Fascinating Friday Feature – The Hidden Stories Behind the Writing Journey

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by Lee Ann Mancini In the world of writing, each author has their own story behind the scenes, often hidden in theirdaily routines and unexpected sparks of inspiration. For me, it all starts bright and early at 5 am,with a hot cup of coffee, a conversation with God, my Bible in hand, and a deep dive intoresearch. Looking back on how it all began, my Sea Kids children’s books were born from the stories Imade up and told my kids to help them understand how God wanted them to deal with everydaysituations in life. Back then, I had no idea…

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So You Want to Write for Children?

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When people find out I write books for children, their response often goes something like this: “Oh, how fun! I have always wanted to write a children’s book.” Writing for children is fun, but fun does not mean easy. And the more you learn, the harder it gets! If you are someone who wants to try writing for children, here are a few basic tips on how to get started.

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Overcoming Those Pesky Time Thieves That Attack Writers

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“Nutty with a Dash of Meat” Jeanette Levellie here with a few ways to help you overcome those pesky time thieves that attack us all. When someone stole our credit card information, we canceled the card. But when time thieves break into my writing schedule and steal precious time, I shrug and say, “I’ll do that project tomorrow.” Too many of these robberies lead to unfinished projects and blocked goals. Your time-stealers may vary, depending on your personality. I imagine you can relate to at least some of these productivity robbers that regularly sneak up on me:

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Where to Begin the Story

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Hello from Crystal Bowman! This blog post is for those who want to write fiction for children, and even for those who don’t because the more you know, the more you grow. Most of my books are for the children’s devotional or Bible storybook market. However, I have written several fiction picture books as well as few dozen I Can Read! books, so I want to share something I learned many years ago in my novice years of writing. The mistake many writers make (and I used to be one of them) is to write an explanatory introduction to “set…

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Paginate Please!

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Hello from Crystal Bowman. I am happy to tell you that I am spending the summer in Michigan rather than my home in Florida. I have three grandhildren in Michigan, so besides the beautiful weather, those are three great reasons to be here! I have been writing for children for over 25 years and also have an editing service for children’s writers who are trying to get their books published. When I review proposals, I often see a good proposal with the manuscript tacked on at the end. What I often don’t see is a paginated manuscript.

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Free Author Boot Camp Event Jun 26 in Cincinnati

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Are you a published author living in, near, or visiting the Cincinnati area June 26th, 2016? This free event, offered by the Christian Booksellers Association in partnership with the Christian Authors Network, offers a career track for building up our published authors during the UNITE 2016 event in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you need career help, inspiration, networking, and quality teaching to move forward then you’ll love this event. Register at the door. Click the article link below for more information. We look forward to pouring our experience and heart for the published author into your career. See you soon in…

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Slush Pile Stories

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Hello from Crystal Bowman! I’ve been writing for children for more than 20 years and am still learning the process because there is always more to know. I enjoy teaching and mentoring writers and prefer a positive instructional approach. I’d rather tell writers what to do rather than what not to do. But sometimes we can learn from our mistakes and even the mistakes of others. So this post is going to focus more on what not to do in order to keep your children’s story from landing in the slush pile.

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M is for Manger

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Hello from children’s author Crystal Bowman! I love the challenge of writing for children, and I love teaching other writers the craft of writing for children. In previous blogs I’ve talked about the many different genres of children’s literature as well as sharing tips on writing for children. Today I want to give you an inside look into how I got my most recent book published.

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Ten More Tips on Writing for Children

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Hello from Crystal Bowman! In my twenty-plus years of writing for children, I have met many writers who want to write for children because they think it would be fun. Yes–it is fun, but far from easy. It’s a craft that needs to be mastered just like anything else. The more you know about writing for children, the harder it gets. It is very difficult to break into publishing with a children’s book, so the more you know, the more you increase your chances. In January I posted seven tips on writing for children. Today I am offering ten more….

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