Celebrate National Encourage a Young Writer Day on April 10th

National Encourage a Young Writer Day is celebrated on April 10th. To encourage little ones to put pen to paper, PBS KIDS is sharing activities and resources that get the creative juices flowing. 

Children learn to read and write when they are shown by example. When my girls were little, I spent days in the classroom holding writing workshops or participating as a mystery reader.

Unsure where to get the creative process started? Here are some activities below for any age:

• 13 PBS KIDS Games for Reading and Storytelling is perfect to share with your youngsters, and they’re all available on the PBS KIDS Games App and website 
• Check out a few of these exciting 9 Children’s Books Filled with Fantasy from your local library
• Plan to Host Storytime at Home on April 10^th. You can Skype in friends and family to join the fun 
• This book list is guaranteed to get the whole family giggling 
• For quick inspiration and great role models, check out previous winners of the PBS KIDS Writers Contest

PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS for Parents offer free access to media content and community-based experiences that support learning for young children. 

Write2Ignite Goes Virtual – Fiction Master Class with Joyce Moyer Hostetter

 

If you write fiction for children, young adults, or even adults you are invited to join Write2Ignite for their first ever Virtual Master Class. On September 19, 2020, multi-published author Joyce Moyer Hostetter will help us master four big elements in writing fiction.

• Creating Memorable Characters — Tried and true strategies for creating characters.
• On Writing Plot: What’s the Problem — Structure and the power of conflict in creating a great plot.
• View Point and Dialogue— Dialogue that works overtime and strategies for creating an authentic narrator.

W2I provides Christian writers of children’s and young adult literature with:

• Instruction
• Inspiration
• Encouragement
• Challenges
• Community

Their focus is on those who write for youth.

Their foundation is Christ and His Word.

Their Master Class format provides one-day workshops designed to help writers build specific skills. If taking your writing to higher levels is your goal, you will benefit from these Master Class features:

• Instruction by master authors like Joyce Moyer Hostetter
• Guided hands-on practice of new writing skills
• Immediate feedback

This Master Class will be an online event using Zoom. If you’re not familiar with using that platform, no worry! We’ll have a practice session on Friday, September 18, 2020 just for you.

If you’re not familiar with Joyce, check out her Youtube video here. Her books are available through any bookstore.

They are excited about this innovative opportunity to help you become the writer God wants you to be. They hope you’ll join them on September 19, 2020.

Registration is just $79 for a full day of instruction, practice, and encouragement.

Click here to Register by September 14.

 

PBPitch Today on Twitter

 

Today is PBPitch on Twitter. Picture book authors and illustrators pitch their books to participating agents in the hopes of getting a contract. You can pitch once in the morning and once at evening. My morning pitches are already done. Are you participating today? Have you ever done so in the past? Good luck to all!

Find the details of PBPitch at www.pbpitch.com

Speed Dates by Juliet Clare Bell

Photo credit: Jesse Chan-Norris

Ever hear of speed dating? It’s an organized activity where people looking for romantic relationships have a series of short conversations with potential partners to see if they share mutual interests. Today, on Writing for Kids (While Raising Them), guest blogger Juliet Clare Bell talked about speed dating with your 30 STORYSTORM ideas. I totally fell in love with this idea and wanted to share it so that my fellow authors could take advantage of the process.

Want to learn more? Check out Day 27 of STORYSTORM today by clicking here.

What’s New

 

It has been a while since I posted here. Bad me. I really hit the ground running with goal setting for all areas of my life in January. That sometimes slows down blogging duties. Try not to remind me right now that one of my goals for 2019 is to maintain my blogs. Okay? I’m a work in progress. 🙂

In case you missed it, I blogged about character interviews and questionnaires last week at the 4RV Publishing blog. You can find that article at https://4rvreading-writingnewsletter.blogspot.com/2019/01/character-interviews-and-questionnaires.html

Also, though it will be the end of January before I have a winner’s badge, I just posted idea #31 in my STORYSTORM log!!!! I am so excited. Many of them are fabulous ideas too. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of January plotting out a few of them.

Hope you have a great Monday!