Inspiration Resources

Hello Creatives--
Since the beginning of a new year tends to encourage us to undertake new endeavors, I'm sharing some of my go-to web resources for inspiration. These are just a little taste from one of my 3 presentations for the recent Picture Book Palooza in the Wonderful World of World Wide Resources. In case you missed it, I'm sharing them again.

• 7 Impossible Things: An inspiring blog about children’s books.
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: Elizabeth Gilbert’s book that will completely change the way you think about the creative process.
• Tara Lazar: Blog & site of children's book author Tara Lazar
• ​Mac Barnett TED Talk: In this whimsical talk, award-winning author Mac Barnett speaks about writing that escapes the page and art as a doorway to wonder.
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice for writers.
• 12x12: A year-long writing challenge where members aim to write 12 complete picture book drafts, one per month, for each 12 months of the year.
• The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb:  A wonderful kidlit craft book.

• The Magic Words by Cheryl B. Klein: Great book on writing children’s and young adult novels.
• Picture This by Molly Bang: An illuminating book about how the visual composition of images works to engage the emotions, and how the elements of artwork can add power to storytelling
• ​Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine: Shows how you, too, can get terrific ideas for stories, invent great beginnings and endings, write sparkling dialogue, develop memorable characters
• Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication
• Rate Your Story: A a service where writers from all levels can submit their story to receive honest feedback from published authors.

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Hope these resources can help you on your KidLit journey.  If you enjoyed this and want more, you can still get access to all the worksheets and videos from the Picture Book Palooza and support CBA's 2021 diversity+ scholarship fund here

With much warmth,
Mira & the CBA gang