The top-secret way to write more when you have young kids

School’s out!

Summer’s here, and if you have young kids, you know what that means: kids in your hair. 

All day long, and by evening, you’re sapped by family activities and running around.  Running, running, running.  They’re running you into an early grave… and you’re running on empty.

Where can you find time to write?

Some days (is this just me?), the thought of sitting down at the computer after a busy family-filled day is utterly, completely depressing.  I know there are disciplined writers out there who put in their 1000 words a day come hell or high water.  But I’ll admit it right now: I’m not always one of them.

Do you ever have a day when you feel like you’ve given them everything you’ve got?

I do.  Sometimes, I’ve given my kids everything in me and there is nothing – well, almost nothing – left.  But it’s that almost nothing that you have to take and squeeze out. 

Those very last drops of inspiration are sometimes the very sweetest.  

Giving more than 100%

Have you ever cut and squeezed a lemon? 

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Reader Feedback – why you need it, and how it helps

Have you heard the expression, "a camel is a horse designed by a committee?"  It's because they're lumpy and bumpy and funny-looking and inefficient, and, well, you get the picture.

One thing that's NOT meant to be "designed by committee" is a children's picture book. 

But I sort of went and did it anyway.  I created a page using Google Forms to help me collect feedback from pre-readers about a Jewish children's picture book I wrote.

And you know what?  It really helped. 

Here’s the biggest thing I learned:

Even the greatest book in the world is still written only from your perspective.  Other people’s views can make it much broader.

Your book reflects you and YOUR world and YOUR point of view.  By opening it up to feedback, though, you let other people behind the scenes, into your creative process… and sometimes, their ideas and their perspective, are exactly what you need to broaden your book and make it more universally appealing.

Sure, some of the feedback I got wasn't helpful at all, like one person, who suggested I rewrite the whole thing in verse because she likes rhymes. But some really was, and it helped me figure out what the first draft of the book had been missing.

When you're asking for feedback, be specific.  Don’t say “did you like the book?”  Use questions that are specifically targeted to things that are within your power to change about the book.

For example, one of my questions was

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Do talking animals make our kids dumb?

In case you don’t feel like reading on, the answer is no.

But the question has been raking up headlines all week anyway, thanks to a University of Toronto (my alma mater !  so proud !) study proving that they do. 

Or at least, kind of proving they do. 

As it turns out, what they’ve done says very little about children’s books – in particular, not much we have to pay attention to as writers or as parents.

But along the way we can have a bit of a laugh looking at the samples of the stories they used, and looking at examples of talking animals who help our kids learn… so keep right on reading!

The Claim:  Talking Animals Hinder Learning

These results indicate that anthropomorphized animals in books may not only lead to less learning but also influence children’s conceptual knowledge of animals. (read the full study here)

This kind of sensationalistic stuff adapts really well to headlines!

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Creating “readers for life” – it takes a village.

There’s a lot of pressure on kids’ book authors.  Why?  Because educators and other experts love to go on and on about the importance of early reading experiences in “creating” readers for life, or, worse (pressure-wise), transforming reluctant readers into eager ones.

And lots of them seem to think it’s our responsibility to hook the kids and reel them in.  “Your book ought to be SOooo compelling,” they say (or think!), “that even kids who don’t want to read it will have no choice, it’s that good.”

Now, I do believe that books are totally magical, but that’s an awfully high standard.

That’s an awful lot of pressure.

To take the pressure off, creating readers for life is a project that’s best assigned to a whole group of people, not just fobbed off on writers.  Who can help with this important job?

• Parents
• Teachers
• Older siblings
• Family friends
• Librarians
• … and yes, authors & illustrators

As you can see, it’s a package deal!  We all have to work together to create not only fantastic books but…

• Warm, nurturing, fun early reading experiences
• Quiet places to sit and enjoy books
• Spare time to sit and enjoy books
• Role models who spend time alone with books
• An environment where books are accessible and easy to find
• An assortment of reading experiences:  classics and new favourites, board books, picture books, chapters and yes, even good graphic novels.

It takes a village to raise a reader.

Here are two excellent books that can help give you some ideas about helping kids love reading FOR LIFE, written by two of the leading advocates for children’s literature in the English language today.  If you haven’t at least glanced through them already, you should.

• Mem Fox, Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever.  An Australian educator, Mem Fox is a children’s writer herself, author of one of my favourite early rhyming books, Where is the Green Sheep?

Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook: Seventh Edition, started out as an artist and journalist before he turned to education, giving parents and teachers a head start in reading to their kids with this essential reference book.  The first section talks about WHY you must read aloud and HOW to do it best.  The second section, continually updated (this is the seventh edition), is a list of  his top picks in every single category of children’s book.

These are the two most important that I can think of.  If you have other recommendations, I’d be thrilled to share them.

What are some of the other ingredients you can think of for creating “readers for life”?  What can writers do to make their book parts of this recipe for success?

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