From Holly Cupala

Bursting-on-the-scenes this spring, debut author Holly Cupala writes:



My best bite of inspiration is to write as honestly as you can the first time - you can always refine it, but it's hard to recapture that raw truthfulness in revisions.



To get to that tender layer and defy my cranky internal critic, I harness a simple kitchen tool - the egg-timer, to be precise! In 15 minute increments, I write as much as I can to outrun the voice (and it's a handy tool on the all-too-short preschool writing days). After spending four years writing TELL ME A SECRET, I discovered I could write the second YA in just four months.



Is it too much to hope the next will take four weeks...?

From Jill Corcoran

Jill, agent extraordinaire with the Herman Agency, writes:



Your book title is your whistle, your magnet, your bullhorn.

From Jen Weiss Handler

Jen, a fabulous manuscript doctor and former children's book editor, writes:



The best writers I know write a little bit every day -- in email, in a blog, in a manuscript that might never see the light of day. It's like exercise for their writing voice; the more they write, the more their voice gets defined.

From Jen Rees

Jen Rees, amazing Sr. Editor at Scholastic Press, writes:



Write the story that only you can write.

From Brenda Bowen

Brenda, an agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc., Inc. and wonderful human being, writes:


My motto, stolen from E.M. Forster: only connect!

Keep Creating!

Remember to keep going - you never know where your characters will take you. If you need a nudge, be sure to check back here every few days for a new burst of inspiration!

Claudia

Sid Fleischman

To inaugurate my bursts of inspiration, I'd like to pay my homage to one of the most gentle, funny, prolific and talented writers I was honored to know, Sid Fleischman. He often said things that helped me enormously, but here's just one:

If there's a hole in your story, point to it.