Reading and Writing

Image from Chronicle Email

Was busy for a bit, but I'm back to write again. I'm never sure what to write about, but since it is for myself, I guess it shouldn't matter. I thought I would write about some books I have been reading (and wanting to read). Since leaving my job I have been on the hunt for an editorial position. It's difficult. There are a few places I really, really want to work, but there are a lot of people applying and I spent the last three years doing community management which doesn't quite bump me to the top of the list. Anyway, I went to a talk at the Chronicle Books store last month and I found it really interesting. The two individuals from Chronicle that came to talk were Children's Publishing Editor Melissa Manlove and Children's Publishing Designer Ryan Hayes. I know I want to write, but I've never really known what I want to write. I never even considered children's books because I just didn't think of it. I used to write poetry in the past, but I fell out of it after college. And now that I look at children's books, a lot of it is fun poetry. After listening to the talk, it really made me want to get into writing and, specifically, writing for children's books. I have a few ideas I want to work with, but I feel I need to get them ironed out before I can even start writing them. To help get me started, I started looking into books on writing and books on writing for children's books.

Image from Amazon

I wanted to start at the beginning, so I went to the writing section of the library and found Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty. It was a really good refresher of the basics and had some good lists of other books and people to check out. After finishing that up, I decided to get more specific and found How to Write a Children's Book and Get It Published by Barbara Seuling. Another great book with helpful information and more names and more books to check out. It was a little old, but still had helpful information that is still relevant to children's book writing. It gave me a better idea of how children's books are broken up and how and where to focus. My plan is go get into writing picture books. If only I could do art too, that would be pretty awesome. I can't remember if I was able to finish this one, but I would love to get my own copy sometime. I think I've only made it through Chapter 9 so far and would like to read it all. Though, at the end of the book it talks more about submitting your manuscript and I know I'm still a ways off on that.

I've also been pursuing 88 Money-Making Writing Jobs by Robert Bly and How to Write Short Stories that Sell by Louise Boggess. You can see in the image there are more books, but I haven't gotten a chance to read them yet, so I have nothing to say on them. I got some other books from the library, but have certainly bitten off more than I can chew so I'm just working through what I can while I have all this free time on my hands. Which will hopefully be cut short as soon as I can get an editorial position.

I have also been reading Heat Wave by Richard Castle. I love the show and after picking up some of these books at the library I was just checking out the "What's New" section and saw some Richard Castle books. I didn't know any were actually published so I just had to check it out. I decided to skip Derrick Storm and skip right to Nikki Heat. The book was a little hard for me to get into at first, but I think as more has developed I've gotten more into it. Not done yet, but I'm hoping it is good so I can try more in the series. Guess it is back to reading for now!