4 Ways to Make Your Characters “Talk Different” (guest post)
5 Tips for Writing Great Young Adult Stories (guest post)
13 Dialogue Tips
175 Proof
-A-
About Writing, Quotes from YA Authors
Action, Reaction, and Time
Actions that Stop Me Reading
Advice to New Writers
After the Critique
Agents Telling What They Want
Altitude and Attitude
Answers to Questions about Writing for Children’s Magazines
Appropriate Sensory Details for Your Setting
Are Listserves a Service or a Waste of Time?
Are You Explaining?
Are You Stage Directing?
Article Writing for Kids’ Magazines
Attribution or Action
Author Talks versus Workshops
Authors in the Classroom
Awkward Critiques
-B-
Backing Up Emails
BACK UP!
Before You Sign: Contract Resources
Blogging:
— Bloggers Supporting Other Bloggers
— Deciding to Blog?
— How to Evaluate a Good Blog Gig and Earn What You Deserve
— Tips for Individual Blog Posts
— Writing Process Blog Tour
Book It! – Recording What You Read
The Breaks of Paragraphing
Building an Author (or Illustrator) Website (series):
— Preparing to Build a Brand-New Author or Illustrator Website (read first)
— Prepping Your Website Content
— Resizing Photos for Use on Websites
— Choosing a Platform and Host for Your Website
— Building Your Own WordPress Website
— Hiring Someone to Build Your Website
— Website Q & A
— Websites Shouldn’t Be Static
But That’s How People Talk
-C-
Can children and teens get their work published?
Children’s Book Categories
Choosing a Platform and Host for Your Website
Chronology in Fiction
Close or Deep Point of View
Comparison, the Enemy of Creation?
Confessions of a Writer Easily Distracted
Considering Self-Publishing?
Continuous Verbs
Creating during Anxious Times
Creative Picture Book Formats
Critique Groups: Go For It!
Critique Methods (Face-to-Face, Online, One-on-Ones)
Critiquing Via Zoom
Critiquing Via Zoom Refresher
Cut in the Critique
Cutting Back on the Feed
-D-
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
Deciding to Blog?
Dialogue Heavy
Diane Bailey, Work-for-hire Champion (guest post)
Discipline
Distancing Your Reader
Diverse Books
Do as I Say
Do It Myself!
Do You Have Style?
Do You Remember?
Do You Struggle with Grammar?
Don’t Throw in the Towel
Double Identity (pen names)
Down with Discouragement!
Dragged to the Podium
-E-
An Editor’s Day
Electronic Submissions
Emotions and Feelings
Exciting News for Jasmine and Advice (tips on querying)
-F-
Feeling Isolated from Other Writers?
Finding Agents Zoom Meeting
Finding Comp Titles
Flashbacks
Follow the Yellow Brick Road, er, Writers’ Guidelines
Fractured Fairy Tale Picture Books
A Fresh Look at Our Writing
-G-
Give up or press on?
Glossary of Publishing Terms
Going Back to School (school visits)
Got Grammar?
Ground Me (sense of place)
-H-
He Thought to Himself and Other Excesses
Heartbroken? (guest post)
Hiring Someone to Build Your Website
Hooking Your Reader
How Excel Can Help Creatives
How Do I Scare My Readers? (guest post)
How Do You Choose?
How to Evaluate a Good Blog Gig and Earn What You Deserve
How to Score Well in a Writing Contest
How to Stand Out
How to Start Querying an Agent (guest post)
How to Submit a Picture Book
How Well Do You Word (MS Word tips)
How’d You Get That Gig?
-I-
Idea Generation – Word Lists and First Lines
I, I, I – Writing in First Person
Illustrator Resources
I’m a Work-in-Progress
Inspiration from Kate DiCamillo
Inspired by Pictures
Introspection
Is That Right? (magazine rights)
It’s That Time of Year Again (setting up record-keeping for the new year)
-K-
Keeping Track
Keeping Up with Picture Books
Kidlit Bloggers and Podcasts Who Do Reviews
Kids Reading Books and Saying What They Think
Kidz Only! Adults Keep Out!
-L-
Let’s Get Help (technical help)
Letting Go of the Words on the Page
LinkedIn Is Not “Social” Social Media
Listen to the Teen Voices
Looking Everywhere
-M-
Magazine Story or Picture Book?
