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September 08, 2020Picture Book Magic
People are often surprised to learn that a picture book begins with the words. But every children’s book editor I’ve met has preferred to read a picture-book manuscript without any images. A good ...
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June 21, 2014Social Media Bare Minimums for Authors
Have a new book coming out? Don't want to self-promote? Too bad. You must do at least these few things if you want to get the book rolling:1. Like it or not, you’re in the business of trying to sell ...
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October 15, 2015
Why Writers Need to Talk About Work
Like a lot of people out there, I used to think that anyone who had a book published must be “making it” as a full-time writer. I didn’t wonder how much they might actually be making, just assumed ...
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August 03, 2021"Be Patient...and Develop a Thick Skin" Deborah Kerbel on Literary Events, Breaking into Picture Books, & Cover Reveals
In 1923, 32-year old Frederick Banting received the Nobel Prize for Medicine, remaining to this day the youngest Nobel laureate in his category. His contribution, now one of the most well-known medical ...
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June 29, 2020
If You Care About Education, You Need to Care About Copyright
Unless you’re a writer, you probably don’t think much about copyright law. But if you are a parent, or care at all about education, copyright needs to be on the top of your mind.A quick overview:Authors ...
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December 09, 2024Julie Salverson Takes the Reader on a Fascinating Journey Through Her Father's Life in A Necessary Distance
A multi-faceted creative, Julie Salverson has left a significant literary footprint over the course of her career, working as a nonfiction writer, playwright, editor, scholar and theatre animator. The ...
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October 13, 2022
The Legend of Howard Stroud
Sometimes when I’m feeling sad or needing inspiration I think of Howard. I met Howard in 2016 when I travelled out west to research the family homestead and to walk the same land my mother did as ...
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August 11, 2022"Never Patronize or Hide Things" Nancy Vo Shares Her Philosophy of Writing for Kids & Her New Picture Book, Boobies
Why are we still so uptight about boobs? Long after Canadian women won the right by precedent (if not technically by law) to be topless in public anywhere men can be, we've still got debates raging about ...
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October 27, 2022
On Being Creative
It’s my belief we are all born creatives. As soon as I remember being a child, I felt strong stirrings of creativity. It was constant. I was always colouring and drawing, exploring the many uses of ...
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October 29, 2016
L.M. Montgomery, Ontario, and Poetry
Today I gave a reading from How to Draw a Rhinoceros from the pulpit of the Historic Leaskdale Church, a somewhat unlikely location for my first public reading from this book. The occasion was LMM Day, ...