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I don’t usually pick a theme for every year, but after 2020 threw us all such a curve ball, I felt inspired to choose one for 2021. It started with picking a theme Bible verse:

“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 5:19, NKJV.

I don’t know about you, but in my life in 2020, I was controlled by restrictions that were outside of my power to change. I couldn’t go grocery shopping late at night like I prefer when our city was put under curfew. I couldn’t host my local writing friends in my home as I’d been planning on doing. I couldn’t attend a local writing conference because it got cancelled. I couldn’t attend funerals with friends and neighbors who lost a loved one. The list goes on and on and I know you have tales of your own to tell. Yes, 2020 is a year many of us would like to forget.

But with Matthew 5:19 in mind, 2021 can be a GREAT year, because no matter what restrictions are enforced or new virus strains are discovered, God gives us an amazing promise:

If we follow His commandments, and teach these commandments to others, we shall be called GREAT in the kingdom of heaven.

As writers, this is an exciting prospect indeed! Our efforts do not go unnoticed as we model the life of a Christ-follower within our writing circles, and through the words that we write teach a biblical worldview to a lost and hurting world.

Now, I don’t know exactly what this promise means…does it mean that even while we’re sitting at our computer and writing, God and Jesus are sitting in heaven and Jesus turns to God with excitement in his voice and says, “Look at my scribe! She is doing a GREAT thing today. Truly she is GREAT in our kingdom.”

Or does it mean that on that day when we stand before the judgement seat and the books are opened, that Jesus will step forth and announce triumphantly to all the angels and heavenly host, “Take a special look at this scribe. He is GREAT! In the blog posts, social media posts, articles, stories, and books he wrote, he taught the commandments. And he kept them well. Well done, good and faithful servant!”

I don’t know exactly how this verse will be fulfilled for eternity, but what I do know is enough to make me very, very excited for 2021 and the year ahead. I want to study God’s Word and read the Bible with renewed enthusiasm. I want to be diligent and faithful about my Christian walk to make sure I’m following God’s biblical commandments and not current cultural trends that are deceiving even fellow church-goers and writers to err. 

And then I want to teach God’s commandments through the words that I write. Whether fiction or nonfiction, children’s or adults, in my social media connections or in the writing groups where I participate…oh what a glorious goal for the year ahead, each and every day.

Yes, I’m counting on 2021 to be a GREAT year. I hope you’ll be inspired to do the same!

-Image by ShadOwfall from Pixabay

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It’s time for some Christmas cheer!

There’s a Merry Christmas book giveaway happening this week over on Instagram. CLICK HERE to hop on over and join in the fun!!!!!

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I know a lot of you have been following along and joining in on the adventure to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks. For me, the hardest challenge was actually getting a lot of the books from my local library because it’s still not fully open like it used to be.

What was your biggest challenge?

If you read all 40 books, I thought it would be fun to offer you this image that you can post on your own site. Feel free to use it however you want to because, yes! You completed the challenge.

And now that our reading is over, I want to encourage you to give back to the many amazing authors you’ve learned from and shared your time with as you’ve read their books. If you really liked their book, take a minute and post a glowing 5-star review on your favorite internet sites like Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Before you do, just listen to this story, however. A few years ago I was in a group of fellow picture book authors when we decided to read 40 picture books like this and meet together several times and discuss what we read.

We shared the positives, the negatives, the good, the bad, and the awful. One week, I had read a particularly notable book that I thought was awful. It had won an award, which brought it to my interest to begin with, and I fumed about how it the world anyone could possibly have given it an award.

But then our group met. Before I opened my mouth to share my opinion, one of the other gals said she had read that very same book. She was so excited about it! It was her daughter’s very favorite book now, and they had to read it every night at bedtime. Her daughter absolutely LOVED it…it had become THE book for her.

Well, I learned an important lesson. Just because a book doesn’t meet my criteria for wonderful doesn’t mean it isn’t a wonderful book in someone else’s eyes. So if I don’t particularly like a certain book, I just move forward. I only post 5 star reviews of books I absolutely like.

And I don’t post 4 star reviews, either. That’s because 4 star reviews actually hurt an author’s ratings. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve read a review online where the reviewer gives glowing recommendations and then only gives it 4 stars, which actually lowers the rating of that book.

So if I can’t give a book a 5 star review, I simply don’t post a review of it. But I love to post 5 star reviews as a thank you to authors who have made my world a better place with their books. I encourage you to do the same, especially for your favorite books that you’ve read this past month!

