• 12x12

    I’m a 12×12 Winner!

    12×12 Winner Badge I’m a Winner! I can scarcely believe it. As you can probably tell by my lack of blogging, writing has not been my main focus for the past few months. I was actually on track to finish the 12×12 challenge on time or even early, but then November came and went and… no draft. Then December ALMOST came and went, and I was down two drafts! Eek! On Dec. 30th I sat in front of the blank screen, all these horrible voices in my head saying I couldn’t do it, and I just jotted down an idea or two, and began writing…. and here I am! I…

  • Inspiration

    Leaving Room

    When writing picture book texts have you ever heard the following advice?   ‘You must leave room for the illustrations.’ I know I have.  As a largely intuitive person, I have soaked in the knowledge from classes, conferences, workshops, and reading slowly over time. I can compare my picture book texts from two years ago to texts from today and see a difference — more room. So how can you achieve this in your own writing? Here’s a few things that have worked for me. 1) Reading at least 30-40+ classic & new picture books.      I don’t just mean flip through the pages, get the general gist of the…