Guest Blog by Mary Wagley Copp

​​Last week, I submitted an early draft of a picture book to my critique group. It was delightful and humorous and a fun read. AND it fell flat.

​Yes, it had a great plot, but it had nothing underneath the activity. It seems to be a common struggle for many writers – that deeper dimension. It lacked layers. Scenes were engaging but there was nothing behind the scenes. The pacing was great, the story appealing, but nothing deeper. I knew this, of course, but I could not get to that important dimension of the story. You know, the part that lets a reader connect to the main character. The dimension that resonates with the kid in all of us. 

In giving her feedback, one of my critique partners quoted the writer Edward Gorey and his Great Simple Theory About Art from his letters in Born to be Posthumous (Little Brown and Company, 2018).

The theory. . .that anything that is art. . .is presumably about some certain thing, but is really about something else, and it’s no good having one without the other, because if you just have the something it is boring and if you have the something else it’s irritating. - Edward Gorey

Initially, this sounded complicated. Gorey, after all, has been described as a weird genius. (I admit I have heard it said more simply as “this story is about…… But, really, it is about….”)
​
We dissected this quotation and related it to my manuscript. It really refers to layers. There is the explicit, obvious layer – the “certain thing” – what is happening in the story. The plot. The “something else” is about the deeper dimension. It is what the reader, no matter their age, will resonate with. A longing, a need for something, a frustration – a FEELING. There it was – that “certain thing” of my story was delightful and fun. But, it lacked that “something else.” 

But, how to go deeper? How do you peel back the layers of your text to get to the gem? The place that will have your reader really resonate with your main character. My guess is it doesn’t just appear on the first draft. It certainly wasn’t in the manuscript I submitted to my critique group. So, what questions did my partners ask me to help me delve a little deeper? 
​

Here they are and I hope they help you:

What does my protagonist really want?
What is behind/below the main character’s actions?
​What might they be feeling?
Is my focus on plot preventing me from delving deeper?
Is the resolution staying true to the main character’s inner yearning?

Mary is a children’s author and former filmmaker. Her picture books include Wherever I Go (Atheneum/S&S 2020), illustrated by Munir Mohammed, and Yoshi’s Big Swim: One Turtle’s Epic Journey Home (Capstone, 2023), illustrated by Kaja Kajfez. Her newest title Sometimes We Pray (Charlesbridge, 2026) was illustrated by Felishia Henditirto and her upcoming My One Wish Was You – A Christmas Miracle in the Animal Shelter (Sourcebooks, 2027) will be illustrated by Jaimie MacGibbon (Sourcebooks, 2027). When not writing, Mary teaches ELL to newcomers in her area. To learn more about Mary visit her website. 

~by Amanda Smith
​           
For the last three years, I’ve had the incredible privilege of teaching literature to high school students. While studying a variety of literature in a range of genres, I have noticed that certain characters draw students in and engage even the most reluctant readers. Lately, as I'm pondering a new YA idea, I’ve been trying to tease out the commonalties between Gatsby and Montag, Portia and Daisy.

Love to Hate Villains:
First up, are the easily detestable villains. Whether it is Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald or Captain Beatty from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, these characters immediately raise our hackles, because they have such clear character flaws. Every time they appear on the page, we know they will do or say something terrible and their vileness is so…vile that our hatred feels justified. In a world where teens notice evil, but often must suppress rage or judgement, having a common enemy offers a great socially acceptable outlet for pent up anger.
Warning: These characters do not have staying power. They amp up the heat quickly, but they are also forgettable. Keep them to a minimum.

Both Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 and Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare fall in the hate to hate category for a different reason. Their environments restrict their freedom and shape their mindset. Even though they both have deep character flaws and commit heinous acts, young adults understand the desperation to break out of an uncomfortable mold, and therefore they have extreme empathy for these types of characters. Create a moment of vulnerability, or a reason for empathy in your villains. ​​

Will Holloman from Long Way Down ​by Jason Reynolds is another example of a character who wants to do what is right but is unclear about what the right thing might be because of his loyalty towards family and “The Rules” that guide his actions. Likewise, Guy Montag's initial conformity and slow awakening to the world around him leads to internal conflict regarding his ethics. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Faithful Spy and Elie Wiesel in Night struggle with the intersection of faith and justice. These conflicts, which are still playing out around the world today, resonate with young readers. Throw something at your characters that might dislodge their moral compass or cause their best intentions to go awry.

