Small Reads for Brighters Days
It’s that time of year! The Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards)?organizers and panels and judges have been announced! I’m excited to be a first-round judge in the Easy Reader/Early Chapter Book category with a bunch of other very cool folks. What? No poetry, you might be asking? No nonfiction? I know! But […]
But only Monday-Friday! I’m Laura. And I’m a workaholic. I have never been a workaholic, in action or proclivity. But when you’re a freelance writer, it sneaks up on you. You don’t want to turn down work because tomorrow, you might have no assignments. But before you know it, you’re overwhelmed with deadlines and working […]
I’ve been freelance writing for a long time, and one thing that still surprises me, even though it shouldn’t, is how much my work changes from week to week, month to month, year to year. I’m looking at the first?third of 2013, for example, and I haven’t written a single book under contract (meaning I […]
Forget setting goals! No, don’t do that. I love goals, and I make tons of annual goals, monthly goals, weekly to-do lists, etc. It’s the only way I can accomplish at least 50% of all the things I want to do. My goals are measurable, realistic, and within my control. But… It’s important to dream, […]
OK, this year has been incredibly good for writing news for me so far. There has been a book sale (more details to come after I sign a contract), a Minnesota Book Award Finalist, a Cybils award, Scholastic Book Club fun, Golden Kite Picture Book Text Honor, another honor I can’t announce yet, the Riverby […]
If you think it’s impolite to talk about finances, skip this post! Every year for the past few years, I’ve shared my income breakdown on this blog. It’s hard for writers to figure out if and how they can earn a living through their writing and related activities, largely because there’s little info out there. […]
Each year, I choose an annual theme, an idea I originally got from Steve and Vicki Palmquist of Children’s Literature Network. My word for 2012 was Focus. I think I got better at focus last year. I learned to do better at blocking out my to-do list and focusing in on JUST whatever I was […]
Hi, guys–Happy New Year! It’s good to be back! There was a piece recently in Publishers Weekly about the cover of Steam Train, Dream Train, the follow-up to Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. So much thought goes into figuring out book covers. For my next book with Millbrook Press, Water Can Be…, my editor sent me […]
My Writing Book of the Day: Letters to a Fiction Writer, edited by Frederick Busch. Letters from great writers like Ray Bradbury, Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Connor…This isn’t so much a how-to book, but it’s a book full of lessons, to be sure. Quick quote: “The one thing I know about envy is that it comes […]
Great Writing Book of the Day:?From Where You Dream, by Robert Olen Butler. I like a logical, linear approach to writing, but trying Butler’s?technique has led me to more emotional depth in some of my projects. In fact, this book is probably most needed by?those of us who struggle with the emotional side of storytelling.?Quick […]
