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I’ve been quilting now for over 10 years. At first, I took a couple of quilting classes. Step by step, an instructor showed me how to make each different quilt. I started small with a wall hanging of 3 patches. Then I made a tabletop quilt of only 4 patches.

After that, I made baby quilts.

After making several quilts at classes, I decided to try to make one at home without a teacher. I got stuck a couple of times, but I had some quilting friends so asked them for advice. It was a success!

From then on, I made quilts at home. I always used patterns and followed the instructions carefully.

The quilt in this picture here is a quilt that for the first time ever, I’m creating without a pattern.

I used the Crazy Nine Patch pattern in the center. But around the center I added strips I sewed together. And then around the whole edge of the quilt, I sewed on Prairie Points as the edging. I even created a fun design on the back (which you can’t see in this picture).

Writing is like quilting. When you’re starting out, it may feel like you’re using a formula. Put plots points in chapter 5, 10, and 15. Write scenes that start with dialogue and end with a cliffhanger. Interview our character and find out what her favorite colors and favorite desserts are.

Formula writing is okay. You have to start somewhere.

I’ve sat in conferences and read writing posts that tell you not to use formulaic writing. But for beginning writers or learning how to write in a genre that’s new for you, I think it’s good to learn how to write using a successful formula that has worked for others.

Then, gradually, as the formula becomes part of you, it becomes more intuitive. You can step away from the formula and use a more organic approach because you’ve LEARNED the basics about plot or setting or dialogue or character development.

The key is to just keep writing manuscript after manuscript after manuscript, improving your skills more each time and learning more about the formulas found in writing until your work improves and you grow as a writer.

I started out writing using various formulas. And I got published, too. Many smaller presses are okay working with beginning writers.

I still like to use formulaic writing today as I’m experimenting with a genre that’s new to me or trying to improve my craft in a certain area. But as I write manuscript after manuscript using a particular formula, the formula starts to fade into the background and a unique voice emerge in my stories.

So now, I’m starting to connect with the bigger publishers. It’s an exciting place to be. And it all started out following formulas.

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I like to quilt. Over the years, I’ve made 20 or more quilts.

For awhile, this quilt pattern was my favorite. I made lots of quilts with this pattern. I think it’s called the Shoo-Fly Quilt.

After some time, though, I felt like trying a new pattern. I made a log cabin quilt. I didn’t really like it that much. It was hard for me to get the patches even and straight. And I realized I liked patterns with triangles more than rectangles or squares.

So then I tried making a Crazy Nine Patch quilt. I really like it! I’m working on my 4th one now!

Writing for children is like quilting. It’s okay to try out different genre and writing for different markets. You might discover you don’t write very well in one genre. That’s okay. Try a different one.

You might find you like writing in a certain genre and stay there for awhile. That’s great! Write to your heart’s content, learning all the tricks and techniques as you pump out manuscript after manuscript in that genre.

But then if you feel like moving on and trying something new, go ahead! Even if you’re not very good at it at first, if you like it, try writing another manuscript and then another. You might find a genre that’s a good fit, after all.

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Spring has sprouted in my garden. Tiny seedlings are popping up in the seed packs I’ve planted. The raspberry bushes have sprouted. Things are sprouting everywhere! (See the photo above.)

It’s so exciting to see—especially one of my favorite flowers, red amaranth. There’s a carpet of one-inch seedlings near my garden path where I enjoyed the brilliant red flowers last year, all summer long.

But there’s one problem. There are too many seedlings. I only want 12 plants, but over 100 seedlings have sprouted. The seed packet says to thin them three inches apart…but which ones do I pull? They all look the same.

But pull them I must if I want my flower garden to look pretty and not like a neglected weed patch.

Now, I can just pull them and throw the extras away. Or I can do something with them. So I dig them up carefully and replant them in empty 6-pack containers and give them to friends. A dreary task of “weeding” now turns into a joy.

Writing is like that. As children’s writers, so often we have tight word counts. Fiction picture books top out at 800 words these days. The historical fiction I recently got accepted at a children’s magazine had to be 400 words. And when I wrote my nonfiction books for students 9 years and older, they had to be about 41,000 words.

The problem is, when I finish the first draft of a story, I’m usually way over my word count. There’s so much I want to say! For example, my historical fiction for the children’s magazine started out at nearly 1,000 words. And when I wrote my two nonfiction children’s books, America’s Black Founders and Frederick Douglass for Kids, I was thousands and thousands of words over my word count.

Just like the seedlings in my garden, I had to get rid of the extra words. Even though all the words and all the sections seemed important to me. And just like the seedlings, I could either delete the extra words and throw them away, or I could do something with them.

So I decided to do something with them. I cut whole sections out of my nonfiction books and entire “scenes” I’d created and did something with them. I used them as content for the websites I was building to help market each book. (To see what I did visit my sites America’s Black Founders and Frederick Douglass for Kids.)

This turned a potentially difficult and unwelcome task into an exciting and meaningful activity. I now had purpose for each word I deleted as it found its way in some shape or form into the websites I was creating.

So next time you have to cut and trim the article or book you’re writing after you finish your first draft, don’t despair! Decide on a purpose for the words, scenes, and entire sections you need to cut to meet your publisher’s word count. Then chop, snip, and trim away. You’ll soon reap the benefits. Just as a gardener enjoys her flower garden!

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Hey writing friends! Hop on over to author Brock Eastman’s site and visit an interview he posted there about me and my books.

And while you’re there, check out some of Brock’s books. He’s an amazing Christian author. He’s in the middle of writing some exciting books for teens. My husband Jeff has been reading the first two books in Brock’s trilogy, The Quest for Truth.

After Jeff finished the second book, he said he was going to get started on the third. Come to find out, Brock is still in the middle of writing that one! So now Jeff has to wait until it’s published to find out what happens in the next episode of this exciting adventure!!!

I wish these books had been around when my boys had been teens…good clean adventure with a Star Wars feel and a Christian message to boot!!!! It doesn’t get much better than that, in my opinion.

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I have calla lilies blooming in my backyard next to my small garden path that meanders between two birch trees and a Japanese Maple.

The calla lilies used to bloom in my front yard!

But last year I decided to transplant them from the front to the back. I thought they’d do better in the shade of the birch trees than in the spot they first were in.

I transplant things all the time in my garden as I redesign it from time to time. It’s just a fun part of gardening. Perhaps something isn’t growing as well as it should in one spot, so I dig it up and move it to another.

It’s the same with manuscripts.

When you write a sentence or a paragraph or even a chapter, don’t be afraid to move it to a better place as you’re going through and editing your manuscript. Learn to cut and chop and rearrange until information flows better or characters develop better or the plot moves forward better.

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In real life, each person is unique.

In a well-written story, each character is unique, too. Each one has his own fingerprint. Each one has her own voice.

I don’t know about how it is for you, but I tend to make all my characters sound the same. If you fall into that trap easily, too, here’s a writing exercise to try:

1. Pretend all your characters in your story are flowers. Each one is a different flower.

2. Pick a different flower for each one of your characters to be.

3. Write a short bio of each character based on the flower you’ve picked for it to be. For example, if Grandma (in your story) is a rose, she can be very wealthy and regal. She can be famous. She can smell wonderful with some mysterious perfume she wears. Everyone smells it as soon as she enters a room. People adore and revere her. But to her granddaughter, she’s all thorns.

4. After each character has their own unique bio based on which flower he or she is, ask each one to answer this question in his or her own unique voice:

There’s a knock on the door…who might it be?

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I just talked with my sister who’s visiting her son in Montana. They were driving into a severe snowstorm with 6-12 inches of snow.

But here in my garden in southern CA, flowers are blooming everywhere. Spring has officially arrived!

There are calla lilies in the shade of the birch trees. Tall. Majestic. Regal. They speak of Easter and the risen Lord in hushed and reverent tones.

There are flowers that look like daisies. They love the full sun. When shade hits them, they close their petals up. Tight. But in the bright noonday sun, their vibrant yellows and deep oranges shine for all to see. It’s like they’re singing happy songs.

Bright orange poppies wave in the gentle breeze. Footloose and carefree, they popped up in unexpected places. Next year, I know I’ll find them blooming in different spots altogether.

A profuse mound of purple petunias brighten the little path that meanders through my garden. But something is eating their blossoms. Snails? The grasshopper I saw? I don’t know, but one by one, big chunks are being enjoyed for breakfast by somebody. Soon they’ll be gone.

Pink begonias have woken up from being dormant all winter and are blooming under the apricot tree. What were they thinking all those silent months? What are they thinking now?

Did you know the characters we write about in our stories are a lot like flowers? Each one of our characters has his or her own distinctive personality. Each one of them speaks in their own unique voice.

