Writing Picture Books | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD

Get ready!

Get set!

Go!

It’s time to have lots of fun with Susanna Leonard Hill’s Halloweensie Contest!

There is still plenty of time to enter – here are the rules from her website:

“The 3rd Annual HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!

The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words spooky, black cat, and cackle. Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words (you can count black cat as one word) and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!) Get it? Halloweensie – because it’s not very long and it’s for little people 🙂

Post your story on your blog between now and Thursday October 31st by 11:59 PM EDT and add your post-specific link to the list below. There will be no Would You Read It or Perfect Picture Books this week, so the post and the list of links will stay up all week for everyone to enjoy. I hope everyone will visit everyone and you’ll all get your friends and relations to visit, read and enjoy too! If you don’t have a blog and would like to enter, you can simply copy and paste your entry in the comments section below. (If you have trouble, and alas, people sometimes do, just email your entry to susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com and I’ll post it in the comments for you!)”

It’s so much fun to read all of the creative entries – and the prizes are SPECTACULAR!!! Click here to enter and/or read the other entries.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Spooky Piggy (mikeallegra.com)
Cackle . . . the Spooky Black Cat (nrhatch.wordpress.com)

Jake at Time after Time has a Sunday Post Challenge…today’s theme is ON-GOING.

The seasons are on-going…soon it will be spring and the flowers will bloom.

Black History Month is on-going during the month of February.

On January 1^st, I celebrated my first day of retirement.

Now that I am retired, I have many on-going projects which I have shared with you.

De-cluttering the garage is a project that is still on-going.

School classroom visits are still on-going. This semester I am reading Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems and the children are constructing their own storyboards. I enjoy working with the kids and the teachers and, as a picture book writer, I believe it is important to stay connected with young children.

I’m taking Emma Walton Hamilton’s “JUST WRITE FOR KIDS’ online picture book writing course…this 8-week class is on-going…fortunately, you can work at your own pace…it’s been WAY more than 8 weeks. What I love most about it so far is that it encourages me to look REALLY carefully at how classic picture books are constructed. With that understanding, I hope to write picture books that kids will want to read over and over again.

Participating in Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 Picture Book Writing Challenge is on-going. If you haven’t signed up yet, please check out the link…you have until February 28 and then it will be too late to hop aboard this year. As part of the program, I submitted a manuscript this month to agent Stephen Fraser and am currently working on a new manuscript for next month’s submission. I’m excited about this new one…it’s about wildlife conservation. My local and on-line critique group work is on-going as well…reading the manuscripts of others and the comments and suggestions they make on mine is like taking a workshop class. I never realized how helpful it would be to participate in a critique group…I recommend it to everyone who writes.

The chance to win $25 for the literacy charity or organization of your choice is on-going. Simply leave a comment on last Friday’s post. Next Friday I will pick one of the comments using Random.org and that person’s choice will receive a check for $25…$25 is not a fortune, but it can purchase a couple of books…who can say what a difference those few books may make in a child’s life.

Nancy Hatch’s Writer’s Desk Competition voting is still on-going. If you would like to vote, you can go here. All of the entries are great…I am honored to be among them with my piece…I Write, Therefore I Am.

My desire to provide quick and easy activities for their kids is on-going. Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking, is a wonderful resource for parents and teachers with picture book recommendations, simple craft projects and child-friendly recipes. Click this link if you would like a copy! Engage your child, encourage creative expression and, most of all, have fun together!

What’s on-going in your life?

Check out Jake’s Year of the Snake logo!