HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSTLE BUSTLE BUGS

Happy Birthday to this beautiful, buggy book, which officially creepy-crawls out from Little Brown Books for Young Readers TODAY! 

#picturebook #bugbook #PB #bookbirthday @lkliterary @eldridgestudio @cbaileybooks @LittleBrownYR 

 

Pitch, Synopsis or Blurb? Stef knows!

 

Whenever I write a new PB I always also draft a little blurb to go along with the story. I do this even when my manuscripts are very, very rough because it helps me focus on my main idea. I am easily distracted and will often - SQUIRREL! Oh yea, and just like the main story, my blurb gets edited over and over again. 

Since drafting blurbs (and pitches and synopsis) is one of my favorite author "hacks" for creating a strong MS, I was thrilled to come across the following blog post by author Stef Gemmill. She brilliantly explains the difference between these itty bitty - but oh so important - word piles. 

https://www.stefgemmill.com/blog/2021/2/15/pitches-vs-synopsis-vs-blurb

SO MUCH GOOD STUFF

 

Pros and Cons, word counts, pagination, teminology, format, story, charcters - it's all covered in this superb overview of writing picture books by author Allison Hughes. So stop reading my post, and check out this one!

https://medium.com/@michaelhingston/picture-books-101-from-alison-hughes-9b9eec235b19

Feelin' Farmy...

When people ask me if my daughters' inpspire my writing... heck ya they do!

 

I am Not Good at Waiting

 

My amazing agent and friend Kathleen posted a link to a great article about kidlit during (stupid) COVID. The take away is that we all need to be patient. I am trying... and reading this insightful analysis helped. A little anyway. So fellow toe-tapping, inbox-checking folks like me should take note...

Kidlit During COVID

"That Sounds Like Me"

 

A wonderful article on the need for diverse books and book makers: 

Diversity in Kidlit

I Love Summer but...

 

My kids go back to school in mid August. Not that I'm counting the days or anything. Which prompted me to post this list of clever books: 

Back To School Books