The Fool Archetype:
There is a reason the fool is a classic. Young adults adore comic relief and all forms of irony land well with YA readers. For example, Gratiano’s (The Merchant of Venice) snapping sarcasm and quick come backs, as well as the dramatic irony when he unknowingly throws Bassanio under the bus, have students howling with laughter. The biting banter between Ares and Hephaestus, as well as Aphrodite’s sharp jabs (Lovely War) towards self-obsessed Ares add an unexpected layer of humor for the more discerning reader. Go ahead, add a fool, but it is important to remember that the archetypal fool offers wisdom and truth along with laughs. 
​
​​Overall, young adult readers respond to lots of layers and complexity. While clear villains provide some short-term venting, ambiguity is what holds these readers’ attention. Middle grade readers mostly still see the world as black and white, but young adult readers live in the gray – they are noticing ambiguity in their friends, parents, teachers, spiritual leaders, political figures, history, and current events. Providing multifaceted characters in fiction helps them figure out how to navigate the complexity they are experiencing in real life. Add a dose of vulnerability like we see in Nick Carraway, Guy Montag, and Will Holloman, and you have a winning recipe for characters young adult readers will adore.

Guest Blog by Nancy Tandon
​
Ask any teacher or librarian and they will tell you: most kids love scary stories! They cannot get enough. Supernatural ghost stories, haunted house mysteries, monster tales, creepy folklore/fairy tales, and books with psychological suspense fly off shelves and get passed hand to hand. Middle Grade readers absolutely judge these books by their covers, and it seems the creepier and more atmospheric the image on the front, the better.

But when I ask at school visits whether kids like to be scared, it’s a mix of thumbs up, down, and sideways. I always clock at least one look of relief when a sideways-thumb-responder sees my thumb tilted, too. Despite being a two-time spooky book author, I shy away from spine-tingling scenarios in books, shows, and real life. In fact, simply hearing the music on an ad for a horror movie sends me scrambling for the remote.
 
(I blame cable TV; I was subjected much too early to my older siblings’ screenings of The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street. My brother particularly enjoyed reenacting Freddie Kruger whispering…Naaancy…(one of the main character’s names) through my bedroom door at night.)
​

​Then, a few years ago I saw a piece about a summer camp for kids that was only open at night. That sparked the idea for my novel The Ghost of Spruce Point (Aladdin, 2022). My editor loved the characters’ shenanigans and the cozy mystery vibe, but she kept asking for more. More thrills, more chills, more Michael Myers and less Scooby Doo.

 ​As part of my development as a writer in this new-to-me genre, I read and studied a lot of mentor texts by authors such as Heidi Lang and Kati Bartkowski (The Whispering Pines series, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2020) and Lorien Lawrence (The Fright Watch series, Harry N. Abrams, 2020,  and The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family, Harry N. Abrams, 2020). Believe me, they go there! Honestly, I had to read in the daytime with the lights on. But I also noticed that among the common tropes of the genre and the expected creep factor, these stories always had a lot of heart. 

​Eventually, my editor and I met in the middle. While there are many kids who can handle and legitimately crave darker, no-limits horror, I knew to stay true to myself as an author I’d be leaving that kind of book to the authors who were already doing it so well. My goal became to find the sweet spot between a story spooky enough that it would entertain the kids who love the fear factor, without requiring anyone to sleep on mom and dad’s floor later that night.
​

​I strove for that same balance when writing The Haunting of Walker Pond (Aladdin, 2026). Again, my editor had to nudge me to get closer to the monster in the corner, to “not be afraid of going into the water,” so to speak. This time, I felt more comfortable layering in the scares, as I’d also acquired a few tricks for keeping things balanced. 

Here are some tips for writing spooky that scares vs. terrifies: 

Use Setting
Pump up the PG chills in your story by leaning on the setting as character. Playing with the general atmosphere, weather, and even time of day are fantastic ways to turn up the dial.

Consider these two examples: 
A group of kids head to their treehouse for a meeting.
 
At the end of a long, dark lane, a group of kids sneak up to an abandoned treehouse at night, only to be caught in a sudden unexpected wind squall that separates them.   

Use Comedy
Another tried and true (and much appreciated) tool is good old comic relief. ​This job can be fun to assign to one character but can also be peppered throughout your scenes in a variety of ways. 

A: “The monster is closing in! He’s going to steal our voices!”
B: (Frozen, too scared to speak)
 
A: “The voice-stealing monster is closing in! B, what are you doing?”
B: “Looking for my gum! I had tuna fish for lunch, and I don’t want him to know I have bad breath.”
 
Build in Tension Releases
One of my other favorite pressure-relief valves is a jump scare that ends up being something safe.
 
A sudden screech and flapping of wings startle your character…but it’s just a hawk hunting a field mouse.
 
Your character sees hair floating below the surface of a pond…but it turns out to be seaweed.  

Sometimes, the idea that there are adults somewhere off page who could be summoned is enough to bring down the adrenaline for kid readers. As with all middle grade stories, we want characters to face problems and solve things on their own, keeping the parents out of the story as much as possible. This can also lend itself to readers commiserating with your characters: Those silly parents don’t even know there’s an evil spirit in their own basement! They just think the washing machine is acting up all the time.  

Use Sound 
It's not as easy to add a soundtrack to a book as it is to a show or movie, and in some ways that makes written scary stories much more accessible for kids who like things lightly spooky. (Notice how if you mute a horror movie, almost all the tension is gone.)

I do highly suggest you get yourself a spooky playlist for when you’re writing. I like to add my writing playlists to my website so kids who do want that extra scare element can play them while reading! And you can and should always bring sound into your story to help tighten or ease tension. The natural world is full of creepy sounds, especially at night. Thank you to hooting owls, howling coyotes, scratching tree branches, and scuffling feet. The gifts that keep on giving. 
​

​The bottom line is that we’re writing to encourage reading. If you are one of those people that loved Freddie Kruger, there is an audience of kids who crave the level of spooky you’ll be able to write! But if you’re like me, don’t shy away from the genre. Just put up the guardrails when you need them and know there will be a whole group of “thumbs-down and sideways” kids waiting for your story, too!
 
More authors to check out if you are “thumbs up” for spooky books:

• Laura Parnum  - Peril at Price Manor, HarperCollins, 2023 and The Haunting of Bellington Cottage, Storytide, 2025
• Lindsay Currie  - It’s Watching, Delacorte Press 2025 and X Marks the Haunt, Delacorte Press 2026

And of course: Mary Downing Hahn and R.L. Stine (classics for a reason!)

Nancy Tandon is the author of The Way I Say It (Charlesbridge, 2022) a Junior Library Guild Selection and Indies Introduce Kids Pick. Her novel The Ghost of Spruce Point, a companion to The Haunting of Walker Pond, was nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet and Hawaii Nēnē state book awards. A transplant from the Midwest, Nancy now lives in Connecticut with her family and enjoys spooky summers on the coast of Maine.

To learn more about Nancy visit her website. 

Guest blog by Janet Costa Bates

‘Kill your darlings,’ a phrase attributed to William Faulkner, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, even Stephen King, means to take out any bit of writing that is not serving your story. Characters, scenes, or phrases - ones that you absolutely love - get ruthlessly extinguished in order to make your story stronger. Makes sense, right? 

Maybe.

But, maybe not quite.

These bits of writing are called ‘darlings’ because they’re loved and precious. Your talent was working overtime when you wrote those words. Yet you’re being told to kill them? What kind of madness is that?

Don’t do it!

To be clear, I’m not saying to leave those passages in your manuscript. Anything that doesn’t serve your story, does not belong there. You’re going to take that darling out. It will hurt, but it needs to go. Just don’t kill it. Instead, send it on vacation.
 
The Story Island resort is a beautiful place (a file, actually) where those beautiful bits of writing go to relax, drink a fruity drink, and soak up some sun until they're needed once again. 

In my Rica Baptista chapter book series, Rica is a character who appeared under a different name in a never published middle grade. Most of  the rejections that middle grade received were ‘raving’ rejections. Editors loved some aspects of the story, such as the characters and the voice, but, overall, it just wasn’t working well enough. Poor Rica was struggling. That whole middle grade novel ‘went on vacation.’ Then came the day when I decided to resurrect Rica (originally named Addie) and put her into a chapter book. She thrived.

For Rica Baptista: The Box of Possibilities (Candlewick, 2025), my most recent Rica Baptista book, Uncle Moose was plucked out of Story Island and given a major role in the book. He’s about 30 years younger in The Box of Possibilities than he was in the middle grade, but he’s still the slightly off-beat, yet still much loved Uncle Moose.
 
In another unpublished middle grade, Grampy was both caring and fun. He was also dead. We only saw him through flashbacks. But he was so much fun that I brought him back to life. (Being a writer is a pretty powerful thing, even if only in my imagination.) Grampy, grateful to have another chance, had a starring role in Rica Baptista: A Week of Shenanigans (Candlewick, 2024).
 
I’ve written a few historical scenes that don’t fit my contemporary manuscripts, but I hope they will someday find their way into one of my stories. At the risk of being immodest, I’ll say that both scenes would absolutely touch a reader’s heart. But for now, those scenes are sitting in a cabana, enjoying an ocean view while they wait for the right manuscript at the right time. They don’t mind waiting. They’re on island time.
 
Not every character, scene, or phrase will come back from vacation, but that’s okay. Whether or not I use them again, sending them to the island is a lot less painful than hitting the delete button. I just can’t imagine letting go of something that's pretty good. Seriously, I walk around ants and put spiders outside - how in the world am I going to kill anything?
 
Consider setting up a ‘Story Island’ file of your own. Good writing is good writing. It just needs to wait until the timing works. 

Guest Blog by Cathy Ballou Mealey

The books I have authored about smores, sloths, and squirrels sit squarely on the fiction shelf, but now my debut nonfiction picture book biography will be published. How did I pivot from talking animals to writing about Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby, an influential journalist, spokesperson and ambassador for Maine’s wilderness and wildlife? It may not be as big a leap as you think. Here are some encouraging suggestions to nudge you into exploring narrative nonfiction topics using writing skills you have already developed. ​

​Use Mentor Texts
When I started learning how to write picture books circa 2012, nonfiction biographies were popping up everywhere. Fresh, creative, and kid-friendly, these terrific tales relied upon the same fundamentals as picture book fiction: story arc with a challenge or conflict, high stakes, emotional resonance and a satisfying resolution. Studying nonfiction mentor texts will help you identify elements familiar from your favorite fiction such as lyrical language, sensory details, and engaging settings and scenes that build story tension. To convey Cornelia’s lifelong passion for the lush beauty of Maine’s woods and waters I studied mentor texts about naturalists and wilderness explorers such as The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever (Beach Lane Books, 2013) by H. Joseph Hopkins, illustrated by Jill McElmurry. 
​

​Revise, Revise, Revise
As you research your topic or subject, you will dive deep into primary sources and uncover many incredible details. The urge to include as much as possible in your story is powerful! Even after fact-checking and verifying key points, creating and continually revising an outline will help you focus on what to keep and what to cut so that the heart of your story really sings. As your manuscript develops, critique partners will be invaluable in discovering what resonates, what may need further clarification, and how the story ‘hooks’ new readers emotionally. I tried several approaches to telling Cornelia’s life story before deciding that a chronological structure would best emphasize the steady, enduring nature of her legacy.

Practice Patience and Persistence
When Cornelia’s story was finally polished and complete, editors said the picture book biography market was over-saturated. After failing to get to, or through acquisitions, I tucked the manuscript away. However, during my research I had created a Google alert for “Fly Rod” Crosby. My email continued to Ping! with news when Cornelia was posthumously inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame, a hiking trail was named for her, a folk song was released, and a life-size statue was carved, painted and installed in Augusta. As “Fly Rod’s” legend and relevance continued to grow, I updated my manuscript and became more passionate about pitching her story. While patience and persistence are essential to any writer who wants to be published, staying aware of timely topics through a Google alert might help you pitch your work at just the right moment.​

​Studying mentor texts, revising regularly, and practicing patience and persistence are nothing new to writers exercising their fundamental storytelling skills. Applying those steps to a narrative nonfiction topic can be a really satisfying way to stretch your repertoire, and expand your shelf of stories, possibly right into libraries and bookstores!

Guest blog by Andrew Hacket

Get a job, they say. Have a family, they say. Buy a house, they say. 
But what they don’t say is how hard all of the above make following your creative dream to be a published author. Now, I am not saying jobs and families and houses aren’t wonderful, but they naturally come with commitments that put them at the top of our priority list. 

And our writing? 
At the very bottom. 

So how do you do it? How do you have everything while striving to make your publishing hopes a reality? I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I can share what has worked for me. The steps below have helped me balance being a good partner, parenting three young kids, and teaching full time, all while having three book releases in the same year and producing four more on the way. 

Four Steps to Do Everything

1. Make a Schedule and Prioritize
 If for nothing more than the illusion of organization, make a schedule. Open a blank document, take out a clean sheet of paper, or tap on that calendar on your phone. Take some time to write out all of the things you want and have to do. Work meetings, the dishes, kid’s activities, exercise, and oh yeah, that whole writing thing. Armed with this mighty and probably overwhelming list, you can now start to plug in those have tos, because let's be honest, whether we like it or not, they are have tos. 

BUT, what if we made our writing a have to as well? Unfortunately we lack the magical powers to create more time, but perhaps in looking at your schedule you will see little pockets of time you didn’t notice before. Half of the battle is choosing that your writing is as equally deserving to be on your schedule as all of your other priorities. 

2. Acceptance and Grace 
Armed with this glorious schedule that clearly shows how everything is possible, be ready to accept that you aren't going to do everything well or get to everything all the time. You might get sick. Work deadlines will interfere. And are you serious, those kids want to eat again? Didn’t I feed them yesterday? 

The truth is, it is impossible to do it all, all of the time. I like to say I have three fulltime jobs: Parenting, teaching, and writing, and that I can only ever do two of them well at the same time. Accepting this was freeing. I had subconsciously placed an unobtainable goal to do everything, and every time I failed I felt worse about myself. Being able to accept my own limitations allowed me to feel motivated and proud every time I was able to make that shiny schedule work and make my writing a priority. 

3. Become a Thief
This is by far the strategy that kept my writing projects and productivity afloat during this extremely busy time of my life. I never traveled anywhere without my laptop or notebook and pen. I had works-in-progress printed and in my backpack along with my favorite editing pens. It was clear that large chunks of time were not a luxury I had, but what if I took all the little leftovers in my day and made the most of them. I turned my have tos into opportunities:
I have to bring my son to soccer practice. 
I have the opportunity to sit on the sideline and get some revising done. 
I have to wait for my car inspection to be done. 
I have the opportunity to brainstorm that new story in my notes app. 
​
Lunchbreaks, hockey rinks, sidelines, and my car all became places of productivity. The limited durations of times helped me break my tasks into smaller pieces that were obtainable. And word by word, stolen moment by stolen moment, I was able to make progress and produce new pieces of writing. ​

​4. Give Yourself a Break
Respect your own bandwidth. Going this full out can be exhausting and lead to burnout. It isn’t sustainable to do everything all the time, even if you have found a way to make it fit logistically into your schedule. So when I begin to feel overwhelmed, or when I feel like I am never going to accomplish x, y, and z, I take those cues and take a break. 

I learned that when I am stressed my creativity is the first thing to disappear. There is more to writing than writing; a hike in the woods, fishing with my kids, or the always elusive nap are some of the things I need more at those times than the need to to push through. Allowing myself a break sounds counterintuitive to accomplishing everything, but the short time away, doing activities that feed my soul, are often exactly what I need to move forward and avoid burnout 

It is not a perfect system. I am constantly adjusting and revising it to fit my current season of life. But it is through these strategies that I have been able to keep producing new stories while teaching, parenting, and promoting books. It is how I keep my sanity and my creative spirit alive when the have tos are never ending. 

