Guest Blog by Cedar Pruitt

​I think of poetry as the richest form of language, delivered with the sparest set of tools. The constraints of sentences, paragraphs, and punctuation have all vanished. And what remains? Words, pauses, and silence.
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When writing poetry, not everything makes sense—at least at first. For me, letting go of making sense is the magic and art of poetry. And sometimes that process leads to…a nonfiction picture book. 

I wrote my debut picture book in one poetic jumble on a snowy February day. The inspiration? A real-life event in which an owl flew out of a wildfire and into the co-pilot seat of a firefighting helicopter, where it stayed for several water drops.  

 Two years later, we’re celebrating the launch of  Fire Flight: A Wildfire Escape (Capstone Editions, 2024), illustrated by Chiara Fedele.
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Although Fire Flight followed dozens of other manuscripts and years of hard work, it was my first in which I completely handed over the controls to my inner poet. I allowed myself to experience the feeling of the story and stopped trying to write a narrative. I let go of my sentences, paragraphs, punctuation…and expectations. This is all to say that my first pass didn’t make complete sense.
 A snippet:

From the initial text you see above, only two phrases made it into the final book (“owl territory,” and “orange ribbons.”), but if I hadn’t released myself from the need to make sense, I don’t think I would have found those initial words. And the entire story wouldn’t have taken flight.

What I learned: Let go of the story. Find the feeling. Be free to choose only the words that make you FEEL the essence of the narrative. Apply silence liberally.  
 
My second picture book, releasing in 2026, is also poetic and non-fiction. This story took the opposite path. I didn’t burst out into poetry; far from it. Instead, I wrote laboriously complete sentences to document what my 7th grader learned in school. I focused on describing what it must have been like, late summer, for the teenagers who followed a long, cramped tunnel underneath a French forest until they reached hundreds of astounding cave paintings made 30,000 years earlier.

Eventually, I took that plodding narrative…and wrote about it in a way that made a lot less sense but had a lot more feeling – a poem.
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​A snippet:

​Ultimately, none of that made it into the final text, but it freed me to FEEL the beat of the heart of the main character – to let the spaces between words matter as much as the words do. That book, titled What Marcel Found: The Incredible Story of the Lascaux Cave Paintings (Beach Lane Books /Simon & Schuster, 2026) will be illustrated by David Litchfield.
 
What I learned: When you’ve told a story in a completely linear way that makes absolute sense, run it over with your poetry steamroller, and crush the syntax until you have silences that raise questions.
Know that the illustrations will add additional depth and truth to your non-fiction poetic story. 
 
If you ever find yourself stuck in your writing, just try to stop making sense. Embrace liberty in the way my favorite poet Frank O’Hara did. He wrote about everyday things with a joy and an intimacy that was unique. He really was free.
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Here’s to finding the beat of your own writing and the freedom of poetry in your work!

Cedar Pruitt holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University and works as a consultant of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She also holds a lifelong love for the music of the Talking Heads. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and is represented by literary agent Mary Cummings of Great River Literary. To learn more about Cedar visit here. 

Guest Blog by Colleen Paeff
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​I took this picture while hiking through Hidden Valley in Joshua Tree. I love how the rock face looks so hard and unyielding and yet, at the tippy-top – growing right out of the rock – is a tree. And if you let your eye wander downhill, you can see a person standing erect, looking up the hill, as if mentally preparing for the climb ahead. Seems like a perfect metaphor for the new year, right?!

So, how are you feeling about the climb ahead? Strong? Do you have the right tools? A helpful mindset? Can you see your goal out there ahead of you? 

​In 2024, my big goal is to learn to focus through adversity. It’s not a resolution, mind you. I hate resolutions. They always make me feel bad about myself. It’s more like a muscle I want to work. I collected some tips from my newsletter followers on staying focused when life gets tricky and have compiled some great ideas – especially when it comes to staying focused on writing. I will be using these in the new year and I’m sharing them in the hopes you might find them helpful too:

Create Deadlines by Taking Part in a Regular Critique Group
I have friends I rely on for critiques, but we don’t set deadlines. This advice, however, inspired me to join a monthly critique group organized by some of my Soaring ‘20s buddies. Now I have a monthly deadline!

Write First Thing in The Morning – Before Doing Anything Else
Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Do not touch the phone or computer! I’ve already started doing this and it’s made an enormous difference in my productivity.

