Winter is Coming... Knitting!Painting!Drawing!Writing stories!Winter is my favourite time of the year to snuggle in and get creative.This Creative Winter (It's coming. Nearly there! Brrr!)Better to show you pictures, right?I know you love pictures because, hello, you LOVE children's literature and that's why you're here.With me.Readin' this... Not only Writing Books for Children HERE'S WHAT I'M …
Defining Success (May Museletter)
Jammies!Ugg boots!Corduroy snuggy thingyame that has fake-fur lining and hood... It's 3 degrees this morning and I'm sitting in the sun, sipping tea and writing to YOU! It's been a while, yeah?I had a session with a life coach last week and she asked me to journal about my definition of success. Now, I've thought about …
How to Write a Picture Book
How to Write a Picture Book No. Scrub that heading. Let's go with How to FIX a Picture Book I have awful trouble trying to name, label, title my podcasts. They're always so chatty and full of incidentals that are bound to help you and it's hard to settle on one thing. The 'formal' title …
It’s about changes
Dear reader!It’s been ages since I’ve reintroduced myself and I’ve made so many new friends over the past few months (across many platforms), and there have been so many changes in my life and career, that I felt it was impolite to carry on without pause for breath.I’m Jen Storer.While this little blog is fairly …
Our Christmas Carport Makeover
Stand aside! There's writin' to be rescued! Okay. This was supposed to be the Day Three post of my self-imposed, pre-Christmas blogging challenge. I wrote most of it—then lost my mojo and my faith, got distracted by Christmas preparations, and, erm, abandoned the writing. But it's never too late to rescue our darlings, is it? …
How the Heart Informs Our Art
My childhood memories of Christmas are pretty darn scratchy, dear reader. Not patchy. Scratchy. Like chook scratches in loose dirt. Hard to decipher. Vague. No hint of a plot. And yet. Some of my favourite glimpses (I won't call them memories) are from the Christmases we spent at my aunt and uncle's dairy farm on …
A day in the life of higgledy-piggledy
Rambling writer alert! Read at your own peril... I have very little to offer you on this Thursday afternoon, dear reader, and yet I still feel compelled to pick up a pen and scratch a few lines. Perhaps I should write in my journal and keep my muddled thoughts private. But. I am sitting here …
How to Connect Deeply with Your Readers
When you run an online biz you have to get comfy with REJECTION. You say, I've created this amazing, creative writing community. People say, Maybe later. You say, I wrote this really cool book. People say, Whatevs. You say, I recorded a podcast. People say, I'd rather listen to Frank Sinatra. You say, I bought a new teapot. People say, Oo, pretty! …
This year I am NOT excited. Here’s why.
This week in the Duck Pond, on my first live call for 2022, we will be chatting about our word of the year. Choosing a word of the year is like selecting your own little guiding star, a bright point to guide you through the travails of the coming year. Choosing a word makes me …
How to Write A Picture Book. Perhaps…
A few years ago (well into my career as a Children's Author and, um, Creative Writing Guru) I googled the term, How to Write a Picture Book. The results were kind of hilarious. And depressingly useless. Basically, I got articles such as: How to Write A Picture Book: Five Easy Steps or How to Write …