Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 33

Faith Building Fridays: The Door

Then Jesus said to them again, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.”

As writers, God opens doors for us or closes them. How comforting it is to be reassured that Jesus, Himself, IS the door for us as His scribes. Do you feel like you’re stuck in the sheep pen because of all the rejections you receive? Learn to hand over your manuscript that has just been rejected and work on the next manuscript He is calling you to write. He calls us to write and keep on writing whether or not the manuscripts are rejected. He is the door. He will take our manuscript where it is supposed to be on its journey through eternity. We’re just called to be His sheep…and as His scribes this calling means we continue to write no matter what the current market trends are or today’s publishing world does.

Dear God, Thank You for helping me keep my writing in perspective. Please encourage me to continue writing for Your glory even while I am inside the sheep pen. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays, Inspiration, Uncategorized

NF PB Journey

I thought I’d show you my current stack of Charlesbridge picture books that I’m reading. My writing buddy, Sandman, is enjoying listening as I read some of them out loud!

This is only a partial stack because many of the titles I’ve read from Charlesbridge have already been returned to the library. But these titles here are some of my favorites and some of Yolanda Scott’s favorites, so I’m planning on dissecting them in the days ahead and posting my thoughts about them here on my blog.

So stay tuned and keep reading books by Charlesbridge, too! This really helps understand the heart and soul of this publisher and its editorial staff. All of this information will help us prepare our own manuscript submissions to send their way.

 

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Encouragement

Let everything you [write] be good and helpful,

so that your words will be an encouragement

to those who hear them.

-Ephesians 4:29, NLT

We are called to set the standard in our world for godliness, holiness, and righteousness. Is there a way we can share God’s message through our manuscripts in a way that is encouraging and uplifting instead of condemning? As God’s scribes, let’s think how we can share His message through inspiration and encouragement rather than criticism or condemnation. From the critiques we give to fellow writers to the fiction or nonfiction manuscripts we get published, let’s strive for our words to be good and helpful.

Dear God, forgive me for the times I’ve beaten others down because of my harsh criticism or condemnation. Please give me Your tender heart. Help me write words that encourage people to chase after Your goodness! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays

Faith Building Fridays: Write!

Oh, that my words were written!

Oh, that they were printed in a book!

-Job 19:23, KJV

How many of us have words burning in our hearts but never get them written down? Let’s start writing today. We can start small. We can make it our goal to write one page each day, for five days each week. If we write one page a day for one month, after just a month and a half, we’ll have the first draft of a 32-page picture book. If we write one page a day for one year, by the end of the year we’ll have the first draft of a 260-page full-length book. Let’s start writing! Today!

Dear God, please show me how I can rearrange my schedule each day to just write one page. Give me the strength to continue writing one page tomorrow…and the next until finally, the words of the book You are calling me to write will be written down. Then I will place them in Your hands to be published. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

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For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon. What a great gift of encouragement for you to have to start a brand new year as a writer!

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays

NF PB Journey: Reading Log

Happy New Year! I took a break from blogging over the holiday season, but today’s a brand new year and I’m so excited to be on this journey with you to learn more about Charlesbridge publishers as we consider them for submitting nonfiction picture book manuscripts to.

I’ve been keeping a reading log of Charlesbridge picture books I read. Normally, I keep a log in my writer’s notebook of picture books I read in general, but I wanted to keep this list all in one place, so I got out my art supplies and a composition book and decorated it to match my nonfiction muse. (See below.)

Inside, I labeled the pages from A to Z for nonfiction titles and then again A to Z for fiction titles. Basically, I’m just writing down the title and a short little note about it. Plus, my own personal 1-5 star rating, and the author’s and illustrator’s name. And the publication date.

Then, for my favorite titles and ones I want to use as my mentor texts, I’m going to fill out a detailed rubric to keep on hand for future reference. In an upcoming post I’ll share the rubric I’ll be using.

I recommend keeping a reading log of some sort to keep track of the picture books you read from Charlesbridge’s list. Making a separate book is so much fun! And I’m excited because it will all be in one handy place that I can easily add to as I read even more. (I ordered in a batch of new picture books from the library last night.)

Here’s my newly decorated reading log. When I write nonfiction picture books, I like to write about American history and nature topics, so that’s why I chose the images you see below. I think I was drawn to the dominoes as the background paper because writing picture books is so much fun I get the same warm fuzzy and happy feeling as when I play dominoes or other childhood games.

 

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Cast

Cast your bread upon the waters,

for you will find it after many days.

-Ecclesiastes 11:1, NKJV

Submitting a manuscript is like casting our bread upon the waters. How often as a writer it is tempting to leave a finished manuscript in our file cabinet. Yet it is very important to submit it. Otherwise, how can God do anything with it? As we start this brand new year, let’s commit ourselves and our manuscripts into the Lord’s hands. Let’s submit our manuscripts on a regular basis until they find a home.

