June 3, 2014
Friend and writing colleague Emily Lim has tagged me in the Writing Process blog hop that has been making the rounds. Thank you, Emily! I know Emily through Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 and Susanna Leonard Hill’s Perfect Picture Book Friday, and now we’re both taking Emma Walton Hamilton’s Just Write For Middle Grade online/home study course. She’s a writer with many books to her credit, including picture books, early readers, e-books,…
January 5, 2014
Well, if the truth be told, some days getting out of bed in the morning is a challenge — but that’s not the sort of challenge I’m talking about. It’s January, the month in which people challenge themselves to do new things, or to do old things in a better way. That is true for writers and illustrators as well as the general population. In the far-flung writer/illustrator community that…
September 1, 2013
I wish I could say I spent my blog-cation doing what this cat is doing. That wasn’t quite the case, actually. 😉 Part of my blog-cation, I was actually BLOGGING. Not here, except for one post, but I did manage a post a week on my new Starborn Revue blog, which is devoted to the performing arts and creativity. (Note to self: summer is probably not the best time to…
March 3, 2013
I re-read my January Accountability Post to see how I did in adhering to what I had set out as goals for February, and to my relief I found that I accomplished much that I intended. Usually when I do these month-end wrap-ups, I wonder what I could have accomplished if I had worked harder. In February, I think I did work harder than usual (although perhaps there’s still room…
January 27, 2013
After wondering if January would ever end, it seems amazing that we’ve nearly reached the end of the month. With the end of the month, of course, comes accountability. How did I do on what I planned to do this month? Perhaps because, to quote the Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne song, “the weather outside is frightful,” I have accomplished quite a bit this month.
December 30, 2012
Dreams, hopes, wishes, plans — what might the new year hold? When setting forth our goals for the coming year, do we make sure that they are completely attainable? Or do we add a challenge? Do we set the bar so high that we cannot possibly achieve those heights, or do we measure in some realism? I firmly believe that we need to give ourselves something to strive for, something…
December 27, 2012
Just a few days left in this year — it’s hard to believe. I’m about to embark on Alayne Kay Christian’s Writer’s Whole Life Perspective life-coaching challenges, and will be starting with her challenge to list 31 achievements of 2012. Don’t worry, I won’t list all thirty-one here! I do want to take a look at the past year, though, and see where it has led. To do that, I’m…
December 11, 2012
Picture book manuscripts galore! Picture book manuscripts as far as the eye can see. When I signed up for 12×12 in 2012, hoping to write 12 picture book first drafts in 12 months, I really had no idea if I’d be able to do it. It seemed unbelievable to write that many unique drafts, while trying to keep up with revising other manuscripts, blogging, and all the things one does…