Want to do your writing or drawing in a medieval tavern? In front of a fireplace? In Hogwarts library? Explore ambience videos!

My home studio is a cluttered basement office underground with no windows. Well, there ARE windows but the view is either blocked or covered up. Sometimes I work to silence, but I'm always leery about getting TOO used to working this way because I want to be able to work in all kinds of conditions. It's one reason I usually work on my fiction writing on my iPad Pro using Ulysses; the latter syncs seamlessly across all my devices. I often take my noise-cancelling headphones with me.

Something I do when I'm home is to have an ambience video playing on my extra screen or my iPad. I know it sounds silly at first, and it may not work for you, but I find that it really DOES trick part of my brain into feeling as if I'm working in that space. I feel comforted somehow, relaxed and able to focus more on my work.

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At some point, you just have to let go.

Just write. Many writers have a vague hope that elves will come in the night and finish any stories for you. They won’t. - Neil Gaiman

Just write. Many writers have a vague hope that elves will come in the night and finish any stories for you. They won’t. - Neil Gaiman

My biggest piece of creativity advice for writers & illustrators (all ages): make time to PLAY.

No matter how busy I am, I always try to carve out a few minutes every day to do some art and writing purely for the fun of it. No pressure to show anyone or have anything be perfect....just to PLAY.

I find if I don't make regular time to just play and experiment, then I slip into a rut, not pushing myself to try the new and different, and I also start losing the joy.

DON'T LOSE THE JOY.

Make time to play.

Writers: don't be ceremonious. When time's available, WRITE. - Cory Doctorow

Writers: don't be ceremonious. When time's available, WRITE.

- Cory Doctorow, in Locus ("Writing In An Age Of Distraction")

Every journey to publication is different. Resist comparing yourself to others. Find your own path & pace.

Every journey to publication is different. Resist comparing yourself to others. Find your own path & pace.

Free picture book templates, how-to guides and other resources

Over the years, I've been accumulating all the "How <title> Was Created" guides for young writers and illustrators, advice from children's book creators I've interviewwed, plus a few tips for not-so-young book creators. Feel free to browse all this info as well as my free picture book thumbnail templates at my CREATING PICTURE BOOKS resource.

Where do writers get their ideas? Everywhere. But the actual magic lies in making one idea real. - Cheryl Klein, THE MAGIC WORDS

One of my goals in 2018 is to write a middle grade novel.

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Give yourself permission to believe that ANYTHING is possible in 2018.

Thanks to @fabtic_ltd for inspiring this post via their Twitter comment about this image.

Reminder for writers & Illustrators: all the networking/promo in the world can’t help unless you get your book FINISHED first.

Happy New Year! And a doodle challenge for you all (even non-artists)

Happy New Year! Here's a fun doodle challenge for artists (and non-artists) of all ages: download and print my blank "2018" page and decorate however you'd like (art, inspiration quotes, random doodling) with what whatever media (crayons, pens, pencils, paints) you'd like.

2018 will be the year I climb a mountain. EB. #2018doodle #IamDSISD #rsewhy pic.twitter.com/MOvltxC2jN

— Thinkers and Tinkers (@TandT3rdGrade) January 4, 2018

Maybe draw what you're hoping to see or do in 2018, or write some goals, draw characters from your most recent or upcoming book....or WHATEVER YOU'D LIKE.

We read Big Plans by Bob Shea and then made 2018 Goal Pictures using Debi Ridpath Ohi’s art to start with. Now let’s get to achieving these! #3rdGradeMD pic.twitter.com/pfG8Vbtsgq

— Janelle Stigall 📚 (@JanelleStigall) January 5, 2018

If you choose to share in social media, feel free to post the link in the comments below or tag me on social media so I can see. If posting on social media, I encourage you to use the hashtag #2018doodle for others to see.

Also, don't despair if 2017 wasn't what you hoped for. Take a deep breath, focus ahead. 

2018 will be YOUR year.

And congrats to Anika Denise, whose RT was randomly picked (via Tweetdraw on the Competition Agency website) to win the hand-drawn doodle above!

