Find Out What All the Buzz is About. Join the CWCC Today!

The Children’s Writer’s Coaching Club (CWCC) is open for business. All that is needed is a desire to learn to write for children. No experience required. Already have a writing career? The CWCC can help you make more of the writing career you have.

Writing is not the only thing writers do. They need to learn how to market their books, author visits, how to conduct seminars and workshops more effectively.

As a member of the CWCC you will work with both published children’s authors and aspiring authors to achieve the career of your dreams.

The best part of all this is that you can do it all in the comfort of your own home. Full time or part time. The decision is yours.

Membership is $27 per month. Read on and see what a member receives.

• LIVE teleclasses EVERY month. Each teleclass is taught by a successful children’s book author and/or illustrator who knows the “tricks of the trade” of children’s writing, illustrating, and publishing.

• A monthly writing assignment, designed to become a finished project ready for submission to a publisher, usually by the end of the month, although some projects take longer. Each month we focus on some area of publishing. For example, one month we study how to write short fiction for children’s magazines. Another month we focus on writing nonfiction for children’s magazines. Another month we target writing picture books, etc.

• The opportunity to have your monthly assignment professionally critiqued, so you know if further revisions are needed before it is ready for submission to a publisher.

• Network opportunity via an online discussion list with other members of the CWCC.

Come and join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club today as I did and you’ll be on your way to creating your own career as a published children’s book author. Click the logo below.

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Write it down,
Carma

Writing and Illustrating - Not for the Faint-of-Heart

My objective for choosing to write for children is to instill a love for reading and writing and to make a difference in children’s lives. During my search for quality content I came across this article by Alan Jordan.

Below is a summary of four major lessons Alan Jordan has learned.
(photo courtesy of Flickr)

Lessons Learned Number 1 to 4 - Writing and Publishing an Interactive Book & CD For Children

Be warned: Writing, illustrating and recording a children's picture book and audio-book CD is not for the faint-of-heart. One 850-word book took me over three years to go from concept-to-completion. To put that into perspective, I have written six 50,000+ word books that were targeted to business people. These took an average of six months. Here, in a summary fashion, are four of major lessons that I have learned. Future articles will provide additional insights. To illustrate these lessons, let's focus on a suggested sentence for a non-existent book: "Billy struggled to climb on top of the red fire truck."

1. Use as few words as possible - Would "Billy climbed up the fire truck," be better? It might or might not. It's definitely shorter, and gives the artist more freedom. On the other hand you might be eliminating some crucial concepts. Read on.

2. Understand that every word you write has the potential to restrict the artist. As an example, "climbed," means that the artist must show Billy going upward, ascending, using his hands and feet. This might make sense if it is important for Billy to climb up the truck, but what if the artist could add humor by having Billy swing on a vine to reach the top of the fire truck. Either way, Billy could struggle to reach the top of the fire truck, but, is struggling important? If it's not, imagine the fun that Billy could have jumping onto the top of the dire truck from a tree.

You may not see Billy jumping onto the fire truck in your mind's eye, but an artist might--if you don't restrict him or her with your words. Perhaps it will help to compare writing a children's book to writing a play. In the children's book, your words give you veto power over the artist. In a play the stage directions you provide give you veto power over the Stage Director and actors. I once wrote a play where the main characters were a man with two alter egos. Imagine my surprise when an avant-garde production of the play cast the alter egos of the man as female. It worked, and it was a valid interpretation because I did not specify that the alter egos had to be male.

3. Consider children equals when you're writing. Talking down to children, explaining what's happening to them is silly. They know what's happening. Also, don't be afraid to use a few challenging words. Children will figure them out, or look them up. Want proof? Read the Harry Potter books. Children understand them.

4. Read the story to several children as you write it. Be open to unexpressed criticism. Do not expect praise. You won't get it. Watch, instead, for involvement with the characters. Listen for excitement as they talk about your plots. If you don't find these things, you've failed. Go back to the drawing board.

Writing for children doesn't pay much, unless you happen to have a blockbuster best seller, but it’s fun. Mix a children's book in with your other writing. If you do your job right, you're liable to make a difference in the lives of many children. That's a big deal because today's children are the people who will influence tomorrow's world.

Alan Jordan's latest children's books are featured on a web site designed to foster creativity in children and adults. http://www.LetsBeCreative.org Visit the site and become a member (free) then you can download the latest version of The Monster on Top of the Bed as a streaming video. A free download for an iPod is also available.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_H._Jordan

Write it down,
Carma

The Sugar Child - Book Review

Title: The Sugar Child
Author: Monique De Varennes
Illustrator: Leonid Gore
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Athenaeum/Anne Schwartz Books (October 5, 2004)
ISBN-10: 0689852444
ISBN-13: 978-0689852442

The Sugar Child is a delightful story for the kindergarten through second grade bunch. It has all the makings of a “wish upon a star” fairy tale. However, this story is more unique than Cinderella or The Gingerbread Boy. The Sugar Child is made with love by a childless baker and his wife.