Dear God, thank You for Your promises. I stand upon Your Word today. I will cast my bread upon the waters. I will submit my manuscripts this year. You promise that I will find the good and just reward! Amen.

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For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon. What a great gift of encouragement for you to have to start a brand new year as a writer!

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays

Faith Building Fridays: King

Where is He who has been born

King of the Jews?

For we have seen His star in the East

and have come to worship Him.

-Matthew 2:2, NKJV

Oh, what joy it is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! In everything we do and in everything we write, may we always seek to worship the King of kings!

Dear God, thank You for sending us the most precious Christmas gift of all–Your Son! Thank You for taking our mourning and turning it into joy. We praise You and adore You! Amen.

___________________________________________________________________________

For more faith-building encouragement as a writer, visit my site, Scribes.

Scribes: Devotions for Christian Writers is available at Amazon. What a great gift of encouragement for you to have to start a brand new year as a writer!

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays

Have Yourself a Merry Christmas!

This year, give yourself a gift (or two!) to nourish your writer’s soul. For some fun ideas, CLICK HERE to read an article I wrote for the children’s writer column at the Working Writer’s Club.

Have a happy Christmas Eve and a Christmas filled with the blessings of God!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Faith Building Fridays: Today

If you wait for perfect conditions,

you will never get anything done.

-Ecclesiastes 11:4, NLT

The kids are little. The bills need to be paid. We’ve got a cold. The dog chewed up a pencil and left its shredded pieces on the rug. Life is busy and often seems out of control. If we wait for it to slow down so we can have one hour of uninterrupted time to write, we’ll probably never write a word. Learn to carry a notebook wherever you go to work on a manuscript if you suddenly find yourself with 15 minutes of free time. Carry your manuscript around in your head and develop the plot of your next scene while you’re washing the dishes or wrapping gifts. Snatch 15 minutes here and a chunk of time in between there. Learn to write anywhere and at any time. Focus on writing one word at a time until you have enough to fill a book.

Dear Father, please help me learn the importance of writing…today. Help me manage my time so that I write new words on my manuscript…today. No matter how busy life is or how many things are going on, help me stop making excuses. I don’t want to wait so long that I miss my opportunity to write…today.

Filed under: Faith-building Fridays

NF PB Journey: Support Your Peers

Guess what I just did?

I hopped on over to Amazon and posted 5 star reviews for some of my favorite Charlesbridge nonfiction picture book titles.

If you want to write nonfiction for kids, especially if you’re targeting Charlesbridge, I recommend that you do this, too.

There are oodles of reasons why I did this.

First of all, when I read a good book, I like to post a 5 star review. I want to support the author and give a good plug for his or her book. I truly appreciate when people do that for my books, so I like to support my author friends and author peers as well whenever I can.

Secondly, I can’t tell you the number of times when someone posts a 5 star review or a really nice, thoughtful review that I get that review in my e-mail. From my publishing house. Circulating to nearly everyone involved in my book at the publishing house including the marketing team, my editors, the art director, and yes, even the publisher!

So if you’re targeting a certain publisher like we are, and you discover great books that you’ve read, taking the time to post a positive and encouraging review can possibly also help build your name recognition at their publishing house. People in high places do pay attention to these reviews!

And speaking of reviews…I always try to be professional regarding reviews I post. I have a personal philosophy that if I can’t post a 5-star review on it, then in general I won’t post a review at all. Not even a 4-star.

Why not? Because 4-star reviews, believe it or not, lower the ratings of a book. I know tons of reviewers who say they loved the book but then they gave it a 4-star and the ratings dropped. I don’t think they realized what they were doing.

And why won’t I post a less than 5-star review in general?

Here’s why. I used to belong to a writer’s group of professional published writers where we read 40 picture books each month and met to evaluate them. I’ll never forget 2 books in particular that we read and discussed.

One was a picture book I thought was boring. Stupid. Lacking any good qualities at all. But when we got together for our meeting, one of the gals said it was now her daughter’s favorite book and her daughter laughed so hard each time she read it she got the hiccups!

Another book was by an author I loved. But this book fell flat. I felt it was his worst book ever. I felt like he only got it published because the publisher owed him a contract or something. But when we got together for our meeting, one of the gals was in tears as she shared it was now her favorite book ever by this author because it resonated so deeply with her.

What did I learn? I learned that even if I personally dislike a certain book, it doesn’t mean that book deserves to be blasted on a public review site. Someone else may cherish that book.

So that’s why I try to only post reviews of books I love and can give a 5-star review. The rest I leave for others to review.

 

Filed under: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized