Posts Tagged ‘writing’

by: Karen Cioffi

We all know how difficult it is to break into the business of writing for children. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, it is a tough business and can be overwhelming for those just starting out. While all writing must adhere to certain guidelines, writing for children has additional principles unique to its genre.

To start, the words used in children’s writing must be age appropriate. This may sound easy to do, but it can be a difficult task. There are also certain techniques and tricks used specifically in writing for children, such as the Core of Three, sentence structure, and the timeframe in which the story should occur when writing for young children. In addition, it’s essential to make sure your conflicts, storyline, and point of view are appropriate for the age group you’re writing for.

Along with this, there are general techniques for writing, such as adding sensory details, showing instead of telling, and creating an engaging story that hooks the reader right away, along with great dialogue and correct punctuation.

This is just the beginning though, there is also the business of editing your work, writing a winning query, and following submission guidelines; the list goes on and on.

But, don’t get discouraged, there is help. Here are three basic tools to get you started and guide you down the children’s writing path:

1. Children’s Writer’s WORD BOOK by Alijandra Mogilner is a great resource that provides word lists grouped by grades along with a thesaurus of listed words. This allows you to check a word in question to make sure it is appropriate for the age group you’re writing for. It also provides reading levels for synonyms. It’s a very useful tool and one that I use over and over.

2. Tricks of the Trade: Learn to Write for Children in Just 6 Weeks! e-course by the Children’s Writer’s Coaching Club creator and director, Suzanne Lieurance, is a gem for learning the ins and outs of writing for children. I have just about finished this course and can say with confidence that it’s worth every penny. It’s jammed packed with practical, easy to understand, and detailed information. It answers your questions and provides the necessary tools, tips and advice to guide you from the basics of writing for children (books and freelancing) to queries, submissions, networking and more.

The e-course has 6 individual lessons to get you on the road to writing for children and working toward having your work published. Each lesson has three parts with assignments and additional resources.

The Trick of the Trade e-course also includes a 2 month membership in the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club. With this membership you have the opportunity to have your assignments professionally reviewed and critiqued by Lieurance or another published children’s author on staff at the National Writing for Children Center each week. Lieurance is also including, as a special bonus, 4 additional instructional CDs with tips for freelance writers. With these perks this e-course package is a bargain.

Suzanne Lieurance has created a purposeful ‘writing for children’ road map. This road map eliminates any guess work or doubt – it provides step-by-step guided instructions to get you where you’re heading. Tricks of the Trade: You Can Learn to Write for Children in Just 6 Weeks! is a phenomenal writing navigational tool – it offers top notch writing instruction and guidance.

Find out more about this course at: http://www.dkvwriting4u.com/learn-to-write/

3. The Frugal Editor by award winning author and editor, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is a useful book for any writing genre, including children’s. It is great resource that guides you through basic editing, to getting the most out of your Word program’s features, to providing samples of queries. The author provides great tips and advice that will have you saying, “Ah, so that’s how it’s done.”

I’ve invested in a number of books, courses and programs in writing and marketing, and know value when I see it; these products have a great deal of value for you as a writer, and they are definitely worth the cost.

I consider these three resources essential tools in my children’s writing tool belt. But, the most important aspect of creating a writing career is to actually begin. Remember, you can’t succeed if you don’t try. It takes that first step to start your journey, and that first step seems to be a huge stumbling block for many of us. Don’t let procrastination or fear stop you from moving forward – start writing today!

About The Author
Karen Cioffi is an author and freelance writer. She is on the team of DKV Writing 4 U (writing services); the creator and manager of VBT – Writers on the Move (group of authors using cross-promotion to increase visibility); a reviewer for BookPleasures.com; and a co-moderator of a children’s writing critique group. She is a member of SCBWI, Linkedin, AWAI, JacketFlap, and a number of other groups and forums.

by: Jennifer Carsen

You’ve pulled all-nighters. You’ve burned the midnight oil. You’ve worked through the wee hours. It’s what lawyers do (as well as law students, though generally more pizza is involved).

But what I’m suggesting is a radical departure from this. I’m suggesting that you carve out time to write in the morning – when the sun is on its way up rather than down, when you’re daisy-fresh rather than dog-tired.

You may be wondering how you can do this, especially considering that you’re bleary-eyed after all those late nights. Daisy-fresh may be the furthest thing from your mind at five a.m., when the only thing you can ponder is whether or not to roll over before you hit the snooze button.

But here’s the thing: Early morning is the only time that’s truly yours. Nothing has blown up in spectacular fashion yet. Nobody’s looking for you, eager for a chat or a favor or help with a particularly loathsome task. It’s just you and your time, before the day gets away from you.

Because the day will get away from you – that much is certain. We’ve all had days that started with the best of intentions and ended in recriminations or even tears. Even good days become a kind of triage in which only the most important, urgent tasks get done. Your writing is important, but it’s not urgent because nobody but you will care if you skip it. The only way to be certain you get it done is to sneak it in early, before you quite know what’s hit you. Then the rest of the day is gravy.

