Get Your Work Critiqued! #PBCritiqueFest

Special thanks to Picture Book Spotlight’s Mr. Brian Gehrlein for sponsoring the FUNTASTICALLY KIND AND FREE #PBCritiqueFest. There’s no trick to this Halloween treat. Simply fill out the Google survey and you’re eligible to receive ONE of THIRTY-ONE critiques from some of the industry’s finest wordsmiths, artists, and agents.

The clock is ticking, you have until October 31st to enter!!!

My uber talented critique group partner Ms. Cheryl Johnson won last year and HIGHLY recommends the experience to one and all!!!

TransGenre Brilliance: Kid Lit Tunes

While the media puts a spotlight on crossing over genders, YouTuber Emily Arrow has shown that our focus should be on crossing over genres, as she brilliantly remixes picture book texts into delightful music videos. All she needed was her, a ukulele, talent, and drive! Thank you, Ms. Arrow and the authors who allowed her to have fun with their diction.

It’s now my wishlist that she remixes one of my stories. See below!

StoryStorm 2019: May Bountiful Ideas Rain Upon Us

StoryStorm, the brainchild of creative picture book penner Tara Lazar, is an inspiring challenge to writers of all inclinations to create 30 individual ideas for a story/plot/concept/book throughout the month of January. To further motivate, Lazar’s site provides a daily insightful guest blog from fellow writers/illustrators.

StoryStorm is the evolution of Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), which centered exclusively on picture book ideas, and occurred during the hectic month of November (it clashed with National Novel Writing Month). Registration is free, just make sure to post a comment with your name on the registration post, and then you’ll be able to win a slew of cool kid lit related prizes, permitting you post a comment on each inspiration guest post. Be sure to also subscribe so your inbox will be filled with daily inspiration.

Both incarnations are widely popular with thousands of published and aspiring authors as well as classrooms of students participating to develop routine muse-filled habits while embracing their inner creator. In 2018, I decided to continue on my own with PiBoIdMo in November, but am also happy and encouraged to creatively ride out the ‘Storm in 2019!

I’m already one idea in with Wood You?, a meta picture book response to deforestation and both the liberal and conservative stances on protecting the earth’s trees. Think of it as the Lorax, but less furry and more direct and analytical. I certainly need to work on my pitches, as that book (from what I just wrote) sounds AWFUL!!!! 🙂

Bring on the Ideas: 2014 PiBoIdMo

It’s that time of year again!

Now that we’ve filled our mouths with Halloween candy, allow that sweet sugar to muse our brains with 30 delicious ideas for picture books. If you haven’t already, please sign-up for the 6th Annual Picture Book Idea Month hosted by the lovely Tara Lazar. On a personal note, for the second year in a row, my 9th grade English honors students will participate for extra credit. I hope to share their creative ideas with you in the future!

2013 PiBoIdMo

While fall is cooling our bodies as winter prepares to visit, allow Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month to warm your creative soul!

CraveWriting has participated for the past three years and looks forward to awakening from a dormant period of children’s book writing hibernation. We strongly encourage all imaginators to participate by visiting TaraLazar.com and creating 30 original picture book ideas during the month of November.

Happy imagining everyone!

Writing Contest: 2012 Family Circle Fiction

“Art has never been a popularity contest.” – James Levine

2012 Family Circle Fiction Contest

2011 Contest Winners

One crucial way to prepare for a contest is to study the previous winners. Click to here to read 2011’s winning entries.

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

*From the official Family Circle Contest Website, for full details please visit this site.

Contest begins March 1, 2012, and ends September 7, 2012. Entries must be postmarked on or before September 7, 2012, and received by September 14, 2012. Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

ENTRY: Submit an original (written by entrant), fiction short story of no more than 2,500 words, typed, double-spaced and page numbered on 8-1/2x11paper. Entries must be unpublished and may not have won any prize or award.

LIMIT: Up to two (2) entries per person will be accepted but each entry must be a unique short story. No group entries.

ELIGIBILITY: Legal residents of the 50 United States, and the District of Columbia, 21 years of age or older are eligible to enter.

