There’s a lot of heavy stuff going on in the world. It’s part of why I spend such a huge amount of time fleeing into the fantasy realm with a book, a movie, or with my own writing. But last month I heard about an opportunity to help a good cause WHILE fleeing into that fantasy world: #Scrivathon16 on Saturday, November 12, 2016. … Continue reading #Scrivathon16 – Writing for Syria Relief
The call. You know exactly which one I’m talking about. It’s the call every unagented writer dreams of. An agent you queried punches in your digits, gushes over your manuscript, and says how much they would love to represent you. I had that day dream frequently. And I hoped, prayed that it would actually happen some day. Most days my phone was silent. The email, … Continue reading When An Agent Calls
At the Frankfurt Book Fair, readers are a big theme. It’s the biggest book fair in the world and heavily “rights” focused. The more readers a book has, the more valuable the foreign publishing rights are. The main business of the Fair is to make deals: between publishers and literary agents, domestic and international publishers, and publishers and booksellers or libraries. There are little tables … Continue reading 3 Ways to Find Out About Your Readers from the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016
The window to nominate YOUR Favorite Children’s and Young Adult books for prestigious Cybils Awards is open now through October 15th! What are Cybils Awards? The first Cybils Awards were presented in February 2007. If you are really sharp, you probably just figured out that makes this year the 10th anniversary for Cybils! 10 points to your favorite Hogwart’s house for being a genius! Yay! Congrats, Cybils! … Continue reading 2016 Cybils Awards
Alright, Karin, the grocery stores are filled with Halloween treats and decorations and it’s also your book’s birthday! Happy Birthday, I WANT TO EAT YOUR BOOKS! Look at that cover! He’s the only zombie I’ve seen that I want to hug. If you too are drooling over this book, check it out here and here or here. But, these spotlight interviews are to get to … Continue reading Spotlight Interview with Karin Lefranc
Unfortunately, there have been numerous tragedies across the globe this year, both nature-made and man-made. And I know I speak for most people when I wonder what can be done to help. Two authors, Sharon Johnston and Em Shotwell, have done more than just wonder. They started a website called Literary LoveFest and host auctions to raise funds for people in need. They put the … Continue reading LITERARY LOVEFEST – Louisiana Flood Victims
The Winged Pen hit a couple of exciting milestones recently. Drum roll please! We now have over and over 100 blog subscribers! Yay! Thank you followers!!! Thank you subscribers!!! Thank you to everyone who has shared our posts and recommended us to their peers!!! To celebrate we thought we’d do something a little fun—a contest to say thank you to the KidLit writing community who has … Continue reading Winged Pen Celebration!!!
Today I am THRILLED, THRILLED, THRILLED, to tell you about summer school! WHAAAT? Summer school? Yep. Summer school for KidLit writers. I’m proud to say that I’m a third year, so I know my way around. I can tell you what to do if you forget your homework and, even better, how to win prizes. Yep, I won a nice prize pack last summer, a half-dozen lovely books. … Continue reading Summer School is Cool!
Today we’re excited to host a guest post by Angela Ackerman! There’s nothing better than becoming lost within the story world within minutes of starting a book. And as writers, this is what we’re striving to do: pull the reader in, pull them down deep into the words, make them feel like they are experiencing the story right alongside the hero or heroine. A big … Continue reading The Setting Thesaurus Books Are Here: Help Becca And Angela Celebrate!
Last week, author Kate Messner wrote about being disinvited to a school talk in Vermont because the content of her book THE SEVENTH WISH — a story dealing with the impacts of drug addiction on a family — was deemed too difficult to discuss with the students. In an update on her blog, Messner reports getting an email from a school librarian who canceled the school’s … Continue reading Kids Talk Back: The Book Police
Rebecca: The Emotion Thesaurus has had its own special place on my writing desk for so long, I had to look on Goodreads to see when I’d first read it. January 1, 2014. I’ve been using it for a while. When I first started using the book, it opened my eyes to conveying emotions through actions. Well, okay, I used the easy ones all the time. … Continue reading Write Believable Heroes, Villains, and Emotions with The Positive/Negative Trait Thesauri and The Emotion Thesaurus
We’re SO excited to announce that we have partnered with the Writing for Charity Refugee Benefit Auction to bring you a very special 8 on Eight! This time instead of having eight of us at THE WINGED PEN critique your opening eight lines, we’re offering eight sets of eyes on EIGHT PAGES! That’s SIXTEEN eyeballs! This is a win-win for whomever bids the most. Not only will … Continue reading 8 on Eight PAGES!!!
