Check in – Check out – Check up: November Challenges

Posted on November 2, 2013 by viviankirkfield

November appeared on the end of Halloween’s black cat tail…and it’s going to be a busy month!

Have you reached your writing goals so far this year?

Check-in: At the end of each month, Julie Hedlund requests that we check-in to let her know if we have completed a picture book draft as part of the 12×12 Challenge. I’m happy to say that I have! And please keep in mind that registration for 12×12 in 2014 is just around the corner. If you are looking to be inspired, motivated and encouraged in your picture book writing…THAT IS THE PLACE TO BE! This year, members at the Golden Book level had the opportunity to submit picture book manuscripts to ELEVEN awesome literary agents!

Check-out: I hope you will check out Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog because she will be announcing the FINALISTS in the Halloweensie Contest. There were almost 80 entries…click here for her link up post to read some amazingly creative stories. Click here to read my submission: HALLOWEEN DANCE PARTY COUNTDOWN. I’ll add Continue reading →

Halloween Dance Party Countdown – The Halloweensie Contest

Posted on October 28, 2013 by viviankirkfield

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)

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 →