Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin, 2015
So good to be back visiting the multi-talented Cynthia Leitich Smith here on Cynsations with my third book in the Wilde Island trilogy. Cynthia hosted an interview for the first Wilde Island book, Dragon’s Keep (Harcourt, 2007) so this visit brings it full circle.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Janet Lee Carey on Tips for Writing Fantasy »
Jean’s children, John and Jane
By Jean Reagan
Many years ago in a writing class, Kathi Appelt said, “Write from the hole in your heart.”
At the time, I had just received sketches for my first picture book, Always My Brother, illustrated by Phyllis Pollema-Cahill (Tilbury House 2009).
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Jean Reagan on Writing from the Hole in Your Heart »
Marietta Zacker is an agent at Nancy Galt Literary Agency.
Marietta has experienced children’s books from every angle – teaching, marketing, publishing and bookselling.
She thrives on working with authors who make readers feel their characters’ emotions and illustrators who add a different dimension to the story.
Continue Reading 2015 SCBWI Europolitan Con: Agent Marietta Zacker »
One of the things I’ve noticed my graduate creative writing students struggling with is where exactly to start in a book.
I’ve had two students fill up the first 40 pages of their novels with excruciating back-story details involving family history, blood-lines, place of birth,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Cecilia Galante on Where to Start Your Story? »
Sometimes it can be helpful to think about endings when you’re at the beginning of the process—not plotting the ending, but doing a bit of free, no-holds-barred thinking about your character’s emotional inner journey and where you hope she goes.
This is what you write towards,
Jill Santopolo is the author of the Alec Flint Mysteries, the Sparkle Spa series and the Follow Your Heart books.
She holds a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University, an M.F.A. in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and a certificate in Intellectual Property Law from NYU.
Continue Reading 2015 SCBWI Europolitan Con: Author-Editor Jill Santopolo »
For some people, starting a new novel is like that scene in “The Sound Of Music,” where Maria’s tra-la-la-ing on a mountaintop, arms spread out, spinning in delirious joy.
If you’re like me, though, that blank white page isn’t cause for bursting into song.
Bursting into tears,
Matt Phelan is the first-time author of Druthers (Candlewick, 2014). From the promotional copy:
With warmth and humor, award-winning author-illustrator Matt Phelan follows a child as she leads her daddy on some rainy-day flights of fancy.
It’s raining and raining and raining,
Miriam and Lucy
Miriam Busch is the first-time author of
Lion, Lion, illustrated by Larry Day (Balzer & Bray, 2014). From the promotional copy:
A little boy is looking for Lion.
Lion is looking for lunch.
Tracy Holczer is the first-time author of The Secret Hum of a Daisy (Putnam, 2014). From the promotional copy:
Twelve-year-old Grace and her mother have always been their own family, traveling from place to place like gypsies.
Continue Reading New Voice: Tracy Holczer on The Secret Hum of a Daisy »
