“Don’t worry about failures; worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Jack Canfield had a dream. He and co-author Mark Victor Hansen, both motivational speakers, compiled true inspirational stories from people in their audiences. They put these stories in a manuscript, called it Chicken Soup for the Soul, and sent it…
Author: Karen Cioffi
Karen Cioffi is an award-winning author and children's ghostwriter. She loves to help those who want to be the author of a children's book fulfill their dream. Contact Karen today to get your story started!
What Do Fiction Writing and Film Editing Have in Common?
I read an interesting article on editing. Well, not just editing, but how to do it effectively. Did you know that in “Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola filmed and edited thousands and thousands of feet of film. Mental Floss puts the footage at 1.5 million feet.” (1) So, why did Coppola take so much footage?…
Learning to Love Passive Construction
Contributed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson Writers of fiction are often told to avoid passive sentences. Nonfiction writers sometimes get the same advice. The reasons for such admonitions are many. After all, they tend to tug on the forward momentum we are usually after. But passive construction can be used effectively, too. When we sense that there…
A Writer’s Bucket and Mop List
Contributed by Linda Wilson Do you have as much time as you want to write? I don’t. The first thing I want to do when I get up in the morning is write. But there are so many other things to do. Often I don’t sit down to do it until nighttime when the dishes…
Selling Middle Grade
In my last post, Writing Middle Grade, I wrote about a webinar I attended through Writer’s Digest. It was presented by literary agent Andrea Somberg and focused on writing and selling middle grade (MG). The first article is about writing MG. This article is about selling MG manuscripts. To sell your manuscript, the manuscript itself…
Writing Middle Grade
In a Writer’s Digest webinar with literary agent Andrea Somberg discussed the basics of writing and selling middle grade (MG). The first thing to start with is that the agent made it clear that while MG was popular over the last decade, it’s now slowing down. Publishers are now much more picky about these manuscripts….
Written a Picture Book? Are Illustrations or Layout Next?
I read an interesting article from a self-publishing service (1106 Design). The article explains that the best way to produce a children’s picture book is to create the interior layout before getting the illustrations done. This is something I hadn’t thought of. But it makes so much sense. I write a lot of stories for…
Writing Ideas – 5 Ways to Find Them
Contributed by Debra Eckerling While you can use activity to find inspiration and breathe life into your projects, sometimes what you really need is a new idea. Whether you are writing blog posts, prose, or long-form fiction or non-fiction, sometimes you need to go back to basics and find a kernel of an idea to…
6 Must-Know Book Marketing Basics
As a children’s ghostwriter, I’ve written well over 300 stories for clients. The thing I notice is that most of my clients don’t realize that simply writing a book doesn’t guarantee any sales. It can be an excellent, high-quality book, but there are just too many books in cyber-space to be noticed. You’re just a…
Writing Critique Groups – Dos and Don’ts
While working as a freelance writer, my family moved frequently. Luckily, through membership with organizations such as SCBWI, I found a writing group at each juncture. The information gathered here comes from my own membership in different types of groups.