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I’m a few days late to the party, thanks to my participation in the YALSA and ILF events, but I’m happy this morning to share with you this recently recorded interview I did for Katie Davis’ kidlit podcast, Brain Burps About Books.

In addition to discussing Shark Vs. Train and Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!, Katie and I talked quite a bit about my email newsletter, Bartography Express, which I wrote about earlier this year for Cynsations. And in fact, while I was listening to our interview, I was actually putting the finishing touches on this month’s edition.

The November edition includes, among other things, a Q&A with K.A. Holt and a giveaway of her new book, Rhyme Schemer. If you want to receive this issue in your very own inbox and get in the running for the giveaway, you can sign up on my home page.

…all of these folks, too!

Tom Angleberger
Artie Bennett
Judy Blundell
Nick Bruel
Michael Buckley
Bryan Collier
Barbara Dee
Bruce Degan
Ame Dyckman
Marla Frazee
Robin Preiss Glasser
Deborah Heiligman
Victoria Kann
Alan Katz
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Peter Lerangis
Gail Carson Levine
Brian Lies
CJ Lyons
Florence Minor
Wendell Minor
Marc Tyler Nobleman
Matt Phelan
Peter Reynolds
Judy Schachner
Eric Velasquez
Jane Yolen

We each helped author Katie Davis celebrate the 200th episode of her Brain Burps About Books podcast by chipping in some writing advice. I especially enjoyed Brian Lies’ tip for writing in rhyme, but who knows whose advice will be most helpful for you?

Check us all out and let Katie know what you think!

by Julie Hedlund

This might sound strange coming from me, but PiBoIdMo is my favorite writing challenge. Yes, I know I am the founder and host of 12 x 12, but let’s face it—writing picture book drafts is work. Fun, but also work.

PiBoIdMo—just letting your creativity run wild and capturing every little flutter and fancy of your imagination is just plain FUN. Freeing. Fabulous. (See how I used the rule of three there???)

For those of you who ARE planning to do 12 x 12 in 2014, I almost consider participating in PiBoIdMo a mandatory first step. Where else are you going to mine the ideas for 12 picture book drafts?

I made this little video for the sole purpose of reminding everyone to lighten up, have fun, and ENJOY fishing for those awesome ideas—some of which will one day turn into picture books! Many thanks to Tara for bringing us the joy of PiBo each year!!

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Julie Hedlund is a Children’s author, founder of the 12 x 12 Picture Book Challenge, a monthly contributor to the Brain Burps about Books podcast and the “Field Guide to 21st Century Publishing” for the Children’s Book Insider.

Julie is generously giving away two prizes!

The first is GOLD MEMBERSHIP in 12 x 12 for 2014!

The second is a signed print copy of her Little Bahalia release A TROOP IS A GROUP OF MONKEYS.

Both prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

1. You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
2. You have commented on this post.
3. You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

One of the things I love best about being a member of the children’s lit industry is the spirit of community with which we support one another. Unlike many other businesses, almost everyone who writes, illustrates, edits, publishes, markets, sells or otherwise works with children’s books puts their love of kids and reading first. This makes for an environment in which everyone encourages everyone else, and all in the interest of getting more kids reading – and loving – books.

This was something Katie Davis and I chatted about this week, when she invited me to be a guest on her terrific podcast series, Brain Burps About Books. (You can listen to the interview here: http://katiedavis.com/emma-walton-hamilton). Katie and I had a great time talking about various aspects of writing for kids, and she was enormously generous in putting the word out about my various creative efforts, such as The Children Book Hub, my Just Write for Kids online course in writing picture books and the Southampton Childrens Literature Conference. In return, I offered her listeners a special introductory rate to join the Hub (you’ll have to listen to the interview to access it!) and invited her to be an Expert Interviewee on the Childrens Book Hub in March. I’m really looking forward to that, since Katie has just published a fabulous resource for childrens book authors and illustrators, How to Promote Your Childrens Book. It’s chock full of invaluable information, and a thoroughly enjoyable read, being written (and illustrated!) in Katie’s fun, accessible style. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I am also touched and honored to be “In the Spotlight” this week on Beth Stilborn’s excellent blog, By Word of Beth.  I have had the pleasure of working with Beth editorially on several different projects (she’s a terrific writer  with a shared commitment to the arts and literacy), and we now collaborate as co-administrators of the Childrens Book Hub Facebook page (check it out – it’s not limited to members of the Hub, but welcomes all children’s authors, illustrators and editors, whether published or aspiring). I’ve watched Beth’s passion for children’s literature grow into a thriving platform that now serves the industry in numerous wonderful ways. Beth is giving away two copies of my book Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment this week – to be eligible for the draw, go here: http://www.bethstilborn.com/wednesday-worthy-emma-walton-hamilton/

As I watch our politicians (among others) take one pot shot after another at each other, I continue to be grateful to be a member of this warm and supportive community.

I don’t normally do a week-in-review post but this past week was such a celebration of literacy (with Share A Story and World Read Aloud Day), I wanted to highlight some things as well as thank a bunch of people for helping make it a great week.

First off, if you didn’t get a chance to check out Share A Story please visit when you have the opportunity. Thanks to Terry Doherty for helping organize this amazing blog tour. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the posts as well as having the opportunity to serve as one of the hosts.

Thanks also to Dawn Little of Links to Literacy for hosting Book Dads on Day 2: The Gift of Reading. I had so many responses from dads for our post, I had to break them up into three separate ones: Dads Share Their Story Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Thanks to all the dads, authors and bloggers who took the time to share their gift of reading with me.

I’d also like to thank Danielle from There’s A Book for hosting Book Dads on Day 3: Literacy 2.0. This might have been my favorite day of posts. I couldn’t believe the number of resources people shared, and have been waiting for an opportunity to visit those links. Here is our post for that day: Unwrapping Literacy 2.0: The Color Nook with Toddlers.

World Read Aloud Day was on Wednesday. Check out their appearance on Good Morning America.