One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn in the publishing business is patience. I’m not a patient person by nature, and I wasn’t prepared for how slooooowly things move in this industry. For example, if I sold a picture book manuscript today, you wouldn’t see it on the shelves for two or three […]
Writing and Editing
On Organizing and Editing
I like organizing stuff. Words, sentences, paragraphs…closets. So when the Marie Kondo craze came about, I watched a few episodes of her show, nodding along the whole time, and I, too, felt that sense of relief with the homeowners at the end, at having just what they need, right where they need it. Over the […]
Lessons on Plot
I’m just back from the Northern Ohio Regional SCBWI Conference, and my brain is teeming with ideas, so much so, that I feel I need the morning to decompress before diving back into writing my middle grade novel. While reviewing notes from the conference this morning, I’m thinking a lot about Newbery-winning author Linda Sue […]
Writer’s High
So, it appears I’ve forgotten to post for awhile. In fact, I teased you with a February post just before I attended my first Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference in New York, and then I never followed up to tell you how it went, and that was very naughty of me, […]
Filling the Well
“Filling the Well” is a phrase I first encountered many years ago in Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way.” It’s a concept for writers that’s quite simple to grasp, harder to accomplish. It simply refers to having new experiences, getting out into the world, seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting new things so that you can […]
Asking for Help, or, How I Quit Being an Idiot
I’ve just printed out some notes on my recently “completed” novel, “Happy, Indiana,” and am getting ready to dive into some “light” revisions. I say “completed” because this thing is really not going to be done until it’s published. I say “light” because the changes I’m making are minor compared to the multiple, major, revisions […]
Killing My Darlings
A lot of well-worn advice gets passed around a writing workshop, things like “Show, Don’t Tell,” and “Write What You Know.” Students learn all sorts of “rules” about writing in their introductory classes, and then they get to ADVANCED WORKSHOP where they learn to forget the rules and trust their instincts, but the problem is, […]
I am so proud of my protagonist!
I’m revising. It is messy. If you’re a regular old reader who simply enjoys books, and really cares not one whit how they get made, then avert your eyes. You are about to enter the sausage-making factory and NO ONE wants to see that! Still here, eh? Okay, here’s where I’m at. First draft […]