Kids Lit
7 FREE Ways to Keep Gifting into the New Year!
Here’s 2025 all fresh and shiny, full of hope and all the little calendar boxes ready to fill! While…
March 6, 2025-
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Kids Lit
Books to Read BEFORE You Write
Mentor books are those an author studies before they do any writing. For a retreat last week, I had…
February 8, 2025 -
Kids Lit
Writing is a Group Activity!
I recently went to an in-person retreat – one of the few I have gone to since COVID-19. I…
October 9, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Our Most Important Sentence
Once the dream book is finally contracted, the most important writing starts. Essentially what we write in preparation for…
September 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Is That True??!!
I heard comments/complaints in a writer’s group recently that “it is impossible to get your book into the library”…
August 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Summer is for Experimenting!
I have been working/pitching a series of four board books for the last few years on the seasonal changes…
July 9, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Pitch Opportunities
Last month we put together pitches – the 30-second “What is your book about?” Unless you happen to end up next…
June 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Wind Up and. . .Pitch!
“So, tell me about your book.” What a great invitation – whether it is from family or friends or…
May 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Advice for Just Starting Out
Has this happened to you? You are introduced to someone new as a children’s author. Response: “I have an…
April 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Reading or Reading Aloud?
Libraries buy quality books for all ages in the children’s department and hope to match the book with the…
February 8, 2024 -
Kids Lit
A Season for Something Else
One a scale of 1-10, parts of the year 2023 were a minus 6. We saw family, we traveled,…
January 6, 2024 -
Kids Lit
Bring Back the BackList!
The press, the marketers, and the bookstores all clamoring for autographs and first-day Amazon rankings! Then “NEW” is over.…
December 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Help Me with My Book!
As more books are published in a variety of ways (traditional, self-pub, hybrid, assisted), a whole crop of people…
November 9, 2023 -
Kids Lit
In 25 Words or Less…
“I was born as a small child…and did stuff.” My bio in nine words, but who’s counting? One piece…
October 9, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Yoo-Hoo Agents!
One gazillion years ago when I started writing on stone tablets, I never needed an agent to get published.…
September 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Inside the Ten-Foot Line: Conception to Publication Part One
As I wrote this article, I got an email from my publisher letting me know that the pre-order sales…
August 9, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Multi Award-Winning Author!
There are some thrilling moments in book publication that make all the back work (sometimes YEARS of edits!) pale…
June 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
AI:Part 2 In which I get a 4-star review for a book not yet written!
People seem to be taking sides on AI and feeling strongly about it. Recently we had an AI adventure…
May 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Exploding Inboxes
My e-mail is suddenly full of opportunities! Live face-to-face conferences are happening all over the country, sponsored by different…
April 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Three Little Pigs by AI
Two Epic Proportion Floods are predicted in the publishing industry. Artificial Intelligence has discovered writing and illustrating. At the…
March 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Somebody Wrote My Story!
That is my fear each time I search for comparative titles (comp titles) for a book proposal or query…
February 8, 2023 -
Kids Lit
Christmas Needs Help!
Ever since the Grinch stole into our holidays in 1957, authors have been spinning the “How xxx Christmas” tales.…
December 8, 2022 -
Kids Lit
An Old Story New Every Year
The birth of Jesus from Luke 2 is one story that never grows old. Generations of writers have explored…
November 8, 2022 -
Kids Lit
How to Launch a Dinosaur
Back in 2021, I relayed the long, long trail to sell a 181-word board book manuscript for publication. And…
October 8, 2022 -
Kids Lit
Opening Lines for Picture Books
First lines make a promise. From “Call me Ishmael” (Moby Dick, Herman Melville, 1851) to “Happy families are all alike; every…
September 8, 2022
