By Julia Lyon, author of A DINOSAUR NAMED RUTH
When I think back to my first Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR) conference — the first kidlit writing conference I’d ever attended— I mainly remember the baby in my arms. My eight-month-old son kept me warm during the hours of classes I attended that summer of 2013.
I knew more about taking care of him than I did about writing for kids. But I listened and kept
listening. My writing slowly improved. Since then, so much has changed. In 2018, I signed with the fantastic Lara Perkins at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. One year after that, I sold my debut. And just last fall, “A Dinosaur Named Ruth” made its way into the world.
Here’s the secret: sometimes I feel like as much of a newbie as I did at that first WIFYR
conference. I have so much more to learn about writing and publishing. But by showing up that first time and showing up again and again — at conferences, critique groups and in front of a blank screen — I know I can only improve my craft.
In fact, it was sitting in a 2017 WIFYR class that I had a breakthrough. Sharlee Glenn’s class on
writing nonfiction for kids helped me realize what I love: true stories! As a former newspaper
reporter and college history major, research was right up my alley. And as a mom of three, I
knew for sure that kids really did love nonfiction — they’re hungry for facts.
The class fueled my determination to publish, especially when Glenn talked about how
publishers were (at the time) clamoring for biographies of women.
So I started with a question: what topic hadn’t I seen written about? (Hint: This is a great way to get story ideas!) My kids and I were (and still are) avid library users. When I drove by a Sinclair gas station with its bright green dinosaur statue, I thought: dinosaurs! I had seen few books on female paleontologists. Maybe I could find one to write about.
A Google search, a visit to South Dakota, many emails to Wales (plus lots of phone interviews and archives research) later and “A Dinosaur Named Ruth” arrived in the world.
Or, as they say in the publishing business, A DINOSAUR NAMED RUTH.
But as I tell kids, it wasn’t easy. Before I sold the manuscript, I re-wrote it and re-wrote it and re-wrote it again. You know why: the art of picture book writing is in the revising. I’m currently on the latest draft of a nonfiction picture book I started several years ago. I’m convinced this is the best version yet! Optimism needs exclamation marks!
I know how you feel: I remember looking around at the other aspiring authors at WIFYR and
thought they had it all figured out.
The reality is that every great book starts with a blank page. It starts with meeting, reading and listening to other writers. Every great book has hundreds of revisions woven into its pages.
I recently put a sticky note with a quote from Mark Twain above my desk. It reads: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” I heard it in another one of the many webinars
I’ve attended over the past few years — I can’t even remember which one. But I loved the advice.
So I ask you: What will you do to get started writing today?
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