March Madness Writing Contest | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD

When I was five years old, I had to go into the hospital to have my tonsils removed. Back in the 1950s, that was the most popular operation for kids. My parents came to visit me and brought me a book…Cinderella…one of my favorite fairy tales.

These days, there’s a new tale in town…the fractured fairy tale.

The incomparable Susanna Leonard Hill is having another of her infamous writing contests – a fractured fairy tale writing contest, that is…and here are the rules.

The March Madness Writing Contest!

The Contest: Write a children’s story, in poetry or prose, maximum 400 words, that is a fractured fairy tale. Feel free to add a theme of spring, or mix in one of the spring holidays if you like – St. Patrick’s Day, April Fools Day, Easter or Passover, Arbor Day, Earth Day… Have fun with it ! The madder* the better! 🙂
*as in wild and wacky, not angry 🙂

You do not have to include spring – that is optional.

The story can be a picture book or a short story – whatever you like.

So, here is my entry.. Continue reading →

Another month has passed. I can’t believe it is March 1^st already. Time is passing by so quickly.

And that’s why it is so important to focus on what you want to do, set your goals and decide what steps you will take to reach them…otherwise, it will be December and you will look back and be disappointed that you didn’t try.

My Goal-Buster guest today will NOT be disappointed when she looks back on 2014…that is for sure.

Please welcome a dear lady and wonderful children’s author, CLARIKE BOWMAN JAHN

Hi Friends!

I am writing this for my friend, Vivian Kirkfield, and hope it’s up to snuff. I have looked back on last year long enough to know that I did well. One of my picture books is coming out next summer, and we are putting the finishing touches on the illustrations. This is one of the nice perks with working with a small press; the publisher lets us work with the illustrator. This book is “Edmund Pickle Chin, a Rescue Donkey Story” that I co authored with Susan April Elwood. My acknowledgement page is totally for The Round Hill Writer’s Group because they gave me so many good ideas to incorporate in this book.

One of the great things I did last year was to participate in Susanna Hill’s Making Picture Book Magic class. And that is the book all ready to be queried.

One of the things I did in 2013 was start a Picture Book Critique Group from people interested in it who attended the 2011 SCBWI conference. We had a brilliant bunch of us sharing a new manuscript every month. I also wrote three other manuscripts and one is totally ready for the querying process. This leaves the other two in need of revision and professional editing which is in my goals for 2014.

Also in 2014, I will start Continue reading →