Writing Friends

Every writer needs a support group of other writers. Here’s mine:

My marvelous critique group partners ... and more!

Here are my critique group partners:

Other writing friends:

Of course, there are all the wonderful folks at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

And, if you look at the top left of this page, you’ll see a photo of me with noted children’s author and illustrator Kevin Henkes. He and I aren’t really friends, but I've met him and he's very friendly. I am, however, friends with the other woman in the photo, school librarian LuEllen Childers.

The middle photo shows me and JUDY MOODY author Megan McDonald. Meeting her was a huge highlight for me. The right photo shows me with authors Kathy Duval and Mary Hunt.

The photo in the second row is me and my friend e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. We've written four picture books together. Two are out now, and two are coming soon. We make a great tag team for writing conference presentations.

Other blogging friends:

I also blog about how to write picture books at Picture Book Builders (@PicBkBuilders on Twitter and @picturebookbuilders on Instagram).

The blog explores what goes into building a great picture book and exactly how one element of a picture book’s story or art manages to grab us, or wow us or strike an emotional chord. It also features interviews with other picture book creators.

My fellow bloggers are: Sara Holly Ackerman, Kevan Atteberry, Jill Esbaum, Jennifer Black Reinhardt, Tammi Sauer, Suzanne Slade and Andrea Wang.

Why writing friends matter:

If you're wondering how writing friends can help you out, read this post about how a lot of people contributed to my selling THE QUICKEST KID IN CLARKSVILLE.

Or, read this post about the value of hanging out with people who know the same things as you.