by Annie Cronin Romano

The holiday season has arrived. When my children were young, one of our favorite activities to do was cuddling on the couch reading holiday picture books. Sometimes there were old favorites; other times they were the latest arrivals at our local library or bookshop. This post is a mix of holiday classics and newer arrivals to the shelves. Hopefully you'll find a few titles to add to your "must read" list (links are included with the cover images). Please share your favorite holiday picture books in the comments!

​SANTA MOUSE, by Michael Brown, illustrated by Edfrieda DeWitt
MR. WILLOWBY'S CHRISTMAS TREE, by Robert E. Barry
PICK A PINE TREE, by Patricia Toht, illustrated by Jarvis
RED AND LULU, by Matt Tavares
CHRISTMAS FARM, by Mary Lyn Ray, illustrated by Barry Root
OSKAR AND THE EIGHT BLESSINGS, by Richard Simon & Tanya Simon, illustrated by Mark Siegel
THE TREE THAT'S MEANT TO BE, by Yuval Zommer
HANUKKAH BEAR, by Eric A Kimmel, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka
OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER, by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh
SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD: A KWANZAA STORY, by Angela Shelf Medearis, illustrated by Daniel Minter
DASHER, by Matt Tavares
THE TREES OF THE DANCING GOATS, by Patricia Polacco

Welcome to our annual holiday gift list! We have asked our guest bloggers and contributors about their favorite 2019 writing and illustrating things. Because they are always fabulous, they have provided a fantastic list of practical, frivolous, and fun gift ideas. Happy shopping!

In addition to Lizzy and The Good Luck Girl (Running Press Kids, 2019), Susan is the author of The Upside of Ordinary and numerous picture books. To learn more about Susan, visit her website at https://www.susanlubner.com/. 

Tania de Regil:
​Honestly, the greatest thing I’ve learned this year, both in my writing and illustrating, is letting go! I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s true.  No one should worry about what people are going to think or say about their work, so I remind myself every day that I do this because I love it.   In more technical aspects, I started using the Schmincke watercolors and they are fantastic!

Tania de Regil is an author and illustrator from Mexico City who made her US debut this year with A New Home/ Un Nueva Hogar (Candlewick Press, 2019). To learn more about Tania, and browse her online print shop for some lovely Christmas gifts, visit her website at https://taniaderegil.com/books/

Studio Goodwin Sturges is a boutique artists agency dedicated predominately to children’s trade publishing. They look for artists who have a real sense of a child’s world and how to dynamically depict it. To learn more about Studio Goodwin Sturges please visit them at: http://www.studiogoodwinsturges.com/. 

Kelly Carey is a co-founder of 24 Carrot Writing and her debut picture book, HOW LONG IS FOREVER? launches from Charlesbridge in April of 2020. To learn more about Kelly visit her website at http://www.kcareywrites.com/. 

​Ileana Soon is an illustrator/visual development artist who grew up in Borneo before making her way to Los Angeles where she currently lives and works. NIGHT TRAIN is her debut as a picture book illustrator. Learn more about Ileana at http://ileanasoon.com.

Christy Ewers:

Two things I cannot live without as an agent (and the only things that keep me organized) are:

1. Sharpie Pens. They are the best fine-point pens out there, and anyone who has seen my handwriting knows that a nice clean black line means a lot to me! I use them to hand-address the envelopes when we do promotional mailings. I realize that the fact that I hand letter 250 addresses 3x a year makes me crazy, but the fact that they can withstand that kind of abuse is proof positive that they are awesome!

2. A nice college ruled small notebook with a thick, sturdy cover. I write everything in my notebook. From keeping a to-do list (complete with boxes to check!), to taking notes in meetings or conferences, to jotting down story ideas, to score-keeping my family rummy games, it’s got everything in it. It’s my travel companion and life line. Let’s not talk about what would happen it it was misplaced! Right now, I’m using this one from Madewell. 

Rachel Lynn Solomon is the author of the YA novels You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone, Our Year of Maybe, and the forthcoming Today Tonight Tomorrow (6/16/20), all from Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse. You can find her online at rachelsolomonbooks.com and on Twitter @rlynn_solomon. ​

Amanda Smith:
My favorite way to keep track of my daily writing tasks, is this day planner by Day Designer. I love the roomy pages, with designated to-do list space, for each day. It also features tabs, and a month overview and has plenty of extra note pages to jot down monthly goals. It comes delivered in a beautiful box, which makes it an ideal no-wrapping- required gift.

by Annie Cronin Romano

Most writers keep a pen and paper handy to record story ideas when inspiration strikes. You see something that captures your imagination or overhear a phrase that causes your writing detector to go on high alert, and you quickly scribble it down. Perhaps you write it a in a small notepad, or maybe you jot it down on a napkin or placement. You may even write it on your hand if there’s no paper available. I have done all of those things. Sometimes I tear out a newspaper article that has sparked a story idea or print out a news story or photograph that made my writing radar start beeping. Eventually, most writers have a folder or notebook stuffed with scraps of paper—a collection of golden story nuggets waiting to be mined for their potential. 

