Jennifer J. Stewart
sseriously funny books for children

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There's a lot in this section for both published and aspiring writers. Read on!

Like the rest of the world, I am now blogging, mostly about writing, books, and my life as it relates to these two things. Often I do it on an AlphaSmart Neo. This is a lightweight portable word processor with a small but adequate screen (and no games). Its three AA batteries last up to 700 hours, and I can upload documents into my home computer with a USB cable and a quick press of the SEND button. Since I spend a lot of time in my minivan, driving my kids here and there, being able to write on the fly is wonderful!

Here are my "Eleven Tips for Children's Writers." May they be enormously helpful to you.

I was interviewed for a writers' round table, part of Carol Smalley's on-line course "Writing for Children." Read my answers.

Cynthia Leitich Smith also interviewed me about the process of writing Close Encounters of a Third-World Kind on her Cynsations blog.

There is a wealth of advice about writing and marketing your books and yourself as a speaker on the web. Here are some good places to point your mouse:

If you want even more advice, and less space in your bookcases, check these books out. Books are free at your local public library, of course, although you might want to find and support a convenient amazingly helpful independent bookseller at Indiebound.

  • The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life by Sid Fleischman
  • The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner
  • Author's Day by Daniel Pinkwater
  • Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
  • Blood on the Forehead: What I know about Writing by M.E. Kerr
  • Book Love: Creating Good Books for Children in an Age that Values Neither edited by Juanita Havill
  • Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, latest edition
  • The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
  • Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript: a Visual Guide by Jack & Glenda Neff, Don Prues, and the editors of Writer's Market
  • I am a Pencil by Sam Swope
  • It's a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: a Writer's Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today's Competitive Children's Book Market by Olga Litowinsky
  • 1001 Ways to Market Your Books: for Authors and Publishers by John Kremer
  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
  • A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
  • Talktalk: a Children's Book Author Speaks to Grown-ups by E.L. Konigsburg
  • Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators, and Storytellers: Real Space and Virtual Links by Toni Buzzeo and Jane Kurtz
  • The Way to Write for Children: An Introduction to the Craft of Writing Children's Literature by Joan Aiken
  • This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley
  • Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer by Bruce Holland Rogers
  • Write Away by Elizabeth George

Finally, remember Mark Twain's writing advice: "When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean that, utterly, but kill the most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together, they give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective-habit, or a wordy, diffuse, or flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice."