For Kids
Places that publish kids’ writing Here are some places you could submit your work if you’re interested in trying to get something published.
- If you’d like to write book reviews, check out the Children Come First site:
http://www.childrencomefirst.com/ccfreporter.shtml - Stone Soup is a magazine by young writers and artists, accepting work by children up through age 13.
http://www.stonesoup.com - Here’s a site where you can post stories and poems:
http://zuzu.org/write.html
For Writers
Page-a-Day Practice
In the fall of 1999, I decided to commit to writing at least one page of fiction every day. Since January 1, 2000, I’ve kept to this practice without a day off. At first, in between projects, I wrote stories from my own life until some new fiction idea would come to me. Now I have more fiction ideas than I can keep up with. In the first seven years I’ve spent writing a page or more every day, I’ve written 15 novels, many of which are still in first draft form, but some of which I’ve polished and submitted. That’s about 4300 pages in 2557 days, plus about 200 pages of nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry.
My article “Writing Practice” can be found in the January, 2004 issue of Kite Tales, page 17: http://www.rmcscbwi.org/kitetales/pdf/kt0104.pdf
Organizations
- Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) http://scbwi.org/
An incredibly helpful, useful, and important resource. If you’re interested in writing for children, this is the place to start. - Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI—Many of my favorite authors are listed on this website: http://rmcscbwi.org/
The Rocky Mountain Chapter offers two conferences per year, a summer retreat every other year, and many other opportunities to network with other children’s writers and illustrators. - Pikes Peak Writers Conference (and the Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest) http://ppwc.net/
This conference, in April of every year in Colorado Springs, covers writing for adults and children in just about every genre you can name. Helpful workshops and a lot of fun. Something for everyone. - Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers/Colorado Gold Conference http://rmfw.org/
This group offers the Colorado Gold Conference every fall in Denver and members can participate in critique groups throughout the greater metro-Denver area. Their Colorado Gold Writing Contest includes judging by editors or agents for the top six entries in each category. This was the first writing contest I entered back in 1992, and I got 3rd place. - Highlights Foundation www.highlightsfoundation.org
The personable staff members of Highlights Magazine and Boyds Mills Press host the weeklong workshop at Chautauqua, NY every summer. There are also workshops in Pennsylvania throughout the year. - Institute of Children’s Literature http://www.theinstituteofchildrensliterature.com/F6448/index_03.htm The Institute offers correspondence courses for writers. My first publication, a short story entitled “The Silent Meadow” (CRICKET, March 2002) came out of an assignment I did in the course Writing for Children and Teenagers.
- Writers Digest Book Club www.writersdigestbookclub.com
A word about writing contests
In most contests, you’ll receive score sheets with comments from your judges. The judges might be editors, agents, or well-published authors, but they also might be people whose main qualification is experience in a critique group. I’ve had enormously helpful and equally hurtful comments from judges. Entering contests is a great way to discover how you’re progressing in your writing, but don’t let judges discourage you from writing.