But when you finally cull through those ideas, it can be a daunting task. I recently decided to take on my “idea folder.” I took it out of my file cabinet and placed it on my desk. Where it sat. Staring at me. Cruelly. Mockingly, even. 

Then one day I was out browsing in a home store and spotted a display of home office supplies. As a writer, desk and stationary supplies are like candy to me, so I walked over to explore. There, on top of the pile of journals, was a hard cover spiral notebook with the words “BIG IDEAS” (typed in extremely small print, ironically) on the cover. It was fate.

I bought the notebook and took it home to introduce it to my idea folder. Big Ideas notebook, meet Idea Folder. Idea Folder, I love you, but you’re a mess. Meet Big Ideas notebook.

​I went through my scraps of idea notes and, one by one, began writing those sparks at the top of each notebook page. I left the rest of the page blank. One idea per page with the blank page below for brainstorming. As I have time, I open to a page, read the idea at the top, and brainstorm story thoughts, plots, characters...anything that comes to mind. Sometimes it’s a doodle. Sometimes it’s a list. Sometimes it’s a diagram or several sentences. Whatever it takes to play with the idea and see what potential stories I can tease out of it. This notebook system keeps my ideas in one space, like a folder, but organized for easy access with blank space for development. It has become the garden where I plant my story seeds and then tend to them to see what sprouts. 
​
So go buy yourself a notebook for your Big Ideas--you know you love shopping for office supplies! Maybe even get some colorful pens to add to the joy! Then organize those randomly scattered idea gems into the notebook. Remember, just one per page. And let the brainstorming begin! Who knows where those sparks will take you. You may get a new story blazing before you know it!

~By Amanda Smith
 
“This year’s felt like
Four seasons of winter
And you'd give anything
To feel the sun”   
- Reason (Unspoken)
 
When I first heard the opening of this song by Unspoken, everything in me cried, “YES! THIS!”

This year brought more unexpected changes and interruptions to my writing life than any before: unexpected travel, lovely visitors, a left hand immobilized for four months due to a broken wrist, and an extended stint as a long-term substitute teacher. Now, it isn’t all bad.
But it is all busy.  

I’m not about to throw a pity party (been there, done that), but I do want to address the reality of months, or years, not turning out the way we anticipated when we first set those shiny New Year’s writing goals.

There had been times like this in my life before, where I couldn’t find space for creativity or writing due to The Urgent pulling at me. There had been years where I had walked away from writing. And the return had been slow and laborious.

This year, amid Nor’easters of life pummeling me, I was resolved. This year, unlike other stormy times, I’d kept my one hand on my writing.

In order to do that, I had to adjust my goals. I am not pushing to finish my novel before the end of the year as I had planned. I am working on smaller projects that can endure interruption with more grace, such as querying and research, revisions on picture books, writing poetry and other shorter pieces. I keep moving forward, even if it is at a snail’s pace.

I keep learning, thinking and observing. I spent most of my immobilized summer reading mentor texts, new publications, and craft books.

I keep active in my writing community. The mere fact that I have a critique group expecting a manuscript from me, drives me to write, or revise. Giving feedback on their work, keeps my head in the game. Connecting with other writers at events, invigorates me, and reminds me of who I am amid the blizzards. And meeting with my monthly accountability group, keeps me setting and checking off teeny-tiny-but-moving-forward-goals.
​
I keep making space to create.
So coming back will be easier.
So I won’t let go forever.
Because Spring will come.

By Kelly Carey

Why do we call our writing groups “critique groups”?

Merriam-Webster defines critique as “an act of criticizing” and notes that the origins of the word refer “generally to criticism” or a “remark or comment that expresses disapproval".

Yuck!

Is this the lens through which I want my writing partners to review my drafts? Is this the mindset I should bring when considering the work my fellow writers present to me?
​
Absolutely not. 

Lately, I've been skewing more negative in my feedback. I’m taking that word critique too much to heart and letting it be the guiding principle when I structure comments.

My approach starts with the idea that the reviewer is giving me their work because something needs to be fixed. It’s a fair assumption. The work is unpublished. Agents and/or editors haven’t snapped it up yet – so clearly something is wrong.

​With the gusto of Bob the Builder and a frenzied HGTV fix-it zeal, I attack the manuscript.​

But, I need to hop off the critique wrecking ball (although Miley does make it look fun), put away the hammer, and unplug the power saw.

