We are approaching the end of another year, and I want to express my gratitude to you for joining me here this year and in the years before. I have been blogging in some form since 1998, and my love for this medium has only grown stronger over time. Thank
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Chapter 32 of How to Write a Children's Book: a 7-day Workshop in a Book
On Children's Book Writing
This is it. These are the final steps to writing your children’s book. The finalization stage comes to you in three parts: a read-aloud session to make corrections, a clean read-through, and a celebratory saving of the file and victory dance. Read your story aloud as if you were
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Chapter 32 of How to Write a Children's Book: a 7-day Workshop in a Book
On Children's Book Writing
Let your book rest for at least one day. This is going to be the longest 24 hours you have had in a while, but they are necessary. One of my many writing teachers recommended we let our work rest for 24 to 48 hours during one of her lectures,
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Chapters 30 of How to Write a Children's Book: a 7-day Workshop in a Book
On Children's Book Writing
PHONE-A-FRIEND At this point, your story should feel pretty solid, which means you need to stress-test it seriously. In the final step of the Drafting process, we are going to perform the phone-a-friend draft. For this part, you will have someone read your story to you. The Drafting stage comes
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Chapters 28 of How to Write a Children's Book: a 7-day Workshop in a Book
On Children's Book Writing
RECORD AND LISTEN With that step completed, it is time to move on to the next task which is the Record & Listen draft. In this section, you are going to record yourself reading your book at a normal pace. Listen to the recording and listen for clunky word choices,
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Chapters 26 of How to Write a Children's Book: a 7-day Workshop in a Book
On Children's Book Writing
I may have tricked you. Mapping is essentiallyMapping is essentially your first draft. Look at that! You’ve already written the first draft of your children’s book, and you didn’t even notice! Since you’ve already completed your first draft by filling in your book map, it is
Book Club
I had forgotten about Michael Pollan. Years ago, I read Botany of Desire and fell completely in love with his writing. The way he took the reader, me, around the world and into the garden was a magic carpet ride into nature. “Plants are nature’s alchemists, expert at transforming