Make It Work for You
Making Friends: Character Development
Making Your School Visit Interactive
Market Research Resources – Agents
Meeting Editors and Agents – In Person
Meeting Editors and Agents – Online
Middle Grade Books Set in States Where I’ve Lived
Mind Your C’s and Q’s (Cover Letters, Queries, Contracts) part one, part two, part three
Moment-by-Moment
More on Writing Expenses plus Income
Moving Your Characters Around (short story and novel writing)
MS Wish List
My Favorite Online Resources
-N-
Naming Characters (guest post)
Naming Your Character
Nancy I. Sanders on Writing Nonfiction
No Bobbleheads
Nonfiction Writing
Novel-sized Problem
-O-
Observations about a Manuscript
On Scene Please
On the Hunt for Ideas
One Danger of Electronic Records
One Day Virtual Write-In
One Size Does NOT Fit All
Online Resources for Children’s Writers and Illustrators
Organizations and Groups
Ouch! Black-eyed Character
Overwriting
Overwriting – Take Two
-P-
Patience Required
Perfecting Dialogue Punctuation
Picture Book Fails
Picture Book Judging
Picture Book Month
Picture Book Problems
Picture Book Resources
Picture Perfect Picture Books
Plodding or Plotting
Poor Man’s Copyright, a Myth
Posts about Writing Picture Books (from the archives)
The Power of a Good First Line
Preparation and Practice for Public Speaking
Preparing to Build a Brand-New Author or Illustrator Website
PREPARING to Set the Scene
Preplanning and Beginning to Write Your Novel (includes posts from the archives)
Prepping Your Website Content
Professional Problem Maker
Public Speaking Phobia
-Q-
-R-
Raise the stakes, honey! (guest post)
Read, Read, Read
Ready, Set, Goal
Recreating
Reducing Word Count
Rejections
Resizing Photos for Use on Websites
Resources for Writing for Children’s Magazines
Retreat!
Revising a Novel
The Right Number of Characters
Rhyming Picture Books
The Rudolph Effect
Run Away Words
-S-
The Sandwich of Critique
Save Me!
Say What?
School Visits, the Extended Version
Self-Editing Tips
Selling Photos to Magazines
Sensory Details
Serving Up Tempting Titles
Shadowing a Submission
Short Story Revision
Show/Hide, Etc.
Showing the Passage of Time
Show Your Character’s Character
Showing Versus Telling
Six Elements for Openings
Slow Down, You Move too Fast
So, You Want to Write a Book…
Standard Manuscript Format
Story Ideas for Young Writers
The Story Ladder or Novel Timeline
Storystorm 2021
Stuck on Repeat
Subjective
Successful Cover Letters
Swift Fiction – the Short Story in Focus
The Synopsis Shrink
-T-
Taglines and Beats
Technicalities – More Thoughts on Public Speaking
Theme and Premise
Theme List Tactics (magazine writing)
Three Commonly Overused Words in Fiction
Three, Not Four
Tidying Up (your manuscript)
Tips for Individual Blog Posts
To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme (resources)
Trust Your Reader
Truth in Fiction
Truths, Principles, and Wisdom
Turning Ideas into Stories (workshop)
Twitter Tips (aka X)
Types of Writers’ Groups
-U-
Uncluttering
Underwriting
Unique Character Names
Updated Me (headshots)
-V-
Viewpoint in Children’s Fiction
-W-
Website Q & A
Websites Shouldn’t Be Static
What Do You Do When You’re Stuck?
What Should I Describe?
What Stops Me Reading!
What Stops Me Reading – Part 2
What Would Sue Do?
What’s the Weather?
When Educational Publishers Ask for Your Résumé (guest post)
Where Did I Read That?
Why Are YOU Doing This?
Why Twitter?
Why Write?
Work-for-Hire also known as WFH
Work-for-Hire Resources
Work-for-Hire Wisdom
Work to be Done
Write Well When the Muse Is Sleeping
Writing a Novel? Where Does It Fit?
Writing and Life Balance
Writing Business Expenses
Writing for Children’s Religious Magazines
Writing Humor
Writing Process Blog Tour
-X-
X Draft is Done! (revising a novel)
-Y-
YA Books Set in Places I’ve Lived
YA Fantasy Summaries
You’ve Written a Children’s Book–Now What?