Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 91
June 2, 2022
Idea Generation and the Museum Visit
I love love love going to museums. I always come away from my visit with a host of new ideas. Of course, viewing the frontier medicine exhibit at Ft. Davis historic site in Texas was a bit yuck. Research that makes you go GAG. The point that the museum wanted to make with the exhibit … Continue reading Idea Generation and the Museum Visit →
June 1, 2022
Taste: The Most Difficult Sense to Include
Including sensory perception is a great way to pull readers into a piece of writing. It doesn’t matter if I am writing fiction or nonfiction, including sounds and smells helps the reader feel like they are there! But the most difficult sense to include is taste. The reality is that you can go for hours … Continue reading Taste: The Most Difficult Sense to Include →
May 31, 2022
The Danger of Making Assumptions
When you write about someplace you’ve never been, assumptions can be dangerous. When you write about someplace you haven’t been in a long time, the same is true. Alpine, TX is my dad’s home town. We just returned from there. We got to see close to 15 cousins and other relatives. Prior to this visit, … Continue reading The Danger of Making Assumptions →
May 30, 2022
Traveling is like Starting a New Manuscript
My family recently returned from a trip and I realized that traveling is like starting a new manuscript. You think you know what you are going to do. You plan and you pack and then you make the best of it. When you travel, there are always things that you back that you don’t need. … Continue reading Traveling is like Starting a New Manuscript →
May 29, 2022
Memorial Day
Yesterday we got home from Alpine, Texas. Just from here to there, we traveled 2156 miles in 8 days. We also drove to Fort Davis twice, to the observatory and through the desert and the mountains. I think we totaled something like 2300 miles. I’ve always loved the patriotism of Memorial Day but this year … Continue reading Memorial Day →
May 27, 2022
Writing for Younger Readers
When I agreed to write Investigating Fossil Fuel Pollution, I said yes because I welcome the opportunity to write STEM for younger readers. But I hadn’t considered what it would mean to write on a science topic for readers in second and third grade. The majority of books that I write for the school library … Continue reading Writing for Younger Readers →
May 26, 2022
Picture Books: Depth in a Short, Tight Package
The vast majority of picture books are less than 500 words long. And, yet they include everything that a longer book has and often more. This was brought home to me as I read The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad. Does the name Ibtihaj Muhammad seem familiar to you? … Continue reading Picture Books: Depth in a Short, Tight Package →
May 25, 2022
Getting Creative with Cozy Crime
If you were writing a quirky modern mystery, how would your murderer commit the crime? Cozy mysteries tend have quirky characters that live in unique locations. What they don’t have are “on screen” murders, swearing, or on-screen sex. Sound tame? Not really. Think about Murder She Wrote and Cabot Cove. The tv program wasn’t gory … Continue reading Getting Creative with Cozy Crime →
May 24, 2022
Cover Reveals and Pen Names
Several times a week, I check to see if my book covers are up on Amazon or my publisher’s site and late last week my persistence was rewarded. I’m not lying to myself. I know I’m not patient. Any-hoo, these are the books for which I needed a pen name. The publisher requested that everyone …
May 23, 2022
Reading to Write
Read 1000 books before you start to write and submit. Picture book authors, mystery writers, and middle grade fiction writers have all heard similar advice. Sometimes the number changes. Read 500 books or 5000. Read four books a month. So how many should you read? I don’t know. I know excellent writers who never read … Continue reading Reading to Write →
