creative writing | creative life
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 …
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 …
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 …
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? …
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 …
Pull up a chair! Grab a latte. A Lady Grey. A shandy. Let's chat! I was going to call this blog post, 'What's Wrong With This Bloody Story?' But on second thoughts that title might be misleading. Who's story? Which story? Your story or my story? See what I'm sayin'? Let's narrow it down. Don …
From time to time I send out this download to the creatives on my mailing list. I wrote this download as a blog post ages ago, in response to a wildly common question:How do I know what I'm writing?Say what?The thing is, when it comes to writing books for children, people (especially newbies) get bamboozled. …
Continue reading "A Freebie for You. Plus, Let’s Celebrate Picture Book Month!"
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! …
Last week I had the sudden realisation that 'the writing is going well'. Ermahgerd! How much do writers LURVE that? The Writing is Going Well. Can we put that on a t-shirt, please? Cups quietly multiplying while I'm lost in a world of make believe. Last year when I started writing this novel, I was …
Continue reading "How to Write a Novel. (Using One Sheet of Paper.)"
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 …