And just as another note…you never know who reads those reviews. I’ve received amazing reviews on Amazon that are noticed by the publisher and circulated among the editorial and publishing staff. The reviewers name (and often bio) gets seen and celebrated and shared. You never know what might happen when you post a great review for a book you loved.

So glad you joined in the fun. Hip hip hooray for picture books!

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Welcome to Week 4 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! We’re reading 40 picture books in 4 weeks. What a journey it has been!

For my first batch of books, I focused on a topic. Grief. I wanted to write about how to help little ones through the grieving process, so I ordered in from our local library as many picture books on grief that I could find.

The next batch of books I ordered in focused on 2 authors. Mo Willems and Rosemary Wells. I really admire both authors and am constantly re-reading their books to our grandkids that I already own, so I wanted to expand my knowledge base for more of their awesome titles.

The last batch of books I read focused on an award. The Caldecott, to be specific. I always like to read these award-winning books but somehow I had gotten behind on the most current winners. So I ordered in the winners from our library as well as some of the runners up.

What have you been reading this month?

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Welcome to Week 3 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! Our goal is to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks so we can immerse ourselves in our genre. This has oodles of benefits for us as writers.

One of the biggest benefits of reading so many books in such a short time is that a couple of books will outshine all the others. They’ll resonate within your author’s heart. They’ll sing! They’ll grab you like none of the others did.

These are picture books you’ll want to treasure as mentor texts. You’ll want to dissect them with a fine-tooth comb and ask yourself WHY are these books so special?

When I find a picture book that’s a mentor text, one of the first things I like to do is type it out on my computer and save it as a document file. Why type it out? Because typing out a winning picture book actually trains our brains to get a better grasp on the language, flow, pace, plot, and length of what our own manuscripts want to attain to.

So keep your radar out for potential mentor texts as you’re binge reading picture books this month. And when you find them…treasure them like gold!

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As many of you know, I’ve written over 100 books and counting. I’m a KidLit author and have written oodles of books for kids and for teachers to use with kids.

But I seriously believe in helping other writers as I’ve been helped in my career, too. That’s one of the reasons I’m an instructor at Serious Writer Academy.

And all this month my classes plus others are on sale for 20% off!

Here are 4 of the classes I teach:

Developing 3-D Characters

Writing Humor for Kids

Getting in the Writer’s Zone

Pacing the Plot

CLICK HERE to visit the Serious Writer Academy and find a list of classes (plus mine) that you can choose from to take advantage of this exciting sale!

Just type in the coupon code GIVETHANKS2020 at checkout.

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As you’re plowing through reading lots of picture books this month, 40 to be exact, you might want to keep a handy list of what you’re reading.

I am.

In fact, I created a handy chart to write down my handy list and I want to share it here with you! Just click on the downloadable file to download it and print it out.

40-x-4-reading-listDownload

What do I do with my list? I’ll put it in my Children’s Writer’s Notebook, a three-ring binder, which is where I’m adding the rubrics I’m creating for the picture books I’m reading this month.

I keep all the rubrics for picture books I read in one handy place so I can refer to it while I’m working on writing my own manuscripts. This handy reading list keeps all the titles I’m reading this month in one quick place so I can remember each title and then look it up among my alphabetical list of rubrics.

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Welcome to Week 1 of the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! The challenge is to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks. Come on, we can do this!

It’s always a great idea to read, read, read in our genre, but if you’re like me sometimes I get too busy working on my manuscript to immerse myself in actually reading. So this month, I’m going for the gold! I’m glad to hear from you that you’re joining in the adventure, too!

For my first batch of books (my library only lets me order in 15 books at a time unless I borrow my husband’s card and up it to 30) I’m focusing on reading a bunch of picture books on a certain topic. Grief, to be exact. I wanted to write a picture book on grief, so I ordered in as many as I could find from a list I found for the best picture books on sharing grief for kids.

I already started reading through these picture books, and as I do I am taking notes. I’m filling in a rubric I like to use when I read picture books. If you’d like to use the same rubric I do, CLICK HERE to visit my site Writing According to Humphrey and Friends. On there you’ll find a list of various worksheets I’ve made that you can download and print out to use.

Look for the rubrics for fiction picture book, nonfiction picture book, or informational text picture book. As you evaluate the books you’re reading, it will help you evaluate your own manuscripts you’re working on. Have fun!

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Today it’s not always easy to find books to read. Here are a few places to check into that just might have what you’re looking for!

