He restores my soul

I wrote in my favorite place in the world, today- deep in the woods, beside a bubbling brook, and my mind kept coming home to the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still waters,
He restores my soul.

Writing rhyming picture books

Hi All,
I get asked about rhyming picture books all the time. While I don't write them, many people do, so I thought I'd refer you to the very best article I've ever read on writing rhyming picture books. And it so happens that it's written by my dear friend Dori Chaconas.

Her website is :
http://www.dorichaconas.com

The article is called "Icing the Cake."

I'll also include the link. Enjoy!

Being a writing mentor

Had a wonderful time answering questions about being a writing mentor. I am currently serving as the Wisconsin chapter of SCBWI picture book mentor. You can see it at http://www.carriepearsonbooks.com/blog.html or Check out the interview, here.

Stories that grow on trees

Many times, it's very difficult to come up with new story ideas. Oh but sometimes, sometimes it feels like stories grow on trees. They dangle there, and all you have to do is find the perfect one, reach out, and grab it.

This is literally true at Christmas time. As I look at the bright lights and sparkling ornaments, I see a hundred stories just waiting to be written. Questions pop into my mind that are the glimmers of a story.




What did this bear family do all day before settling down to read a book?




Who are these two reindeer friends? Where do they live and what do they do for fun?



.

Where is that snowman headed on his sled?

So if you're stumped for a story idea, spend some quiet moments looking at your Christmas tree. Take a walk and look in the store windows. The stories are all around you.

Most of all, I wish you a blessed Christmas. May your days be filled with the peace and joy of Christ's birth.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I love Christmas! Check out this wonderful youtube video to start your season off with joy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=LyviyF-N23A

Soup and stories need to simmer

Like a good soup, a story needs to simmer. So many times when I'm writing a new story, it just will not come together. I may have all of the ingredients- characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution. I can even see how the scenes will unfold in my head. But for some reason, I can't get it onto paper, or in my case, computer file. It's frustrating to say the least.

However, if I'm patient, if I step away from the project totally for awhile, when I come back, miraculous things have happened. All of a sudden, the story just flows. The time away has allowed all of the flavors of the story to mingle together. Thoughts and ideas have simmered in the back burner of my imagination without my even realizing it. When I was busy muddling around with other things, the story cooked into a glorious, bubbling soup.

Next time, my goal is not to be anxious when the soup isn't perfect the minute I throw the ingredients into the soup pot. It will take time. I'm going to enjoy the simmer.

A day of writing, but not a word on paper

I spent the day writing, but I didn't put a word on paper.

Sometimes writing has nothing to do with words. Sometimes writing is feeling and filling.

So, I spent four hours in wonder. I sat in the sunshine and let it warm my bones. I breathed in the pine-scented, lake-drifted breeze. I watched Coach's silhouette as he looked out over the lake. And I felt my well filling. I didn't try to formulate a plot. I didn't try to develop a character's wants or needs. I just filled up my soul with God's goodness.

I looked over at a lone tree on the bluff, and I thought about Cair Paravel in C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. I walked through a sun-dappled birch path, and I thought about Prince Edward Island and Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. I thought about whales off the island of Nantucket. I watched a dragonfly on a purple clover. I was a child again on a warm summer day with nothing to do but dream.

These days are what fill a writer- and a person. God's creation is glorious!