
Nuts and Bolts for Writers
Interactive Mail—About Writing
Illustration©Lynn Munsinger
Whenever I'm asked what advice I have for those interested in writing for children, I always answer that I've never met a writer I admire who wasn't also a reader. But beyond reading widely and having an insatiable curiosity about life and words, I try to acknowledge that writers also need three things that they sometimes learn in unexpected ways:
1.As a parent dealing with my bonny children, or when I found that my daughter's 18-pound Genghis Khan rabbit had chewed his way through the vacuum cleaner cord, I learned about patience.
2.As a teacher faced with twenty-five kindergartners who didn't have correct change for milk money, and later, as an English professor with endless papers to grade, I quickly learned about discipline.
3.And as a poet, still entranced with a craft for which there is (happily) no end of learning, I learned that good writing required one's absolute commitment.
Patience, discipline, commitment—these are the things you need.
Good luck with your work, and do let me know when you meet with success.
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