Do a Project Brain Dump and Prioritize One or Two
In spare moments (even of just a few minutes) devote some time to working on one of those prioritized projects. If I have a few extra moments I tend to play puzzle games on my phone, but now I’m experimenting with writing during those moments instead of playing games. I keep a dedicated folder in my Notes app for these quick writing bursts.

Rely On To-do Lists
I am a huge fan of checking things off lists, so I will be making better use of to-do lists in the new year. I plan to color code my lists by subject and day of the week and use different colors for different areas of my life. For example, writing projects, school visits, and home life will each have their own colors.
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Here's my challenge to you for the new year:
When your inner critic starts talking, practice mindfulness. Notice the things that surround you, focusing on your senses. What can you see? Is there beauty hiding in the mundane?  What do you smell or hear? Are those senses stronger when you close your eyes? If you’re eating, slow down and really taste your food. What surfaces surround you? How do they feel?
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I’ve noticed a profound difference in my state of mind since I started practicing mindfulness in this way. I hope it will do the same for you. Let me know if it does!

by Kelly Carey 

I love January. A fresh unmarked calendar with crisp pages and a full year of possibilities. Rubbing my palms together, I devilishly consider what I might accomplish in the twelve months ahead.

But first, I look back at what happened last year. There is vital information there that I need to make my new goals shine. I’m looking for those occasions where working toward my rational measurable goals mixed with flow, creativity, and fate. Those are the Zen moments where I hit the peak of productivity, success, and joy. I want to repeat those times and you will too. Taking stock of the past year will help set goals for the upcoming year with a key to happiness mixed in.

So how do you do that? I’m so glad you’ve asked. Here are my tips for setting goals that honor a quest for a happy writing life. 

Sharp Pencil Accounting

First, set aside the Zen, and do a basic accounting of how you did hitting last year’s goals. Pull out that ambitious list you set down last January.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.
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Got them? Good. Now flip through the calendar and assess. Seriously, get out your calendar. I don’t know why our brains do this, but you will invariably forget some of your accomplishments. See. I was right. You forgot that you attended that book chat in April. And look there, you wrote the first draft for a new picture book in February. Don’t let those victories go unrecorded! Scour your schedule and get it all down. I promise, this will be way more fun than pulling out all the documents you need for tax prep, but the idea is  the same.

Be kind to yourself during this investigation. This is not a scoring system for assigning blame, shame, or even regret. This is a tool to guide your goal setting for the upcoming year. Be thorough and honest. No fudging the results or tipping the scales. If you had a goal to write 20K words toward a new middle grade novel, but you hit 3K; be proud of the 3K and keep going with your annual review. Maybe you didn’t have a goal to host three classroom visits, but fate and opportunity intervened, and you accomplished a task you hadn’t even set. Make note of that accomplishment.
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This is an annual report for yourself. Leave emotion, excuses, and even celebration out of this sharp pencil assessment. 

Introspection and Investigation

Now put emotion back in and let the feelings flow. Note the goals that you crushed – you over-achiever you! With grace, peek at the goals you neglected, or decided to ignore because folding laundry seemed way more appealing. Think about what allowed you to zoom past a target and what blocked you from hitting a task. Life events, time, and family can interrupt a goal in your path. But sometimes a shift in desire or a flash of new inspiration can hit.  This data is gold. Before you set new goals, figure out what fed your writing soul last year and capitalize on that for this year.
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Ask yourself:

1. What tasks did I struggle with or avoid? And why?
2. What work made me miserable last year? And why?
3. What goals were easiest to attain? And why?
4. What work made me happiest last year? And why?

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The Zen of Goal Setting

Now combine the functional task of setting goals with the joy you want to feel in your writing. Where did the goals that were easy to attain intersect with the goals that made you the happiest? Yes, fine. Knock yourself out. Make a Venn Diagram.

I know what you’re gonna say. But Kelly if the goal is easy is it worth setting?

Yes. And here is why. You are not a wimp. You did not set slouchy goals. You are trying to be a published writer. By definition your goal is tough and that means you’re a badass.

So here is my question. Why make the journey miserable? Why put yourself on paths with goals that drain your cup and make you unhappy? It’s nonsensical. There are a myriad of ways to move yourself forward on the writing path. I want you to reach for the productive ones that will bring you success BUT I also believe the goals that make you the happiest are the ones that will make your writing dreams come true.

As you set down your goals for the year, be smart. Look for the tough tasks that bring you the greatest joy and set yourself up for a fabulous year. 

That is the Zen of Goal Setting.

Ohm.