Alex Osborn, is meant to be a group activity, a way to encourage everyone to participate. It’s usually set up with rules that encourage ideas, even if they are wild, while discouraging any negative comments which might stem the flow of ideas. What it encourages is [...]

Quoted at the Conference

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Why YOU Should Attend a National ConferenceMany speakers used quotes in their presentations or made memorable statements. Here’s my collection of quotes from the conference:

About True Love: “It’s great when a publisher loves my work, but a contract is better; a contract is True [...]

Am I a Fearless Writer?

Fearless Writing is highly recommended if you are in a time of your life when you need to face the issues surrounding creativity, the whys of your work, or how to keep writing and the writing life in balance with the rest of your life.

Fearless Writing #2

Last night we had the next session of Fearless Writing, led by Crescent Dragonwagon.

Fearless Writing #1

That first meeting, we were asked what challenges we face as writers, what burden we wanted lifted, what questions we wanted answered about our work.

How to Write a Poetry Collection Picture Book

This entry is part 24 of 32 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK For several years, this series on writing a picture book has been available free on this site. It’s now available altogether as a 110 page pdf file, HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK. The ebook has an [...]

Friday Ideas 2008

Where do you find your ideas? Every author gets this question, but I’m one of the few who has a straightforward answer. Go to www.illustrationfriday.com.
Friday Ideas 2008
Last year, in the midst of lots of family struggles, I asked several people to join me in trying to come up with more original picturebook ideas. [...]

Psychology of Revision: Perseverance

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Psychology of Revision5 Days on Psychology of Revising
For six years, I’ve taught the Novel Revision Retreat across the country and I’ve thought a lot about the psychological issues that writers face as they face the work of revising a novel. It’s interesting that most psychological [...]

Psychology of Revising: Gifted and Talented

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Psychology of Revision5 Days on Psychology of Revising
Hope
Fear and Humility, part 1
Fear and Humility, part 2
Gifted and Talented
Perseverance
Gifted and Talented
If you have finished a draft of a novel (however messy!), you are Gifted and Talented.
The fact that you are Gifted and Talented has an important [...]

Psychology of Revision: Fear and Humility, Part 2

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Psychology of Revision5 Days on Psychology of Revising
For six years, I’ve taught the Novel Revision Retreat across the country and I’ve thought a lot about the psychological issues that writers face as they face the work of revising a novel. It’s interesting that most psychological [...]