Children's Picture Books

Informational Website

2007-01-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

I just discovered Cheryl Klein's website. Lots of good information there on writing, plot, story, publishing and more. I was already familiar with her blog, Brooklyn Arden, so finding the her 'Talks on Writing and Publishing' was enlightening. Definitely worth checking out.

Update

2007-01-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

22 Manuscripts in the mail to PB publishers and/or magazines. 2 form letter rejections received and 1 rejection with a human signature (an editorial assistant) yea!

Internet & Writing

2007-01-12T00:26:00.000-08:00

You know, I just realized that when I was actively writing picture books before, over ten years ago, there wasn't even an internet. I felt totally isolated and un-informed. How much easier it is now to get feedback from other authors and find information about publishers! It makes my head spin. Where will we be in another ten years?

Also, I just started reading Writing With Pictures by Uri Shulevitz. If you're writing or illustrating picture books, this is a MUST READ. Very awesome.

Critique Groups

2007-01-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I waited this long to join an online critique group. It's an awesome experience. If you write and are serious about wanting to get published. Do it now.

stream of conscious typing (SOCT)

2007-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

SOCT is getting easier, and I come out to a level of awareness less. It's hard to describe how I get there, kind of like meditation, how do I explain how that state of bliss was reached??? The biggest thing I changed should have been most obvious . . . to just type and not to examine the text for ideas until after I'm done. Have to wait until I've typed steadily for several minutes before going back and searching for ideas.

Todays SOCT:
Free flowing the river and a duck is the funniest word a herd of words antelopes eloping through the mudpuddles and stars twinkling so brightly they hurt my eyes are sinister windows to the soldier at lexington shooting his mouth off at some stranger who is quirky cucumber columbus day is full of surprise parties that explode in the night thing swamp monster is so poetic justic freezing the pond over with icey flakes of frequent flyer miles to go before I sleep said the octopus to the cucumber cakes and crying over spilt milking the cow all day longer than any story I’ve ever heard of you didn’t we meet at ac moore last yearly salaries are on the rising snow blizzard funneling through the house is exploding windows and doors crashing open to the tune of ten million dollars worth of damaging winds hurricanes eat people don’t they know that two and two doesn’t always make for seasons to the year but around here it’s mostly just winter is not my favorite time to go I don’t want to know why the elephant sneezed from both ends of the lake monster that crawled forth and exploded again the hawks soared from the sky to eat the bunnies that are nibbling grass and the suicide of thousands of bakers dozens in a donut hole that ate mice nesting in the trees falling by axes and the giant paul bunyon on my big toe aches after the mouse stabbed me with a pencil he was drawing a family portrait of stars that can act reasonably wellness program that involves tai chi bless you said the little rhino after sticking his horn where it didn’t belong in the nose of a fourth grader trying to pet the pony on the merry go round that took off into the sky and spun a dizzy sequence of events that led to another sequence of events that changed the world in a one night video about rocks that grow mossy banks along the river where trees skinny dip in the middle of the night beneath stars that hoot and holler when they shoot across the sky full of crows and where is that damn scarecrow when you need him to explain the facts of life is going downhill fast like a boulder rolling through a henshouse of ducks that can’t quake like an earthquake rumbling my belly is so hungry that I could eat an ant hill of possibilities that careen this way and then that way

As I look back at the above text the first title idea I pull out 'the monster in the mudpuddle' okay, I could probably grow a story out of that. Then elephant sneezing is potentially funny and that makes me think how would I stop an elephant from sneezing, hmmm, a second idea. But it also spawns a third idea, how would I stop a hippo from hiccupping? Oh wait, I skipped over cows, parties and a pond freezing over . . . Cows on Ice skates? Cows having an ice skating party? well that gets me up to four potential ideas. what else is there? mice nesting in trees, noses, a little rhino, a merry go round, trees skinny dipping, stars that hoot and holler, a missing scarecrow, a henhouse full of ducks . . . yup enough here for my daily quota of ideas.