1. Your own bookshelves. During this challenge it’s perfectly okay to re-read books on your very own bookshelf. The goal is to binge read 40 picture books all in 4 weeks and if you already have titles on your own bookshelves that fit into your goals, these can count!
2. Your local library. My library has been closed, open only for pick-up, and open for limited access during different weeks during this time. If your local library is open for pick-up, you can visit their online site and request books to come in for you to borrow. I always like to encourage authors to support their local libraries!
3. Local bookstores are sometimes open, too. If you have one near you, it’s a great place to visit to read picture books, even if you don’t purchase any. (But hopefully you’ll buy at least one to support them!) I’ve visited my local bookstore with notebook and pen in hand and read through quite a number of picture books all in one sitting!
4. Online bookstores, of course. Authors love your support, especially when you’re a fellow author!
5. WorldCat. This is an amazing site where you type in the title of a book you’re looking for and it tells you the closest libraries that carry it. If you live in a metropolitan spot with various libraries, this is a great tool! Click here to visit WorldCat.

6. Online sites that offer ARCs or Advanced Reader’s Copies for book reviews. If you review books like I do, you might be able to get digital copies of books to review and add these to your reading list. Check out places like NetGalley and Edelweiss to see if you can request a digital copy of the titles you want to read.

Image by Comfreak from Pixabay

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Welcome to the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! This challenge will take place during the month of November here on my blog.

For starters, what should you read during this challenge? Well, it depends on your goals.

Goal #1: Familiarize yourself with the PB genre.

For one thing, you could read any picture book you can get your hands on. A variety. From all sorts of publishers and on all sorts of topics. From classics to the newest title. This will give you an overview of the genre. This is especially helpful if you want to write picture books but aren’t really sure what a picture book is all about.

Goal #2: Target a specific publisher

If you want to land a contract with a certain publisher, however, a great idea is to search online for the publishers most recent catalogs. Look over their catalogs and collect a list of current titles of the picture books they’re publishing. Plan to read as many as you can find for this 40 x 4 Picture Book challenge.

Goal #3: Target a specific niche or topic or subgenre

Want to write a bedtime story? Want to write nonfiction? Want to write a biography of a famous female? Recently I wanted to write a book on dealing with grief for kids. So I searched online for “The Best Books on grief for children.” Amazing lists came up!

Goal #4: Other goal

Perhaps you have a different goal in mind. You might want to write a book that would win a certain award. Or you might want to write a book that uses a similar style or voice as a successful kidlit author you know. Just search online for lists of those picture books and that will be what you want to read.

In my next post I’ll share some great places you can find these books to read during our 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge!

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

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Are you a parent or grandparent? Teacher, Librarian, Educator or Home-schooling family? Or fellow KidLit author?

If you’re any of these, you’ll want to join this exciting giveaway that’s happening over on Instagram.

CLICK HERE to visit my site nancyisanders on Instagram and join in the fun!

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Ready to roll up your sleeves for a fun adventure?! Then join the challenge to read 40 picture books in 4 weeks.

I know there are a lot of challenges out there to write, write, write. November is famous for this already. But what if you don’t have time or the energy or the ideas to write? Then this reading challenge is for you.

All through the month of November, I’ll be posting here on my blog about an amazing way to recharge, revitalize and revamp your life as a picture book author. It’s all about binge reading in your genre…picture books!

The benefits are many.

• This will give you ideas about what to write
• This will give you topics to post about if you post book reviews
• You can really study a publisher’s catalog and get to know them well
• Or you can really get to know a lot of the books in today’s market about the topic you want to write about
• You can really get to know one author if you focus on her books
• You could choose the most recent books to win a certain award if you want to write an award-winning book yourself
• I could keep on listing the benefits!

So get ready to get started! I’ll share how and what to do in my posts ahead.

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THE BAD

Okay, let’s get the bad news out of the way first. If you want to be a successfully published author, you have to have a bazillion followers on all of your social media platforms. And as if that isn’t enough, you now also have to have a ton of engagement…meaning you have to get lots of comments and post lots of replies.

I’m glad that for some of you, this isn’t bad news. You love social media and thrive on it. But for a huge number of KidLit authors I know, this news is daunting. Depressing. Bad.

THE GOOD

So now let’s take a deep breath and drink in the good news. If you don’t like social media, you can still have an AWESOME KidLit career!!!!!! Seriously!!!!! Here’s how:

*Team up with a friend who is a social media expert but may not have the skills you have as a writer. Co-author and offer your writing skills as your part of the team. I have co-authored numerous books with writing friends and it’s so much fun!

