Living a Creative Life with Hannah Deurloo, Author
This little mini series is an attempt to help out my fellow parents who need ideas to break up the day. These ideas will be fast, adaptable, and hopefully use things you already have on hand, all from home. BOX VEHICLE I know we are all getting stuff through delivery right now and that cardboard… Continue reading Q-Kids Art Activity
This little mini series is an attempt to help out my fellow parents who need ideas to break up the day. These ideas will be fast, adaptable, and hopefully use things you already have on hand, all from home. PINE CONE FLOWERS We have a lot of pine trees in our yard and I know… Continue reading Q-Kids Art Activity
This little mini series is an attempt to help out my fellow parents who need ideas to break up the day. These ideas will be fast, adaptable, and hopefully use things you already have on hand, all from home. BEADING Whether you're kids are small or big you can get a lot of fun with… Continue reading Q-Kids Art Activity
This little mini series is an attempt to help out my fellow parents who need ideas to break up the day. These ideas will be fast, adaptable, and hopefully use things you already have on hand all from home. MAKE A PUZZLE My kids love puzzles and this is perfect for any artist. Have the… Continue reading Q-Kids Art Activity
This little mini series is an attempt to help out my fellow parents who need ideas to break up the day. These ideas will be fast, adaptable, and hopefully use things you alread have on hand, all from home. TRACK A PLANT'S GROWTH I bought a hyacinth for Easter last week and it hadn't started… Continue reading Q-Kids Art Activity
I know these past two weeks I've posted about teaching art classes but in all honesty I'd had those posts scheduled out before the whole virus crisis happened. I'm not teaching right now at all. But it occurred to me that just because I don't have a classroom to go into that I can't share… Continue reading Q-Kids Daily Art Activity
You'd think rule one of any teaching class would be never turn out the lights. But here I am, the newly minted art teacher, closing the blinds and flipping the switch. I mean how else do you really teach kids about shadow without a spotlight and some well placed puppets? So here I am with… Continue reading Teaching Shadows
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
Listening to the Literaticast Podcast (#34) I finally have been able to get a better handle on the term board book. If you aren't listening to the podcast I highly recommend it for great industry thoughts and information all around children's books. So board books are for the youngest readers, ages 0-5. They are usually made… Continue reading The Case for Story Dummies
The highlighter is mightier than the pen, which is also therefor, mightier than the sword! At least in the world of editing it is. This technique is essential for editing your opening and perhaps your whole story. While reading the October issue of Writer's Digest this beautiful side bar gave the best advice I've seen… Continue reading The Highlighter is Mightier Than The Pen
I wanted to write a post that would demonstrate how kind and creative these kids at writing camp have been this past week. Turns out they wanted to tell you themselves. So I'm going to step aside today and give you all the wisdom, insights, and art they want to share with the world. This… Continue reading Hello from Writing Camp- Kids Edition
This is my second year teaching a kids word camp through my local library. It's a week away and I'm creating all my handouts and finalizing my talking points. Have you ever wanted to host your own writing camp for the kids in your life? Here are few things you need to know to put… Continue reading Host Your Own Writing Camp for Kids
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L'Engle
Well I touched on this in my last post but I signed my agent not for a fiction picture book but for a non-fiction kid's cookbook. Huh? Yep... Now before you say, "Wait! You can't write non-fiction!" Let me break it down for you. I've spent years honing my writing skills for brevity, clarity, and… Continue reading Not What I Meant To Write…
I've been working on being creative for pretty much my whole life. In grade school I was "crafty." In high school I was "weird." Today I'm actually viewed as somewhat "cool." Not sure how that happened... Mostly I'm thankful that I didn't listen to those voices earlier in my life. My parents kept buying me… Continue reading The Well of Creativity
"Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." – Amy Poehler After a whirlwind of excitement last week, which you can read about HERE, I've come to the full realization that I now have an even bigger team on my… Continue reading Teamwork
I know I'm deviating from my regularly scheduled day but I can't contain my excitement! I HAVE AN AGENT! I saw a #MSWL post asking for a kids cookbook proposal and freaked out. I've watched the #MSWL feed for three years and no one has ever asked for a kids cookbook. So I jumped on… Continue reading The Call!
I'm a fairly traditional writer. So making the transition into picture books has been difficult. Not because my writing is bad but because picture books are more than just the words. In picture books I have to leave room for art. You can check out another post on book structure HERE. When I say I'm leaving… Continue reading The Art of the [Art Note: …]
For those of us that write kid lit, especially at the chapter level and below, it's essential to understand reading levels. Unfortunately, there are nearly a dozen different scales you can use to "grade" your story. Additionally, how do you know what makes a story a higher or lower level, are your edits even working?… Continue reading A New Editing Resource
I have two young kids, neither of them are in school yet, and let me say it's hard to find time for creative endeavors. By the end of the day I'm too tired to think. In the morning even the littlest peep will wake them early. What's a parent to do? All hail quiet time!… Continue reading Writing & Parenting: A Juggling Act
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