Think about a story you’re working on right now. If you had to pick a different flower for each one, which flower would your main character be? (Like the roses along our wall? Or the perky pansies lining the garden path?)

Which flower would the bad guy/gal be? (Like the dandelion in our lawn? Or the Australian lilac…sweet but quietly invading the other flowers’ territory?)

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I’ve developed a strategy that helps me accumulate publishing credits and helps me grow as a writer even during winter seasons when all I get is rejections for the book manuscripts I submit. I call it the Triple Crown of Success.

I explain how this works in detail in my book, Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career.

(Just a note on my book…if you don’t have it yet, please be patient. It’s pulled off the shelf right now as I’m working to give it a new cover and update it with current info such as the Common Core State Standards. The updated version will be available to purchase again hopefully by this summer. But if you just can’t wait, the book is still available at online used bookstores.)

I’ll give a quick overview of how the Triple Crown of Success works:

Basically, each week I try to work on 3 different manuscripts to meet 3 different goals.

Project #1:
For the goal of writing for personal fulfillment, I work on whichever manuscript I’m passionate about. I devote a certain amount of time each week working on this to keep my writer’s passion alive.

Project #2:
For the goal of writing to get published, I write for the no-pay/low-pay market. I still do this today! For example, right now I’m writing a how-to article once a month that gets published in an online column at Working Writer’s Club. (Check out the club…it’s free to join and you’ll find sooooo many resources for writers there!) Plus, I’ve had several deadlines these past few months for other periodicals and online venues. Do I get paid for these? No. But I build up my publishing credits. And I work with editors. And I keep honing my writing skills. And I build my author’s platform by getting my website and blog and name out there. These benefits are my “paycheck.”

Project #3:
For the goal of writing to earn income, I send out queries and proposals and try to land book contracts or high-paying magazine contracts so I get paid to write something. To do this I study different publishers product lines and the books or magazine articles they’re putting out right now. I look for holes in their market. Then I submit queries and proposals for potential books to write that would fit into their product line. This is how I earn most of my income each year.

So what can you do if you feel like you’re in the middle of winter as a writer? Don’t lose all your leaves like a deciduous tree or shut down and give up on writing.

Be like an evergreen. Start working on three different strategies and manuscript projects to meet the three basic goals most writers have. Take control of your writing by using the Triple Crown of Success and shine like an evergreen all year long.

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The life of a writer has many unpredictable elements to it.

One unpredictable element is the seasons a writer goes through.

You just never know when you’ll get a string of rejections and nothing seems to be happening to your writing career. It feels like winter.

And then suddenly a bunch of editors are interested in your manuscripts and the joys of summer are yours.

We may not be able to control the seasons we’ll go through as a writer, but we CAN control what we do during these different seasons. We can choose to be like a deciduous tree and shut down and wait until something miraculous happens…

Or we can choose to be like an evergreen tree and keep on keeping on through the winter until spring comes again.

Over the years I’ve had various times of winter as a writer. Writing has been my part-time career (I’ve been a full-time Mom as my main career). I’ve earned a part-time income for the past 20 years of $20,000 or more per year. Many years it’s been significantly higher than that. How have I maintained this income even during winter seasons?

I’ve followed the strategy of what I call the Triple Crown of Success. I’ll tell more about that in the next post.

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I live in southern CA. We have a small backyard. But in our yard, we have two different types of trees: deciduous and evergreen. We have 2 birch trees and 2 Japanese maples. We have a Blue Spruce pine tree in a big pot. And several tall palm trees are in our neighbor’s yard next door but we get to enjoy them because they stand right next to our wall.

Even though our winters are mild, these two types of trees react differently to winter. At the first sign of winter, the deciduous trees drop their leaves. They lie dormant. They shut down.

The evergreen trees, however, just keep on keeping on. Yes it’s cold. Yes it’s winter. Yes everything around them seems dead and empty. But they persevere.

What kind of writer are you when you hit a winter season? Are you like a deciduous tree? If you get rejections and nobody seems interested in your manuscripts, do you shut down? Do you give up on writing for awhile and just wait until next year’s conference rolls around to motivate you to write again?

Or are you evergreen? Do you keep writing, keep learning new writing skills, keep pumping out manuscripts and sending out queries? Do you keep on keeping on until springtime comes again?

Even if you’ve been like a deciduous tree in winter, don’t despair! In my next post I’ll show you some ways you can be like an evergreen.