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I know that many of you are not only parents, teachers, and librarians, but you are also writers in all stages of your career. If you are looking to increase your freelance income or work as a children’s writer, then I want to tell you about my friend Suzanne Lieurance. I met Suzanne about eight years ago at a retreat in the mountains of North Carolina even though we both lived in Missouri at the time! Since then, we’ve kept in touch and currently both belong to the Missouri Writers’ Guild. She is doing amazing things and helping writers all over the world with her Writing Coaching Program and The Morning Nudge.

Here’s a really short video (about 1 min. 30 sec.) about the coaching program and The Morning Nudge (which is $99.99 for one year):

What is The Morning Nudge?
Every weekday morning, Suzanne sends you The Morning Nudge, a short email, with tips to help you:

# Gain confidence as a writer
# Learn where and how to find freelance work
# Improve your overall writing so you land choice assignments
# Move your writing career ahead to the next level

If this sounds like something you’ve been looking for–something to really get your freelancing or writing career going when the kids go back to school, just click here and sign up! If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments; and I will find the answers for you or ask Suzanne to come on over to Read These Books and Use Them and answer them. If you want her to answer some more private questions, just leave your email address, so she can contact you personally. Take it from me, I have attended one of Suzanne’s workshops at a writing conference, and she is a motivator!

One more exciting thing, I teach teleclasses for Suzanne. What this means is that each month, I teach over the phone on a certain topic for about 50 minutes. If you want to attend the class and are part of the coaching program, it comes with the program; but you can also buy just the class, and they are SUCH A BARGAIN! You can also buy the class in the archives once it’s been taught if you can’t attend the class at the given time and date. (The way a teleclass works is you call a number and have a code to enter at the time the class starts. Then you are connected with the instructor and other people in the class. You can ask questions at the end of the lesson.) I have two upcoming classes with Suzanne.

• Introduction to Social Networking for Writers (August 18, 7:00 p.m. CST): Find ou
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Today, I have a great article from writing coach and instructor, Suzanne Lieurance. As a member of her Children Writers Coaching Club, and Write More, Sell More, Make More Money Than EVER in 2010 Coaching Program, I know first hand of the unique quality Suzanne has of getting her message and instruction across. She knows the writing and marketing ropes and effectively imparts that knowledge to her members.

So, here's some writing insight from Suzanne Lieurance:

What is Holding You Back From the Success You Want?

Want to know what is probably holding you back from being as successful as you could be?

The answer should be no surprise.

It's YOU.

Yep. YOU are the one thing that stands in your way to living the life of your dreams.

And, the thing is, you might not even realize why or how you are doing that. But you must learn to recognize certain behaviors and patterns before you can change them, so let's take a look at some common methods of self-sabotage.

First, think about all the little messages you send to yourself every day. The ones that play in your head over and over again and say things like, "I'm afraid to do that," or "I'd better not try that, I'd probably fail," or, "nothing I do ever works out the way I want it to."

Or maybe you recognize another common pattern - you do many of the things necessary to succeed, yet once you do start to make progress you pull back. You're just too afraid to break out of your comfort zone.
Sound familiar?

Here's yet another pattern that can hold you back - you try a few things to get the results you want. But when they don't work quickly you stop doing them and try something else. In other words, you don't give yourself enough time to succeed.

Every day you send messages to yourself - and to the world around you - through your thoughts, actions, and feelings. Those messages are like a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, is it any wonder you don't live up to your true potential?

Stop holding yourself back.

Each time you hear one of those negative messages in your head today, acknowledge it. Then replace it with a new, positive message that will lead to the future you truly want.

Try it!

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For more tips to help you create the life of your dreams, sign up for The Morning Nudge
Suzanne Lieurance is a full-time freelance writer, The Working Writer's Coach, and founder of Build Your Business Write.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suzanne_Lieurance
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Please be sure to check out Suzanne Lieurance's programs. If you want to write for children or get a freelance writing career going, she's the woman to learn from.

The Children's Writers' Coaching Club


Write More, Sell More, Make More Money Than EVER in 2010 Coaching Program

And, please, if you do take my advice and join one or both of Suzanne's groups, please mention my name--I am an affiliate of hers. But, also know that I only recommend these programs because I belong to them and I know their value if you're serious about writing.
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Related Article:
Aim for Writing Success

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This article appears on School Library Journal.com. I'm not surprised at the debate around Hugo Cabret's eligibility for the Caldecott, although it does not match the level of controversy which met Sue Patron's Newbery for The Higher Power of Lucky last year. But it seems clear that there is a preconceived--or perhaps preapproved?--idea of what constitutes a picture book, and "Invention" deviates from that in a big way. But if you read the terms and criteria for the Caldecott medal, as specified by the American Library Association, then it is hard to argue that "Invention" is not a picture book.