Already given up on doing NaNoWriMo but look for an achievable daily writing challenge?

Every year, I think about doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I've participated in the challenge a few years in the past and completed a first draft of a middle grade novel. Doing NaNoWriMo is always fun and I did end up submitting the novel after many revisions. I got some encouraging rejection letters but in the end, I had to shelve the mss. 

One of my challenges in recent years has been that November has always been a very busy time for me in terms of travel and/or work. This year, I have three out-of-town trips during the month.

So....no NaNoWriMo.

But I'm going to be doing daily writing anyway. I've also added badges if you want to use pockets of time for revising instead of writing. You can find the details on this web page and feel free to browse my Inkygirl Daily Writing Challenge on Facebook for inspiration as well.

I hope you'll join me!

Noel Coward quote on writer professionalism

Writers & illustrators: Be brave. Fail. Try again. Succeed. Rinse and repeat. - Jenny Bent

One of my favourite pieces of advice for writers and illustrators is from literary agent Jenny Bent: "...Be brave. Fail. Try again. Succeed. Rinse and repeat."

It applies as much to the published as well as pre-published.

In fact, this advice is good for life in general.

Thank you, Jenny!

Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME was rejected 26 times before being published (and going on to winning the Newbery!)

Did you know that Madeleine L'Engle almost gave up writing when she turned 40 because of discouragement over rejections? "With all the hours I spent writing, I was still not pulling my own weight financially." She discovered, however, that her subconscious wouldn't let her NOT write. 

"I had to write. I had no choice in the matter. It was not up to me to say I would stop because I could not. It didn't matter how small or inadequate my talent. If I never had another book published, and it was very clear to me that this was a real possibility, I still had to go on writing." (Source)

A Wrinkle In Time was rejected 26 times before John C. Farrar of Farrar, Straus and Giroux published it. It ended up winning the 1963 Newbery Medal and became a beloved classic.

Sources:

The Storyteller: Fact, Fiction and the books of Madeleine L'Engle - by Cynthia Zarin on NewYorker.com

Awards & Honors: 2004 National Humanities Medalist, Madeleine L'Engle

Penguin Random House Audio Publishing page about Madeleine L'Engle

Wikipedia pages on A Wrinkle In Time and Madeleine L'Engle (though I notice a lot of conflicting info!)

(Reprinted from an earlier Inkygirl post)

Writers and illustrators: Be brave. Fail. Try again. Succeed. Rinse & repeat. - Jenny Bent

Morning doodle inspired by one of my favourite pieces of advice, from Jenny Bent:

Writers and illustrators: "Be brave. Fail. Try again. Succeed. Rinse and repeat."

Turning a coffee stain into art: responses from artists to my #CoffeeStainChallenge + an art giveaway

As some of you already know, I am fond of doodling with coffee stains. I was first inspired by (lo and behold) an accidental coffee stain, whose shape spurred me to turn what was initially a random event into art. I recently posted about purposely creating a bunch of coffee stains as doodlefodder, and my friend Joyce Grant suggested I post one of them and challenge people to doodle with it. Here's the original coffee stain:

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I feel like this at least once every book project

Anyone else feel like this sometimes? I go through this at LEAST once every book project. The insecurity helps keep me humble and also motivates me to always keep learning and experimenting, to push myself to step out of my comfort zone. I try to write or doodle in my journal every day, and will sometimes share my entries publicly. If you're looking for extra motivation to start journalling, I encourage you to check out National Journal Writing Month, which encourages journal writing for personal growth but especially in Jan, April, July and Oct.

Late Bloomer Profile: Laura Boldin-Fournier and her debut picture book, AN ORANGUTAN'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Pelican Publishing)

It's never too late to get published! This month's Late Bloomer profile: Laura Boldin-Fournier, whose first chidren's book came out when she was 68 years old. AN ORANGUTAN'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS debuted earlier this year from Pelican Publishing, and Laura was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

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Imagination can be dangerous. It can change the world & that's why we write. - Meg Rosoff

"Imagination can be dangerous. It can change the world & that's why we write."

- Meg Rosoff