One piece of advice you hear frequently as a children’s book writer is to avoid writing books with a heavy moral or message. Editors do not want “preachy” books. If your story does have a message, it should be in service to the story instead of the other way around. They should be written in [...]
Archive for the ‘Publishing’ Category
The Moral of the Story
Posted in Children's Books, Publishing, Works in Progress, Writing, tagged Writing, Children's Books, Publishing, Works in Progress on July 28, 2010 | 4 Comments »
“Voiciness”
Posted in Publishing, SCBWI, Writing, tagged Writing, SCBWI, Publishing, Writing Tips, Big Sur in the Rockies, Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Writing Voice, Voice, #kidlitchat, Caren Johnson Literary Agency, Roaring Brook Press on May 19, 2010 | 9 Comments »
Nancy Mercado, executive editor at Roaring Brook Press and a faculty member at Big Sur in the Rockies, said she sometimes receives submissions where the writing is great, the hook is good but the “voiciness” isn’t quite right – at least for her. I like that – voiciness. Kind of the writer’s answer to Stephen [...]
A Good Query Letter is Like a Skirt
Posted in Publishing, SCBWI, Writing, tagged Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Big Sur in the Rockies, Literary Agents, Publishing, Queries, Query Letters, Writing, Writing Tips on May 17, 2010 | 12 Comments »
Andrea Brown, president of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency won the award at the Big Sur in the Rockies workshop for giving the funniest advice on queries: “It should be like a skirt. Long enough to cover everything, but short enough to be exciting.” As we writers know, sending a great query letter is every [...]
My Manuscript’s Verse is Nothing Like the Bard’s
Posted in Children's Books, Poetry, Publishing, Rhyming, SCBWI, Works in Progress, Writing, tagged Big Sur in the Rockies, Editing, NaPiBoWriWee, Publishing, Revising, SCBWI, Shakespeare, Sonnet 130, Works in Progress, Writing on May 12, 2010 | 3 Comments »
If last week’s theme was NaPiBoWriWee, and the week before that was Unclutter Your Life in One Week, then this week is preparation for the Big Sur in the Rockies conference this weekend. I couldn’t resist attending because it takes place here in Boulder, and it will give me the chance to workshop two manuscripts [...]
Lifelong Learning
Posted in Former Job(s), Publishing, Writing, tagged Former Job(s), Publishing, Writing on March 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In the car on the way to preschool today, Jay asked me when he would be able to learn how to drive. “When you turn 16,” I responded. “You mean you have to keep learning stuff even when you’re a grown-up??? That’s no fair!!” Never mind that a sixteen year-old is far from being a [...]
