The 4th year of the Fall Writing Frenzy is up and running! From today through October 3rd, kidlit writers can submit their 200-words-or-fewer pieces inspired by one of fourteen photo prompts given by the contest creators, agent Kaitlyn Sanchez and author Lydia Lukidis. 

(To see the rules and all the gorgeous prompt images, check them out here.)  ​

When the light
becomes a trick of your imagination,
and time
 
      stops
 
on the knife edge
separating day
and night,
it is

dark thirty.
 
And as the frost moon rises,
this moment of possibility and magic
is your doorway.
 
Your jumbled thoughts make you pause…
 
Alice with her time-challenged rabbit, Lucy climbing into a dusty wardrobe, or Dorothy
in her ill-gotten heels--
 
they could tell you about doors.
​About portals.
 
How the one who goes through
 
        is not
 
the one who returns.
 
As you shiver
in your hand-me-down jacket
and smooth your ordinary hair,
 
you think
becoming someone else
wouldn’t be
bad.
 
So…
 
you
stretch,
grasp, search
for the way through.
 
But the knife edge dulls,
and clouds swallow the moon.
The light is lost,
 
and dark thirty
is merely
 
dark.
 
But now,
old stories blaze for you
in a new way.
 
Little Red loves the damp
mystery of the ancient black woods.
 
Rapunzel knows
her way down from the tower.
 
Wendy doesn’t mind growing up.
She just wants adventure.
 
And you…
 
you don’t need moonlight,
magic, or even
a door.
 
You only need
to reach.

(186 words)

One of the things I love best about this contest is its focus on nonfiction. Picture book biographies were my first love when I started on this writing journey, and they are still a big part of what keeps me coming back to the genre.

As author Nancy Churnin says, picture book biographies are poems about a dream. And now this particular poem of mine about an important but almost forgotten photographer has gotten a little love. Maybe one day we'll see her story out in the world as an actual book. That would be a dream come true!

p.s. Here is a link to the contest page. Many thanks for Karen Greenwald and her fellow judges for all the hard work they put in, as well as to the agents, editors, and authors who donate prizes.

As my mom used to say, one thing just leads to another. And in this case--that's a good thing!

Four picture book writers (Gennie Gorback, Lindsey Hobson, Jess Hinrichs, and Molly Ippolito) "met" in 2020 during the #FallWritingFrenzy contest. They hit it off and became a critique group, named (appropriately enough) The Frenzies.

Now that group has gone next level and started their own contest, #KidLitVibes. The Frenzies went all out in creating a fun contest--lots of cool graphics, fun "feeling" prompts, and great prizes

And I'm so pleased to see my story The Sometime House among the inaugural winners. Click here to read it and the other fantastic winning and honorably mentioned pieces. 

Thank you so much to the Fall Frenzies for making this contest happen! The. #kidlit world feels grateful to have you.

Little Thoughts Press is a literary magazine for and by kids. My poems “Once A House,” “The Trash Bandit,” and “The Moth,” are part of Little Thoughts Press recently released Issue 2: Natural Wonder.

In addition to the awesome experience of seeing my work appear in this beautiful new publication for kids, I also had the fun of sitting down for an interview with the editor, Claire Taylor. 

Read all about it here.

​This was my first interview as an author! Thank you, Claire, for having me and for all the you do to promote high quality children's literature.

It's that time of year! Buds are blooming, the bees are starting to buzz, and Vivian Kirkfield is once again making magic with her "50 Precious Words" kidlit writing contest.

You might say, "Write a complete story in 50 words? It can't be done!" But then picture book writers work their word spells and make it happen--every year.

There are some spectacular ones that I fully expect we'll see fleshed out as real books someday. It's so cool to see the seed that will someday grow into a book.

My entry THE NO SMILE DAY is below and you can read the rest HERE.