WINNER SELECTION: On or about October 15, 2012, a qualified panel of judges will judge eligible entries equally on the basis of sustained writing ability (25%), topic creativity (25%), originality (25%), and overall excellence (25%). One (1) grand prize winner and two (2) runners-up will be selected. In the event of a tie, a qualified panel of judges will determine the winner based on the criterion of overall excellence.

PRIZING: One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive a prize package including a check for $750.00, a gift certificate to one (1) mediabistro.com course of his or her choice, up to a value of $610.00, one (1) year mediabistro.com AvantGuild membership valued at $55.00, and a one (1) year mediabistro.com How-to Video membership valued at $99.00. Total approximate retail value of grand prize package $1,514.00. One (1) Second Place winner will receive a check for $250.00, a one (1) year mediabistro.com AvantGuild membership valued at $55.00, and a one (1) year mediabistro.com How-to Video membership valued at $99.00. Total retail value (?RV?) of second place prize package $404.00. One (1) Third Place winner will receive a check for $250.00 and a one (1) year mediabistro.com AvantGuild membership valued at $55.00. Total RV of third place prize package $305.00. One (1) prize per household.

Copyright © 2012 Meredith Corporation.

Writing Contest: The Writer’s Short Story 2012

From The Writer Website:

Here’s your chance to win money and get published!

In collaboration with Gotham Writers’ Workshop, Writer’s Magazine is sponsoring The Writer2012 Short-Story Contest, which offers great prizes to the top three finishers!

Contest prizes:

• First prize: $1,000; a free 10-week creative writing workshop offered online by Gotham Writers’ Workshop ($420 value); publication in The Writer and on WriterMag.com; and a one-year subscription to The Writer. • Second prize: $300; free enrollment in a four-week How to Get Published seminar taught online by a literary agent and Gotham Writers’ Workshop ($150 value); publication on WriterMag.com; and a one-year subscription to The Writer. • Third prize: $200; free enrollment in a four-week How to Get Publishedseminar taught online by a literary agent and Gotham Writers’ Workshop ($150 value); publication on WriterMag.com; and a one-year subscription to The Writer.

Contest Overview: We’re looking for your original, unpublished short stories up to 2,000 words. Entries must be in English and submitted by the author, who must be at least 18 years old at the time of entry. No explicit sex, graphic language or graphic violence. Entries will be judged based on creativity, sense of story, characterization, and overall quality of writing, including grammar, punctuation and syntax. Writers may submit more than one story, but each story must be accompanied by a separate entry fee. Complete rules and FAQs are available at WriterMag.GothamWriters.com.

Entry fee:$10 per story submitted.Deadline: All entries must be submitted online by midnight (EDT) on April 30, 2012.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

In celebration of the anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s birth, here is a video byCollege Humor providing a realistic remix of Dr. Seuss’s classic “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” Click here to view.

Katy Perry’s Sesame Street Remix

After watching Katy Perry deliver a stunning performance of her new single “Part of Me” at the 2012 Grammy Awards, I thought more than a 30 year old man should about her library of tunes. In my defense (and embarrassment) I was in the shower and I started to imagine how wonderful it would be to use the lyrics from some of Katy Perry’s songs as the textual basis for a series of picture books. We’ve seen it work (at least in sales) with Puff the Magic Dragon and a host of other books I prefer to ignore. But come on, Katy Perry is a hot commodity right/for now, so why not capitalize on it. “Hot and Cold” could blend magically to a child character who doesn’t fit any stereotypes and is all over the place. Well, someone beat me to it… sort of. I’m happy to say that it works!

Jack and the Beanstalk Come to Life

Since you were a child, you’ve planted magic seeds, ascended a giant beanstalk and explored the fearsome giant’s castle. But this was all in your head. While I’m not doubting the power of imagination, how would you like to visit a recreation of the Giant’s castle?

Now you can… if you happen to be on the outskirts of Bangkok. Dream World amusement park has a large fairy tale focus and actually built one of the coolest walk-through and Facebook photo friendly attractions in existence today. Head on over to sister site CraveCoasters and check out this fairy tale come true.