Columnists

Achievable, Artistic Resolutions for Authors and Illustrators

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love coming up with new year’s resolutions. I love committing to some kind of regular creative activity … no matter the outcome! Last year, I said ...

How to Make Your Longest, Darkest Nights Shine

The Winter Solstice is happening as I write this column. It’s the shortest day of the year and the longest, darkest night of the year. But during this time, every night often feels like the longest, ...

Children’s Book Gift Guide for Little (and Big) Bookworms

I love buying children’s books for my niece and nephew. They all have such different personalities and interests and it’s so fun for me to find books I think they’ll enjoy. And I also love buying ...

You, Too, Can Be a Mediocre YouTube Star

A few fun facts about me: When I was about five-years-old, I starred as Dopey in a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at camp and killed it. Everyone was laughing. I also studied improv for ...

How to Be Exceptionally Editable

When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...

The Power of a Great Title

 We all know about the power of a good cover, but what about the power of a great title?I’ve worked in publishing for nearly fifteen years now and attended upwards of seventy-five tradeshows across ...

Five Tips for Writing About Tough Topics for Children and Teens

The best comedy often comes from life’s darker moments. Read up on any comedian and you’ll likely learn about their tumultuous beginnings, middles and ends. (Especially, on Twitter. Literally. At ...

How to Keep Making Children’s Books Right Now, Or Not

As this new normal becomes, well, more normal, those of us able to self-isolate may start to find a bit of space in-between all of our feelings and obligations to build new writing routines, drawing routines ...

All of this listening

It was hard to write this column. Like everyone else, I’m all for trying to grasp at normalcy where I can, but I don’t have many writing tips to share right now. (Actually, I do have one writing tip: ...

What Do You Wish You Had Known Before Becoming a Children's Book Creator?

I’ve worked in children’s publishing for nearly fifteen years and I’ve been writing children’s books for about five years. All this to say, I learned a lot about the realities of publishing children’s ...