The following is an excerpt from The Children’s Writer’s Guide. Activities unrelated to writing can often unlock your inspiration, whether you’re doing laundry, walking the dog, tidying the house, mowing the lawn or doing the dishes. It’s surprising how even the most mundane tasks can launch you on the road to your next story. Consider…
Writing a children’s counting book requires a mix of simple storytelling, engaging visuals, and a strong educational foundation. Here are the key guidelines to follow: #1. Choose a Clear Counting Structure. – Decide on the number range (e.g., 1–10, 1–20, or skip counting like 2s, 5s, 10s). – Consider whether you want to count up…
Here’s a set of 7 grounded, realistic writing prompts themed around Easter week. These stories focus on the emotional undercurrents, traditions, tensions, and quiet transformations that often surface during this time of year. Monday’s Prompt: The Empty Pew Your character returns to their childhood church for the first time in years. Everything looks the same—except…
The following is an excerpt from The Children’s Writer’s Guide. Even if you’re determined to work on your writing and have set time aside for it, there will be days when nothing seems to work to get you started. An interesting exercise to get a story moving is to use a collection of random objects…
Here’s a grounded, realistic set of prompts for the week. These focus on everyday people in relatable situations, with room for emotional depth and character-driven storytelling. Monday’s Prompt: The Resignation Letter Your character writes a resignation letter they never intend to send—just to get some feelings out. But someone accidentally delivers it, and now they…
by Suzanne Lieurance Each month we offer a different writing challenge designed to help you start taking small, consistent actions so you become the writer you’ve always wanted to be. Many of these challenges will also help you if you’re an author and want to build your readership. This month’s challenge is all about learning how…
The following is an excerpt from The Children’s Writer’s Guide. Free writing, sometimes referred to as stream-of-consciousness writing, involves writing continuously for a set period of time. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and even a topic are largely irrelevant. Although the process may appear to result in mostly unusable material, it can help writers get to grips…
Each of this week’s writing prompts explores a life that could’ve gone differently—and what happens when your character gets a taste of that “other” version of reality. Happy writing! Monday’s Prompt: The Do-Over Clause Your character signs a contract without reading the fine print. Turns out, it grants them one do-over of any day in…
Here we are—second quarter of the year. The buzz of January is long gone, and maybe some of your writing goals have drifted into the background. That’s okay. This is your reset button. This second quarter is the sweet spot—enough time left to make real progress, but close enough to the year’s end to start…
The following is an excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide. When writing time travel stories, anachronisms need to be avoided. Fictional characters in the medieval period or in World War II obviously can’t carry cell phones, check their email, or talk about TV shows. However, characters also can’t have political views that aren’t in keeping with…
Use these new story starters for a little creative writing practice this week. Monday’s Prompt: The Time Auction In a near-future society, time is the only currency. People auction off minutes, hours, even years of their lives to get what they need. Your character attends a high-stakes auction and makes a desperate bid that changes…
The following is an excerpt from The Children’s Writer’s Guide 2. In terms of writing and publishing trends, even though the height of the Harry Potter phenomenon is now long gone, there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of books with similar fantasy themes. I’m in bookstores in Calgary conducting signings on a regular basis…
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