Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 180
November 26, 2018
Primary Sources Online: The National Archive and Native American Treaties
Especially if you are writing nonfiction, but also for fiction, it is a good idea to include primary sources whenever possible. Primary sources are first hand accounts. Diaries, letters and even photographs are primary sources. Primary sources are important because they are uninterpretted. You get what someone at the scene observed. This week when I […]
November 25, 2018
How NOT to Pitch Your Work
This weekend, I was reading blog posts and came across one by an editor who explained that certain key phrases in your cover or query letter will bring a hasty rejection. I was surprised because I had seen warnings about some of them early in my career. Apparently, the world has not wised up. For […]
November 21, 2018
Happy Thanksgiving
For those of you who celebrate, I’d like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Take the time to recharge your creative battery. I don’t know if this is just a MidWest thing but our Thanksgiving day tends to stretch into Thanksgiving Weekend. Thursday, we have dessert with my Dad and dinner with my sister and […]
November 20, 2018
Picture Books: Rewriting a Problem Spread
Recently, I had to polish up a picture book and get it out now. This wasn’t something I was drafting. These were fine changes. Fiddling with word sound and rhythm. I read my manuscript out loud. After all, a picture book is like a poem. It has to work when read aloud. Most of my […]
November 19, 2018
Change: When It Rains, It Pours
It looks like I’m moving out of my office, doesn’t it? I have two boxes full of papers as well as a file organizer and several stacks of various things on the dining room table. Not that I’m moving. We just contracted with a new internet service. Something about cutting the bill by 30% and […]
November 18, 2018
Rejection: When I Refuse to Finish an Audio Book
I am a voracious reader. Between print books and audio books, I have “consumed” something like 130 books so far this year. That said, every now and then I refuse to finish a book. If I’m reading it for book club but don’t like it, I’ll skim it. But this past week, I’ve checked out […]
November 15, 2018
Graphic Novels: Why Schools Like Them and Using Theme to Make a Retread Newly Relevant
Working my way through the LibraryCon Live! sessions, I’ve been finding out about a variety of new-to-me graphic novels. (You can register and log in to view sessions here.) Victor LaValle’s Destroyer is a Frankenstein’s monster story. Some of the themes are true to the original (evil’s of science and environmental themes) while others are much more […]
November 14, 2018
Pitching Your Work
One of the Library.con Live! sessions that I’ve watched was a keynote with author Mariko Tamaki. If her name looks familiar, that isn’t surprising. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller This One Summer. This particular graphic novel won Printz and Caldecott Honors in 2015 and received the Eisner for Best Graphic Album. […]
November 13, 2018
Free Online Conference
Are you interested in writing graphic novels, science fiction or fantasy? Then check out LibraryCon Live! You can register here. If you are like me, a lot of free webinar’s just end up being annoying. You sign up excited to learn about plot or picture books or magazine writing but all you get is an […]
November 12, 2018
RIP Stan Lee
id=“fb-root”> Came back to my desk after lunch on Monday to see numerous posts on the death of Stan Lee. Sadness. Three years ago, my husband and I took the MOOC “The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact on Pop Culture.” Led by the Smithsonian, it was offered through EdX and included guest […]
