I am an artist and a writer, and I could not begin to tell you how Google and SEO work, but I am certain that having an active blog helps you become more visible on Google. Fortunately, I began blogging at least 10 years ago. After years of scribing info into the wind, Google seems…
How to Create a Text Dummy for a Picture Book – A Look at the Structures of Several Picture Books
Are you trying to write your first picture book? It might be helpful if, very early in the process, you break your text into pages. Typically, there are 32 pages in a picture book, but the text of the book rarely begins on page one. Because the title page, endpapers, the dedication & the copyright…
Chrysanthemum – A Picture Book by Kevin Henkes – An Anthem Against Bullying
Chrysanthemum Kevin Henkes 1988 – Green Willow Books Chrysanthemum is one of my all-time favorite picture book characters. Her life was perfect until the other kids at school told her that she had a terrible name. Chrysanthemum sack puppet Designed and Created by Jacki Kellum Chrysanthemum thought her name was absolutely perfect. And then she…
Research to Fully Understand the Details of Your Picture Book- Free Places to Find the Facts
In another post, I discuss the importance of filling your mind with details about your story before you finish turning them into a picture book. How to Create Stronger Settings for Your Picture Books – Visualize the Details of the Story In the above post, I tell you that I memorized the Bible’s Christmas Story…
How Many Pages in a Picture Book? Which Page is Page One?
While most picture books have 32 pages, that is not an absolute rule. In this post, I’ll show you several picture books, and I’l show you that page one of a picture book really isn’t page one. I’ll begin with my own picture book The Donkey’s Song. The Donkey’s Song Jacki Kellum Illustrated by Sydney…
Write The First Draft of Your Picture Book – Write First, Edit Later
Write the First Draft of Your Picture Book. Don’t Title Your Story Until You Have Finished Writing It. Write the book in your natural voice–pretend that you are simply talking. Write the First Draft of Your Picture Book In A Stream of Consciousness. Don’t stop writing to edit or to check your spelling. Just Write…
How My Intuition Wrote My Picture Book The Donkey’s Song
When I am painting and when I am writing, I consider it a great day when something within myself takes over and essentially completes my project for me. This gentle urging is intuition. It is the spark that helped Michelangelo release his sculptures from a piece of rock. Janis Joplin – Jacki Kellum Watercolor My…
Picture Writing – How Jacki Kellum Wrote Her Debut Picture Book The Donkey’s Song
I am a painter, as well as a writer, and perhaps that is why I mentally “see” what I am writing before I begin to write. For years I have heard that children are either visual learners or verbal learners. I am both, but I am probably more visual than I am verbal. I Call…
How to Create Stronger Settings for Your Picture Books – Visualize the Details of the Story
in my debut book The Donkey’s Song, I wrote very few words about the setting. That book has 150 words, and I did not feel that the lyrical, magical tone of the book could bear a lot of “spelling things out.” But as I wrote the book, I was fully aware of where that story was…
Picture Books that Celebrate Black History Month
When I think about black history, I initially think about Africa, the cradle of black people, but I also think about the black people who currently live in other lands now, like here in the USA. In my opinion, Black History Month is about all black people. Here is a list of the Black History…