Jennifer J. Stewart

Seriously funny books for children

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Jennifer J. Stewart has advice for you.

Jennifer J. Stewart is on twitter, where she tweets at @JenniferJStweet, mostly about writing, books, and her life as it intersects with writing and books, but she is not above highlighting photos of cute animals. She is also on Facebook.

Jennifer blogs about her writer-in-residency with the Pima County Public Library, and gives advice to writers during a difficult time.

Jennifer gives advice to aspiring picture book writers.

Jennifer writes about The Importance of Writer Friends on Janni Lee Simner's Writing for the Long Haul series.

Need an editor? Jennifer recommends Jim Thomas.

Cynthia Leitich Smith interviewed Jennifer about writing Close Encounters of a Third-World Kind on Cynsations.

This interview, while not recent, is also illuminating, especially if you are trying to balance writing with small to medium sized children.

There is a wealth of advice about writing and marketing your books and yourself as a speaker on the web. Here are some good places to point your mouse:

Agent Query (searchable database of literary agents)

Association of Authors' Representatives (is an agent for you?)

Authors Guild (information & counsel)

Children's Book Council (interviews with authors; research publishers)

Cynsations (must-read blog)

Katie Davis (podcasts)

Goodreads (books & favorite authors)

KidLit411 (it's got everything you could wish to find out)

Kindling Words (a retreat for writers, artists, & editors)

LibraryThing (organize your own library & browse your favorite authors' books)

Literary Rambles (shining a spotlight on authors, agents, and publishing)

Make Way for Books (give children a chance to fall in love with books & reading)

Number Five Bus (interviews with picture book creators)

Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) (because shared pain... is less painful)

New York Foundation for the Arts (search for grants)

Personal Best Stretch DVD (unkink those tight muscles)

Publisher's Weekly (subscribe to the Children's Bookshelf)

The Purple Crayon (Harold D. Underdown's site)

School Visit Experts (sound advice about public speaking)

Shaw Guides (search for writing conferences and contests)

Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (info, grants, discussion boards)

We Need Diverse Books (yes, we do!)

Matthew Winner (podcasts)

Writing Barn (podcasts)

If you want even more advice, check these books out. Books are free at your local library, but you might want to support an independent bookseller here.

The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life by Sid Fleischman

The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner

Bird by Bird : Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

Blood on the Forehead: What I know about Writing by M.E. Kerr

Book Love: Creating Good Books for Children in an Age that Values Neither edited by Juanita Havill

Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market, latest edition

The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide for Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino

If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland

It's a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: a Writer's Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today's Competitive Children's Book Market by Olga Litowinsky

Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers by Carolyn See

A Shimmer of Joy: One Hundred Children's Picture Books by Chris Loker

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Way to Write for Children: An Introduction to the Craft of Writing Children's Literature by Joan Aiken

Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide From Story Creation to Publication by Ann Whitford Paul (get the revised and expanded edition

This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley

Write Away by Elizabeth George

Mark Twain

Finally, remember Mark Twain's writing advice: "When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean that, utterly, but kill the most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together, they give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective-habit, or a wordy, diffuse, or flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice."