“The problem with knowing how to read is I can’t stop. Every word I see I have to read, even if I don’t want to! Look: National City, E Street, road work ahead… I have to close my eyes!” So said my overstimulated eight-year-old. At first I chuckled at the cuteness of his problem. Then I shared it with some [...]
My second grader has read six 150-page novels in three weeks. When he finishes one book he literally runs to the bookcase for the next. I LOVE the Jedi Apprentice series! His identical brother loves the Jedi Quest novels. He’s on Book 3 of that series, with the rest lined up for him on that same bookcase. If you’ve got [...]
Ghostwriter Maryan Pelland posted a fab feature about my writers advice website DearEditor.com on her blog OnText. The feature, “Writing Children’s or Young Reader Books? Great Source of Publishing Help,” praised me as “a wealth of information for writers, authors, and ghostwriters to ask questions about the craft of writing or about the very confusing and frustrating publishing industry. Her [...]
My son’s class talked about Levi Strauss on Friday. On Monday, my boy marched into class with the fabulous “Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea” by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Stacy Innerst. I have loved this “fairly fabricated story of a pair of pants” since the day I read Tony’s original manuscript, and I cheered when Stacy signed on as [...]
Note from Grandma: “Remember you ok’d the frog hatchery kit as a Christmas gift for the boys? The African Clawed Frogs have been known to live for over 10 yrs in captivity. Too late to back out now, the kit has arrived.” Note to self: Ask questions before uttering the letters ‘OK’
Having worked with picture book illustrators for many years now, I’ve come to respect the daylights out of their creative process. Each one reaches the end product—a beautiful picture book—differently, but they all start from the same first moment: an emotional and visual reaction while reading the text for the very first time. That’s where they connect with the story, [...]
My first picture book has published! LETTERS TO SANTA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the USPS “Letters to Santa” program. I spotted the book on display at my post office yesterday! Letters to Santa is a great program, with USPS working with charities, companies, and individual citizens across the country in various ways to field those adorable letters addressed to [...]
My sons must have a little Robin Hood in their genes. They’ve been intrigued by archery for a while, so when the opportunity came to sign them up for a class taught by an archer from the Olympic Training Center, I jumped at it. Three lessons in, the boys are loving it! It doesn’t hurt that the coach brought pumpkins [...]
I’m thrilled to bring editor extraordinaire Robin Cruise to DearEditor.com today as my Guest Editor. Robin gave me my first job in publishing and her creativity, industry wisdom, and business acumen have inspired me ever since. She’s spent her career behind the scenes as managing editor, deputy publisher, and then publisher, with both trade publishers and book packagers. I’m so [...]
My 7-year-old, popping up next to me at my track workout last night: “Hey look, Mommy, I walk the same speed you run.” Punk.
A lot of writers wonder if U.S. readers will go for a novel set in an international location. A DearEditor.com reader asked me about that very issue. So I brought in brilliant foreign rights expert Taryn Fagerness to answer it on DearEditor.com today. Taryn represents foreign rights on behalf of North American literary agents. Before opening the Taryn Fagerness Agency [...]
My three books for Rubicon’s Remix struggling readers series have launched! Brave New World: Cyber World, Brave New World: Meltdown, and Brave New World: Robotic World. I loved having the chance to write for a new audience. REMIX is a series of high interest/low vocabulary non-fiction readers geared toward students in grades 7 to 8 who are reading at a grade [...]
The other day, one of my second-grade sons was reading me a book that he brought home from school. His school is on Fall Break and he has to complete the book before he returns. Somewhere near the end of the book, one of the characters mentioned the Little House on the Prairie books. My son asked if we could [...]
My son: “Is Boba Fett an Imperial guy?” Me: “No, he works for himself. He does jobs for whoever hires him—Imperials, Rebels, he doesn’t care.” My son: “Oh, so he’s like you. You work for yourself and edit things for whoever writer who hires you. Mom, you’re Boba Fett!” I love this kid.
