Lauri Meyers .

            I love writing for children because it makes my imagination muscles big and strong. Take for instance last night when my husband gave me a kiss before bed. (Don't get worried this isn't going anywhere crazy. Imagine the bedroom with two twin beds, if it helps). Anyhow, something stabbed my lip. Was it a bug with a sword?  Did his nose have a dagger, I wondered.  Had he recently transformed into a vampire?             The truth was even scarier- a mutant mustache hair! If you are young, you may not realize men occasional grow super thick, sharp hairs kind of like Wolverine (of X-Men fame.) Although, come to think of it, I've only kissed this one man so it's quite possible this does not happen to all men, and I am in fact Look at those hairs. Being a hippo wife would be tough. (by mzacha via sxc.hu) married to Wolverine.             My flexed imagination leads me to my second thought: would it be better to be married to a Vampire or to Wolverine? A Va

    Writing has been tough lately due to the constant car alarm hum of 17 year cicadas. I remember my best friend and I about 6 years old walking my Ohio neighborhood with a brown paper bag and filling it with shells. With that memory in mind, I have had my girls out exploring the cicadas. Cicada lifecycle in my backyard        We found our first nymph emerging from the ground during the search for a bug to put in the bug playground. (If you aren't familiar with the "bug playground," it's a plastic dome with a little ramp for bugs to walk on. It's basically like having your own coliseum with really tiny lions.)        "I don't want that bug, it's too ugly!" my 5yo cried.        "Well, it's going to come out of its shell and be like a butterfly. Well, an ugly butterfly." That was the clincher - anything nearly like a butterfly is good enough for her. We put the nymph in our butterfly cage, but I'm afraid that didn'

      I splurged on a new little friend: Donny Stapler the Dummy Maker! Meet Donny Stapler!       You know I get excited about little things and arguably a new stapler is a little thing.  But don't tell Donny Stapler he's little. No way! He's BIG! Yes he can stable up to 15 inches deep!!!       "When would you need to staple 15 inches deep?" you ask.        "I have no clue!" I reply.       But I like to staple 5 ½" deep A LOT (halfway through a 8 ½ x 11" piece of paper) which my old stapler couldn't do.  Donny Stapler makes mini picture book dummies with ease! Attack preparations underway (image by gfree via sxc.hu)              Now, I have no excuse for every manuscript to not be perfectly paced, except for perhaps my poor writing skills.  I have no excuse for not having exciting page turns, except for maybe my boring personality.   I have certainly no excuse for having too many words on a spread, except for

Writing children's books is really quite simple as long as you think about it like a 2-year-old and not like a person much older than a 2-year-old who knows about the complexities of developing voice and finding an agent.  Kind of like this: One, Two, Slippers will do. Three, Four, shut the door. Five, Six, Grab writing sticks. Seven, Eight, Caffeinate! Nine, Ten, Write 'til The End. See? Easy, Peasy, Nachos with cheesy.  Hmm, that makes me think I should add: Eleven, Twelve, Reward yourself!   (Okay, that's a near rhyme. No need to call the police. It's totally allowed in nursery rhymes.) Yum, nachos. (image by Jean-Philippe Dufour via sxc.hu) Thirteen, Fourteen, Repeat routine.  Now grab your writing sticks and get back to work!