Creative Writing Tip Three

Listen to children. You'll get a lot of good writing material!

Recently, my daughter, Page, was telling me about the time she bought her youngest daughter, Aspen, (who was three at the time) a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal. Page put the doll on Aspen's bed with excited anticipation. She couldn't wait to see Aspen's face. When Aspen saw it, she turned to her Mom and said, “Who is that?” Page answered, “It’s Winnie the Pooh." A puzzled expression came over Aspen's face and then she grimaced, “Gross, his name is ‘Poop?’ I can't play with a stuffed animal named 'Poop.'”

Creative Writing Tip Two

Write about what you know. If you’re not familiar with places or things you want to write about, do the research—travel, read and ask questions. It’s obvious to your readers if you try to write a book about something you know nothing about.

Recently, my daughter, Jennifer, and I had lunch with an author friend of ours, Jessica George. After eating and laughing a lot, we started discussing writing and Jessica shared a little of her background with us. She was so fascinating and I realized immediately why her books are so great. In addition to loving to write, Jessica said she took eight years of German, four of Norwegian, and even studied Old Norse so that she could read the great Viking sagas in the original language. That was impressive.

Check out her blog listed under “My Favorite Blogs and links.” You’ll be glad you did and keep writing!