December 17, 2018
In this brief time before the end of the current year and the beginning of the New Year, I like to pause and look back over what I have achieved – and what I haven’t achieved – and what I want to do in the coming year. I do this in a variety of ways. I create a vision board that includes my writing goals, hopes, and plans for the…
November 19, 2018
Most of us cannot get where we want to be on our own. We need to learn from others, to be challenged by others, and to be supported and encouraged by others. The same is true for writing. At first, I was too nervous to share my writing (except my hymn texts) with anyone but close friends and family. Finally, I realized that I needed more. I needed to reach…
March 23, 2014
Last summer, when many of my writing friends were gathered in Los Angeles for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators international summer conference, they had the opportunity to attend a break-out session/workshop that I so wished I could be part of. I’ve often mentioned Julie Foster Hedlund. She is an author, the originator and power behind the 12×12 picture book challenge, a creative forward-thinker. She was leading that…
November 12, 2013
Julie Hedlund is an innovator. She sees beyond the predictable and the possible to ask, “What if?” And the important thing is, she doesn’t stop at asking the question, she does something to find out what would happen if… She asked herself what if she asked a few friends to join her in trying to write twelve picture book drafts in twelve months, and rapidly discovered she had a phenomenon…
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 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…
June 27, 2012
It is the most delightful serendipity that a few months ago Julie Hedlund (founder of the picture book a month challenge known as 12 x 12 in 2012) and I agreed that she would do an interview for my blog on June 27th. At that time, we had no idea whatsoever that a celebration of the six-month half-way mark of 12 x 12 would be happening at the same time.…
June 25, 2012
It’s a BLOG PARTY and it’s happening HERE … and THERE … and ALL OVER THE BLOGIVERSE! The 12 x 12 in 2012 group is celebrating the mid-way point in our year of writing at least one picture book manuscript a month, and we’re gathering on blogs everywhere to have a PARTY! Thanks to Julie Hedlund* whose creative mind came up with the idea of 12 x 12 in the…