Status Updates From From Inspiration to Publica...

I actually began reading this book over a month ago, but I just now thought of putting it on my Goodreads list!
I have to skip around in this book because I am reading it for a class called "Writing for Children and Teens" that I am taking through the Institute of Children's Literature. It is a correspondence course. I am enjoying this book very much!

I actually began reading this book over a month ago, but I just now thought of putting it on my Goodreads list!
I have to skip around in this book because I am reading it for a class called "Writing for Children and Teens" that I am taking through the Institute of Children's Literature. It is a correspondence course. I am enjoying this book very much!

I actually began reading this book over a month ago, but I just now thought of putting it on my Goodreads list!
I have to skip around in this book because I am reading it for a class called "Writing for Children and Teens" that I am taking through the Institute of Children's Literature. It is a correspondence course. I am enjoying this book very much!

I actually began reading this book over a month ago, but I just now thought of putting it on my Goodreads list!
I have to skip around in this book because I am reading it for a class called "Writing for Children and Teens" that I am taking through the Institute of Children's Literature. It is a correspondence course and can basically be done at my own pace. I am enjoying this book very much!

I have to skip around in this book because I am reading it for a class called "Writing for Children and Teens" that I am taking through the Institute of Children's Literature. It is a correspondence course and can basically be done at my own pace. I am enjoying this book very much!

Think of a query letter as an invitation to the editor...nothing turns off most editors faster than query letters with melodramatic leads-" what would you do ...."

I'd worked as a children's book editor for more than 15 years, but still I felt uncertain. Did I have what it took to be a writer, or would I just make a fool of myself?

No matter how hard you work on your writing, don't fall in love with every word. Writing can always be improved, and sometimes that means cutting large chunks of it

If you refer to events that happened before the story begins, be sure to use the past perfect tense by inserting the word "had"

One of the best ways to improve any kind of writing is to use active verbs that express the motion you're describing

The purpose of tag lines is to help the reader keep track of who is speaking. They shouldn't draw attention to themselves; in fact they should be almost invisible in the reader's mind

If there's a mistake on the very first page, I assume there are mechanical errors and typos all through the manuscript. I don't have time to do that kind of editing

Too much backstory and you'll lose the focus of your character's problem in unimportant background details...also slows the pace of your story and when the pace lags, you're in danger of losing your reader

Inexperienced writers frequently start a story too early...rewriting a slow opening can be the key to a creative revision

A fiction opening, too, should arouse curiosity

Remember that kids-and many adults- are used to the TV's remote control and the computer's mouse as they surf the internet. Both allow them to zap away from anything boring with the flick of a finger.

These days, many editors do more acquiring than editing

No matter what you're writing, never use language that talks down to your readers. Choose words because they sound right, not because they're cute.

Save a little something for the end-a twist, an irony, an unexpected resolution

a good beginning hooks the reader,but a great picture book hooks on every page

Nonfiction picture books need to hook their readers and set up a kind of contract, a promise of what's to come."Once, a long long time ago, someone took the whole wide world and split it into seasons"

for every success story, there are 10 failed manuscripts taking up space in my attic