| Start now. Don’t just talk
about it or wish it to happen. Start writing!
Read. Read lots. Read the comics,
your favorite magazine, fiction and non-fiction. Read
about ancient cities, space travel, leaf-cutter ants,
pirates, sports figures, prehistoric animals, inventions.
Track your reading. Write down book
titles and rate each book with stars from * (blah) to
**** (fabulous). Make brief notes to help you remember
the characters and plot.
Visit the library often. Look for
extra programs, author visits, special events.
Send stories, articles, poems, and
jokes to children’s magazines. (Your teacher or
a children’s librarian can help you find addresses.)
Give your story a twist (a surprise
ending). Read Eve Bunting’s The Wednesday Surprise
to learn how that works.
Collect words! Be curious about
words and their meanings. Invent words—especially
“sound” words: SKLORK!
Avoid clichés (tired, worn-out
phrases: right as rain, sly as a fox . . .).
Write a story, edit it, hone it,
then turn it into a book by sewing pages together and
adding a decorated cover.
Notice what section of the library
pulls you—Science? Music? Biography? History? Mystery?
Science Fiction? Nonfiction? Sports? Cooking?
Catch your ideas. Always keep a
small notebook with you—ideas are all around. The
trick is remembering them!
Write letters—send pictures
and poems and jokes and riddles to your grandparents,
friends who have moved away, old neighbors.
Send letters to the editor of your
local newspaper.
Enter contests —ask your children’s
librarian for names of magazines that accept work by writers
your age.
Be curious about the world around
you.
If you’re a young writer,
-- Read
-- Practice
-- Persist
|
Start now. Don’t just talk
about it or wish it to happen. Start sketching!
Notice details in print: color,
fonts, point size, balance, design, perspective, mood,
form, line, things that draw your eye, various art techniques.
Try many art media: clay, chalk,
charcoal, paint, collage, printing . . .
Use recycled paper for your practice.
Keep a sketch book on trips—draw
what you see. You’ll remember much more about where
you went and what you did.
Study the artwork in children’s
books.
Sketch from nature.
Copy different cartoon styles.
Take classes.
When you’re really happy with
a piece, and it feels right, send your artwork to children’s
magazines. (Your teach or a children’s librarian
can help you find addresses.)
Display your art in your hometown.
(There’s nowhere to do it? Start a Kids’ Art
Display! Try your library, stores, doctor’s offices,
parks, bus stops . . .)
Visit art museums.
Study the work of artists from different
centuries.
Enter contests —ask your children’s
librarian for names of magazines that accept work by artists
your age.
If you like to write and draw, you
could be like Maurice Sendak, Jan Brett, Rosemary Wells,
Stephen Kellogg and other famous author-illustrators.
Keep a sketch books—things
close to home, things seen on field trips or while traveling.
Date your drawings. You’ll be amazed at how your
skills change.
Replicate pictures from books or
cartoons—it’s great practice to study the
shading, brush strokes, proportion, and lines.
Be curious about the world around
you.
If you’re a young artist,
-- Draw
-- Practice
-- Persist
|
