Welcome to my new blog, which now includes content from many of the blogs I’ve created over the years. You can now also access content via category from this one page instead of having to search for my individual blogs, which were scattered over various platforms and websites.
By Julie Damerell Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, Jack Wong (黃雋喬) now calls Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) home, where he works as a children’s author/illustrator. A self-declared actual Jack-of-all-trades, he’s also tried his hand at bridge engineering, psychology research, bookkeeping, and running his own bicycle repair shop—a . . .
As I mentioned in my keynote at SCBWI Florida last month, Substack is currently my happyplace online, more so than any other platform. Which is why I was SO EXCITED when I discovered that I was one of nine Substack newsletters in their Substack Reads recommendation list this week. Thanks . . .
By Julie Damerell Karen M. Greenwald hopes that the stories she tells about real heroes hidden by history inspire, educate, and delight. She co-founded #SunWriteFun, an annual online kidlit nonfiction writing contest, and raises money for need-based kidlit charities. She is also an international award-winning brand strategist. Her debut, A . . .
As I recently mentioned in my keynote at the SCBWI Florida conference, Substack is my current happyplace online. I’ll post more about Substack and how it can help children’s book creators later this year, but I wanted to let you all know about my new Picture Book 101 series on . . .
(Last updated May 25, 2023) (Also see: Rejection Stories & Advice From Published Kidlit/YA Creators, Linda Sue Park’s #12minutes writing routine for first drafts and feel free to join my Inkygirl Daily Writing Challenge on FB) This is a photo of a letter I’ve had pinned up on my home . . .
(The following was also included in my new Inkygirl newsletter on Substack.) On Dec. 19th, 2013, my editor at Simon & Schuster contacted me to see if I’d be interested in auditioning for a project “of great proportions.” I said sure. See this re-creation of my response. I had been . . .
MIRA AND BAKU is written by Sara Truuvert and illustrated by Michelle Theodore, and launches from Annick Press this fall! It will be Sara’s debut into children’s books. Annick Press found Sara through her poetry, and had no idea that Sara had both a mother and aunt in the children’s . . .
Paul Coccia is the author of Cub, The Player, I Got You Babe, the upcoming Leon Levels Up,and is co-author of On The Line with Eric Walters. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and is often found baking in his Toronto kitchen with . . .
NOTE: This is an updated version of a post I made a while back. For those illustrate as well as write, you’re welcome to download and print my free picture book thumbnail templates. So many people think that short = easy, especially when it comes to picture books. And while yes, . . .
Kaz Windness loves to make her readers laugh. Kaz is an award-winning, genre-crossing illustrator and author of heart-warming books for young readers. Proudly autistic, Kaz specializes in character-driven books celebrating inclusivity, grit, and kindness. Her fifteen books include “Swim, Jim!” (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, May 2022), “Worm and Caterpillar . . .