Are you ready to #kidlitchat? We start at the top of this very hour (10 minutes by my clock), and everything would be better if you join us! See you sooooooon!

TOPIC: We have a tradition here at #kidlitchat of checking in every quarter to share what we've been up to, career-wise. What have your past three months been like, and what's next? (Plans, daydreams and false starts are totally valid responses!)

Joined a new critique group, then a second one, and working on subbing, writing new drafts, and staying on top of my motivation. #kidlitchat

@vbartles.com Yes! I hear those voices as well.😁

I'd say keeping up (I'm really bad about it!) with social media is my biggest challenge.
My favorite part of the creative process is having a great idea pop into my head at the weirdest times, then putting it 'down on paper' and finding the heart of the story.
#kidlitchat

She wrote The Lost Apothecary which I've heard good things about. #kidlitchat

Yup #kidlitchat

Perfect summer read=so good I take it to the pool and forget to go in the water during adult swim bc I'm reading. Wanting to catch up on some authors: Kristin Hannah, Sarah Penner, Lilly Wilkinson, new picture books and MG too. #kidlitchat

Perfect summer read=so good I take it to the pool and forget to go in the water during adult swim bc I'm reading. Wanting to catch up on some authors: Kristin Hannah, Sarah Penner, Lilly Wilkinson, new picture books and MG too.

Thanks!

There's so much info out there online, I get overwhelmed. Do you have any tips for the most user friendly websites for pre-agented author onlies (me)? Thanks.

I like to do things with my hands, meaning making something (I am a longtime bead enthusiast), cooking something (esp. Polish foods I learned from my aunts), or sometimes just taking care of my many houseplants and our flower beds in the spring. Gives me thinking-about-my-writing time. #kidlitchat

Ya know, poetry found its way back into my pb manuscripts in '24...and I even won an award for a rhyming animal poem that came to
me almost all at once! So the next few things I wrote at the end of '24 and into '25 just seemed to fall into a rhyming pattern. My current pb decided to rhyme, too. 😄

@Scott Rhoades Writer me too!

I make up my own words. Simply funny! #kidlitchat

Picture Book Rising Stars 2025!

Here's my 12 x 12 badge #12x12PB

Glad to be back in 12 x 12 in 2025!

My 2025 goals are to keep writing, submitting, staying in touch with other writers, and to celebrate my surprises and sucesses. Thank you #JulieHedlund for that last bit. #kidlitchat

Welcome Jolie! #kidlitchat

My gift would be more time to write, hands down. #kidlitchat

Traveled to Colorado, attended #PictureBookSummit, wrote three pb drafts, and submitted several polished manuscripts. I'm pleased. #kidlitchat

My sister Malinda, who kept my earliest poems which she reads to me still, bad spelling and all, when we need a laugh or some inspiration.

Love this letting go idea, Lorraine McCown.

Each idea seems to come to me a little bit differently. #kidlitchat

Very cool Bev Twomey!

Congratulations Brian!

#kidlitchat I placed in the #ICL Rhyming Animal Poetry contest in June, and sold a Halloween poem last week. Woot woot! Keeps my motivation up.

I start with the pitch, then a 1-2 paragraph synopsis, and details/outline from there. I call my system "Margaret Writing Backwards."
#Kidlitchat

@kidlitchat I am a paying member of 12x12 and SCBWI. I need the contests and the community. I did just recently win a place in an ICL contest, so even though it's not paid, I enjoy the IFW/ICL community also. @briankirby