What are we really asking when we share a manuscript with a group of writing peers?
​
The answer is less about hunting for “criticism” and more about looking for feedback and suggestions to move the manuscript forward on its path. ​I want a reviewer to help me find those things in my manuscript that a reader will love. Tell me what I should do more of and help me unleash the unique power of my own creative voice.

This is not to say that I want you to go soft on me or my manuscript. I want to know what is not working, but your first step should be to build from what is working. As my writing partner Annie Romano suggests, “folks reach for the hatchet to chop up a story when they should be reaching for the chisel to shape and transform it”.

Recommendations on how to improve a manuscript shouldn't deviate so far from the original work that they move the writer off their path. A writer hiking along on a mountain path shouldn’t be left swimming in the middle of the ocean. The idea is to encourage and support the writer's original vision, not derail it. 

You have probably found yourself on more than one occasion reading a successfully published and positively reviewed book and thought, “this stinks” – what if you did that to the draft before the author got published? And the work never got submitted, or sold, or turned into a book that although may not resonate with you is in fact enjoyed by a multitude of other readers. Do you really want that on your head? That is not your job when a peer asks for feedback on a manuscript.
​   
Your task is not to leave a fellow writer feeling less enthused and less able to hear their own voice. But, that is exactly what can happen if we are too clued into that word critique. 

Let’s trade critique for feedback, review, or progress. Take off the Bob the Builder construction hat and grab a megaphone and a pom-pom instead. Cheer loud when you hear a writer’s voice and see a writer’s creativity.
 
​Approach manuscripts with a build it up mindset rather than a tear it down attitude.
​
After all, it’s a work in progress. Make sure you are helping it progress! 

Meetings, writing retreats, book launches, and laughter.

By Kelly Carey

​Every month, according to the 24 Carrot Writing philosophy, I dutifully set both writing goals and craft goals. Every month I hit most but not all of my goals. That’s okay! We have warned against using goals as weapons. Goals are there for motivation.
​
When I miss a goal, I push it over to the next month. Sound strategy right? I thought so, until I took a look back over the past few months and realized that the same goal kept getting pushed. Why? 

The truth is a bit embarrassing.

I’m avoiding the hard goal.

Yup. That’s what I’m doing. I’m feeling proud and organized when I sit down to work, but as a scan through my monthly goals, I’m picking off the easy targets and leaving the more challenging tasks to languish and carry over from month to month.
​
The goals that keep getting moved to another month are ones I’m most unsure of – much like I put off doing house chores I don’t like. Laundry or vacuuming? I’ll choose laundry every time. You’ll always have clean socks to wear in my house, as long as you don’t wear them shoe-less on my very dirty floors! I was applying this same dodge and avoid technique to my 24 Carrot Writing goals. 

This has to stop!

I can’t keep clicking off the easy tasks on my goal list. Every month I set a goal to read mentor texts. I love that task and so every month without fail (and sometimes surpassing my objective), I was able to put a nice thick check mark next to that goal. But the monthly intention to draft a new picture book? Pushed! But I’m a writer? I love writing! Writing should come before reading mentor texts! But the blank page, the self-doubt, the internal critic all made reading a lovely book that you all have already written seem like a much nicer (aka easier) task.
​
Time to address this blatant goal slacking. 

This month I’m picking one super writing goal and one super craft goal and I’m going to underline them – maybe star them – perhaps circle them with a gold pen – and I’m not going to attack anything else on my list until I have hit my super goals every month. I’m actually hoping that those easier, friendlier, can’t-wait-to-do-them goals, which will sit lower on my list, will act as extra motivation. I’ll want to get to those happy place goals, but I’ll have to tackle my super goal first (aka my do-not-pass-go, go-directly-to-them goals!).

I’m a little nervous, but I think it will make me more thoughtful when I make out my monthly goals and I’ll be leaning on my 24 Carrot Writing crew to keep me motivated. I bet I’ll feel fantastic when I hit those super goals and that will be worth tackling the hard stuff first!

Take a peek at your own goals. Set solid, measurable, and challenging goals. And make sure that you are not hiding behind the easy targets on your list like me! If you were, consider highlighting a super goal, a must do goal, and don’t let yourself avoid it.
​
And now I’m off to do some laundry – just kidding! I’m off to vacuum! Hard stuff first! I’ve got this!
 

To celebrate October, and to whip our writing efforts into a productive fourth quarter frenzy, you are cordially invited to  

The 4th Annual 24 Carrot Writing
Trick or Book Treat Party

Join the Writing Trick or Book Treat Party by sharing your favorite writing trick or tip, or treating your fellow writers to a book recommendation. Share your writing tip, or a recent children’s book that you have
loved and/or used as a mentor text on our Facebook page
or in the comment section below.

