The Nitty Gritty of Children’s Writing – Page 38

Illustrator Resources

Posted on October 25, 2012May 21, 2024 by Susan Uhlig

boy illustration This collection is for my new illustrator friends–especially those who are just starting out.

In Print

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books by Uri Shulevitz
How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books and Get Them Published edited by Treld Bicknell
How to Write, Illustrate, and Design Children’s Books by Frieda Gates
Illustrating Children’s Books: Creating Pictures for Publication by Martin Salisbury

On the Web

The Blackwing Diaries by Jenny Lerew – follow her link to her sketchbook, too
Caldecott Award Winners
Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Creating a Storyboard Layout
Directory of Children’s Illustration
The Drawing Board for Illustrators
Dummies for Smarties on Yellapalooza – other good articles on this site, too
Gouache Resist by Laura McGee Kvasnosky
How I developed the idea for From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
How to be a Children’s Book Illustrator
How to Illustrate a Children’s Book – 3 articles:
– Creative Bloq
– Guide for Beginners
– Master Class
Mighty Art Demos – search by art medium, category, or artist’s name
Picture Book Database
Starting Out: Tips for Beginning Illustrators on Yellapalooza
Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

Have any more illustration links to add? Feel free to use the comment box.
Thanks to Xenia from morguefile for the above image.

Inspiration from Kate DiCamillo

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Susan Uhlig

Three years ago I got to hear Kate DiCamillo speak in Kansas City. Recently I came across my notes and thought I’d share them here.
At the beginning of her presentation, Kate said she had a speech that would take 18-20 minutes depending how nervous she was and then sheʼd let the audience of almost 500 ask questions. (400 more seats were set up with TV monitors in another room.) Kate began by reading part of a long list of why writers write from Margaret Atwoodʼs book Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing. Then she went on to tell why she writes.
When Kate was 9 she was given a Humpty Dumpty magazine subscription. She thought the magazine smelled of paper, ink and possibilities. A story about a witch spoke to her so much that she wrote it out in her own handwriting. Kate liked it even better in her own handwriting.
She showed it to her mother. Her mother asked if sheʼd written the story. Kate said yes, since sheʼd written it out. Her mother showed the story to a neighbor, and Kate realized thereʼd been a misunderstanding. I want to say something; I need to say something, Kate thought. But she didnʼt.
Her mother showed the story to Kateʼs teacher who, impressed with it, showed it to the principal. Her mother told Kateʼs father who lived in another state.
The snowball was growing.
Kate wanted what everyone believed to be true to be true. Her father traveled to see her because of the story. “I learned, story is power. If I wrote a story, I could become the center of the universe. If I wrote a story, I could make my longed for father come.”
Of course, Kateʼs teacher read the story again. In Humpty Dumpty. Kate had to make the rounds and apologize for lying. Her brother told her she was more than a liar, she was a plagiarist.
But she never forgot how writing a story made her feel.
“Story,” Kate says, “is the most practical, accessible, frivolous and necessary of all the arts.” She believes we need story to survive! Story is the agonized cry of how we wished the world could be.
She remembers how after 9/11, writing stories seemed worthless. She was apologetic about what she did to a man sitting beside her on a flight. She told him that what she did, didnʼt really matter. Later at baggage claim, the man came up and said, “Maybe stories do matter.”
Kate came to realize that “stories can save the listener and the teller, too.” She said, “We tell stories to keep ourselves alive.”
Don’t YOU forget the power of story.

Want to know more about Kate? Read this article and watch the video interview.
For up-to-date info on this award-winning author go to her website.

Business Side of Writing, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing, You Are Not Alone

Are Listserves a Service or a Waste of Time?