Which means now I can move on to the editing stage. I have six manuscripts nearing completion (which means I'll be tapping into the idea folders soon). Of the six nearly finished: The first is too short and too simple to be a PB, so unless I can flesh it out better, it'll be a magazine story. The second story I thought was also going to be too short but bit by bit has expanded enough to be a simple PB. The third and fourth stories are both wordless manuscripts, illustration only. I like them alot but I'm worried that they won't find a home. I've tried and tried to add text to them but it only makes them sound clunky. The fifth is a story I've had around for ten years, finally got an ending to it that I'm happy with (thanks to SCBWI discussion boards). The sixth is nearly a wordless PB, the only text is the dialogue, the action explains itself.

And one more little note before I close for today, I stumbled across the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Calculator . . . cool little tool. Check it out.

Trolling for Ideas

2006-12-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

One of the methods I use to create story ideas is stream-of-conscious-typing (SOCT). Just start typing whatever words jump into your head. I rarely create a full sentence and when I do it's because I'm conscious of what I'm doing. When it works effectively one word evokes the next word and skew off at odd angles from each other. I can usually glean several title and/or story ideas from the unusual word combinations. For example, from the following SOCT I found 18 ideas:

Holy smacks a word a dog a dog of a life a strife nonsense nose sense of smells really badly I want it to touch her there me not good bad ugly retro foolish lies silly feelings sally says the way to god is a stone ladder with daffodils that I hey I did spell it write oops oh no here we go again to the same old tune where the hell is the story ideas my head hurts I need coffee I can’t smell it but its done where the fugg fudge cake illustrate god can type 30 words a minute can you tango tong gone with the windy city and not a minute to spare the silliest story about a dog gone wile at the beach ball looking for words silly words gallery hosting a song to smell you by where will the words come from let the fingers do the typing and fabricating wholly cow holly cow bovine center porcine porcupine to the rescue of a day a night the longest night looking for words trolling for answers t rolling t rexasaurus the skull that talked too much the haunting of hill side views from the window ledge a pidgeons tail tale do re me fa so la di wi’ve bben here before the time has come to photograph the opportunity of alifetime of woes and whistles and bells and toots the trolley can’t believe what I’ve done what I did what did you do to me to the day to the holiday season and christmas here comes santa claus the almighty too rich for her own good so give me some of that propoganda don’t stop to edit just type you idiot nincompoop wiht my eyes closed she said he said the let my fingers type without interupption no backspacing no deleting no corrections where theat damn white out oops hah looking for words trolling for words come to poo poppa poppa poo? Ewwww. He smiled he sneered he gaggled he giggled he tickled her fancy funny bone castration city ouch still typing with I my eyes closed here can you see it can you taste it the taste of food the taste of good life in the city manhatten is the place to be the subway ride to hell the blues blue blog post this shit it’s in my head I can hear it looking trolling waiting wanting she wants to sneer to elope the can’t elope elaine is a pain but she’s my pain and I like it to the city to the country mouse on a subway cat the rats under the sewer is a good thing the wood chips are flying where’d that come from the ride to the holiday train expresss that’s a good movie I need to drift more where to go to my mind is a playground where ideas are a riot in the suburbs in the woods a tree a racoon and a trolley ride to the deepsest parts of the ocean is a mindset of foolishness still I haven’t found the answer but I can’t get there from here is It a liability two words plus two words isn’t a story but can it be a poem is a writers nightmare is not writing the words stop coming but can they stop they just fill up inside my head and pop goes the zit I hate it when that happens my hand fell asleep and won’t obey me bad hand it won’t let me control it and I’m a wasteland of bad ideas and good ideas and I’m still typing with my eyes closed but that damn editor keeps rearing it’s ugly head and I’m not drifting enough I’m thinking about what I’m doing and not wandering enough my mind goes off to wander in the playground of the hillside cemetery google this his fat ass is a wonderful thing to behold thepleasure of the fingers on her keyboard and I keep talking the tree angel comes to life. Let the drift of the current take me to where? The alphabet sings on a daily basis I can hear her snoring from way down here my arms ache from the work my back aches the pain I’m back on pain again her medicine my medicine the way to a snarky foil of wonderful useless information inquiries the king to the queen of bees is a buzzing happening place to wonder into the strife of the city life sidewalks can talk to me with chalk and crayon and colors are a mystery to me oh the fog and the hedgehog youtube it to the maximillian city of light of wonder of fog and mystterying on the streets and from the sewers comes the cute little bunny that mutates into a sneezy droolly old troll that eats dogburgers with mayonaise and ew that sneeze thing is really atrocious I wonder what she’ll eat next the spider the fly the goat the gruff the bridge the sound the echo of footsteps over the bridge to the ocean and up the beach sand in her panties I can’t not type that don’t stop wonder on the beach dune sand castles of surprise sunrise on the sand castle meandering wondering wanderings city fried on the egg sidewalk so hot my feet burn they itch they ache they have a mind of their own let your feet walk where ever they’ll take you to the toy store where I should buy a real toy that comes to life when you sneeze on it nonsense to the max I like max max come play max come here max my friend my enemy my lice is a liscense plate number to spell what I like to read license plates he likes to eat the plate the hamburger with more onion than ketchup ketcip catch up catchers mit koala tree the coon dog’s bay as the racoon is treed tread lightly on the octopus is squidy squishy squashy apple pie in the over smells like hamster juice of the onion makes her cry a valley of tears in a song about the mountaintop safari is really on its way down the hill to town to visit uncle ned in a furnace of wonder and surprise visits by aliens make me ugly oh is she ever ugly enough for two presidents birthdays in a row 356 presidents a holiday every day of the year is no joke she said he sniggered but she liked it that way he said she said they said they roared like a waterfall in the valley of smoke and hamsters surprise the crap out of you

