Category: From The Author

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From The Author

Five Tips for Writing a Great Children’s Book

Five Tips for Writing a Great Children’s Book

This is a quick tutorial on writing a great children’s book. Fast!

Use these ideas to get a story or work of nonfiction started. Editing comes later.

1.- Make a Decision about Characters.

The characters in children’s literature can be portrayed as real people or as animals. Articles have been written describing the advantages and disadvantages of each. Where sensitive topics are concerned some authors prefer animals. Instead of using child characters, animals provide emotional distance so lessons may be conveyed.

2.- Describe the Characters.

To quickly get an idea of each character, write a WWWWW & H Biography. Tell the Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Some authors create extensive character profiles. Do this later. Write the story.

3.- Pick the Type of Book You Want to Write.

There are different types of books for children: There are board books, picture books, independent readers, chapter books, middle grade, young adult novels, graphic novels, manga, nonfiction, and poetry. Unsure of what to write? Talk to a librarian to ask for the best books in each genre.

4.- Rhyme and Rhythm.

Many children’s authors like poetic storytelling. I suggest poets consider generating word lists using found poetry. Found poetry uses words, phrases, and punctuation discovered in newspapers, books, other poems, online resources, and the like. Make the word list, trim it by removing words that don’t fit, add more words. Bring any story to life using words on the list.

5.- Read, Read, Read.

Learn what sells. Learn what children will read again and again. Read the kinds of books you want to write. In these books, you will find clues about reading level, plot lines, and character arch. Also, read books about the writing life by published authors.

6.- Bonus: Research and join the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Dennis is a member of SCBWI and recently signed a contract with Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. for his series of seven children’s books. He is a Fellow of the National Writing Project.

As a professor for Barstow Community College he taught public speaking, interpersonal communication, and English.

Dennis and his wife, Diane, spent ten summers teaching English as a foreign language in Kazakhstan, South Korea, and China. Dennis’ Author Profile is on the Elk Lake Website (elklakepublishinginc.com/dennis-conrad/).

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Flowers for My Wife: A Family Tradition

Flowers for My Wife: A Family Tradition

This is the story of the origin and continuation of a family tradition.

On our wedding day, June 23, 1990, Diane and I received many gifts. The night of our wedding, we were off on our honeymoon, so Diane’s sister, Lynette, took our unwrapped gifts to her apartment. When we returned a little over a week later, we opened our presents. To our delight, we received two beautifully cut-glass vases.

For nearly three decades, I have kept the tradition alive with a constant supply of roses with baby’s breath, lilies, sunflowers, carnations, and more.

The colorful flowers are a constant reminder of our love and commitment.

To share the tradition, we have given many engraved vases as gifts for weddings and graduations.

A few years ago, we attended an outdoor wedding. I slipped the groom fifty dollars and told him to be sure to buy his new bride flowers. I hope he smiled when he opened our gift.

Tell me what you think below and please join me every day as we pray for wisdom by taking part in the Wisdom Prayer Challenge.

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What Prospectors and Writers Have In Common: Eureka!

Eureka!

What Prospectors and Writers Have In Common.

Have you studied the rich history of the California Gold Country? James Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. Soon after, people from around the world came to the region.

Johann August Sutter, better known as John Sutter, had his Fort in what would later become Sacramento, California. My wife, Diane, and I were on a trip in northern California on our way to the Gold Country when we stopped by the Fort.

We were looking for and found a large tree with a small plaque inside the Fort’s front gate. The plaque explained how the tree originally came from the city of Kandern, Germany, where Sutter was born. Diane lived in Kandern where she taught three years at Black Forest Academy. While there, she heard the story about the tree from her landlord who owned a nursery. Prior to World War II, the people of Kandern sent a sapling as a peace offering, and it was planted at the Fort. My wife and I also visited the house where Johann August Sutter was born in Kandern. We saw the small plaque identifying it as his birthplace.

As our trip continued, we explored the Gold Country. I could feel the excitement of the early prospectors. As a writer, I identify with those known as the 49ers, who arrived in 1849. Prospectors and writers are dreamers. Prospectors and writers are optimistic. Prospectors and writers work hard. The prospector looked to find gold. Writers are constantly on the lookout for a golden idea.

Both prospectors and writers define success when they use the word, “Eureka,” I Found It! Prospectors hope to strike it rich. Writers look for just the right word or phrase, the perfect main character, a great villain, a solid supporting cast, and the perfect story arch. Meanwhile, nonfiction writers try to tell a true story in the most captivating way.

When everything is going well, it is a great joy. Yet, when faced with disappointment, both prospectors and writers have a choice. They can keep searching, keep going, and never give up. Or they can stop.

If you identify with either the prospector or the writer, never stop in your quest to one day shout, “Eureka!”

Tell me what you think below and please join me every day as we pray for wisdom by taking part in the Wisdom Prayer Challenge.

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September 11, 2001 – September 11, 2021

September 11, 2001 – September 11, 2021

Where were you on the day of the attack on the World Trade Center?
What changed for you the days and weeks that followed?

Here is my answer:
Forty miles outside of Barstow, California, in the Mojave Desert, the phone rang…

– My wife said, “Turn on your TV.”
– I did…

The first tower was on fire. After a quick conversation, we hung up.

