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 [...]

Meeting with Editors

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Why YOU Should Attend a National ConferenceWhy should you take the time and spend the money to attend the NYC SCBWI Midwinter conference? Because it’s worth it!
Reports from the NYC – SCBWI Midwinter 2009 Conference
The conference changed venues to the Grand Hyatt, which is [...]

4 Ways Weather Affects Your Story

At my house, we’re iced in today, with schools closed for the weather.
How Does the Weather Affect Your Story?
Have you ever included a snow or ice day in your story? Does your character sweat through a scorching day while mowing the lawn?
If not, you’re missing a great chance to include sensory details and bring your [...]

4 Files to Prevent Mistakes

Use the power of your word processor to help you keep track of details while writing a novel. You’ll have fewer mistakes
Have you ever forgetten the color of a character’s eyes?
Keep a Character Bible: create a file in which you keep descriptions of each character. This is much easier than hunting through a mss in [...]

5 Writing Tasks for Off Days

Ever have one of those off days? You don’t sleep and wake up grouchy. You’re half sick but not really sick enough to call it a sick day. You are just disgruntled and don’t know why.
5 Things to do on Off-Days
On those awful days, there are still tasks you can do to be a productive [...]

Don’t Avoid the Emotion

I’m near the end of this draft of my novel and I’m reluctant to face the last few chapters. Why? Too much emotion!
You must write the emotional ending
It’s not fair to the reader to have his/her turn the page and read. “I woke up the next morning and thought about what happened last night.”
You [...]

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.

Outline scenes

This outline of a scene often helps me plan what to write for the day.

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.