BellaOnline Forums Career Writing for Children WIP'S

My first post on the Writing for Children Forum at Bella Online. How exciting!

Well, maybe.

I don't reckon it will be too exciting if I end up talking to myself. That'll just make me look a little crazy.

So...before I carry on too long...

Is anybody out there? And if you're out there, who are you?

I'd really like to get to know a bit about who reads at this site and where you're at in the writing journey and what you're working on now.

So, to that end, I started this thread on WIP's.

Tell me about one project you're working on right now. I know we usually have a few going, but which one is uppermost in your mind today? Which one will you be working on tomorrow?

My work in progress is a YA fantasy of the fairytale/love story variety.

Welcome aboard!!!

I'm here - on my warm and sunny tropical island half way around the world from you. I look in here a bit but am mostly pulled in another direction for the time being. When I get back to writing on a regular basis my WIP is a loooong (for the age group)novel for pre-teen and up. Probably will be more of a trilogy.

My burning issue is readability and from what teacher and librarian friends tell me that is the first thing they check on a potential book purchase.
Between "Readability Studio", "AutoCrit.com", Children's Writer's Word Book, the Dolch word lists, etc no one has an excuse for ignoring readability anymore.

edit:
Oh! I could have added - One of my 'pet projects' right now is helping a friend's Dad celebrate his 80th birthday this year. We are trying to make it a year of Postcard Travel Around The World - soooooo please everyone, send a postcard from where you are or someplace you've been to: Jack Pegg, 50 Vine St., Danville, PA 17821

Wow! I had never heard of AutoCrit. Amazing. That thing is really something. I think you can really mess up the flow of your writing if you don't know what you're doing--for instance you don't want to cut all repeated phrases, only the ones you put in accidentally. But I still think the program would be a helpful tool.

I know I can search for overused words in Microsoft Word, but I thought that sentence variation report was pretty cool.

Anyone else out there ever tried this out? How did you like it?

Oh, and Heyyou, thanks for coming out and saying hi so I'm not sitting here talking to myself. =0)

I just popped over here -- not currently working on anything, but possibly in the future. My life is in a state of transition -- but transitioning into what is the question!

Just a bit of background -- I'm a mom, of a soon-to-graduate son who is part-time homeschooled (was full time until last year), part-time in a public charter for math and science, part time in college. The talk about Dolch words and so forth made me think of something to mention -- some kids read early, some later. Some kids read REALLY well early -- and parents often have difficulty finding age-appropriate material that isn't too easy/boring for their kids. There are only just so many Charlotte's Webs out there, kwim? I don't know what editors are looking for, but if they wanted my $.02, I would say, don't worry so much about reading level, since there are kids who are at all levels, and all kids can comprehend books being read aloud (and that should be something parents continue to do long after the kid is reading solo) at a far higher level than they can read to themselves.

Ooh, I agree with all of this, Ms. A.

Thanks for stopping by giving us your two cents. We like to hear it even if the editors don't care.

I still read to my kids, too. They are fifteen and fourteen and we love family reading time.

Stick around and let us whip you up so you start a WIP. (groan)

Or tell us what you have transitioned to once you're arrived safely on the other side.

Welcome Sally! I'm glad we have a writing for children's editor.

I'm Violette, and I'm the Daughters Editor. I'm also a freelance blogger and writer for the web and other areas. I had postponed my children's writing when children came. LOL. And then when I decided to write I ended up freelancing in other areas. Now however, after doing developmental editing for a fairytale writer in Austria, I've been motivated to start writing fiction again.

Looks like you have to pick up where he leaves off when I'm not working for him...LOL!

My work in progress is actually about 15 years old. It is an early reader pirate adventure story. That's right, I decided to dust it off and I have to migrate it from Mac to PC and perhaps finish it this summer.

I also have to get all my shorts intended for pictures books and see if I can start resubmitting again after all these years...I don't have nearly enough rejections yet...LOL.

It's great to have you!

Hey Violette, Thanks for the welcome.

Your WIP sounds great. It's the perfect time for pirate books. Kids are pirate crazy these days.

And I love your attitude about rejections--you just can never have enough of those babies, eh?

Yeah Sally, I'm certain I don't have enough yet, only because I haven't applied enough yet.

I signed up for your newsletter so it will be like a knock on my head once a week to see if I've been working on it. LOL

I have to finish some blogging today so I'll have to poke around in here later.

I've just finishe the class at the institute of Children's Lit. I have several articles I should try and submit but haven't yet. I am at the point where I need to start submitting.

kinder that is a great course. That is where I started my pirate story that I now have to finish.

Good Luck.