The setting takes place in a small Quebec town where a little girl is formed from marzipan and magically comes to life over night. Her name is Matine. The baker and his wife dance for joy because they now have a child they can love. The couple takes great care to protect Matine’s fragile, sugary skin. When it rains, Matine is not allowed outside because her fragile skin would be washed away. She becomes sad and wants to cry but her parents talk her out of it. Matine’s parents want to protect her from the sorrow that sometimes happens in life.

Although they are able to stop her tears this time they are not so successful when Matine wants to visit her best friend who is seriously ill. Matine knows the importance of her condition but she doesn’t let her friendship with Jean-Paul stop her from risking her own life to visit him at his home. She covers herself with a cape and hood then runs in the down pouring rain to Jean-Paul’s home.

This story is about friendship and love. Illustrated by Leonid Gore with full page pastel art, giving the story a soft and delicate structure it needs. The characters and landscape have a soft glow and Matine shimmers where you can almost “feel” the sugary glaze surface of the marzipan pastry. The illustrations are dream like with soft and billowy characters.

As you would expect, magic happens. Matine sheds tears of sadness for her fragile friend’s health and her marzipan shell is washed away. Matine is transformed into a real girl. However, the story does not make it clear if Jean-Paul recovers so miraculously but illustrations demonstrate that his spirit is lifted.

Young children will love this imaginative tale and the happy ending. I think it deals with the possibility of death in a unique way. The reader doesn’t know if Matine is going to melt or not so to a five year old the act of Matine running out in the rain is a suspenseful moment.

About the author: Monique de Varennes put in thirteen years at boarding school, then went to Cornell University, majoring in English Literature, and then to Johns Hopkins University, receiving an M.A. from the Writing Seminars. She worked in publishing for a number of years, and took great joy in raising her children, Chris and Kate. Gradually she began writing again, both books for young people, edited by the gifted Anne Schwartz, and short fiction for adults. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines, and has received a Pushcart Prize.

About the Illustrator: Leonid Gore immigrated to the United States from the Former Soviet Union, where he trained at the Art Institute of Minsk and illustrated over fifteen books for children. Kirkus praised Jacob and the Stranger by Sally Derby for Gore’s “stunning black and white illustrations … evanescent, dreamlike.” He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Write it down,
Carma

Criss Cross - Book Review

Title: Criss Cross
Author: Lynne Rae Perkins
2006 Newbery Medal award winner
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 337
Publisher: Greenwillow (August 30, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0060092734
ISBN-13: 978-0060092733

Characters in Criss Cross represent the feelings of many teenagers of all generations. Whether it be in the 1970’s or 1960’s. I dare say there is not a person among us who hasn’t wished they were someone else one time or another. Young teens will relate to the self-consciousnesses and uncertainty that all the characters exhibit, each of whom is struggling toward awareness.

Debbie and Hector, both 14, are the focus and most of the novel is through their narration. In addition to that, Perkins sets up a secondary story involving Debbie’s missing locket and the journey it takes as it is passed around by a number of different characters.

Criss Cross reads like a series of vignettes which is focused on Debbie and her friends. Debbie’s friend Linney teaches her to drive a pick up without leaving the drive way because Lenny’s parents are not home. This experience comes in handy much later when Debbie is placed in a precarious position being the only one who has driving experience and she has to take an elderly lady to the hospital.

Hector has a crush on Meadow and wants to take her someplace special. A place she has never been. The only place he can find in town is the garbage strewn ravine. He pictures it as a beautiful place if all the garbage was gone. His sister Rowanne reminds him it is only a ditch. Hector’s dad gives him a guitar but can’t afford music lessons, except for the free ones given down at the church by the priest.

There is a great deal of humor in this tender story about a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they wish to live it. The book is illustrated with Perkins's amusing drawings and some photographs. Also Perkins experiments with writing an entire section of dialogue in haiku. “Jeff White is handsome, / but his hair is so greasy. / If he would wash it.”

What teen has not had the desire to just be somewhere else? A group of friends decided to conduct an experiment with travel. They decided to go to the bus station and get on the first bus that came through and get off at the first stop no matter where it was. They would spend a few hours and then come back.

Perkins has created a group of likable characters searching for who they are and who they will become. It is not hard to find a character to identify with.

About the author: Lynne Rae Perkins is the author of three picture books, The Broken Cat, Clouds for Dinner, and Home Lovely, a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book. Her novel All Alone in the Universe was named an ALA Notable Book, an ALA Book list Editor's Choice, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, and a Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children. She lives with her family in northern Michigan, where it snows all the time.

Write it down,
Carma

Today is Cyber Sale Monday!

On Cyber Sale Monday you'll find all sorts of bargains all over the Internet. So we just had to join in the fun.