Within a few minutes a second plane crashed into the other tower.
I called my wife…

We were both horrified…

Five weeks before the attack, I started working for Barstow College’s satellite campus at Fort Irwin, the National Training Center for the United States Army. Hired to teach public speaking and English to the soldiers and their dependents, I would describe pre-9/11 Fort Irwin as a quiet town. My students took a casual approach to learning. Often, they came to class exhausted after taking part in military training exercises in the summer heat.

Post-9/11

When classes finally resumed, my students were still tired, but they arrived for class early. Many leaned forward during lectures and student speeches. Members of small groups interacted with greater enthusiasm. A sense of urgency filled the air. After 9/11 my students realized they were part of something bigger. America had been attacked, and they were the defenders of freedom.

It didn’t take long for me to realize my responsibility. I became serious about teaching the up-and-coming generation of military leaders. I did my best to help them improve their oral and written communication skills. My students would tell me that something I taught on a given day proved helpful to them in their jobs the next.

At Fort Irwin, everyone’s attitude and demeanor changed after the attacks on the World Trade Center. I am humbled to have taught at the satellite campus until May 2008. I continued teaching for the college at the Barstow campus until June 2017.

What is your story?

Tell me what you think below and please join me every day as we pray for wisdom by taking part in the Wisdom Prayer Challenge.

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The Night I Drove Over the Continental Divide

The Night I Drove Over the Continental Divide

In the late 1990s, I submitted an audition tape to Fred Pryor Seminars to become one of their speakers. After being accepted into their training program and finishing the course, I began speaking from Hawaii to Delaware. Then it was on to London and the city of Cambridge, England.

Little did I know, one night, I was about to face the ultimate test of my professional speaking career.

After teaching all day, I drove to the Havre City-County Airport in Montana and turned in my rental car. While waiting in a line to get to the airline ticket counter, I anticipated a short flight.

At the counter, I was informed, “We started boarding a few minutes ago. You needed to check in earlier. You’re late. We have given away your ticket because you did not respond to the page.”

“Late?” I looked at my watch. There was still time. I said, “What page? I didn’t hear one. There must be a mistake.”

“No.”

“Now what?”

I was scheduled to teach a one-day seminar entitled “Grammar and Usage” the next morning at 9:00 a.m. in Boise, Idaho.

It was time to call the after-hours emergency number at the Fred Pryor home office. The woman at the other end of the line went to work immediately and started booking reservations.

The plan was to pick up a rental car at the counter where I had just dropped off my other car; drive 500 miles over the Continental Divide; arrive in Pocatello, Idaho; sleep a few hours; catch a plane to Boise, Idaho; and then fly that afternoon back to Pocatello, where I would speak the following day.

My motto that night: I can make it. The show must go on.

After renting the car, I drove long into the night. Snowflakes started falling. With no experience driving in snow, I prayed I would make it.

After midnight, exhausted and needing to rest, I pulled into the parking lot of a small store.

Sound asleep, a police officer knocked loudly on my window. “Are you okay? Do you know where you are?” He explained I was on a Native American Reservation.

Powered by the adrenalin rush after being startled awake, I drove on; checked into my hotel; slept a few hours; got professionally dressed; drove my car to the airport; and caught the flight to Boise. I arrived at the hotel where the seminar was being held, greeted the attendees, gave the presentation, and then flew to Pocatello.

Those who sat in my seminar that day in Boise had no clue of what happened the night before.

I passed the test. The show did go on. What an answer to prayer!

Please Join me every day as we pray for wisdom by taking part in the Wisdom Prayer Challenge.

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From The Author

Unleash Your Creativity

UNLEASH YOUR CREATIVITY.

Whenever writers get stuck, many become frustrated, perplexed, and filled with self-doubt.

If this happens, it is time to take a different approach.

Discover the Fun and Relax:

One elementary school teacher had her students mold Play-Doh to create a new dinosaur. Her students then named and wrote about their creation. When a group of adult writers did this exercise, they had smiles on their faces and became prolific.

Rewrite a Comic Strip:

Look at the Sunday Comics and realize the artists who create these nuggets are story tellers. Consider the tales and moral lessons portrayed. Take a cartoon like Family Circus and substitute the old text with fresh wording. Notice how the words change the story or message.

Create a Storyboard:

Long before movies and television shows become reality, artists create a scene-by-scene pictorial layout. Apply the technique to gain a fresh perspective of any writing project.

Make Talking Pictures:

Write dialogue for any picture. Buy a large-piece puzzle, start putting it together, and jot down an account of the images as the picture emerges. Add sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touching sensations to make the word picture come alive.

Become An Observer:

See a plane overhead or a group of people in a nearby car? Consider the answers to probing questions: “What if my character was on that plane or in that car?” “Where is he or she going?” “Why?”

Take It Around the World:

Select a continent and make up the name of a country and city. Draft a first person account of an event in that country’s history.

Name That Tune:

Make up a song using the lyrics to summarize the plot of a story, a character’s flaws, or a particular scene.

Become a Poet:

Newspapers, online posts, and advertising brochures can inspire creativity. Compile a list of words, phrases, and key-word combinations based on the text. Take all the ideas, more words, and combine them to draft a poem or a story.

Your Magnum Opus is waiting.

Dennis Conrad