Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 204

RIP Kathleen Karr

I have to admit that I’m a little bummed today.  I was on the treadmill catching up on my e-mail when I came across an obituary in a Publisher’s Weekly newsletter.  Author Kathleen Karr passed away on December 6th. Sadness. Although she is best known for her novels The Boxer and The Great Turkey Walk, my all […]

MOOC: An Opportunity to Learn and Generate Story Ideas

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the phrase, an MOOC is a massive open online course.  These are online classes often with video-taped lectures, readings and quizes, papers or projects.  These courses are a great opportunity to learn something new.  And with that knowledge, I often gain a handful of stories ideas per […]

Mind the Gap: Opportunities to Sell Your Work

How many of you do market research before you start to write?  I’m not talking about only looking for possible places to sell your story, article, or craft.  I’m talking about looking at what has already been published so that you have a clue where the gaps are. Let’s say that you want to write […]

Christmas: An Opportunity to Study Your Audience in the Field

The holidays can be a frustrating time for writers and illustrators.  There is so much to do, so many places to go, and so many demands on our time. But it can help if you look at these events and more as a chance to study your audience in the field.  No matter what age […]

Critique: An opportunity to improve your craft

The first Wednesday of every month, I have critique group.  I’m planning to take advantage of an Above the Slushpile opportunity from CBI.  So I brought the first 10 pages and the synopsis of my chapter book to the meeting.  I’d get help proofing and then I could send it out. Pfft. “Seriously, this reads […]

Mentorships: An Opportunity to Learn One-on-One

One of the best ways for a writer with experience and some know-how to improve their writing is to work with a mentor.  Working closely with someone means that you get targeted feedback and they get to know you and your writing quirks. If you are a picture book writer or illustrator, author Tara Luebbe […]

Opportunities: Personalize Your Work Space

How many of you have taken the opportunity to personalize your work space?  If you haven’t you should.  Writing takes a lot of energy and time.  Make your work area your own. Fortunately, I’m not the only creative person in the family.  Recently my husband made something book-themed for me.  It looks like a stack […]

Opportunities: A Contest

I have to admit that I liked writing numerous posts about picture books throughout November.  Since I don’t know of a writing related “month” for December, I’m going to make up my own.  December is going to be Opportunity Month. Why Opportunity Month?  Because I think we all need a reminder very now and then […]

Free Digital Books

I found out about this great resource through Electric Speed, Jane Friedman’s e-mail newsletter. Internet Archive is an organization that is working to digitize as much public domain literature as possible.  One of the projects that they support is the UCLA Children’s Book Collection. Archives of historic books are a great resource because they give […]

Strong Nonfiction: One Way to Nurture the Passions of Young Readers

Yesterday, I read a publishing blog about writing STEM steries to nurture girls to pursue their interests in STEM.  While I agree it is essential to nurture girls, I’d like to think of us nurturing all young learners. Growing up in the 1970s, I was always encouraged to pursue my interests. My grandad was a […]