Thank you for this series and telling us about your process. I also have a 10+ year old manuscript with multiple revisions. The key word for me is playing with the idea and characters to get to the heart of the story.
I have absolutely loved following along with this! How delightful. I hope this book is wildly succesful after all the thought and care that has gone into it!
I appreciate this series and the way you detail how much WORK goes into picture book writing, especially when those frustrating, “It’s only a couple hundred words…I can do that” comments linger in your head. I’ve done similar things, like completely rewrite stories I’ve worked on for dozens of years. Whatever it takes for however long it takes, right?
This is such a fascinating encapsulation of the process, maybe especially to an audience (me) that doesn't know what goes into writing a seemingly short, seemingly simple picture book. Can't get the image out of my head of a chicken flail-flying. Perfect analogy.
Thanks for sharing your process. As someone who also has 10 year old manuscripts that need to be written, your posts give me hope that I can now look at them with new eyes and mold them into something much better than they are now.
I keep everything. There are for sure some manuscripts I wrote a decade ago that are truly terrible and that I'll never rework (though they were worth writing, to play around with the idea). But sometimes the stories have to wait for you to become a better writer!
Thank you for this series and telling us about your process. I also have a 10+ year old manuscript with multiple revisions. The key word for me is playing with the idea and characters to get to the heart of the story.
Thanks for writing this series, Julie. It really normalizes the time I've spent reworking 500 words.
I have absolutely loved following along with this! How delightful. I hope this book is wildly succesful after all the thought and care that has gone into it!
Thank you! I hope so too!
I appreciate this series and the way you detail how much WORK goes into picture book writing, especially when those frustrating, “It’s only a couple hundred words…I can do that” comments linger in your head. I’ve done similar things, like completely rewrite stories I’ve worked on for dozens of years. Whatever it takes for however long it takes, right?
And the thing is, while I was in it, it took forever, but now that the book is almost out, it feels like it took the right amount of time.
Love to follow this process. Gives me hope that some of my stories will also come together after many years of work. Keep on Keeping ON!
This is such a fascinating encapsulation of the process, maybe especially to an audience (me) that doesn't know what goes into writing a seemingly short, seemingly simple picture book. Can't get the image out of my head of a chicken flail-flying. Perfect analogy.
I mean, obviously they're not all this complicated a process, but they are all a PROCESS, you know? Some definitely happen faster than others.
"...it never quite got off the ground (much the way a chicken flies)" - HA! I have enjoyed this series, Julie!
Thanks for sharing your process. As someone who also has 10 year old manuscripts that need to be written, your posts give me hope that I can now look at them with new eyes and mold them into something much better than they are now.
I keep everything. There are for sure some manuscripts I wrote a decade ago that are truly terrible and that I'll never rework (though they were worth writing, to play around with the idea). But sometimes the stories have to wait for you to become a better writer!