‪I'm so excited I won an author critique from the wonderful Lora Stead in advance of #PBParty! Looking forward to digging into Lori's fantastic notes. Yay, Rafflecopter 🎉@mindyalyseweiss.bsky.social @sylviaichen.bsky.social & the whole team raise the bar on this amazing #kidlit contest every year!!

Congrats Michelle and Bonnie on your new book!! 🥳👏 #kidlit #picturebooks #amwriting @scbwi-sobreeze.bsky.social

Are you all excited for #PBParty or what?!? 🥳 Who's entering? 🙋‍♀️

Congrats to CP @barbarakimmel.bsky.social on her new book, Purim Possibilities! This adorable board book is full of Purim fun and even comes with (reusable) stickers!

Great things are happening! So excited for CP @theislandwriter.bsky.social and her new agent @andiesmithbooks.bsky.social! Congrats to you both—I know you'll be a dynamite team!

Thrilled that my amazing, hardworking, and creative CP @beckygoodman.bsky.social is now—drumroll, please—AGENTED! Can't wait to hold her wonderful humor+heart picture books in my hands! 💫📚📚📚 Take the #kidlit world by storm, Becky! @sheilafernley.bsky.social @stormliterary.bsky.social

Merry Christmas to you & yours— from our growing family! ❤️💚 Love, Jyn, Steve, Stella, & little-one-yet-to-be-named P.S. More details on our newest rescue after the holidays!!🥰

I was today years old when I learned that fine bone china is made of the ash of REAL BONES! 😳🫣

I just updated my Giftster wish list for the holidays! 😆 #amquerying #amwriting #kidlit #writingcommunity #butseriously

Fascinating, short 🧵on comps by an editor. I’ve never before heard the distinction between pitching comps and selling comps! #amwriting #amquerying #writingcommunity

The yearly pay at the federal minimum wage: $15,080 The average yearly cost of a 1 bedroom apartment in the United States: $17,340 We need living wages and lower housing costs. This is not sustainable.

Join me for 40 days of learning from 40 picture books! Starting November 15, I’ll share a new blog post every day on my social media: Bluesky, Instagram, Substack, and my website. Just search #40DaysPBCraft to follow along.

Just submitted my #FallWritingFrenzy contest entry! Check out my YA horror story here: jynhall.com/writing.html Tough story to write. Pls note trigger warnings. 🫣😱 Thank you: @kaitlynleann17.bsky.social @lydialukidis.bsky.social @professoraixa.bsky.social for hosting this creative contest!

Check out this fantastic list of donors for #kidlit #FallWritingFrenzy!! Contest opens Oct 1! Who else is entering? 🙋‍♀️ #writingcommunity @lydialukidis.bsky.social @kaitlynleann17.bsky.social

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day! 🏴‍☠️ Find out your pirate name! www.piratequiz.com And check out these amazing sea shanties: www.instagram.com/sailnorthmus... #talklikeapirate #talklikeapirateday

What a JOY to celebrate my "Pub[lication] Day" on Thurs at @londonwriterssalon.bsky.social in 3 Writers’ Hours w/ 400-500 writers!! Shared a bit about my #kidlit picture book, writing-for-hire, & Reading Partners. 🎉🥳 readingpartners.org readingpartners.org/blog/cover-t... @angelapadron.bsky.social

Stella wants to send everyone a SMILE😁 today! 💕

Sounds incredible! ✊

Sub opp for #amwriting #chapterbook and younger #MGnovels!

It was an honor to write this nonfiction #picturebook "Bringing About Change: Making a Difference Through Activism" for Reading Partners’ wonderful literacy program+Cover to Cover series, & to work with talented editor @angelapadron.bsky.social! #kidlit #writingcommunity #author #activism ✊

Looking for a children’s book illustrator who illustrates in a traditional style (watercolor, by hand or digital) & who can draw ducks in action, specifically ducks playing baseball. Please drop images of duck illustrations here and portfolio links. #kidlitart

☕️s headed your way! Thank you @debbieohi.com for all you do for the #kidlit #writingcommunity 💛🦋

I will not—ever—give up the em dash. #allemdashesaremyown #savetheemdash #ArtistIntelligence #emdashstrong

Whether your manuscript is just a little musty or completely mummified in cobwebs, unwrap the HEART of your old story with #kidlitzombieweek 2025 Want a HEAD start? See what past donors had to say about how to bring a dead story back to life: sites.google.com/view/kidlit-... #WriterSky #KidLit

Introducing our new fur baby:🌟Stella🌟 We adopted 7yo Stella 3 weeks ago. She's intelligent, eager to please, a bundle of energy, full of personality, snuggly, & very in-tune with my moods. She’s always trying to read me & gazes into my eyes for a long time, not breaking eye contact. 😍🥰❤️🌟

