Benjamin Lacombe

Benjamin Lacombe-illustrator from France

I am such a fan of Benjamin's work!  He has a modern and somewhat gothic feel to his art.  I can always appreciate that!  It's not just illustrating, it's complete art!  Well done!  

Tips for Picking a Proper Title for your Story

WRITING FOR CHILDREN- TITLES:

Keep your titles short and snappy. I have learned this one the hard way! People seem to have great difficulty remembering my longer titles, but no problem remembering the shorter ones. A good general rule is to keep your titles from one to three words, no more than five.

Catchy sounds- In creating your titles, try playing with poetic devises like alliteration and rhyme. Of my own book titles, I think my favorite is MONSTER MANNERS because the alliteration makes it fun to say.

Use verbs- Another way to make a title lively is to use an active verb in it. 

Reflect the theme- a good title, however short and catchy, gives us a hint of what the story is about.

Hook your reader- The title is your first chance to grab the attention of a reader- or of an editor.

For more helpful tips and informations on writing Children's Books, click on this link:


http://childrensbooks.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=childrensbooks&cdn=parenting&tm=1004&gps=109_4_840_479&f=10&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.bethanyroberts.com/ForWriters.htm

Poem for kids 2: I Am Not Your Pet, No Not!

I am a slug, a bug, a slug!

I am a slug, I am!

I like to eat leaves with yam or jam,

Because I am a slug, I am!

I am spotted, dotted, spotted!

I am spotted, I am!

I like to hide in playgrounds and parks, I can,

Because I am spotted, I am!

I am not your pet, I bet, not your pet!

I am not your pet, no not!

I may be the color of your snot,

But I am not your pet, NO NOT!

Written by: Mandy Hunter

Some Comics for a Cheerful Monday

2 Important Tips for Self-Confidence

1. Take action. Get it done.

“Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.”Thomas A. Bennett

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.”
Thomas Carlyle

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
Dale Carnegie

The most important step in building self confidence is simply to take action. Working on something and getting it done. Sitting at home and thinking about it will just make you feel worse. Simple. But not always easy to do. To make it a bit easier, here are a three of my favourite ways to make it easer to take action:

• Be present. This will help you snap out of over thinking and just go and do whatever you want to get done. This is probably the best tip I have found so far for taking more action since it puts you in a state where you feel little emotional resistance to the work you’ll do. And it puts you in state where the right actions often just seem to flow out of you in a focused but relaxed way and without much effort. One of the simplest ways to connect with the present moment is just to keep your focus on your breathing for a minute or two.
• Lighten up. One way to dissuade yourself from taking action is to take whatever you are about to do too seriously. That makes it feel too big, too difficult and too scary. If you on the other hand relax a bit and lighten up you often realize that those problems and negative feelings are just something you are creating in your own mind. With a lighter state of mind your tasks seems lighter and become easier to get started with.
• Really, really want it. Then taking action isn’t something you have to force. Taking action becomes a very natural thing. It’s something you can’t wait to do.

2. Face your fear.

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear.”
William Jennings Bryan

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

Look, I could tell you to do affirmations or other exercises for months in front of your mirror. It may have a positive effect. Just like preparing yourself it may help you to take action with more confidence.

But to be frank, if you don’t listen to the quotes above and face your fears you won’t experience any better self confidence on a deeper and more fundamental level. Having experiences where you face your fear is what really builds self confidence. There is no way around it.

However, there are ways to face your fears that do not include that much shaking of the knees. There are ways to make it easier for yourself.

• Be curious. When you are stuck in fear you are closed up. You tend to create division in your world and mind. You create barriers between you and other things/people. When you shift to being curious your perceptions go SWOOSH! and the world just opens up. Curiosity is filled with anticipation and enthusiasm. It opens you up. And when you are open and enthusiastic then you have more fun things to think about than focusing on your fear. How do you become more curious? One way is to remember how life has become more fun in the past thanks to your curiosity and to remember all the cool things it helped you to discover and experience.
• Realize that fear is often based on unhelpful interpretation. As humans we like to look for patterns. The problem is just that we often find negative and not so helpful patterns in our lives based on just one or two experiences. Or by misjudging situations. Or through some silly miscommunication. When you get too identified with your thoughts you’ll believe anything they tell you. A more helpful practise may be to not take your thoughts too seriously. A lot of the time they and your memory are pretty inaccurate.

5 Common Mistakes Made By New Writers of Children's Books

THE 5 MOST COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY NEW WRITERS:

• Poorly conceived Talking Animals. Editors are sick of Sammy Squirrel and Max Mosquito. The same goes for Claude the Cloud, Billy the Button or any other inanimate object. Talking animals aren't completely taboo, it's just that most writers don't do them very well. What's important is that your animals have completely developed, unique personalities and characteristics. You need to develop these characters just as carefully as if you were creating human characters. And give your readers some surprises. For example, a rabbit might not be cute and cuddly; he may be absentminded, selfish, or cunning. "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White (a middle grade novel) is an excellent course on how to create unique animals characters.
• Single-spaced Manuscripts. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and sent with a brief (less than one page) cover letter. No exceptions.
• Treating Kids Like Babies. Don't talk down to your readers. Use rich and interesting language that evokes strong visual images, not baby talk.
• Preaching.  If your story has a moral, don't go on and on about it.  It's not even necessary to state the moral, but building the story around it is a better approach.
• Weak Beginnings. Grab the reader in the first two paragraphs or you're doomed. Begin fiction with an action scene, nonfiction with an event or interesting facts. Don't start your book with Chapter 2, wasting the first chapter with character description and background, setting, time period, etc.

On Writer's Block - video - Author Learning Center

Bestselling author Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”, discusses his experience with writer’s block and dealing with it before and after a big publishing success. He also shares thoughts on the pressures to be a prolific writer.


On Writer's Block - video - Author Learning Center