It's Not Rocket Science

I've been working on a PB manuscript this past week. It wasn't going so well. I had a beginning and an end, but no middle. To try and get past the writer's block, I read some of my books on writing. Although I learned a lot, I was still stuck. My writer's group is due to meet soon, and I desperately need their help, but my ms is barely ready for them to see. Enter my friend Christine. Every morning Christine and I get up at 6 am to go for a walk. It's our exercise and therapy rolled into one. Christine is my sounding board. She talked me through my ms and offered some great ideas to help fill in the middle of my story. One idea in particular involves a toy rocket :). As soon as she mentioned the toy rocket, it was like a light bulb went off in my head!

I have found the community of children's writers very supportive, and SCBWI is a real gem. My head would still be stuck in the clouds if it wasn't for my writer's group. But sometimes it's nice just to have a friend to get you past your writer's block. Who's your sounding board?

Oh Baby!

So, I've been out of sorts, and haven't felt like blogging, much less anything else. But there's a good reason for that- I'm pregnant! My blessed family will welcome our third child in April. I'm not one of those glowing, sweet, all-is-right-with-the-world pregnant people. In fact, I'm pretty miserable, so life right now is living for the next meal or nap, or sucking on a Preggie Pop.

I think my son and daughter may be more excited than the mommy and daddy-to-be. They have lots of interesting question. Every day they want to know the size of the baby. To help them see and understand what's going on with the baby, we checked out:

The author, Abby Cocovini, does a terrific job at mixing fun with facts. The kids love her size comparisons for the baby, such as, "The baby is as big as a baked bean." Right now, our baby is as big as a baked bean, and looks like a tadpole!
Somehow we have avoided the BIG question..."How are babies made?" I haven't found a good book for that one!

Wait A Minute Mr. Postman

I ordered my copy of the 2010 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market this week! I'm excited to have my own copy for the first time. For the past year I have monopolized the library copy. (In my defense the children's librarian ordered it with me in mind.) But now I'll have one that I can mark up and dog-ear pages, eat toast and jelly over , drink coffee with, take for walks...

I also ordered The Elements of Style by William J. Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (yep, that's my old friend E.B.). Since my goal as a writer is not only to get published, but to become a better writer, I'm looking forward to drinking coffee with this one too. Speaking of working on becoming a better writer, The Writing Nag always offers good advice, but I found her post this Monday especially helpful. (My kids and I love to rock out to Schoolhouse Rock.)
While I'm waiting for my books to arrive from Amazon, I need to send out a package of my own . I finally registered for the 1st Annual Scarlett and Gray Writers and Illustrators Conference, and for the first time I am having a professional manuscript critique done. Thank you to Casey at Literary Rambles and Corey at Thing 1 and Thing 2 for their advice on manuscript critiques. Now, where is that postman? Doesn't he know I'm waiting!?