BLOG BREAK Ratings, Mistakes and Motivation


Nick Cross presents his fortnightly selection of must-read blogs.


What is the value of age ratings for children's books? Eloise Williams asks a bookseller's opinion, and the result is a terrific blog post.

We all make mistakes. Lots of them. But in our Facebook-perfect world, it can seem like other people always get things right first time. So, bravo to Patrick Miller who is bravely showing off some of his illustration mistakes on Big Little Tales to help us learn from them.

Maureen Lynas has written quite a few blog posts in the past dissecting other people's book plots, and it has obviously paid off! In a great post for Notes from the Slushpile, she uses examples from her own soon-to-be-published debut novel to explore the importance of giving ALL characters in a story desires and motivation, not just the protagonist.

How do you react to feedback? David Thorpe is addressing that very question in his post for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure.

The importance of learning and asking questions drives Natascha Biebow's blog post for Picture Book Den. And you can learn something just by reading it :-)

Finally, let's salute the value of persistence by congratulating Vanessa Harbour on securing a book deal for her middle-grade novel, after several years of trying. Vanessa's blog post tells us about how dreams really do come true.

Nick.

*Feature image: Blog Break logo by Melany Pietersen



Nick Cross is Words & Pictures' Blog Network Editor. He is an Undiscovered Voices winner and 2015 honours recipient of the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for fiction.

Nick also blogs for Notes from the Slushpile. His most recent blog finds him with too many topics and only one post to fit them into - Oh, The Agony of Choice.

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