WRITING PICTURE BOOKS—SIMPLY DIFFICULT, part 5/Calls for Submissions

This is the final article of the series, WRITING PICTURE BOOKS—SIMPLY DIFFICULT.1.                          Add humor. Kids love to giggle. Target the humor to a specific age group. The word “underwear” will make a five-year-old laugh out loud but a toddler won’t grasp the wit. The entire narrative doesn’t have to be loaded with humor. One funny line may be enough. For the best effect, place the humorous section at the end of the sentence.   
2.                          Write the unexpected. Predictability in pictures books can be a worthy format, but the story should not be predictable. Children love to chant repeated phrases, but keep the reader guessing about the plot.  
After completing the first draft, take your writing from simply difficult to simply fun. Play with the words, tweak them, and make them zing.  
Call for submissions for young writers:
Kid's Imagination Train, an ezine for ages 5-12, is now a paying market. Fiction/Poetry is $5.00 and nonfiction articles are $10.00.Submit manuscript by email.Details at http://www.kidsimaginationtrain.blogspot.com/ Call for submissions for adult writers:
Creative Nonfiction announces an anthology about all things babies, tentatively titled "Oh Baby! True Stories about Tiny Humans."Deadline:  October 14, 2013Details at http://www.literarymama.com/blog/archives/2013/08/calls-for-submission-round-up-august.html#sthash.KVb92X91.dpuf 
Check out more contests on my blog: http://nancykellyallen.blogspot.com/