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Mentor Texts for Writers: How to Unstick Your Opening Line by Marcie Colleen
Marcie Colleen and I not only share a first name (spelled the same way and everything), but we also share a love of picture books and mentor texts. When I do presentations about mentor texts for teachers or writers, I always tell them, you must not just study the…
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When Your Writer Self Gets Smacked with a Reality Stick
I love writing retreats. I’ve had the great opportunity to attend one particular retreat, organized by brilliant YA novelist Val Patterson, and led by multi-published Candice Ransom, for three years in a row. It feels indulgent to spend the weekend in a hotel room by myself and talk over…
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Writing Wednesday: Revision Cards and Mentor Text Videos
Revision cards break the task of revision into manageable chunks. They feature revision suggestions for: * beginnings * description * staying on topic * titles * putting boring words to bed * visualizing * onomatopoeia * sensory words * details * endings * strong verbs * clearing up…
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Where in the World is Marcie Writing? A Getaway
You know my favorite place to write? In a quiet hotel room. Alone. It rarely happens, but when it does, I can suck the life out of a few hours. Thanks to my mom watching the kids, I snuck away out of town with my husband. He had…
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Where in the World is Marcie Writing? The Library
I have this novel that’s been pretty much done for several months. But the climax of the story was just terrible. I knew it would require some major rewriting and some rewriting of early parts to make it all come together. But I needed some big chunks of…
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Mom’s Write: Potential Readers
I know many writers will disagree with me when I say that I sometimes use my own kids as a “test audience” for my books. One of the arguments against this is that kids aren’t going to tell you that they dislike your book because they don’t want to…
