For Writers

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). THE organization to join if you write children’s literature. What are you waiting for?

12×12 Picture Book Challenge. An incredible organization where the (self-assessed) goal is to write one new picture book draft each month. The community is so supportive, the seminars are all master classes in craft, the book chats include peeks into the minds of the writer, and the accountability is bar none. Highly recommend.

#PBPowerHour. One action-packed hour of craft based writing exercises hosted monthly by Judy Campbell-Smith, Kamilla Milligan, Tunisia Williams, and me. It’s virtual and free, so anyone and everyone can join! The writing exercises (and host!) change each month to keep it fresh and lively. Click here to register via zoom. Follow us on all the socials: @PBPowerHour. Still have questions? You can email the PBPH committee at pbpowerhour01@gmail.com.

Power Thesaurus. For when you’re looking for the right word (or another one just like it).

Rhyme Zone. For when you’ve already used up the obvious rhymes. 

Karen Yin’s Story Pantry. A brilliant approach to planning your manuscript before diving into a draft. Or to help facilitate revisions.

Anatomy of a picture book. The guts and glory of the parts of a picture book.

A dummy template download (courtesy of Adriana Hernández Bergstrom). The perfect tool to sketch out your story (don’t worry, your stick figures can hang out with mine!) to make sure you’ve wrangled your words into the best pacing and are taking advantage of the page turns.