Children’s Writing Web Journal

Wordle is a free online tool that takes any text and creates a “word cloud”.  The more a word shows up in the text, the larger it appears in a cloud.  Here’s a Wordle cloud I created using the text of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

I can think of a few  interesting uses for children’s book writers (or any writer, for that matter):

• Run your manuscript through it to see if you’re overusing certain adjectives.  If a word that has nothing to do with the theme of your story is larger than those that do, perhaps it’s time to take out the thesaurus and vary your word choices a bit.

• Need to write a plot synopsis, but you’re not certain what to say?  Let Wordle show you what the overriding themes of your story are.  It’s pretty clear what President Lincoln had on his mind while crafting his speech by examining the Worldle above.

• Perhaps you can find a novel way to use one of these for storytelling purposes.  Maybe providing a Wordle of each chapter throughout a manuscript would be a memorable way of summing things up?  Or take the dialogue from each character and create their own Wordles and run them back-to-back.  I leave the possibilities to your own creative minds.

Have a look for yourself at http://wordle.net

Interested in learning how to write a book and send it to children’s book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

The new edition of the Children’s Writing Update e-zine is now available for your viewing pleasure. This issue features:

* resources for “mom writers”

* news about two major contests

* links to a slew of “how-to” videos for children’s writers

* an article by Laura Backes called “Writing Without a Map”…and much more.

It’s free!

Have a look at http://write4kids.com/update.html

It’s the time of year when “Best of” lists start making their appearance, and, in the world of children’s literature, few such lists are more prestigious than The Kirkus Reviews’.

If you want a crash course in what’s happening in kids lit, head over to Kirkus now and grab the just-released list.

Here’s the link:

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/images/pdf/BestChildrens.pdf

We’re offering a great little ebook called Getting Started Writing Picture Books as a bonus for signing up for our free eZine, The Children’s Writing Update.

To claim your copy, just click here

We just stumbled across this:  Until midnight tonight, you can grap a free copy of Liquid Story Binder XE, a “uniquely designed word processor for professional and aspiring authors, poets, and novelists.”   It’s being given away at http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Enjoy!

One of the great things about being a writer is that you can do it pretty much anywhere. 

Charge up the laptop battery and you’re ready to go.  But to really go mobile, a “wi-fi” connection to the internet is the only way to travel.

These days, scores of coffee shops, bookstores and even fast food joints offer wi-fi service to their customers.  The tricky part?  Finding them.  I’ve looked at a bunch of directories, and I’ve found this one to be very comprehensive and reliable:

http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm

And here’s one that shows locations on a map:

http://hotspotr.com/wifi

Happy wi-fying!

Sure, YouTube is filled with great stuff for kids to view.  It’s also packed with videos that, well, aren’t too great for them to view.  How to keep a young surfer on a safe path?  Try TotLOL, a monitored front-end to YouTube that offers only G-rated videos for the young ‘uns.  It’s free!

TotLOL

Interested in writing stories and sending them to children’s book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

Whoa, this is cool. Jott.com is a free service that does lots of things, but the most immediately impressive is its voice to e-mail feature.

Here’s how it works:

1. Set up a Jott account by registering your e-mail and your phone number.
2. Program Jott’s toll-free number into your phone contacts.
3. Whenever you want, call the toll-free number and leave yourself a message.
4. The message is transcribed and e-mailed to you, along with a link to the actual audio.

The possibilities are numerous.

You’re in the library or the bookstore and you come across some titles you’ll want to study later. Jott yourself all the info and it will be waiting for you in your inbox.

You’re at a conference looking for subjects to interview for your blog when you meet a famous author. Call Jott and conduct the interview using the phone as a “microphone”. The entire interview will be transcribed and sent to you along with the audio.

Needless to say, there are hundreds more uses, and Jott has a lot more to offer, including the ability to send RSS feeds to your phone. A killer resource!

http://jott.com

Thinking Rock is a free software program based on the GTD (”Getting Things Done”) philosophy. According to Wikipedia, “GTD rests on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of the mind by recording them somewhere. That way, the mind is freed from the job of remembering everything that needs to be done, and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks”.

Here’s the description of Thinking Rock from the software’s website:

Thinking Rock allows you to collect your thoughts and process them into actions, projects, information or future possibilities. Actions can be done by you, delegated to someone else or scheduled for a particular date. Projects can be organized with ordered actions and sub-projects. You can review all of your actions, projects and other information quickly and easily to see what you need to do or to choose what you want to do at a particular time.

Definitely worth a shot for writers looking to add more organization to their efforts. The software runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Download your copy at http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/index.php

A remarkable — and free — event is coming June 6 for those in the New York area.  The New York Institute for the Humanities is holding an all-day symposium called Post Bang: Comics Ten Minutes After the Big Bang to explore the growing cultural significance of comics.  The entire day looks great but the highlight for children’s lit fans will be the COMICS AND KID’S LIT panel, set to feature Lisa von Drasek (Bank Street College), Leonard Marcus (Minders of Make Believe), Francoise Mouly (The New Yorker), Mo Willems (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!), and Sara Varon (Sweaterweather).

Check out all the details at

http://nyih.as.nyu.edu/object/nyih.postbangcomics.html