Darcy Pattison’s excellent new book for Children’s Book Authors

If you’ve ever thought about publishing a children’s book, you will probably be interested in this new project from the gracious and creative and super smart publisher, Darcy Pattison. She’s finally bringing us the long-promised book full of strategies and insights, a.k.a. secrets for success. I can’t wait to “back” this project on “Kickstarter”. (If that’s Greek to you, don’t worry, read this post 🙂

Let the 2024 SCBWI Europolitan Come to You!

Calling all children’s book writers and illustrators in Europe! Focus, Color, Query, and Setting Workshops for Writers and Illustrators of Children’s Books For those of you who can’t make it to the fantastic Europolitan in Cologne, Germany this year (or for those who are but just want a little more), we have a treat for […]

7 Insights from the SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Belgium

This beautiful building is the musical instrument museum in Brussels, Belgium. What is the SCBWI Europolitan? A chance to meet people who live in Europe and write for kids in English. In 2017, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Europolitan Conference was in Belgium. In 2024, it will be in Cologne, Germany. Here’s […]

Need more hidden conflict in your work-in-progress? The Conflict Thesaurus to the rescue!

Fun & Games With Conflict?! Read about how I used The Conflict Thesaurus with my Middle Grade book below. Does it work for children’s authors? I write books for ages 9 to 12, so I look at writing tools with that audience in mind. While working on the fourth book in my Seven Kingdoms Fairy […]

Is Ingram rejecting your print files? Here’s the Mac fix.

To publish a print edition of a book, both IngramSpark and Amazon ask for a print quality PDF that is “flattened” and includes “embedded fonts”.​ Here’s how you do this with Scrivener3 and LibreOffice. (I think Windows computers may be able to create a print quality PDF a different way. These directions are for Mac.) […]

Want more emotion in your fiction and less drama pinning down the draft?

If you are a fiction writer and haven’t ever used Angela Ackerman’s and Becca Puglisi’s writing thesauri, you might be really missing out. You know that feeling of holding two things in your head at the same time? These books are serious headache prevention. (Trust me, I’m an epidemiologist. 🙂 I’ve written about the thesauri […]

Need some ideas about how to handle The Waiting Game?

Just when you think it will never come, spring arrives. Image: ©Laurel Decher, 2018. Over at The Winged Pen there’s a post from 2018 about what to do while you’re waiting. . . . . .for query responses, . . .for editors, . . .or for anything else in the writing life that requires another […]

Four Ways Writing a Novel is Different than Reading One

One of my favorite collaborative efforts. Steel and heather. Alfter, Germany. ©Laurel Decher, 2018. Reading is a collaborative and creative activity. The reader is in partnership with the writer, and they create an experience together. Writers are told to read, read, read. . .to improve their writing. Good advice. 🙂 But I’ve recently noticed four […]

Things keep falling down. . .and then the harvest comes.

In January, we had heavy winds for this area. They were impressive, but I think winds are much stronger in other, drier parts of the world. The trees here don’t seem to have deep roots, considering their size. It rains constantly. Trees don’t have to work for water, growing down deep to find it during […]

Join me over at SCBWI Germany + Austria: I’m blogging about doodling

My doodle for the SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Belgium. ©Laurel Decher, 2017. Hanging out with all of the illustrators at the 2017 SCBWI Europolitan Conference in Belgium must have rubbed off on me. I created the doodle above on the train ride home. Just what I needed, a quick way to ‘revisit’ the conference in […]

Serious about Writing a Series?

This handy infographic will help you sketch out your next series in no time. Points to techniques from experienced and generous authors: Mary Robinette Kowal, Robin Stevens, Susan Kaye Quinn, Writing Excuses podcast, Rachel Aaron, and literary super-agent, Gemma Cooper. With this all-star cast of online mentors, you’ll be raring to write.

Sometimes the only thing that helps stuck projects

Sometimes the only thing that helps stuck projects . . .is walking around it. Am I the only one who has to move to get my brain to work? I’m getting the big creative “guns” out today: Scissors, tape, markers in all colors. What do you all do when a project Just. Won’t. Budge?