Guest Post with Rebecca Hirsch

I’m so delighted to introduce you to my writing friend and amazing nonfiction children’s author, Rebecca E. Hirsch. Today Rebecca is posting a guest post here on my blog where she shares some of the story behind her success of her brand new beautiful and amazing picture book, Night Creatures. Meet Rebecca!!!!

GUEST POST with REBECCA HIRSCH!

Website: rebeccahirsch.com

Instagram: @rebeccaehirsch

Twitter: @rebeccaehirsch

Bio:

Rebecca E. Hirsch loves connecting children to nature and scientific discovery. She has written more than eighty nonfiction books for young readers, including Plants Can’t Sit Still, Night Creatures, and the forthcoming The Tallest Trees. Rebecca lives with her family in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. You can learn more at http://www.rebeccahirsch.com

Featured book:

Night Creatures: Animals That Swoop, Crawl, and Creep while You Sleep

As the sun sets, night creatures awaken. In their rural backyard, a parent and child camp out, watching as fireflies flicker, bats flap, and rabbits race. Atmospheric illustrations bring the nocturnal world to life in this lyrical and informative picture book.

GUEST BLOG POST

I’ve been following Nancy’s advice for writers for years, ever since I was a beginner and trying to figure out how to build a career as a children’s writer. Her advice is not only warm and wise, it also works! I’d like to share one way her excellent advice has worked for me.

Nancy advocates an approach she calls The Triple Crown of Success. In a nutshell, The Triple Crown of Success means using different strategies to achieve different goals in your writing. So, you might pursue one writing project to earn publication credits, another to earn income, and a third because you are passionate about it.

My new book Night Creatures: Animals That Swoop, Crawl, and Creep while You Sleep (illustrated by the fabulous Sonia Possentini) was a passion project. It would never have happened if I hadn’t been following The Triple Crown of Success. Nancy had taught me to make time for the projects that feed my writer’s soul. For me, those are nature-themed picture books. Night Creatures was inspired both by my childhood growing up in the Pennsylvania countryside and also by a nature camp my children attended.

Although I am usually juggling multiple writing projects to earn a living, I always try to carve out time to write picture books. It isn’t always easy to fit them in, but I keep at it. Night Creatures is my second published picture book (after Plants Can’t Sit Still.) And a third picture book, on the world’s tallest trees, is under contract!

If you want to achieve your own writing success, I recommend you curl up with a copy of Nancy’s book, Yes! You Can Learn How To Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career. You’ll find loads about The Triple Crown of Success and other practical strategies that will help you build your own writing career.

Thanks for having me, Nancy! And thanks for years and years of wonderful advice!

Rebecca, it is such a joy to have you join me here on my blog. And I am so touched to hear of your success story and know that we’ve shared so much of our journeys as part of a writing community. Thanks for sharing some of the story behind the story. Best wishes on your brand new book and Happy Book Birthday!!!!