Friday, January 28, 2022

Charlesbridge

 


According to their website, "Charlesbridge publishes high-quality books for young people with a goal of creating lifelong readers and learners. We believe that books for children should offer accurate information, promote a positive worldview, and embrace a child’s innate sense of wonder and fun. To this end, we seek new voices, new visions, and new directions in children’s literature. We are especially interested in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color) voices and other perspectives that have been traditionally underrepresented in publishing. Charlesbridge publishes fiction and nonfiction board books, picture books, early readers, middle-grade fiction and nonfiction (ages 8–12), and young adult novels (ages 12+). Our nonfiction tends to focus on nature, science, math, social studies, biography, history, and the arts. In both fiction and nonfiction, we are committed to reflecting and celebrating our diverse world. To find out if your book is a good match for us, get to know our program by downloading our catalog or visiting www.charlesbridge.com. These guidelines are for informational purposes only and do not constitute a solicitation of any manuscript, artwork, or other material. Submission of any materials shall be done at the author/illustrator's own risk."


For more information, click here: 

https://www.charlesbridge.com/pages/submissions

Thursday, January 6, 2022

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

Saturday, December 4, 2021

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

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Feelin' Farmy...

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


 

Monday, October 4, 2021

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




Saturday, September 4, 2021

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

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