I hope some piece of this resonates with you and is able to help you make space in your busy life for more writing!

By Guest Blogger Carrie Finison

“It’s tough to sell a picture book in this market.” That’s something that I’ve been hearing since I started writing back in 2010. After several manuscript submissions went nowhere, I decided I would try writing some sequels. Dozens of Doughnuts (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2020) and Don’t Hug Doug (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2021) had both found an audience, and I thought it would be easier to build on that success.

What I found was that writing a sequel was both easier AND more difficult. When writing an original story, you can venture anywhere your imagination takes you and change whatever you need to make the story a good one. With a sequel, many story elements are already determined. The process is a bit like packing the trunk of a slightly-too-small car for a two-week vacation. You have so much you want to fit in, but the parameters are already defined. Fans of the first book will want something familiar but also new. At the same time, the sequel also needs to satisfy those who haven’t read the original. It’s a tall order!

​Here are some questions I considered when writing the manuscript that became Plenty of Pancakes (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2026) the sequel to Dozens of Doughnuts.
​

​The new text calls back to the original but also puts a new twist on it. I did this in quite a few places throughout the manuscript.
​

Will all the original characters return, and in what roles?
​Readers expect to see at least some familiar characters in a new story. For me, that meant seven characters to somehow work into the plot. However, in the sequel Topsy the opossum becomes the new main character since LouAnn is still in hibernation mode. This made the story feel fresh. I also introduced new characters—two little pancake thieves.
​

What other elements or layers from the original can be worked into the new story?
In my case, that meant a new refrain that readers could say aloud to participate in the reading. In Dozens of Doughnuts, readers love saying the doorbell sound out loud—“Ding dong!” Plenty of Pancakes has a similar refrain, and kids can chime in when Topsy shouts, “Who’s there?” as well as when the thieves gobble the pancakes—“Munch, munch, munch!”

Dozens of Doughnuts, also has a subtle math element, as the batches of twelve doughnuts are divided by factors of 12—2, 3, 4, and 6. In Plenty of Pancakes, all of the pancakes are depicted in batches of 5, and Topsy briefly models counting by fives. 

How will the established story structure work with the new topic?
Both books include a combination of narrative text and dialogue balloons, with a similar comic panel style of illustration. Both also use plenty of rhyme, which makes them fun to read aloud.

​I hope these examples help break down the process of writing a sequel. As you revisit worlds and characters you’ve created, the most important question to keep in mind is:
What did readers love about the first book, and how can I give that to them again in a new way?
​
Happy writing!

Carrie Finison writes children’s books with humor and heart that are fun to read aloud. Her books include Dozens of Doughnuts and the sequel, Plenty of Pancakes; Don’t Hug Doug, an ALA Notable Children’s Book; Even Steven: A Book About Sharing; Lulu & Zoey: A Sister Story (Running Press Kids, 2022); Hurry, Little Tortoise, Time for School (Random House Studio, 2022); Pigs Dig a Road (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2024); and Touch a Truck Day (Chronicle Books2026), a lift-the-flap board book. She lives in the Boston area. Visit her at www.carriefinison.com , or follow on social media @CarrieFinison.

by Kelly Carey

There is something tantalizing about the clean slate that January brings. It’s the kick-off to a wide-open year of possibility.

It’s a time to try something new. Something big. Something that might nudge you out of your comfort zone. Perhaps you’re a picture book writer but a novel has been kicking around in your head. Maybe a middle grade novel in verse has been tapping your shoulder.

If you have a project that feels daunting and requires a brave inhale - let January be your sword. January is powerful – she has potential and so do you.

This is the moment to Go Big January!

But, since we are 24 Carrot Writers, we will not be stumbling willy-nilly into this new endeavor. We need a plan! Let’s map out five best practices to make the most of Go Big January.

Step 1: State Your Intention
​
Make the whispering muse LOUD!

Write your Go Big January idea down—on your goal list, your calendar, and in an email to yourself (set to resend daily). Scribble it in excited—not angry—capital letters. Use a joyful, colorful pen. Not a pencil. This new endeavor deserves permanence.

