Enjambment

Today is Beatrix Potter's birthday. Miss Potter would be 149 years young if . . . .

 My second print publication, "All Gone," is in the August issue of HIGHLIGHTS HELLO!

Picking up on thoughts from the last blog post, I've completely rewritten a picture book manuscript. To find a way out of the muddled drafts, I went on a writing retreat last month. A retreat does refocus a writer's energy. Later that day, I re-read through a few poetry reference books and came across a word which unlocked the story's word choices and direction. It worked! Finding one key word turned the whole manuscript around. Within a couple of weeks, the new manuscript was sent out for critique and submitted for a competition. A long shot to be sure, but I'm excited about the story ultimately being published. Enjambment was the found word that's not in the manuscript, but clearly informs many choices. Now, the long wait to hear the rest of the story.

May 23rd

Today is Margaret Wise Brown’s birthday. If she were still alive, she would be 105 years young.

Today, I picked up the mail and found my first publication on printed pages in writing for children.  HIGHLIGHTS HELLO with “Bouncy” is out! Yeah!

Today, I realized that I tend to overwrite--and get stuck in quick sand. Then, I drastically edit out almost everything to find the essence of the story, and after a long time, to see an insight, a turn, and all lifts. Still waiting for current manuscripts to lift. Hmm . . . this is a writer's life, I think.

Books and Magazines for the Youngest Readers

A Few Books for Youngest Readers:

WHO’S THAT BABY? NEW BABY SONGS by Sharon Creech, pictures by David Diaz (HarperCollins, 2005).

THE RUNAWAY BUNNY by Margaret Wise Brown, pictures by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, 1942).

LET’S GO HOME LITTLE BEAR BY Martin Waddell, pictures by Barbara Firth (Walker Books, 2001).

ALL THE WORLD by Liz Garton Scanlon, pictures by Marla Frazee (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN by Maurice Sendak ( Harper & Row, 1970).

WHEN COWS COME HOME by David L. Harrison, pictures by Chris L. Demarest (Boyds Mills, 1994).

A GOOD DAY by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 2007).

 

BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? by Bill Martin, Jr., pictures by Eric Carle (Henry Holt, 1967).

NOCTURNE by Jane Yolen, pictures by Anne Hunter (Harcourt Brace, 1997).

WHEN EVERYONE WAS FAST ASLEEP by Tomie de Poala (Holiday house, 1976).

FIONA LOVES THE NIGHT by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest, pictures by Amanda Shepard (HarperCollins, 2007).

COUNTING CROWS by Kathi Appelt, pictures by Rob Dunlavey (Atheneum Books, 2015).

 

Magazines for Youngest Readers:
 

HIGHLIGHTS HELLO

BABY BUG

HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE

LADYBUG

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LITTLE KIDS

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RANGER RICK JR.