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

Brenda and Jennifer bringing a twinkle to Santa's eyes. The Oakdale Mall Santa in Binghamton. This is our 21st consecutive year of Santa pictures, a family tradition :)

Mo Willems Blog

2006-12-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to FuseNumber8 for pointing out Mo Willems new blog. Not to be missed!

A Christmas Song for Children's Writers

2006-12-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

At Alice's CWIM blog, she posts a link to Kim Norman's website where you'll find an awesome little tune just for Children's Writers. Go to her site and click on "A Writer's Wish List for every writer who has received a rejection letter"

More Submissions

2006-12-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

As of tomorrow, I'll have eleven manuscripts in the mail. Ten of them old stories that I've rewritten. One of them brand new.

My current writing routine is:

1. Create 5 titles/characters/opening lines daily.

2. Work on polishing the stories in my 6 story folders. Usually they contain 1-2 stories per folder.

3. Only when my stories-to-be-polished falls below 6, do I turn to my idea files.

4. 6 Idea files full of potential titles, ideas, characters etc. Expand on these until I have enough of an outline to move to a story folder.

AND

very importantly . . . if you're a children's writer . . . I consider joining SCBWI a must! . . . the Discussion Boards are awesome!

The Submission Process

2006-12-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

Thus, it begins. my first two manuscripts went out today. They are both re-writes of old ideas.

My work routine is still evolving. Now I'm creating more up front ideas, terminating the awkward ones quicker, spending more time on polishing the worthwhile ones.

The dreaming for ideas is working a little smoother but it does require a lot of self discipline. I have to fall asleep thinking of just one idea. If I have two in my head, it's no good. When I awaken, a good percentage of the time I can form a complete outline. Thus far, I can write it down later in the morning without losing detail.

It seems the strong ideas, the strong stories, the strong characters keep resurfacing on their own, they force themselves into my consciousness.

Hopefully it's not short term, hopefully I can keep it up.

Walker Books for Young Readers

2006-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Walker Books Submission Guidelines.

Moose sounds ? ? ?

2006-12-01T07:23:00.000-08:00

How would you spell the sound of a moose bellowing?
First, realistically. Second, humorously?
If you were writing a humorous story in which parents & friends were trying to teach a shy, quiet, timid moose how to bellow like a manly-man type of moose, what would the dialogue sound like?
or, to think outside the box, would you encourage the shy moose to "be himself" and accept his timid nature?

Ten Speed Press

2006-11-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

Submission guidelines for Ten Speed Press.

Tanglewood Press

2006-11-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

Submission guidelines for Tanglewood here.

Visual Thinking

2006-11-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

For the 25 years or so I've been writing, it's always been about the marriage of words and images. First came gag-writing, followed by picture books. And then haiku, followed by photography which led to haiga. And now a return to picture books.

Until recently, I never was conscious of how visually oriented I was.

