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Is My Story Good or Bad? Wrong Question
Last year, I did a simple survey on the list and asked writers, “What is your biggest challenge for 2015?” The answer blew me away. You want to know, “Is my picture book/novel/short story/piece of writing any good?” This was expressed in many different ways, of course, but at the core, you want to know […]
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Take a Creative Risk – You Might Surprise Yourself
I’ve been writing for years. (Let’s not discuss how many exactly!) It’s easy to fall into habits and to think about stories in certain ways. The best creative people, though, insist that they are constantly learning and to do that, they try something different. They take risks. Let me suggest some risks you might want […]
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Through Your Lens: 4 Strengths of Your Writing
Reading would be boring, except for the person behind the writing. YOU make it interesting. Your voice. Even the federal government recognizes the importance of YOU: ideas can’t be copyrighted, rather, the particular expression of an idea. What you copyright is your voice. You. This means several things: Voice. As you write, be aware of […]
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Genres
What Genre Should you Write? I was talking to a friend about a new novel he’s working on. He’s not sure what genre it falls under and what genre he should aim for. Of course, there are two answers to this: Just write. One way of looking at it is that he just needs to […]
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Type
Do you ever type up someone else’s picture book or a chapter from someone else’s book? I do. I find that just reading a selection, even reading aloud, doesn’t
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Jennifer Rees, Scholastic
UPDATE, September, 2011: Harold Underdown reports, “Scholastic Press editor Jennifer Rees is leaving the company. She tells me: “I’m expecting my third child and have decided to move into freelance editing.” One main reason to attend a national conference is to meet editors, listen to how they describe their lists, and find out what they […]