Then share your intention with a trusted writer friend or your critique partners. Post your Go Big January project hopes in the 24 Carrot Writing Facebook group. Title it: Go Big January! The encouragement will pour in, I promise.

2. Grace Over Goals

Normally, 24 Carrot Writing encourages measurable goals. But this endeavor is different. It’s unfamiliar territory and you don’t yet know your stamina. One hundred words a day? Maybe. A chapter a week? Possible.
​
For this out of your comfort zone project let word counts and chapter targets rest. This month is about grace, not goals. Give yourself space to figure out how the work flows. There will be time for goals later. 
​

3. Be a Mad Scientist  

Remember middle-school brainstorming sessions? Get in that frame of mind. Try everything.

Be a mad scientist with this new project. You might blow something up. Who cares? It’s only January. You’ve got time to pull out the fire extinguisher, sweep up the burnt debris, and try again.

Let every crazy idea out. That self-editing monster? Lock it in a drawer. Shove a granola bar in its mouth (fine  - leave it a water bottle too), but do not let it out.
​
You’re going to mess up. That’s the idea. Tip over. Fail. Then learn, reset, and keep going. 

4. Embrace the Discomfort

You’re trying something new which means it will be hard, and you will feel awkward. It would be easy to reach for what feels familiar. But Go Big January is not a time for relaxing into comfort - that’s what July beach days with their sunglasses and fruity drinks are for. January is about hearty foraging through snow drifts, crackling fires, and brave mugs of cocoa.

Do not fall back to your more comfortable projects. If you primarily write picture books, but your Go Big January project is a YA novel – don’t retreat to picture books this month. If you’re working, you’re working on your Go Big January project and only that work.

Those other projects have eleven other months to intrude. Not this month. This is Go Big January. 
​

5. Take the Full Month (or More)

Don’t change course until you’ve given your Go Big January project the whole month. Only at the end of January should you take stock and reflect. Don’t scrap the project or second-guess your big plans until you have devoted a solid 30 days of effort. 

​Maybe Go Big January will spill over into February or better yet March. Wahoo you crazy mad scientist you! Afterall, you still have an enormous chunk of the year ahead, so you have time to experiment, be adventurous, and let this project gain traction.
​
That’s what January—and a fresh year—is all about.

Ah, the luxury of winter breaks. This morning I sat, warm coffee mug in hand, and read poetry, and as Mary Oliver's exquisite word-art saturated me, this one in particular spoke to my heart:

Lines Written in the Days of Glowing Darkness
Every year we have been
witness to it: how the
world descends

into a rich mash, on order that
it may resume.
And therefore
who would cry out

to the petals on the ground
to stay,
knowing as we must,
 how the vivacity of what was is married

to the vitality or what will be?
I don't say 
it's easy, but
what else will do

if the love one claims to have for the world
be true?

So let us go on, cheerfully enough,
 this and every crisping day,

though the sun be swinging east,
 and the ponds be cold and black,
and the sweets of the year be doomed.
(Mary Oliver 2012)

This is our 24 Carrot wish for you this year, dear fellow-writer:
That you will know,
despite of whatever the last year held,
how the "vivacity of what was is married
to the vitality of what will be"
and that you will "go on, cheerfully enough"
knowing that the trees will bud in the spring
​and the sunflowers will bloom in the summer.

Season's Greetings
and bright bookish wishes
for the New Year!
​
The 24 Carrot Crew
​

Our 2025 guest bloggers have shared fascinating tips and wonderful practical advice all year long. But they aren't done!

We've asked them to select the perfect items to put at the tipity-top of every writer's holiday wish list. Peruse their selections to find the best writerly tools to improve your writing space, catapult your creativity, and make your 2026 writing activities sparkle.   

Amanda Smith is a co-founder of 24 Carrot Writing. Her poems can be found in Bless the Earth (Convergent Books, 2024) and the Writer's Loft Anthologies, Gnomes and Ungnomes: Poems of Hidden Creatures (2023) and Friends and Anemones: Ocean Poems for Children (2020) To learn more about Amanda, visit here.