When you share, we will enter you in our October 31 drawing for signed copies of children's literature.  We are keeping some of our titles masked! But our book prizes include a signed copy of Padma Venkatraman’s The Bridge Home, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic’s The End of Something Wonderful, Josh Funk’s It’s Not Hansel and Gretel, Kris Asselin’s Falling for Wonder Boy, and Brian Lies’ The Rough Patch!

You don’t need a costume, but you do need to be a part of our 24 Carrot Facebook group and you need to sign up for our email updates. If you haven't joined yet, what are you waiting for? You'll get an update every time we post a new blog or book pick! To join, just click the "Join Our Facebook Group” and fill out the “Get Email Updates” on the right.  

Don't Miss Out on the Writing Trick or Book Treat Party!

~Guest blog by Angela Burke Kunkel

When you think of a picture book being read, what--- or more precisely, who--- do you see? A child snug on the lap of a beloved parent or grandparent? A teacher, perched on the edge of a tiny classroom chair, reading aloud to a rapt class seated criss-cross-applesauce on the rug? A toddler, alone in their room during quiet time, studiously turning the pages and reciting a favorite book from memory?

Or is the audience . . . you?
​
Sometimes, in our journey to become writers, we study so much advice and so many mentor texts and blog posts and craft books that we lose sight of our own voice, our own relationship with books, our own relationship with words.

We write for children, after all, many of us in a particular genre or format. Picture books present their own unique set of challenges, with the industry standard of 32 pages and that ever-fluctuating “sweet spot” for word count. And, of course, you have other considerations: room for the illustrator. The child. The reader. It can be enough to crowd out why you’re doing this in the first place.

And, selfishly, it is okay if that’s you.
 
Allow me to back up for a moment: In my daily professional life, I work as a teacher-librarian in a school that serves grades seven through twelve. My entire career, I’ve only worked with tweens and teens--- never with elementary or preschool-aged children (and, may I just say, bless those early childhood and elementary educators). When social conversations wind their way round to writing, teens and even other adults often express surprise that I don’t write YA. After all, that’s who I interact with on a daily basis. And there is incredible work for young adults out there. I love reading it and talking about it, especially with young people.

But it isn’t what my brain reaches for right now, emotionally or structurally, in terms of my own writing.  As someone who wanted to write novels for a very long time--- and never, ever finished a complete draft--- I found myself circling back to picture books. As I rediscovered them through my own young children, and through using them in classroom instruction with middle and high schoolers, I realized I also enjoyed them for my own aesthetic reasons. I loved how wordless titles felt like a silent movie unfolding. I loved the deceptive simplicity of clever refrains or circular structures. I loved the lyrical language and pacing of others, as metaphorical and gorgeous as any Mary Oliver poem. And yes, I’d read them with a child snuggled on my lap, or to a classroom of students (albeit at tables, not criss-cross-applesauce), but the aesthetic experience was a personal response for me. And eventually, I found myself reading them . . . by myself. When I had the itch to write after many years away from it, I allowed myself to consider the possibility of picture books.

As Ann Whitford Paul notes in Writing Picture Books, picture book form is unique because they are books written for people who cannot yet read, “usually read by an adult reader to a nonreader . . . The pictures are there to entice the nonreader to listen and also help construct meaning from the words.” And she’s right, but I also think as writers we can expand our vision beyond that, while still respecting it. After all, aren’t all good stories, regardless of form, about the experience of constructing meaning?

While it’s important to write with your primary audience in mind, remember that you can also have multiple audiences. I’d encourage aspiring writers to not only focus on how children might experience their book, but teens and adults as well. There are so many books I have used or want to use at the high school level--- from Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach to Yuyi Morales’s Dreamers. Seeing teens, often stereotyped as cynical or disaffected, engaged in a picture book with the same wide-eyed wonder as a kindergartener reminds me that these stories serve a purpose for everyone. We just need to allow for that possibility.
 
So my challenge to you is this--- when you’re writing, and especially during those free writes and first drafts--- allow yourself to let go of that image of the lapsit reader or the elementary classroom. Disregard that editor voice in your brain that questions things like appropriateness and marketability and Lexile level. And, just for a little while, allow yourself to play. Swim around in words that make you feel like you’re engaging in a beautiful piece of language that isn’t cataloged “E” because it’s Easy. It’s “E” because it’s for everyone. And maybe, in that space of openness and play, you just might surprise yourself (and ultimately, your reader) with something beautiful.
           
Bio: 
Angela Burke Kunkel's debut picture book, DIGGING FOR WORDS: JOSÉ ALBERTO GUTIÉRREZ AND THE LIBRARY HE BUILT (illustrated by Paola Escobar and published by Random House/Schwartz & Wade) releases in Fall 2020. In addition to being an author, Angela works full time as a school librarian. She is a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. Angela is represented by Liza Fleissig at the Liza Royce Agency. You can contact her here. You can also connect on Twitter and Instagram.