A "picture book for children" as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.

That's the first criteria. And since I feel that for the reader The Invention of Hugo Cabret is all about an experience, I'm won over with the very first point. And besides, who could begrudge such a magnificent book this honor?

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And you can expect to see him a lot more in the future, now that The Invention of Hugo Cabret (my 2007 Book of the Year, by the way!) is the recipient of the 2008 Caldecot Medal. Newsweek has a very nice interview with author Brian Selznik, in which he talks about his time working in a bookshop and the fact that Martin Scorcesse in making the book into a film (although I kind of wonder if that's totally necessary. And will it be silent?) There are a few spoilers in the article, so if you are planning to read it anytime soon (and why wouldn't you?!) and don't want to know the secrets of the story.....consider yourself warned.

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This afternoon I met with fellow librarians representing the Southeastern Massachusetts Library System to try our hand at selecting a Caldecott Winner. The 2008 Caldecott Medal will be awarded on Monday 14 January (along with the Newbery, Seibert, and Prinz) at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Philly. We will see how our selection stacks up at that time. This was the first time I had taken part in such an event, and it was good fun. We were a group of 14, so we were only 1 body short of the actual nominating committee. But we only had 2 1/2 hours to select, defend, and vote on a title, as opposed to the conclave that will duke it out this weekend. As it was, we had to award a tie, because after two ballots and a hand count we were evenly split. We started with 29 titles, selected in advance by Melody Allen of the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services. Those 29 were narrowed down to 17. We then split into three groups, with each group commissioned to select two titles of the 17 to present and defend (and there could be no duplication between groups.) Although only 6 books were presented, each member was allowed to vote for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd selection from the group of seventeen finalists. First time through I voted as such:

Dogs and Cats by Steven Jenkins
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Jabberwocky by Christopher Myers

Second time through I voted:

Dogs and Cats
First the Egg
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, Illus. by Kadir Nelson

When it came for a hand vote, I went with First the Egg.

But as I said, it was a tie. And so I present to you, the 2008 Caldecott Winners for the most distinguished American picture book for children published in English in the United States, as chosen by SEMLS:

The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, Illus. by Shelly Jackson
AND
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Honors went to:

Fred Stays with Me! by Nancy Coffelt, Illus. by Tricia Tusa
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, Illus. by Kadir Nelson

Aside from providing a bit of fun, this afternoon's exercise was a great lesson in objectivity and critical analysis. It was new for me to take these books and judge them on the merits of a single aspect, in this case the illustrations (especially since I tend to pay more attention to text.) It was too easy to dismiss a title simply because the story or subject matter itself did not appeal to me. In order to judge fairly and according to the criteria which I had been given, I had to evaluate the effectiveness of the illustrations, not just as enhancers of the text, but as the heart of the story-telling process itself. Peter Sis' The Wall, for instance, is text heavy in a way that is not likely to attract a young reader. But the context and execution of the paneled illustrations does a superb job of presenting the themes discussed in all that text, in a way that is accessible to children. They may not read all the information about life in Communist Prague, but they will understand from the pictures that the place the author is describing is oppressive, colorless, and uniform. So in that regard, the book is outstanding.

Although I had enjoyed most of the 29 titles submitted for consideration, there were some severe omissions, in my opinion (where oh where was The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan?!) Here are the other 24 titles:

The Apple Pie That Papa Baked (Thompson, Lauren, illus. by Jonathan Bean)
At Night (Bean, Jonathan)
Beetle Bop (Fleming, Denise)
The Cheese (Palatini, Margie, illus. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher)
A Closer Look (McCarthy, Mary)
Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars (Florian, Douglas)
The Crow (Paul, Alison)
Dog and Bear (Seeger, Laura Vaccaro)
Dogs and Cats (Jenkins, Steve)
Duck, Duck, Goose (Hills, Tad)
A Good Day (Henkes, Kevin)
Heat Wave (Spinelli, Eileen, illus. Betsy Lewin)
Jabberwocky (Myers, Christopher)
Knuffe Bunny Too (Willems, Mo)
Leaves (Stein, Ezra David)
Let it Shine (Bryan, Ashley)
Lightship (Floca, Brian)
Little Red Riding Hood (Pinkney, Jerry)
Mary and the Mouse, The Mouse and Mary (McClintock, Barbara)
Pictures from our Vacation (Perkins, Lynne Rae)
Rainstorm (Lehman, Barbara)
Velma Gratch and the way Cool Butterfly (Madison, Alan, illus. Kevin Hawkes)
The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain (Sis, Peter)
The Wizard (Prelutsky, Jack, illus. Brandon Dorman)

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