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Susan Uhlig

It depends on you and on the listserve.
There are usually several types of people on a listserve: posters and lurkers. Posters are the ones that keep a listserve alive. They ask questions. They share information of interest to the group. They answer other people’s questions. They encourage others. They share ideas. Lurkers are the people who are reading, but not participating in the conversation. They don’t comment, nor start new topics, nor share good and bad news. Does this mean they can’t get anything out of the posts? Of course not. They can glean lots of information from what others are saying. But…if they have a question and don’t ask it on the listserve, how will they get it answered?
One of my friends had been lurking on a listserve and because I “out”ed that she was there (she had invited me to it), she decided she’d better introduce herself. Nervously, she wrote a post of intro and commented on a topic that the group had been discussing. She asked me to look over her post before she sent it. “Is it okay?” she asked. “Definitely,” I told her. “Go ahead and post.” She did, and guess who commented?! Andy Boyles of Highlights. Just by making an intelligent comment on a listserve she had a short conversation with an editor.
By chatting with others, I’ve also made friends on listserves. This Saturday I get to meet one friend face-to-face for the first time. Is that cool or what?
Listserves come in a variety of kinds: regional, topic or genre, general writing, organizational. What’s the right group for me, may not be the right one for you. I like trying out a listserve. It’s like going to a club meeting. If you enjoy the people you meet and the topics of conversation, you’ll come back. If not, you won’t. If your focus changes, you may need a new listserve and may let an old one go.
They can become timewasters if you are involved either in ones that are very busy with many many conversations, or if you’re involved in too many listserves. I like getting my listserves in digest format versus individual emails. I can scan the topic headers and skip any that aren’t of interest to me. It also helps me limit the time spent.
So how do you find listserves? Most of the ones I participate in were by invitation or through a writing organization. But you can also find them by searching yahoo or google groups. Here are some I found that way:
childrensbookandarticlecritiquing – the title says it all
Childrens-FandSF-Writers – the F stands for fantasy and obviously SF is Science Fiction
childrens-writers – a discussion group
childrenswriterstoday – a forum for writers, poets, illustrators, editors and publishers of all genres in the juvenile to teen market to announce their latest news, reviews, columns, books and publication works
fantasyweavers – an online critique group for writers of middle-grade and young-adult fantasy and science fiction
internetchildrensstories – this is a club devoted to writers of children’s stories and their readers
Northwest Independent Writers Association – for writers of any kind
When searching make sure you check the statistics (latest activity; members; and if it is important to you, whether the group is moderated or not). Some groups will be open and others closed. Some groups may want to know something about you before adding you; others have no vetting process.
If you’ve never tried one, ask other writers or illustrators what listserves they like. Then join one or two. Lurking at first is okay, but remember you’ll get more out of it, if you post, too.

image courtesy of morguefile.com

The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing, Tools

Writing and Life Balance

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Susan Uhlig

statue with balance scales I’m struggling with juggling everything in my life as yet again I took on a big volunteer position. Some days I think, that was such a stupid thing to do. But yet . . . I love the volunteering. And since I’ve moved to a new community it’s a great way to meet people. Other days I remind myself I’ve achieved balance before. That means I can again.
Earlier this year a friend met with me and asked how I’d kept it all balanced. (This was before my life changed with a move, etc.) Here’s what I told her and what I need to listen to again myself.
Discipline
First, schedule days and times for the different tasks. And then stick to it.
I’m a morning person. That’s when I should write. However, it’s so easy to waste time on stuff that isn’t creative. It’s not that those things don’t need doing, but I should do them later. Therefore, my renewed covenant with myself starts with the following Monday through Friday schedule:

Mornings: focus on personal or assigned writing. Obviously deadlines are important, but if I never get to write my stuff, I’m committing to too much work-for-hire or writing assignments.
Don’t read any email, writing newsletters, or listservs until after lunch.
Blog posts, book recommendations on my website may be done in the afternoon.
Volunteer tasks may be done at 3 p.m. or after.
Until things are less busy, spend less than ½ hour per day on twitter and/or facebook.

There are a few planned exceptions to this new schedule of mine:

Thursdays are my “write outside the house” days. I meet with a friend at a library and write. Unless I’m waiting for an email to complete a project, email can wait until I get home. If I am waiting for one, check for it then get off the internet.
Fridays are “focus on my instructing” days. I’m paid to critique assignments and give instruction for my students. It takes time, so unless I have no students, this is the day’s focus. Often this work flows over to Saturday.
Monday finish up any instructing not done. I’ve been lax on this lately and it gets stretched out too far, which frustrates me. Being frustrated is counterproductive.