TODAY ONLY! You can join the Children's Writer's Coaching Club for 1/2 price. Suzanne Lieurance is offering a block buster discount if you join TODAY.

Already a bargain at $27 a month for anyone but at the special low price of $13.50 per month you are receiving a spectacular opportunity. Just click on the Children's Writer's Coaching Club logo and it will take you to the sign up page.

Yes, there is more. You can begin learning how to break into the children's writing market TODAY by attending a FREE teleclass December 1, which is tonight at 7 p.m. central time and 5 p.m. pacific time and 8 p.m. eastern. Suzanne Lieurance is my special guest tonight. Click here to pose a question and if you are among the first 24 to sign up you will receive the New York Times Best Seller, The Christmas Box, by Richard Paul Evans.

After asking your question, type in your mailing address to have the book shipped to you.

Write it down,
Carma

Find Out Anything and Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Writing and Publishing for Kids

If you’ve been wondering how to get started writing and publishing your own stories and other work for kids, then you won’t want to miss this special FREE teleseminar next Monday night, December 1, 2008, at 7:00 central time, 5:00 pacific time and 8:00 eastern time.

I will host this teleseminar with special guest, Suzanne Lieurance, author of over a dozen published books for children, instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature, and founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center. Suzanne will be answering questions that are submitted prior to the call. Just sign up and attend the seminar to hear the LIVE answer to your question.

Sign up for this Free teleseminar right now, and ask your most pressing question about writing or publishing for kids. Then, attend the LIVE teleseminar Monday night December 1, to learn the answer to your question.


The first 24 to register and ask a question will receive a special gift. The New York Times Best Seller, The Christmas Box, by Richard Paul Evans. A Christmas classic. After typing in your question, please type in your mailing address to have the book shipped to you.


To attend the seminar, register here now.

Write it down,
Carma

Interview Experts for Non-Fiction Work

When writing non-fiction, research is not the only way to gain information on your topic. Interview an expert to illuminate what is important. Maureen J. Hinds has written an excellent article on this topic. I’m going to put this one in my notebook. Read on.

Writing for Children – Interviewing experts for Your Non-fiction Work.

Know Your Subject
This may seem contradictory to the purpose of conducting the interview—you’re consulting an expert because you’re not one yourself, right? Yes—however, you need to have a good grasp of your topic so that you know what you’re talking about during the interview. The purpose of contacting an expert is to clarify and gain additional information, not to be taught your subject. Experts appreciate the effort you put into understanding the topic and being able to speak as knowledgeably as possible about it.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Preparation is key to a good interview, no matter what method you choose. Make a list of your questions ahead of time, for your own purposes and to send to your expert. Many people appreciate knowing what they will be talking about, as it allows them to generate thoughtful responses rather than “off the cuff” comments. Send your list of questions to your interview subject, and follow them during the interview (while allowing the interview to veer as appropriate).

Decide How You Will Conduct the Interview
This depends in part on your subject, but your options often include in person, by phone, or through email. All methods are acceptable, and while a shy person may lean toward email, remember that the immediacy of an in-person or phone conversation can often add that “human” element that might be just what your piece needs. Sometimes you won’t have a choice, if your editor or subject prefers a particular method. It’s a good idea to practice various methods as you progress through your writing career. (If you record a conversation, be sure your subject knows and check any applicable state or governmental laws.)

Be Respectful of your Subject’s Time
Many professionals are happy to lend their expertise to your cause, as long as you don’t abuse the privilege. Be respectful of the person’s time, letting them know ahead how long you expect the interview to last. Be on time, and stick to your time estimate. If you run over, you can request a second interview, or ask if you can follow-up via email or phone.

Quote Accurately
No matter what method you choose, be careful that you quote your experts accurately. Obviously, this can be easier via email, but it is certainly possible for other types of interviews as well. If you have time, consider sending the quotes to your expert for review before submitting the manuscript. Not only will this help ensure accuracy, but it also gives your expert an extra opportunity to clarify a difficult topic or expand on an idea or comment. If your topic is technical, you can also request permission to rephrase the quote in terms that your younger readers will understand. Many experts are open to this, and will approve your changes—just be sure to let them know! And of course, when you write your piece, be sure to give credit to your source.

Where do you find experts? There are many options, but here are some ideas to get you started:
• Check your local yellow pages

* Investigate professional and nonprofit organizations

* Ask for references from research contacts, colleagues, those you talk to throughout the process, and even in casual conversations when someone says, “I know someone who…”

* Names you run across through Internet and other research

* Through online directories such as http://www.profnet.com

Maurene J. Hinds is a children's author with several published books and two forthcoming. She is an experienced teacher who has taught creative and technical writing and literature at the high school and college levels, and teaches online writing workshops and offers manuscript critiques through her website. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Teenagers from Vermont College. She is completing a young adult novel, "Bruised," under the name Maurene Janiece. Visit her website at http://www.maurenejhinds.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maurene_J._Hinds


Write it down,
Carma