FREE e-Book ( pdf ) - "Secrets of Writing for Children." This e-Book offers you one-stop-guidance for Writing and Self -editing your children's books. These helpful hints are compiled from writing information on my website.

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Washington State Historical Society: The Washington State Historical Society is proud to announce a new online children's magazine called ColumbiaKids, due to launch in August 2008. Thanks to a grant from the Verizon Foundation, this new e-publication will bring a whole new twist to exploring Pacific Northwest history. Written especially for kids up to age 14, ColumbiaKids will feature amazing people, places, and objects from the Pacific Northwest's past. With exciting stories and special departments such as "One Day in History," "Homework Helper," and "Northwest Hotspot," ColumbiaKids will not only be a great read for children, it will be a fabulous resource for teachers who want to integrate reading, writing, and Pacific Northwest history. Writers and illustrators interested in receiving submission guidelines should email: columbiakids@wshs.wa.gov. Website pending!

The Muse OnLine Conference, Register now, and participate in this FREE conference. Editors, agents, writers and more. All willing and able to offer you their advice and encouragement. I will be one of many giving workshops for Lea Schiza's second year

Children's Writers Coaching Club - (CWCC). Suzanne Lieurance's new Coaching Club offers a range of memberships. There are even a few free memberships left for elementary school teachers and/or librarians. A Level 1 membership for children's writers is only $47.00 per month. The membership drive for all levels of CWCC has already started. The Children's Writers' Coaching Gym will be open this week for those who have joined at Level 2 or 3. Members at these levels ( 2 & 3) will receive group and/or personal coaching as part of their membership. Click on the heading for more information about the many other wonderful elements Suzanne offers in her new Club. Also Check out Suzanne's Book Bites for Kids and her writing Teleclasses.

Anastasia Suen's Intensive Writing Workshop and her Creative Habit Workshop, are among the best you can attend. Browse through her website and decide which of her many classes fits your writing needs. You won't regret it!

MINI BIO:The author of 78 books, Anastasia has been teaching since 1977. At "the turn of the century" (in 2000!) when she was asked to co-teach Children's and Young Adult Literature at the University of North Texas, she began teaching online. Children's writers outside the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex asked her to teach her Southern Methodist University picture book class as an online workshop, so in January 2001 Anastasia began teaching private workshops in cyberspace.

No one does it better than Anastasia Suen!!

2 Great Articles!

Valiska Gregory's Website has a great article by her, titled Tips For Writers - Nuts and Bolts for Beginners. Well worth the read.

Dori Chaconas is a master at creating rhming picture books. In her new and definitive essay, Icing the Cake - Writing Stories in Rhythm and Rhyme," she deals with the art of writing in rhyme and meter. It is a must-read for writers considering this genre. STORY, RHYTHM and RHYME - Clarity and insight shine from every line Dori writes. She makes a tricky subject easy to understand. Click HERE for her other terrific article: unfolding the secrets of writing a wonderful rhyming picture book .

**Check Writing Chat for articles about query letters, publishers and more.

JacketFlap is the brainchild of Tracy Grand - and what a great concept!! This website contains information and statistics on pretty much every children's book publisher in the business. On the home page, you'll see search boxes, links to browse publishers alphabetically, and a number of subject links that return a list of publishers that have published books on a specific subject, sorted by those with the most titles for that subject in the past year.

The search box defaults to a search by publisher name. Type a publisher name in the matching box & hit enter, and the site will return a list of matched publishers along with the top 2 titles for that publisher, the publisher's reading levels, and the number of titles they published in the prior year. You can also search for publishers by author name, illustrator name, book titles, and past subjects published.

Registration for the site is free. You only need to register if you want to see a publisher's contact information. That page has statistics, contact information, news, and a list of all of their books. When you click the Imprints link to the right of the publisher's name, you will be taken to a list of links that lead to detail pages for each of Random House's imprints. Tracy wants you to let her know what you like, what you would change, and definitely let her know if you encounter any bugs. You can email her HERE

Also from Tracy Grand:

Children's Publishing Blog Reader - Tracy and her minions offers you hundreds of current writing blogs, gathered together on one MONSTER BLOG, for your reading appreciation and information. These blog posts are sorted by date, with the most recent posts at the top of the page. There are hundreds of new posts here every day on a variety of topics related to children's publishing. Tracy and her gang have provided a variety of ways for you to navigate through the blog posts. Click their link above, and see for yourself. Blogger fanatics, this is blog heaven with one click!

If there is an award for "sheer genius" my vote goes to Tracy Grand for her JacketFlap

Jan Fields is a genuine treasure. Her website, Jan's World of Writing offers lots of help and advice to children's writers. However, it is her KidMagazineWriter whose time has definitely come. Those who write for magazines have wanted something like this for years. In it, Jan offers the skinny on all aspects of writing for kid's magazines. Go see for yourself. If you write for magazines, you won't regret it!

Kathleen Duey offers a list of bookstores in many different states. This is a terrific resource. Go there and check out bookstores in your state..

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