Writing and Reading Links

Mainly picture books on this best children’s books list with a few middle grades and The New Kid on the Block poetry collection thrown in (which contains the Goopy Gloppers poem — a long-time Rose family favorite). I was so surprised not to see Charlotte’s Web included. Did I somehow miss it?!
The 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time :: Time

“You have to really love your idea. It has to be something from deep within. It has to be personal. It has to excite you on a deep level. Because you’re going to have to persevere for several years. There are going to be a lot of critics, a lot of mean-spirited people are gonna say, ‘You can never do that!’”
You Have to Really Love Your Idea :: Austin Kleon

“Be wildly in love with your own creativity! Truly delight yourself in what you’re making!” This one fits so nicely with the Austin Kleon post above.
Be Wildly In Love with Your Own Creativity :: Julie Falatko

Such a great post from my dear friend Linda Williams Jackson on perseverance. “To tell the truth, I am perpetually on the verge of giving up. Yep. There are so many days that I just want to quit. To retire from writing. To call it quits on this lifestyle of the never-gonna-be-rich-and-famous. And every time I feel like giving up, a little bird (not a real one, of course) whispers in my ear, ‘Don’t give up. You’ve come too far and worked too hard to quit.’”
Asleep on the Blog :: Linda Williams Jackson

“I want to stop assuming that ‘immersion’ is the only way to be creatively productive.”
Battling Your Own Impatience to Finish the Writing :: Susan Dennard

“By far the most common form of “effortful fun” people choose is reading. This is wise, because reading can pretty easily fit into patches of leisure that are unplanned, uncertain in duration, or that happen at low energy times — the factors that lead people to reach for their phones (or binge Netflix all night).”
How to Read More (More on Rule #9: Effortful Before Effortless) :: Laura Vanderkam

Are you familiar with Shepherd.com? It’s a huge listing of books recommended by authors and categorized by various themes. A wonderful resource! Here’s a post I created about books similar to Miraculous (where mysterious strangers come to town). And this one has a great review of May B.
Why Read May B.? :: Shepherd.com