Living a Creative Life with Hannah Deurloo, Author
I'm TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!!! It's happened! I now can share all the details of my new kid's book!!! If you want to skip the details and go straight to Amazon click this photo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BF4DR7GL?maas=maas_adg_4476B70D23D7E3B29FC6AA3EE0D24E3E_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas First off check out this fantastic cover art, like wow! Second, I need to thank all the kids in my life… Continue reading Preorder Now Available!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AntiqueBooksandMusic?ref=shop_sugg I've finally taken the time to start scanning in my amazing book and music collection! I hope to share these images with anyone who loves to use vintage designs as much as I do. Because you subscribe to my blog you get a discount to any item in my shop until the end of… Continue reading Now Open on Etsy
Let me draw you a coloring page for your children's book. FREE coloring pages.
Anyone else suffer from too many ideas? Anyone else know that all ideas are not equally good? How do you decide what to work on next? I've outlined how I process this dilemma for me below. You may have different factors and reasons but here are mine and I hope you find them useful as… Continue reading 5 Ways to Choose Your Next Project
Sorry about the delay in posting these stories. I've fallen a week behind with good reason. I welcomed my new little one into the world this past week. I feel so blessed to have her here amidst all the world's craziness these past weeks. Story #3 is all about the game of charades and you… Continue reading Q-Kids: Chicken Coop Club #3 & #4
With picture book writing their is a real art to handling a page turn. You have to think through not only the words but the accompanying art on the pages. There are many amazing tools out there to help you envision what your story will look like with each turn. You can find a wonderful… Continue reading The Perfect Page Turn
You know those pesky end notes after research papers in high school and college? Well they're back. In fact they never really left and are super important for writers who want to write in certain areas. If you're writing nonfiction I'll assume this is all old news to you but other types of writing that… Continue reading Bibliographies for Writers
I've had the opportunity through my amazing agency Golden Wheat Literary to be working through a marketing series. The goal is to get a better grasp on our audience and make our efforts line up across our platforms. While it sounds like a less than fun experience I've actually had a realization this week. I… Continue reading The Good, The Bad, & The Changes
Sadly, I've been a part of two local anthologies that have fallen through. I'll be honest it was due to the planning portion than the writing portion. How do you actually put it together in a coherent way. So if you're on anthology train here are some tips to get your project into the station… Continue reading Managing an Anthology
I'm delving deep into a new type of childrens writing and am loving it. I'm five stories into a historical fiction STEAM series. It's a blast. What I'm realizing though is everything can't be an art note. I've talked in the past about what makes a good illustration note, you can read more here. So… Continue reading A New Kind of Note
I'm sitting at my desk on a cold February day and it hits me how much stories and snow have in common. If you'll indulge my little analogy, here's why I think so. At the start, small flakes are falling in a quiet tumble. Little whispers of plot are coming out of the sky and… Continue reading Why Snow is Like Story
Let's be clear writing is extremely difficult. Historical fiction has a special degree of difficulty. So these steps are IN ADDITION to all the other normal awesome writing and editing you do. These are the extra things. You also need to know that this post is here because I'm writing my first historical fiction and… Continue reading Historical Fiction for Kids in 9 Steps
I've been wrestling with a new picture book story that I want to write. I've got nothing on paper, yet. It's just bubbling in the back of my mind. The story elements are all there, plot, structure, information, character options. What I can't wrap my mind around is the point of view. WHO is going… Continue reading How to Pick A Point of View
In one of my Christmas boxes I have a small, unassuming notebook. It lives there with all the decor for most the year. But when we pull out the holiday boxes I also pull out this notebook. It's become incredibly special. It's my family holiday journal. I've been adding to it each year for five… Continue reading Making A Holiday Journal
"You charge for so few words!?" Says so many folks who are looking for copy writing services. While I love the agency I work through for copy writing (and they would never make a statement like this) I've heard this line so often from those outside the writing business. Let's be really clear. Writing short,… Continue reading “You charge for so few words!?”
So I've been steadily working through my stories as they come to me. I've talked before about choosing a story to write that really gets you excited. I still stand by all of that. However, there comes a moment when a choice must be made and that choice has consequences. I'm there. I've got five… Continue reading You Should Talk to an Agent Today, Seriously.
It's Day 11 of National Novel Writing Month. If you're like me you are slowly watching the gap between the words written and words that should be written graph on your NaNoWriMo home page grow. It's not that I'm not writing. It's that I'm not getting as many words as I need. I'm still happy… Continue reading I’m Failing NaNoWriMo & Happy- You Should be too.
It's National Novel Writing Month and word counts reign supreme in the writing world right now. The thing is we are all so short on time. When I sit down to write it needs to happen now. There's no luxury of sitting and staring at the screen for hours. Kids, chores, other work, and the… Continue reading 5 Tricks to Fast Drafting
I really enjoy coming up with witty titles for my blog posts. It's fun. Part of me (the stubborn part) doesn't want to change. But one of my good writing pals pointed out the wisdom of key words the other day. She even backed it up with this fascinating and fear producing article. Have I… Continue reading Don’t Say It That Way!
On Saturday, I had the privilege to speak at a local writers conference hosted through the Kent District Library. I was one of four speakers and we were all focused on the craft of writing. While I know many writers cringe at the idea of public speaking don't be too intimidated. It's a room full… Continue reading Public Speaking: Conference Edition
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