Resources for your most creative life

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Living Your Most Creative Life

Resources to help you create—in whatever way gives you joy!

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Planning & Organization, Faith, Daily Inspiration, Joy in the Mess

How do I get out of Reaction Mode?

Planning & Organization, Faith, Daily Inspiration, Joy in the Mess

I had dreams for my family life, for the kids education, for my own recreation time (which currently clocked in at daily total of zero minutes, zero seconds). I longed to do things like knit, read books with real pages, write for the joy of it. Instead, I was living life of reacting—not to God’s direction—but to people’s momentary expectations, urgent tasks all shoving and bickering to be FIRST on my list. I was desperate to get back to the most important focus of every day...

Planning & Organization, Faith, Daily Inspiration, Joy in the Mess

Christmas, Crafts For Kids, Playdough, DIY Gifts, School at Home, homeschooling

The Best Scented Playdough Recipe (Gluten Free!)

Christmas, Crafts For Kids, Playdough, DIY Gifts, School at Home, homeschooling

Holiday scented playdough? Beautiful consistency and long-lasting? Yes, please! We can’t make Christmas cookies every day (can we?!?), and many little hands don’t always make light work, as the proverb says. What do we do when it’s not cookie-making time, or littles are quite ready for the real thing?

Christmas, Crafts For Kids, Playdough, DIY Gifts, School at Home, homeschooling

Thanksgiving, Learning Printables

A Sweet Slice of Thanksgiving: Some Resources to Enrich Celebration

Thanksgiving, Learning Printables

As Thanksgiving approaches, I can't help but look for little things to do or add to make the holiday more meaningful and memorable. Especially since Thanksgiving is traditionally a day of gorging oneself before (finally!) turning on the Christmas music (actually, I start Christmas music in early November - can't help myself). Thanksgiving gets lost, slipped in between the fun of costumes and candy and the magic and mystery of Advent and Christ's birth.

Thanksgiving, Learning Printables

Faith, Christian Formation, Christmas, Holiday, Faith Formation

A Family Christmas Resource You Won't Want to Miss!

Faith, Christian Formation, Christmas, Holiday, Faith Formation

Joy of Advent is a virtual daily devotional reading for children and adults. Each email also has curated music videos and classical (usually) works of art that are truly breathtaking. The Joy of Advent daily readings are structured around the Jesse Tree, in part because the Jesse Tree is a beautiful, ancient tradition, and because it gives us the opportunity to pull a scarlet thread from the tapestry of Scripture.

Faith, Christian Formation, Christmas, Holiday, Faith Formation

Writing Essentials

A growing collection of articles on tools and tricks for becoming a writer.

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19 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Ignite Your Creativity

Here you’ll find my TOP FIVE easy ways to set your creativity ABLAZE. These ideas can be used by anyone—even if you (mistakenly) think you’re not creative. We’re all creative. It’s part of what it means to be human, but we each express our creativity in our own uniquely wonderful ways. Download the full list to find out more!

How (not) to Write a Boring Book

I first started thinking about tension when I heard Donald Maass speak at a conference some years ago. He described how the simple scene of a man looking at his watch while waiting for a bus can go from bland to Bang in a matter of words. Since then I have often noticed the varying levels of tension, both in books I have enjoyed and in those I haven’t. Here I'll discuss the ten levels of tension, and what they mean to the writer.

13 Must-Have Mobile Apps for Writers

13 Must-Have Mobile Apps for Writers. Writing has changed since the days of typewriter and correction fluid (remember the little bottle of white-out with the brush, remember how strong it smelled, how fast it dried, how fun it was?). Pen and paper have been replaced in many fields by smartphones, mobile devices and laptops. But until recently it never occurred to me that more than just writing could be aided by technology.

Beyond the First Right Answer: Writing Craft and Dewitt Jones

"Anybody can come up with one right answer." The key is to look for the next right answer ...

On Punctuating Dialog ...

It’s a common confusion – how on earth do I punctuate dialog? Punctuating dialog is the same as punctuating any sentence, isn't it? You put the end punctuation at the end of a sentence? Except with dialog, even if it’s not the end of a sentence, you still might put in end punctuation, but then you need more end punctuation, and ... it’s a confusing mess. The key is this...

All About Picture Books

A picture book is deceptively complex and stunningly beautiful. Sort of like Moby Dick—written in haiku.

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How to Create Pure Emotion in Picture Books

I started the first semester of graduate school knowing just a little more about picture books than I do about worms. Children love them, they come out on rainy days, and if you cut them in half, they really do die. Here I’ll share what I discovered about creating picture books with meaning and beauty.

How to Construct a Picture Book in Three Acts

The 3 Act structure provides a perfect framework for any genre of picture book, about any subject. Plus thinking of it in terms of the grid we drew together, it can help immeasurable with pacing and troubleshooting a story that just isn’t working.

Lessons in Rhyme: How to Write a Rhyming Picture Book

I believe four key elements unite the best of the best rhyming picture book texts: Structure, Speech, Surprise, and Story. Books that fail will be lacking in one (or more) of these key areas; those that succeed will demonstrate at least passing-grade competence in all four. Now to examine these elements more closely.

Violet and the Woof shows off with Sheepie

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Publication & Beyond

Get an inside glimpse into the publishing world and pro tips for book promotion.

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Make Your Own Video Book Trailer Part II: A More Helpful Tutorial

Making a book trailer can be as easy or as complicated as you want. I’ve made all of mine with nothing but iMovie, photo editing software, and an internet connection. I’m not a video expert by any means, but here’s a brain-dump of everything I know about creating a video trailer yourself, for free!

How to Promote Your First Picture Book, or try to...

How *I* promoted my first book, which may not be how you (or anyone else) will want to tackle book promotion, but just in case you're an author with a book releases looming and you're thinking, "What the heck do I do?" you can glean inspiration from me. I’ll share what I did, what I made, what I purchased and I’ll tell you what worked … and what didn’t!

The Whys and Hows of Author Postcards

I did a lot of googling, considering, wondering before I decided to make postcards to go along with my first book's release. I needed to think about time it would take to design, expense to print, ultimate usefulness. Ultimately I decided in favor of postcards, and I'm glad I did. Below discover why!

How to Make a Book Trailer Part I: an Unhelpful Tutorial

I’m going to tell you exactly how I made Halloween Good Night’s promo trailer. I promise, this will be a thoroughly unhelpful tutorial—unless you know: Photoshop, iMovie, and scriptwriting—or are willing to learn a lot … fast. It also helps if Google is your BFF. Ready? Let’s begin!

How to Switch From Blogger to Squarespace in 415 Easy Steps

Welcome to the Obsessiblog: Was it only two weeks ago? Just two weeks? The brilliant thought struck: I want continuity, simplicity, everything with one design in one place. I should move my little Blogger blog over to Squarespace where my website is hosted. Oh, to be so young and naïve...