Is this true of most people with a strong imagination? Is imagination largely visual or can it be otherwise? Can people imagine mathematically or textually?

Henry Holt & Company Books for Young Readers

2006-11-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

Manuscript submission guidelines found here.

BlogLines

2006-11-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, So I'm a little slow in discovering some of the neat stuff. I just discovered www.bloglines.com . . . awesome.

Dreaming for Ideas

2006-11-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

There's that point around 4 a.m. when I begin to wake where dreams and thoughts begin to overlap. If I can, at a waking moment, channel my thoughts about a manuscript or a character that's giving me trouble, I can often dream a solution.

But the trick is channeling my thoughts in that direction. I don't have very much control about what I think at that hour. Maybe with practice it gets easier?

Are there exercises for that sort of thing?

Work Routine for Picture Books

2006-11-26T05:41:00.000-08:00

My work routine is still evolving, this is where it's at right now:

1. Create 10 titles, characters or opening-lines each day.

2. Place the 5 I like best on a page with lots of space between them and tuck them into an idea-folder.

3. I have six idea-folders. Each folder contains 4-5 pages of ideas in various stages of development. I FORCE myself to expand at least a few of the ideas in each folder everyday. I usually stop at the point that one of the ideas breaks through with a big AHA! and begins to look like a story. When it has an outline and the first pages locked in, it gets moved into a story-folder.

4. I have six story-folders. Each folder contains 3 stories. Everyday I add new material to unfinished stories, rewrite where needed, improve pacing, strenghten storyline and polish. I try to get through 1-3 folders a day. If a folder gets more than 3 stories . . . the story giving me the most problems gets moved to one big computer file I call stew. (As in let it sit there and stew until I can figure out what, if anything, I can do to fix it).

While most of my creations get thrown into the stew, a few of them sparkle enough so I get excited. The thing is, forcing myself to write daily is boring and produces a lot of crap. BUT . . . if I didn't write anything until my muse handed me something inspirational . . . I'd never write at all.

It's a lot like panning for gold, I gotta sift through the rubble to find that nugget.

Barefoot Books and others.

2006-11-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

Barefoot Books Writer's Guidelines here. Peachtree Guidelines here.

Suen's Blog Central

2006-11-25T05:44:00.000-08:00

I'm just getting ready to explore Suen's Blog Central. Read about it in the 2007 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market.

And through those links I discovered this gem of a speech on writing, called Plastic Flowers and Channelled Raisins by Arthur Levine. All I can say is WOW!

So Here I Am.

2006-11-25T05:28:00.000-08:00

So, you may ask, how is the writing going . . .

Well, it was real difficult in the beginning to get back into the routine. But it's coming along. My fear was that I wouldn't have any new stories in me . . . and I now can happily say that there are.

AND . . . after digging out a couple hundred of my old stories . . . found a dozen that I think have a good potential for rewriting and the rewrites are going well.

I've also found another dozen that have potential but I haven't yet found a way to carry them off effectively.

One of the things that astounds me is how much work these old manuscripts still need . . . I mean I was getting personalized rejections on stuff that I'm now embarrassed to admit I submitted to publishers. Yikes.

I'm pretty sure my picture book ideas are good, I just need to learn how to execute them to their full potential. The old "am I a good enough writer to tell the story?" dilemma.

Time will tell.

"One Can't Believe Impossible Things."

2006-11-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

Alice said it and the queen replied: "Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

I recently re-stumbled across this quote and some little spark fired in the back of my brain. This little quote has everything to do with why I started writing, why I stopped writing and why I took it up again.

When I was a young man (long, long ago) I devoured how-to-succeed books. One of the tips was to find something you love and pursue it 24-7. I looked around and chose single-panel cartoons. I quickly discovered that I was only a mediocre artist but that I had a flair for coming up with ideas. I started writing gags for other cartoonists. I did pretty well at it and even managed to get a few published in The New Yorker.

Then my children were born and I rediscovered children's picture books. I wrote prolifically but not well. But since "even a blind pig discovers an occasional acorn" . . . I did get one picture book published and a handful of stories in magazines.

I now realize I wrote because of my need to believe in impossible things. I needed to, and did, believe in things like magic and angels.