Here are some tips for changing your night-owl ways:

1. Do it gradually. Every morning for one week, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than you normally would. The next week, bump it up by an additional 15 minutes. That may not seem like a lot, but you’ll gain an hour over the course of a month in a way that won’t shock your system.
2. Make friends with your TiVo. Do you really need to stay up late to watch Cake Boss, or Top Gun for the zillionth time? Plan your TV watching in advance so you don’t get sucked into something vapid.
3. Don’t rile yourself up before bed. Oftentimes it’s hard to get up in the morning because it’s hard to get to sleep the night before. Avoid too much caffeine late in the day, and also too much booze. (You may think that third glass of wine is your express ticket to Slumbertown, but alcohol actually disrupts your sleep patterns in a big way–you may crash hard initially, but you won’t sleep well.) Also, if you read before bed, stick to fiction; non-fiction tends to stir up your mind rather than winding you down for the day.
4. Just do it. You will not want to get up when the alarm rings 15 minutes early. Do it anyway, without thinking too much about it. Get up. Write. Repeat. After a while, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without that extra time in the a.m.

About The Author

Jennifer Carsen, J.D., is the founder of Big Juicy Life. Her specialty is turning lawyers into writers. Go to http://www.bigjuicylifecoaching.com to download the free report, “6 Myths About Leaving the Law for Writing.”

Author: Dwight Clough

What if I could give you one word that would transform your writing career?

Impossible?

Not at all. It’s not only possible, but when you understand this word and its power, it will forever change how you look at writing. In fact, if you don’t learn this word, you are treating your writing career like a trip to a Vegas casino. Sure, you might win big, but the odds are that you’ll go home disappointed … and broke.

I’m talking about a four letter word that most writers, including most Christian writers completely ignore.

No, it’s not a profanity. Nor is it an obscenity. In fact, it’s not colorful language at all. It’s a plain, ordinary word, a word that you’ve probably spoken in the last ten days without comprehending its significance.

It starts with an “L.”

Can you guess what it is?

Give up?

The word is list.

The right kind of list, in your hands, can transform you from a writer wannabe to a successful author with enough muscle to walk into a major publisher’s office and negotiate a six- or seven-figure advance with smiles all around the table.

But without a list, you’re dead in the water. You can be the best writer since Ernest Hemingway and nobody will give you the time of day.

What do I mean?

I’m talking about a list – a database – of people who know you, respect you, trust you and get value from the message you have to share. I’m talking about a list of people who are ready, willing and able to buy the next book you publish. This means a database of names, email address and whatever other information you can glean so that turning your book into a best seller is like marketing clockwork.

The vast majority of writers are spending way too much time ruminating over their prose and zero time building their list.

If you don’t have a list, start building one now. How do you build a list? That’s the subject of a different article, but, for starters, you need to begin asking yourself some basic marketing questions: What groups of people benefit most from my message? How and why exactly do they benefit? Where do I find these people? How can I engage them in dialogue? What would cause them to want to share their name and contact information with me? How can I responsibly care for that trust and that information?

Give it some thought, because this four letter word is the cornerstone of your writing career.

Dwight Clough
Author / Ghostwriter / Author’s Coach
http://EmpowerGood.com/yourbook
Free information for authors

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1232312_50.html

Author: Mark Kemp

A lot of con artists have invaded the industry and the literary world is not an exemption. It is important to discern if a literary agency is a scammer or not. New comers and veteran novelists alike can fall prey to literary agency schemes so added precaution and knowledge about the matter is essential. There are specific signs that your literary agency is just a scam so better read on and be informed.

The rule is pretty simple for literary agencies. They only get to make money out of your books, fiction or non-fiction, by selling it to reputable publishers. This rule may seem basic enough but a lot of writers are still falling victim to con artists of the literary world. If your literary agency is asking for additional fee related to reading, evaluation, marketing or retainer’s fee, then you should consider this as a warning sign that something is not right with your agency.

Reading fees are already banned by the Association of Author’s Representatives (the active trade group for literary agents in the United States of America). The same holds true for evaluation fees. If the agent would like to critique your work then he is free to do so but it should come at no cost. If you really want good opinion regarding your work, you should approach a professional editor instead.

Note that not all fees being charged to you by your literary agency are scams. Literary agencies do charge fees that they incur on your behalf for the production and distribution of your work. Chargeable expenses include photocopy expense, stamps and the like. Most reputable agents put these expenses in the contract that writers are required to sign to make the transaction clear for both parties.

One of the indicators that the agency is a reputable one is that they do not ask for a payment even before any work has started. Reputable literary agencies would also provide you with receipts of the copies that the agency said they made and are charging you for. Renegotiate your contract if you think that it will not work for you.

If you want a reputable literary agency, such as the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, to represent you, then do not look for their advertisement in magazines and the internet for chances are, they do not advertise there. You will find their contact details in market books and other resources instead.

About the Author:

For more details, please visit us at http://www.myonlinetalentagent.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Protecting Yourself from Literary Agency Scams