Career Achievers: David Lubar on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children’s-YA Author

Career Achievers: David Lubar on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children’s-YA Author

Revising in a Nazareth, PA; learn more about David Lubar

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

In children’s-YA writing, maintaining an active publishing career is arguably an even bigger challenge than breaking into the field.

Reflecting on your personal journey (creatively, career-wise, and your writer’s heart), what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success?

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Career Achievers: Daniel Kraus on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing YA Author

Career Achievers: Daniel Kraus on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing YA Author

Learn more about Daniel Kraus.

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

In YA writing, maintaining an active publishing career is arguably an even bigger challenge than breaking into the field.

Reflecting on your personal journey (creatively, career-wise, and your writer’s heart), what bumps did you encounter and how have you managed to defy the odds to achieve continued success?

Continue Reading Career Achievers: Daniel Kraus on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing YA Author »

Cynsations Intern: Robin Galbraith on Giving Yourself Permission to Write

Cynsations Intern: Robin Galbraith on Giving Yourself Permission to Write

Would-Be Kid Writer Robin

By Robin Galbraith

I tried to write my first story when I was in second grade. My family was gathered around the TV like every night. While “M*A*S*H” played in the background, I stared at my blank paper and dreamed up what I thought was a hilarious story of a girl who used every possible excuse to avoid going to bed—a subject I knew well.

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Guest Post: Carmela A. Martino on Pulling a Novel From the Drawer & Playing By Heart

Guest Post: Carmela A. Martino on Pulling a Novel From the Drawer & Playing By Heart

By Carmela A. Martino

If I’d known how long and difficult the path to publication would be for my new young adult novel, Playing by Heart (Vinspire Publishing, 2017), I might never have started down this road. The journey began when I set out to write a picture book biography of a little-known 18th-century female mathematician.

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Guest Post: Carol Coven Grannick on Does Expecting the Worst Make You a Pessimist? Confessions of a Learned Optimist

Guest Post: Carol Coven Grannick on Does Expecting the Worst Make You a Pessimist? Confessions of a Learned Optimist

By Carol Coven Grannick

The endings of so many wonderful stories – our own and others’ – are different than what protagonists imagine they might be.

And our lives hand us some of the same twists and turns.

As writers and illustrators, there are times we must move through more than the usual vicissitudes.

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New Voice: Bonnie Pipkin on Aftercare Instructions

New Voice: Bonnie Pipkin on Aftercare Instructions

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Bonnie Pipkin is the debut author of Aftercare Instructions (Flatiron Books, 2017). From the promotional copy:

“Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

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Guest Post: Tara Dairman on Making Connections in a New State

Guest Post: Tara Dairman on Making Connections in a New State

By Tara Dairman

Moving 1,000 miles was not the way I anticipated kicking off 2017, but hey, not much about the last year has been predictable. So when my husband received a new job offer in January, we found ourselves relocating from Colorado to Austin, Texas, in a few short weeks.

Austin has a well-established kidlit community,

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Guest Post: Linda Joy Singleton on Novels to Picture Books, the Long & Short of Writing for Children

Guest Post: Linda Joy Singleton on Novels to Picture Books, the Long & Short of Writing for Children

By Linda Joy Singleton

When I joined SCBWI, my biggest dream was to sell a middle-grade novel. I attended as many workshops as I could and was excited when there were speakers who wrote MG or YA.

But often I had to sit through talks on writing picture books.

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