Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 44

Graphic Novels and Young Readers

Last week, I spent some time catching up on my graphic novel reading. My focus was the Hilo series by Judd Winick. This series is geared toward the 3rd grade reader. Hilo isn’t like the other kids in the neighborhood. For one thing, he fell from the sky. For another, he can fly. But he … Continue reading Graphic Novels and Young Readers →

What Editors and Agents Want

Not long ago, a writing friend showed me the book that she was reading. It was a YA best seller and she shook her head. “It is so badly written. I hate it and I hate that a publisher wanted this but all I get are rejections.” I’m not going to lie. This is a … Continue reading What Editors and Agents Want →

When You Know a Topic Too Well

Sometimes you are just too familiar with something to immediately understand how other people will see it. One day when my family was here, my sister asked if I had any chocolate handy.  She knew the answer would be yes.  She just wanted to know where it was.  Note: This happened a long time ago. … Continue reading When You Know a Topic Too Well →

Primary Sources at the Library of Congress

Am I the only one who loves spending time in the archives, seeing what was what 150 years ago? Historic photos, old letters, printed invitations, play bills, and more can be found among the primary materials at the Library of Congress and many other archives around the world. The Library of Congress has an ongoing … Continue reading Primary Sources at the Library of Congress →

Scenes that Need to Go

A couple of days ago I was getting caught up on my email and clicked open Scott Dikker’s newsletter post, “Cut This Scene from Your Story.” I knew without a doubt what scene he was talking about. It was so obvious. He talked about how it slows things down. He talked about how he’s scene … Continue reading Scenes that Need to Go →

Being a “Real” Writer

Last week, I read a piece from an online magazine. The author lamented how old she was before she started writing creative nonfiction. This is someone who wrote for various business newsletters and software companies. But until she started writing creative nonfiction, she didn’t consider herself a REAL writer. I’ll be honest with you. I … Continue reading Being a “Real” Writer →

Rewriting and Revising

I laughed really hard at this. I would love to say that I never find this type of mistake in my own writing. I’m not likely to write “to funny,” but I am very likely to type “right” instead of “write.” And that is super embarrassing. I have a manuscript to turn in today so … Continue reading Rewriting and Revising →

An Attempt Is an Attempt Is Experience

Earlier this week, I read Melanie Conklin’s newsletter, Mel’s Notebook. Specifically, I read the post “A Step Backward Is Still a Step Forward.” It was about the fact that no creative journey is linear and that a setback may be necessary to make progress. This is something that a lot of my writing friends seem … Continue reading An Attempt Is an Attempt Is Experience →

Review of Art Matters by Neil Gaiman

When I checked out ART MATTERS by Neil Gaiman, I expected something how-to oriented and inspirational. It is the latter, but it is really so much more. This is unfiltered Gaiman and although I don’t agree with him 100%, I love that he is okay with that. No, really. He comes out and says it. … Continue reading Review of Art Matters by Neil Gaiman →

How Many Sources? How Much Research Is Enough?

My students always want to know how many sources you need to use when you write nonfiction. I’ve just finished my first draft of my current project and, so far, I’ve used 108 sources. My guess is that there will be about 30 more when I’m done. The real answer is that you research until … Continue reading How Many Sources? How Much Research Is Enough? →