Hip Hop Hooray – An Author/Illustrator Blog Hop

Posted on October 26, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Are you ready for some fun?

It’s time to be hoppin’ happy!

It‘s time for THE CHILDREN’S AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR BLOG HOP!

I was tagged by Emily Lim, one of Singapore’s most popular and prolific picture book authors. We connected over a year ago through blogging – I linked one of my posts to one of her posts – she came to visit, left a comment – and the rest is history. What is so super cool is that this past May, I got to meet Emily in person when I went to Singapore for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, a week long celebration of exceptional children content creators – with two days of SCBWI conferences and dozens of presentations by authors and illustrators from around the globe.

Her first book took the reader along on Emily’s journey as she coped with Continue reading →

Picture Books: A Child’s POV

Posted on August 7, 2013 by viviankirkfield

I want to apologize.

I’ve had to step back from blogging and other social media because we are moving. Although I’ve packed up houses before, this time it seems harder! Could it be that I am older?

Today I am guest posting over at Donna Martin’s On the Write Track. She has a series called, WRITERLY WISDOM, and Donna is one of the amazing connections I’ve made in this kid lit community – I hope you will stop by and read all about what makes a great picture book and the various genres of books for kids: http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2013/08/writerly-wisdom-vivian-kirkfield.html

By the way, we are in final negotiations for the house in New Hampshire…fingers crossed!

Monday Writing Magic: 4 Timely Tips

Posted on July 29, 2013 by viviankirkfield

The leap from being a lover of books to becoming a lover of writing was not a very big one for me. I’ve always loved to write . In elementary school, I carried around a small spiral notebook and would jot down little poems. As a kindergarten teacher, I developed a program that utilized children’s picture books, not only for entertainment and enjoyment, but also to help young children deal with the challenges they encounter in those early years. But it wasn’t until my own children were born that I began to write my own picture book stories. And perhaps I have my husband to thank for that.

You see, my husband is an avid fly-fisherman and years ago he also refinished bamboo fly rods – he actually wrote a book on Continue reading →