#Kidlit friends 💔 Please share this far and wide Our dear friend, Trenise Sabin, was the victim of a major burglary over the weekend. She and her husband Travis have lost everything— from clothing and appliances to irreplaceable items from their recent wedding and the urn gofund.me/ce50d993

I’m incredibly honored and grateful that @msmarianayagam.bsky.social selected me as her #PBRisingStars Runner-Up and gifted me with a #PB critique! Thank you, Maria! And thank you @pbrisingstars.bsky.social Team! ⭐️ #kidlit #writingcommunity

An Honorable Mention! 😊 A srsly late THANK YOU to @viviankirkfield.bsky.social & #50PreciousWords judges! These words poured out, an attempt to take my anger & frustration—at state of nation & world—& channel➡️positive feelings & actions. (All while figuring out how to make #kidlit-friendly!)

As far as we are aware, these are the pitch events happening in May on BlueSky! May 7th - #QuestPit (@questpit.bsky.social) May 23rd - #WIPPit (@wippit.bsky.social) May 31st - #SEAsianPit (@seasianpit.bsky.social) #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writers #AmWriting #AmQuerying #AmAgenting #LitAgents

Completed 10 hrs of LWS #24hourwritingsprint! Wrote a chapter for MG Mystery novel Plotted Brainstormed Replotted (is that a word?) Trashed my 1st 3 chapters Wrote almost 1,000 new words. Sounds like I went backwards in those 24 hours...but I'm excited about the new direction. Feels like progress!

Enjoyed the 1st hour of London Writers' Salon #24hourwritingsprint. #Amwriting new #mgnovel in fave @scrivenerapp & it was an honor to have the amazing @stevenpressfield.bsky.social (The War of Art) write alongside us! 23 hours (& lots of prizes!) left if you want to join (free): lu.ma/yrj3omix

Happy 1 yr Book Birthday to Untangling Hope!! So proud of Johnna Richard Stein! Highly recommend this incredible MG novel about foster care. (Oh! And you just might see someone you know in the Acknowledgments at the end of the book.😉)

#50PreciousWords: This year, I donated Yellow Butterflies by Ukrainian author/illus, Oleksandr Shatokhin. Stunning & gorgeous PB about war & hope. Hopefully more entrants are able to donate. Let’s flood CLiF w/ books! 📚📚📚Would love to hear what YOU donated & why. @viviankirkfield.bsky.social

Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.

As I lean into a "sense of the delightfully irresistible," my joy this week has been Pip Watch for Big Bear Lake's eagle pair, Jackie & Shadow. Three eggs this year. And early this morning, two eaglets hatched! 😍 www.youtube.com/live/B4-L2nf...

writing is a form of resistance, persistence sowing seeds of hope #HaikuSaturday #Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #Poetry #Haiku #PoetryCommunity #KidLit

I always enjoy reading everyone's #50PreciousWords entries. The creativity in #kidlit stories that can be told in just 50 words is pretty incredible. Thank you, @viviankirkfield.bsky.social, for all your time and energy in hosting this wonderful contest. And thank you, judges!

“Stay angry, little Meg,” Mrs. Whatsit whispered. “You will need all your anger now.” Madeleine L’Engle might have been the first person to teach me that my anger was a superpower.

Our hearts are crushed. This week we had to say goodbye to Kendall, our precious 13yo fur baby. 💔😭

Thank you, @taralazar.bsky.social and article contributors for another fantastic #StoryStorm! ☂️ Loved having a positive, productive focus for this tough January! Until next year! 🌂 #picturebooks #kidlit #kidlitcommunity #writingcommunity

Great opportunity for a great cause!

Thrilled for my first work-for-hire nonfiction picture book contract!! A big shoutout to my #SCBWI RA @melissajmiles.bsky.social for her informative @scbwi-sobreeze.bsky.social Shop Talk on creative ways to become a published author. #kidlit #writingcommunity #latepost...

#BluePit is coming! Jan 13! Open to #writingcommunity as well as peeps in the #gamedev, #ttrpg, and #comic worlds. It's a hype event, but #agents and their #MSWL ideas are welcome! Warm up those pitches! #booksky

☂️ #StoryStorm ☂️ is such a fun (& free!) way to start off the year. #Kidlit #writers you still have 2 days to register (1/7) to get in on the collective wisdom, brainstorming picture books, & prizes! I've got my umbrella open, 'cuz it's already raining ideas! taralazar.com/2024/12/27/s...

I forget about this tradition every year until it’s too late…(*adds to 2025 calendar). 📖🎄☕️🔥

Message of the winterberry: in the bleakest of times, be fabulous

Thrilled for my Inkcredible CP @kaninikidlit.bsky.social and A Kite For Easter!! 🪁

Pumped up on adrenaline, coffee, synergy, and community. And also 🫠 Hosted: 3 hours Attended: 11 hours Total: 14 hours of the #24hourwritingsprint with the amazing London Writers’ Salon!