My husband, children’s book author Greg Leitich Smith, is the focus of the September 2005 edition of Secrets of Success, a wonderful column from children’s author Ellen Jackson that each month offers the inside scoop from “a children’s writer who is breaking new ground in his or her career and who is willing to share her secrets with the rest of us.”

Greg talks about my influence (yikes!), how he gets and frames ideas for novels, connecting with a publisher, writing humor, our upcoming picture book, and tips for writers trying to break into the business today.

Greg is the author of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo (Little Brown, 2003, 2005)(Recorded Books, 2004) and Tofu and T. rex (Little Brown, 2005). The interview is a great read and offers an insightful peek into his experiences as a children’s writer breaking into publishing in the past few years.

Read Greg Leitich Smith’s interview on his Secrets of Success.

Learn more about Ellen Jackson, sign her guest book, and read her blog (September’s post is a must read about Writing Non-Fiction for Children)!

Cynsational News & Links

Meet The Author: T. A. Barron: The Writer’s Magic Wand from CBC Magazine. See also Hot off the Press: New Books from CBC (cheers for Sketches From A Spy Tree by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, illustrated by Andrew Glass (Clarion, 2005)).