Children’s Writing Web Journal

• help is here for book hoarders! http://tinyurl.com/cszbb8 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• E-publishing & the future. Here’s an interesting take: http://is.gd/hR0f Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Big list of children’s/YA bloggers: http://jijr.com/kwg Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Alice Pope liveblogs SCBWI conference here: http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/ Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Now @ the Clubhouse: “Building a Story, Chapter by Chapter” http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Thoughts on how to name a character: http://aldaric.org/blog/?p=20 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 15 more writing exercises: http://is.gd/hPFc: Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Bad habit of overusing certain words? Word Frequency Counter: http://is.gd/hPEO Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Writing about police officers? Add some reality w/this: http://snipr.com/b0jg5 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 25 story starters: http://short.to/pwh Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Links to top children’s book awards: http://snipr.com/b0j6a Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Top 5 overall bestsellers? children’s books. Diary/Wimpy Kid is #1. Be optimistic, folks! http://is.gd/1Oj0 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com #
• Online word counter. Useful for writing on the fly. http://wordcounter.net/ Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• From PW: Amazon’s revenue up 18% on ‘08. http://twurl.nl/x1sikn= Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #

• Upcoming children’s author blog tours: http://short.to/p61 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• WashPost axes standalone book review section. http://twurl.nl/8cb8pj Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Submissions for Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award starts 2/2: http://www.amazon.com/abna Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Children’s books go digital: http://snipr.com/ayt93 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Latino Book Awards taking nominations: http://jijr.com/pQu Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Writers guide to psychology(not for you,for your characters!) http://short.to/pnh Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Google for Educators. Some useful stuff here: http://www.google.com/educators Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #

• Kindle 2.0 coming soon? http://jijr.com/p7W Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• The Helpful Writing Assistant: http://is.gd/hy8G Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/ Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 40 of the Best Websites for Young Writers: http://snipr.com/avydn Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Why Your Story Sucks: http://snipr.com/avy9n Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Vintage Children’s Books brought back to life - http://fleck.com/m2WPC Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Interesting fill-in form to help create fiction characters: http://jijr.com/jr5 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• The Big Huge Thesaurus: http://words.bighugelabs.com/ Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Now @ The Clubhouse: “How Do I Propose a Picture Book Series to an Editor?” http://cbiclubhouse.com #
• Toss your characters a curve w/instant conflict generator! http://snipr.com/7r848 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Nifty real-time rhyming tool: http://short.to/bmy Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• The Happiest Book in the World: http://jijr.com/p7Q Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Scottish Proverbs: http://snipr.com/avxqt Some fun & pithy stuff here. Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Nice list of writing contests: http://snipr.com/91q1g Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• How to build a fantasy world. Very indepth! http://jijr.com/p7K Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Newbery winner Neil Gaiman on how he gets ideas: http://jijr.com/jYG Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com, children’s writing community #

HarperCollins UK’s Fiday Project is offering authors of certain electronic-only books “profit share” contracts “in which profits from each book are split equally between publisher and author”.    Keep an eye on this — it could foretell a future in which, shorn of printing and distrbution costs, publishers will be compelled to offer far better contracts to compete with entrepreneurial ePublishers.

Here’s the link to the story:  http://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=977&Itemid=97

Also, here’s an interesting piece about the potential for digital children’s books:  http://www.columbian.com/article/20090105/LIVING/701059994

• New @ the Clubhouse: full text of a query letter that scored a children’s book contract w/author’s analysis. http://cbiclubhouse.com #
• Create Your Own Young Adult Novel (it’s satire, folks) http://short.to/ofr Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Interesting piece on how to read a publishing contract: http://jijr.com/p05 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• How to start a novel: http://short.to/ol2 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• New @ the Clubhouse: Laura Backes on top children’s book trends at ALA Conference — http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• The best self-publishing resource I know: http://parapub.com Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• John Steinbeck’s advice for beginning writers: http://twurl.nl/8jcglz Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 20 worst writing blunders: http://is.gd/htxX Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 100 Best First Lines of Novels: http://is.gd/htwZ What’s your fave 1st line? Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Universities w/ Free Online Writing Courses: http://snipr.com/auos3 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• A fleet of mudhens, a pod of pelicans. Cool list! http://tinyurl.com/m98om Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• New @ the Clubhouse: Laura Interviews Kathryn Lay, children’s author w/more than 1000 publishing credits! http://cbiclubhouse.com/ #
• New @ the Clubhouse: full text of a query letter that scored a children’s book contract w/author’s analysis. http://cbiclubhouse.com #
• 17 Writing Secrets: http://snipr.com/atsai Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• NYTimes on Gaiman’s Newbery win: http://is.gd/hpUB Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Looking for a good book? try this nifty tool: http://www.thisonenext.com/search Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Why each of you should strive for greatness: http://twurl.nl/c40dh0 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• One editor’s take: The Most Common Mistakes in Fiction http://snipr.com/atrrh Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Here’s one for you luddites: the virtual typewriter. http://twurl.nl/jmabky Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• At 93, aspiring children’s writer awaits her big break: http://is.gd/hpNH Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Why say yellow when you can say canary? Colorful words: http://snipr.com/atqwt Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #

• In case you missed it : Newbery/Caldecott winners here: http://snipurl.com/armcl Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• New @ CBI Clubhouse: Laura Backes reports from the ALA conference with her take on the latest kidslit trends: http://cbiclubhouse.com #

• The hero’s journey, explained: http://tinyurl.com/afnfr Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com Children’s Writing Community #

Live from Denver, it’s the announcement of this year’s Newbery and Caldecott recipients.

The action begins at 7:45 AM Mountain Time on Monday morning.  Here’s where to take it all in:

http://ala.unikron.com/

UPDATE:  If that feed is full, you can get the results instantly by following this Twitter page:

http://twitter.com/ALAyma

• the big list o’ cliches: http://snipr.com/amcvw Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Need a ruler, but can’t find one? Disposable paper rulers! http://snipr.com/amcp6 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• List of 20 Basic Plots for fiction: http://snipr.com/amcn8 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Fightin’ Bookworm t-shirts are in! http://tinyurl.com/dallsr #
• “The 1,041 Best Books Ever” No Charlotte’s Web? bah! http://snipr.com/alw11 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 13 cool writing prompts: http://is.gd/gZ7d Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Meanings of first names. Apparently, I’m a “gift from God”. http://is.gd/78Wb Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Rejection letters getting you down? Read this: http://twurl.nl/cd2hkx Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• “A Universal Listing of Every Problem a Story Has Ever Had” http://jijr.com/iXA Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Here’s a unique one: Write realistically about injuries. http://twurl.nl/j0nho3 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• The Almost Totally Random Writing Exercise Generator: http://twurl.nl/znfhqs Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Children’s Book Safety Issue Heats Up: http://twurl.nl/uh7izg= Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #

• New at The Clubhouse — “Step-by-Step: Writing a Perfect Query Letter” http://cbiclubhouse.com #
• The economy & children’s publishing-interesting thread here: http://jijr.com/iKL Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Author Garth Nix lays out his writing process: http://is.gd/gTwb Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• 100 Addictive Book sites: http://is.gd/gTvN Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Lots of interesting writing articles: http://snipr.com/ak982 Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Search engine for famous quotes: http://is.gd/8uEG Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Writing contest database: http://jijr.com/iKK=*& Jon, http://cbiclubhouse.com children’s writing community #
• Just posted at the CBI Clubhouse: “Editing Made Easy…How to Polish Your Manuscript to a Gleam” http://cbiclubhouse.com #