*Land work-for-hire contracts. Yep. You have to do ZERO social media tasks for a work-for-hire contract. Why? Because they pay you to write the book and take it from there. In my career of writing 100+ books, I’ve written numerous work-for-hire books. I LOVE IT! Some have given me some pretty nice checks. Some have even won big awards. Some have been bestsellers and look awesome on my resume. For some I was flown to the publishing house for meetings with the project editors and other authors on the team. Stuff of dreams! And I didn’t have to spend one minute of social media time in the deal.

*Write for educational publishers. Many educational publishers already have a built-in target audience. Teachers. And they often have their very own platform and don’t require all the social media stats other publishers are looking for. Some even offer royalties. I’ve written for some educational publishers where I’ve earned over $100,000 and still counting! CLICK HERE to tap into Ev Christensen’s amazing resource for the Educational Market.

*Ghostwrite. Yep. This is kind of a mix between work-for-hire and co-author. You name isn’t even on the book usually, but you’re writing for a big name with a big platform and that means big sales numbers that once again look very very nice on your resume. And can often bring in a nice income as well!

*Write for magazines. I love to write for children’s magazines. I have another deadline this month! I get to sign frequent contracts, see my stories frequently in print, and read lots of my stories to my grandkids. Without any social media required.

THE HOPEFUL

Okay, but what about the books you want to write for the KidLit trade market and need those social media stats?

There’s hope! I felt hopeless. I simply was not able to conquer this social media thing and I want to write picture books for the KidLit market. So this past May I signed up for the most awesome year-long social media class I know of. Every month we learn a new social media platform and have our own personal social media coach..for very reasonable price and for an entire year! I feel hopeful now as I haven’t in these past few years when social media was added to our author’s plate.

So if you would like to learn marketing strategies at a nice pace, with an author who is a social media guru to hold your hand and help inspire you each step of the way, CLICK HERE on this affiliate link to find out the amazing details and pay a monthly fee.  CLICK HERE on this affiliate link to sign up and pay all at once for the whole year.

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I’m so thankful for this librarian’s review of my book! This is a great book during election season to share with kids about a little known part of American history!

Youth Services Book Review

   The Very Oldest Pear Tree – Nancy I. Sanders, illustrations by Yas Imamura, Albert Whitman & Company, 9780807566817, 2020 

Format: ARC (Hardcover available August, 2020)

Rating:  1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5

 What did you like about the book? Any time a book encourages me to gather more information, I feel it is a good book. After reading this story, I immediately went to the Internet to see what else I could learn. This story is basically about a pear tree that has survived for almost 400 years. The interesting part is that this pear tree is an important part of American history. In 1630 there was a ship travelling from England to America and it was carrying several different sapling trees–one of them was a pear tree. The Governor at the time was named Endecott and he tended to this young pear tree…

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-image from Pixabay

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.

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

Basically, 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! Do I get paid for these? Not all the time. 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. And I get to read my published stories to my grandkids. 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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-image from Pixabay

Would we watch a football game if there wasn’t an end zone or there weren’t any goals to be scored? Of course not! It would be silly to watch the players just run back and forth on the field for several hours.

Would we watch a soccer game if there wasn’t a goalie or net and there weren’t any goals to be scored. No. Going for a goal makes the sport FUN.

It’s great to have goals in our writing career as well.

It gives us something to aim for, something to strive toward, something to energize and motivate us.

If you’re overwhelmed by unfulfilled goals, try what I do: just give yourself ONE goal to work toward.

That’s what I’m doing right now with a marketing plan I’m working on. I have ONE goal I’m working toward. Just ONE. In this huge ocean of social networking and Internet marketing, it makes it seem actually do-able to just have one goal. When that one’s met, I’ll get a new goal for my marketing plan and move forward on it.

If you’re really charged up and rarin’ to go, I recommend pursuing 3 different goals in my strategy called THE TRIPLE CROWN OF SUCCESS.

You’ll follow a specific strategy to pursue the goal of writing for personal fulfillment.

You’ll follow a specific strategy to pursue the goal of writing to get published.

You’ll follow a specific strategy to pursue the goal of earning income.

You can find out more about the TRIPLE CROWN OF SUCCESS in my book for children’s writers.

But whichever way you choose to go, definitely add goals to your life as a writer. It will be like following a treasure map to find the gold!

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If you’re a published author, check out this amazing resource to help market your book!

Laura Sassi Tales

Today I’m delighted to share a very special Read.Discuss.Do! graphic created by children’s author Rebecca Gomez for the Spanish edition of LOVE IS KIND — EL AMOR ES BONDADOSO!

