"Marley was dead, to begin with." This short, punchy line opens Charles Dickens’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL. But Lewis Carroll took his time with the beginning of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having...
Do you like to research? Some writers love research and do too much of it. Others hate it and do too little. We’ll post tips over the next four Fridays to help writers of nonfiction, who must research, and writers of fiction, who should research...
Writers know the benefits of signing up for meetings with editors and agents at conferences, and the wise prepare themselves to make the best use of such encounters. The blurb sheet contains teasers about your manuscripts and shows word counts and categories, as well as...
You’ve heard the saying about success, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” To succeed in selling what you write, “It’s what you know and who you know.” I’ll start with “what you know.” You may have an idea that would make a great...
Lists of best-selling children’s books are great tools for writers. They show us what publishers and consumers are buying, and we learn about our craft from reading other authors. In this post, we reveal the 30 best-selling picture books in the US. The list is...
We know as writers that we need to read, read, read—especially books like the ones we want to write. So this week we’ve listed the current frontlist fiction for children in middle grades and up. Frontlist books are a publisher's sales list of recently published...
I’ve discovered some fun websites and even gleaned an idea from one to use in a book. Maybe they'll inspire you with ideas for characters and plots or provide fun tidbits to include in your stories. They are also just interesting to explore. Www.listverse.com This site offers...
I can’t imagine life without reading and hope I never have to. Great books open our hearts and minds and show us how to be better, whether we’re kids or adults. Consider these ideas on books: TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the...
It’s important that beginning writers conquer isolationism. If you don’t, it will lead to feelings of restlessness, futility and self-defeat. Find a writing buddy. Join a critique group or take a weekly writing course—anything that will keep you in social circulation. You’ll find a new sense...
When you spend as much time writing as Jennifer and I do, the task can become a pain in the neck—literally. Have you ever had writer’s cramp? Do you have trouble sleeping because of the tingling numbness in your hands and fingers? Having difficulty getting a...