25+ Gift Ideas for Writers plus the Ultimate (free) gift all writers want

25+ Gift Ideas for Writers Plus the Ultimate (Free) Gift all Writers Want

Writers love writing-related gifts. If you’re stumped for ideas, try out these gift ideas – your favorite writer will thank you. Using the Gift Guide I have included links and a highly unscientific price rating for each item ($ to $$$$), but they’re really just suggestions. You can adjust to your writer’s taste and your …

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Writing Through 2020 and Other Hard Times

Writing Through 2020 and Other Hard Times

Let’s face it: 2020 is a dumpster fire, in a train wreck, at a goat rodeo. If it were a novel synopsis, editors wouldn’t get past the first paragraph before saying it was too unbelievable. The writers room for 2020 is terrible! You don’t put a small earthquake in the middle of a race revolution …

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Get Published and Paid with Work For Hire Writing

Get Published and Paid With Work For Hire Writing

My picture book series, the Little Elephants’ Big Adventures, is coming out soon! (Fingers crossed that 2020 doesn’t change that.) These books were a work for hire collaboration with Purdue University that began way back in 2016. There are six books in the series (so far) and the first three will be coming out soon. …

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The Writer's Guide to Children's Book Genres

The Writer’s Guide to Children’s Book Genres

Genres carve up all the works we call “literature” and put them into helpful categories. For kids, the most helpful categories are developmental stages. So children’s book genres really equate to age categories or developmental stages. Why developmental stage? What’s interesting and appropriate to a toddler is wildly different from what would make the cut …

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This is My Action Plan To Fight Racial Injustice (Other White People: You Should Make One, Too)

This is my Action Plan to Fight Racial Injustice

It’s been 31 days since George Floyd was murdered. Thirty-one days of reaffirming that Black Lives Matter. Thirty-one days that our country has taken the fight for racial justice to the streets. Thirty-one days of hard conversations and personal reckonings. For me personally, a lot of that time has been spent reading and listening to …

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How I Got Started and Kept Going as a Kidlit Writer: Dumb Luck, Divine Intervention, and hard Work

How I got Started And Kept Going As a Kidlit Writer: Dumb Luck, Divine Intervention, and Hard Work

I’ve never publicly shared my “how I got started as a kidlit writer” story. Why? Well… If I’m honest, it’s because my story starts with a lot of dumb luck and divine intervention. In fact, I never even considered myself to be a writer, let alone a good one. Let’s start at the beginning. How …

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30 Things I've done in my first 30 days of self isolation

30 Things I’ve Done in My First 30 Days of Self-Isolation

Yesterday was my 30th day of self-isolation during this coronavirus pandemic. And it feels like it should be marked somehow. It feels momentous. And surreal. And depressing. And hopeful. Like something that should be celebrated – but it’s a celebration of doing nothing. Like this is too easy to be worth celebrating – but was …

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5 Tips for working From Home With Kids in a Crisis

5 Tips for Working From Home With Kids In A Crisis

Coronavirus has upended everything. Many people are suddenly working from home. (If they’re lucky enough to be working at all.) Kids are either off school entirely or doing some sort of online/homeschool hybrid. Headlines read like the plot synopsis for the latest YA dystopian novel. Literally everyone is stressed and questioning if there’s enough chocolate …

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How to start a bullet journal for writers

How to Start a Writing Bullet Journal

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of bullet journaling. My writing bullet journal is my number one tool for achieving my writing goals. Also, I love the smell of a fresh notebook and an excuse to play with markers. View this post on Instagram Mmm. New bullet journal smell. . #bulletjournaladdict #bulletjournaling #writinglife #authorlife …

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