This is the same activity that she previously created in English:

A couple of week’s ago, it struck me that my Spanish language readers might enjoy this activity, so I asked Becky if she’d be up for creating a Spanish version. She said yes! It was a group effort, with special thanks to Rebecca’s husband and the Spanish team at Vida, but the final, lovely presentation is Rebecca’s. Thank you!

Although this is the first graphic Rebecca has created in Spanish, it is far from her first Read.Discuss.Do!

This campaign (hashtag #ReadDiscussDo), which celebrates reading beyond the book by creating sharable images that give simple ideas for book related discussions and activities, was created by Rebecca in 2017. That’s when she posted her very…

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Photo from a frame on my wall. Each frame has a crown above it and inside is a picture of a different manuscript I wrote for each different crown in the Triple Crown of Success

With all this stuff going on around the world and in our daily lives, I think I’ve sort of been wandering aimlessly around regarding my writing.

So recently I revisited my goals as an author and did some soul-searching.

I fell back on a strategy I’ve used throughout most of my career…and if you’ve been following me for awhile you’ll know what I mean…the Triple Crown of Success. It truly has been the key to my success as a career author.

Basically, I sat down and evaluated my goal of Writing for Income…what income did I want or need to generate in the next 12 months, hopefully from my writing?

Then I took a look at my own barometer for my personal need to feel success at Getting Published. Was I getting published and in print in the year ahead as much as I wanted to be in this season of my career?

And finally, I did a lot of soul-searching for this one…was I steadily writing fresh content for a project that is near and dear to my heart so that I feel a sense of Personal Fulfillment as a writer?

Sitting down over a period of a couple of weeks and really asking myself these questions have made a difference in my attitude as a writer. Now I have a clear vision again of the why and the goal of writing in this season of my life.

Here are the steps I took LAST WEEK to get back on track with the Triple Crown of Success:

Writing to Earn Income: This last week I started the process to land a contract to write a book so I’ll be getting paid while I write. I also started a separate process for a potential work-for-hire contract which again guarantees money right up front so I can get paid while I write.

Writing to Get Published: I sent paragraph pitches to a magazine editor and landed several assignments to guarantee I’ll see my name in print and hold my published children’s stories in my hand in the year ahead. (Plus, I’ll get to read them to my grandkids!)

Writing for Personal Fulfillment: I’ve renewed my commitment to writing a devotional for kids that is near and dear to my heart. When it’s finished I’ll try to find a publisher. Even though there is no guarantee that it will get published, I get a sense of personal fulfillment working on this manuscript because it is near and dear to my heart.

If you’re not familiar with the Triple Crown of Success, I’ll be reposting in the days ahead some of my former posts from this blog about it. I hope you’ll be encouraged and re-energized to get on track for your writing goals and experience success as a children’s author, too!

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What are you doing to cope during 2020?

First it was Covid…I remember the day we were officially on lockdown and weren’t supposed to go out of the house.

To cope, I started meeting regularly with God for an hour each day every morning. I’d been neglecting my time alone with him. It felt good to worship, pray and listen to His Spirit, and read His Word.

Then, when we could finally walk around our neighborhood, we received the city-wide announcement that we were on curfew/lockdown because of rioting a couple blocks away (right where we walked).

Instead of just sitting on the couch for my daily hour with God, I started meeting outside with Him, sitting on our back patio enjoying our flowers, praising the Creator and reading the Word along with the birds each morning. The crisp morning air replenished my weary soul from all the hours spent inside.

Then, when it became okay to walk around out neighborhood again, the fires broke out. The picture at the top of this post is the plume we’ve been watching for over 3 weeks (On days we can see past the falling ash and cloudy haze). So even my morning garden meetings with my Savior have been relocated back inside.

Challenging? Yes. Not as bad as some have been experiencing, I know, because my husband is on the prayer team at our church and prays all week long for people who call the church for prayer.

But every day as I continue to meet with God and sit at the feet of Jesus, I’m experiencing wonderful times of refreshment in his presence. Each day my peace is restored, my hope is renewed, and my trust is strengthened that God is on the throne and He is mighty to save.

What are you doing to cope with all that is going on in your corner of the planet?

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CLICK HERE to hop on over to the funtastic blog of my writing friend, Laura Sassi. Today she’s featuring Five Fun Facts about the journey I took to write my newest picture book, THE VERY OLDEST PEAR TREE.

Be sure to leave a comment and say “HI!”