Prioritize
I like reading writing online resources: blogs, newsletters, etc. I like participating on writing listservs. I like doing chats or follow agent events on twitter. I like and need to read children’s literature. There’s a problem for me with these things–they take time and often distract me from my main purpose–writing. So, how am I handling this?

Selective subscriptions to writing newsletters and blogs. I’ve unsubscribed from ones I wasn’t getting to, from ones that aren’t as important to me, and even from ones I’ve enjoyed, but for which I just don’t have the time.
Narrower participation in listservs. I’ve always chosen digest format, but now I’ve cut down to four listservs. Two are directly related to my volunteer position. One is for my local area writers. The last is a private small group of writers who support each other.
At the moment twitter chats just aren’t happening for me. I’m not even reading transcripts. I’m rarely on twitter. If I am, I use tweetdeck.
Evenings, except for my Thursday critique group, are my reading time. Most of the time I read middle grade and YA fiction. But it’s okay to read an “adult” book now and then, too. Or to watch a movie with my husband. Or spend time with friends or family.

Life and Volunteer Duties
I’m putting the “to do”s in the afternoons, evenings and weekends. This includes house hunting, laundry and chores, paying bills, shopping, etc.
That volunteer position – I’m committing to not spend every day on it, especially not Fridays. In the past I’ve found it helpful to have a different email for the volunteering. That means when I open “my” personal writing email, if I see one related to volunteering, I should not read it, but forward it to the other email. And then don’t check that volunteer email until the scheduled time of 3 p.m.
Of course, sometimes there are appointments or other commitments which interfere–instead of stressing about them taking my writing time, my plan is to do what needs to be done and move on.
I think all this will help me be less stressed and more productive as I try to balance writing, life, and volunteering. Here’s to “sticking with it.”
picture courtesy of j mason on morguefile.com

Business Side of Writing, Guest Post, Market Prep, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing

How to Start Querying an Agent

Posted on July 16, 2012January 3, 2023 by Susan Uhlig

guest post by author Jan Fields

First, of course, you need to find an agent you feel good about and learn what the agent wants. My favorite place for this is www.literaryrambles.com by Casey McCormick. If you look on the left-side column on Casey’s site, you’ll see agents grouped by what they represent. She’s spotlighted many agents and looked at what each agent represents and how the agent wants to be contacted. It’s really a treasure trove of help.

Now, after you’ve picked an agent. Try a Google search with just that agent’s name. Sometimes you can pull up even more information to help you really know what the agent wants to see from you (and sometimes the agent even has a blog where she/he puts queries that really snagged his/her attention. These are really priceless examples because they show how to effectively pitch to that agent. If the specific agent you’ve chosen doesn’t have that…poke around in Casey’s list to find some who do. It’s invaluable to check out examples.

Now, in the query/pitch itself, you can find wonderful, wonderful help on Nathan Bransford‘s site. Nathan isn’t agenting anymore but he has spent a massive amount of time helping writers to do this stuff right.
Here’s his query formula.
And help with formating an email query.
Really, you’ll find a ton of help on Nathan’s site.

Former agent who has given tons and tons of help is Mary Kole who has a site called Kidlit.com. There she has: help with queries and more.

Agent Jennifer Laughran has a great bit about your author bio that goes in your query.

So, that’s a good bit of reading but it should really get you going on your agent hunt. Good luck!

Jan’s Brief Bio

“Since my first magazine publication in the 1980s, I have been steadily writing for money in some form. Today I have over twenty books in print and still more in the pipeline – books for children and adults. I’ve also written for magazines, educational publishers and even a toy company! Writing is the only thing I’ve ever done really well that didn’t eventually become more like work than fun.”
To read more go to Jan’s site.

Jan is also the editor of the Writing for Children blog from the Institute of Children’s Literature. If you aren’t getting it, you’re missing out!

Thanks to Clarita on morguefile.com for the above image.