Finding Success by Tapping Into the Fun Zone
The roller rink was alive with energy, filled with people of all ages ready to have fun! Tommy noticed the fearless attitude of the kids on the floor. They zipped around without a care, their confidence building with every glide. “Who cares if I fall? I’m just gonna go for it!” That mindset seemed to be their secret weapon. With that sense of fearless fun, they spun faster dancing to ABBA, carving figure eights like tiny, disco-inspired Olympians. (And yes, they were wearing knee pads—safety first, my friends!)
This experience got me thinking about writing. When we write, we need that same fearless fun. That sense of “who cares—I’m just gonna go for it” unleashes creativity and lets ideas flow naturally. Writing becomes a joyful dance instead of a struggle.
Writing for kids 101
Mark Twain famously said: There is no such thing as a new idea.
While our ideas feel unique, they’re shaped by our interactions with the world. These interactions make our creative experiences both deeply personal and universally shared.
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This truth leads us to an important realization: an original idea doesn’t matter.
So the question is… What does this idea mean to you?
Magic Lessons: How to Find Magic When Writing for Kids
Children’s books inspire magic. That’s why we read them well into our old age. Just like a warm cup of cocoa or a feel-good movie, we cling to the simple elegance of a picture book because of the effortless magic they present no matter how old we may be. As a children’s writer, asking for magic over and over again is a big ask, but that’s the job. So how do you do it?
The Books the Raised Me
A picture book is a treasure. It’s the beginning of a lifelong relationship that only gets better with age. As I sat down to contemplate which 20 of the many picture books impacted my upbringing, I was confronted with the agony of choosing. In the end, for the purposes of this blog, there was no rhyme or reason to my selection of these 20 books, as I couldn’t rightfully decide. I just had to go with my gut, letting you in on the childhood of an American kid who grew up in New York City in the early '90s.
How Studying Theater Improved My Writing
As a children's author, it's crucial for me to develop characters that are interesting, engaging, and relatable to young readers. Drawing on skills learned in the theater helps me infuse an atmosphere of fun and play into the process - another essential quality for children’s stories.
Life Lessons We Can Learn from Kids to Become Better Adults
One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to aspiring authors is that your work has to be something you love because you'll be working at it pretty much all of the time. Fortunately, I love what I do because I learn something new about it every day, which keeps things interesting. And my biggest teachers are the kids.
The Chakras and How They Influenced the Names of My Characters
Did you know that the characters in my ‘Mula and the Fly’ children’s series were named after the chakras? Chakras (or “wheels of energy”) are points within the body that go from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
5 Tips for Writing a Children's Book: Get Started with These Strategies
Writing for kids is a weird and wonderful journey. You've got to dive right into the deep end of that rainbow-sprinkled, slime-filled, squiggle-shaped pool of imagination. Writing for kids can feel like hours of fun-filled character creation, but it can also be daunting if you don't plan ahead.