Somewhere along the way, I lost this. I kept writing but it was from a place without hope and full of melancholy.

When I discovered haiku and things like sabi and mono no aware . . . I began the healing process.

When I began blogging, the healing process progressed even further (largely due to the blogging community that I became part of). But I still wasn't sure I had any more stories in me. I wasn't sure I could find it in myself to believe in impossible things. But I reached a point where I had to try.

So here I am.

Agents that Consider Picture Books

2006-11-22T06:43:00.000-08:00

I know there aren't many but I just stumbled across: Karen Klockner.
and Andrea Brown Literary Agency also considers picture books.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

2006-11-20T06:22:00.000-08:00

FSG editorial guidelines here. FSG newsletter sign-up here.

Clarion Books

2006-11-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Clarion Books submission guidelines can be found here. Click on submissions and then Clarion. Houghton Mifflin newsletter here.

Chronicle Books

2006-11-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Chronicle Books Submission Guidelines here. Subscribe to Chronicle Books newletter here.

Charlesbridge

2006-11-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

Charlesbridge submission guidelines here.

publishers' newsletters

2006-11-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Over at Alice's blog, she suggests subscribing to publishers' newsletters. So I am. The Boyds Mills Press newsletter can be found here. I'll add them as I continue to explore the websites of publishers I'm interested in.

Boyds Mills Press

2006-11-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

Boyds Mills Press Guidelines for Writers and Illustrators are here.

Ears That Never Stop Growing

2006-11-11T06:27:00.000-08:00

Over at Daily Spark's Daily Fun Fact: "Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing."

Ears that never stop growing? How cool an idea is that???

Interesting Daily Facts

2006-11-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

In my continual search for story ideas, I've added some links to sites that post an interesting fact a day. So check out Fact Me, Comedy Facts, Kids Daily Trivia, and Daily Spark.

Lots of Links

2006-11-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

wow. check out the fuse #8 production blog. besides being a good blog itself, it has a lot of great links to pursue.

The Purple Crayon

2006-11-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

Harold Underdown's site is one of the best around for information on writing for children. Check it out.

Jane Yolen

2006-11-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Jane's site is full of interesting information. I especially enjoyed her 2000 SCBWI conference speech found here.

BOING!

2006-11-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

Andrew suggested Boing! That's kind of a fun word. Boing boing boing boing . . .

HONK !

2006-11-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

more sound words:

honk, yowl, grumble, tinkle, poot, toot, gargle, slosh, snort, crinkle . . .

QUACK!

2006-11-05T05:14:00.000-08:00

aurora suggested these funny-sounding words describing sound. they're gems! . . . whap, thwap, bonk, splat, kerplunk, cackle, chortle, snigger, gobble, jabber, quack, whoop, slosh, swish, and plunk

funny words that describe sound

2006-11-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

okay, part of my first writing project requires researching words that sound funny AND that describe sound. like 'Plop' . . . and perhaps burp, splosh, titter, thwack, gurgle, crunch . . . any other suggestions?

initiation stories

2006-11-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

"Children's literature is full of initiation stories, in which a young character is given some challenge to get through, having successfully met the challenge, she or he is recognized as being more mature or more worthy."

Children's Books in Children's Hands.

endings

2006-10-29T05:36:00.000-08:00

"We never really know what our lives are adding up to until they're over, so we crave a sense of an ending, which we find in the plots of stories, because only stories . . . and dead people's lives have endings."

Children's Books in Children's Hands

actions and consequences

2006-10-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

"in the years from 4 to 7, children . . . want some general reassurance that actions matter in some connection between the ways we behave and the way things turn out for us . . . the basic story plots that children live to hear . . . give them pointers for making sense of the actions and consequences they experience in their lives."

Children's Books in Children's Hands

Understanding What Life Means

2006-10-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

"Stories . . . have a powerful appeal . . . because they . . . with the most basic dimensions of life . . . give children frameworks for understanding what life means. In stories . . . people and events are clearly good or bad . . . whereas in real life, it might be hard to tell."

Children's Books in Children's Hands.

Educating the Imagination

2006-10-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

"some say stories educate the imagination . . . fire the spirit with a sense of possibility."

--Children's Books in Children's Hands

Second Edition. preface pg xxi.