On writing

I have wanted to illustrate picture books for a long time and have loved getting involved in the kidlit community. I had no idea how supportive it would be and never imagined how much information others would be willing to share. Not having officially gone to art school I have always hoped that one day once the boys are older I'd be able to return to school and get a BFA but I am learning so much through other illustrators and through courses online I don't know if returning to school is the best use of my time...but I digress. What I have realized recently is that I could potentially write my stories too. I didn't think I had a story in me, but I have been pleasantly surprised to discover through the 12x12 challenge that I do have stories to tell and I enjoy writing them.
So another stream of posts are in order - highlights of great articles/blog posts to reference later as I will never retain all of the info after one read. I find my blog acts like a trail of breadcrumbs since I often find myself thinking "now where did I read that article?" "What was a reading when I found that link?". I am completely overwhelmed with social media these days and can't even try to keep up with it all, but little by little I'll find some gems to save and to share.
I have been following Elizabeth S. Craig on twitter, I can't remember who suggested following her, perhaps Katie Davis in a podcast. Regardless I am glad I did, she is constantly sending out fantastic tweets with links to useful info for authors that I would never find on my own. Here are two links she tweeted today...

"Writing Secrets of Prolific Authors" from WritetoDone - a blog any author should bookmark it looks like.
"Writing Descriptive Passages" from Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists

Also today I came across a link to a post by Tara Lazar where she wrote about the 400 things that kids like - to provide a starting point for an idea. Tara has so many great posts for prepublished authors that I have added her link to my sidebar. I am sure I'll be referencing her blog often.

Thanks again to all for sharing your wealth of knowledge.

12x12 in 12

So here's a new challenge for me. On top of keeping up with family/home responsibilities and two online art/illustration courses, I am going to try to come up with a story idea every month this year. It's a challenge Helga introduced me to - one initiated by Julie Hedlund. Helga made a very good point - as one who wants to be an illustrator of children's books, there will undoubtedly come a time when I will want to write a story of my own, so why not start generating ideas now!