Tomorrow is the first day of the Chapter Book Challenge! I hope you are all as excited as I am!
We have a wonderful line-up of guest posts from some authors you will recognize and some from our own ChaBooCha members too! This list will be updated as more authors and agents are added.
In no particular order:
1. Angela Ackerman – Angela Ackerman is the author of the bestselling writing guide, The Emotion Thesaurus, and most recently, The Positive Trait and Negative Trait Thesaurus books. Centering on the light and dark side of a character's personality, these new resource books help writers create layered, compelling characters that readers relate to and care for. Visit Angela's website, Writers Helping Writers for friendly support, description help, free writing tools and more!
2. George Ivanoff – George Ivanoff has written over 70 books for children and teenagers, including fiction and non-fiction. He has written school readers, library reference books, chapter books, novelettes, novels and even a short story collection. He has books on both the Victorian Premier’s and the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists.His teen science fiction novel, Gamers’ Quest, won a 2010 Chronos Award for speculative fiction. The sequel, Gamers’ Challenge, was shortlisted for a 2012 Chronos Award. The final book in the Gamers trilogy, Gamers’ Rebellion, was published in July 2013. George’s latest series of books, the interactive You Choose series, will hit the shelves in May 2014.George also writes short stories and articles for adults as well as kids. Of all these, he is most proud to have had the opportunity to write a Doctor Who story for the Short Trips: Defining Patterns anthology (Big Finish, UK, 2008).
3. Karen Pokras Toz – Karen Pokras Toz writes middle grade and adult contemporary fiction. Her books have won several awards including two Readers' Favorite Book Awards, First Place in the Children's Chapter Books category and the Grand Prize overall in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, as well as placing first for two Global E-Book Awards for Pre-Teen Literature. Her books for children include the Nate Rocks series,Pie and Other Brilliant Ideas, and Millicent Marie Is Not My Name. For adults, she recently published Chasing Invisible. A native of Connecticut, Karen now lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and three children. For more information, please visit www.karentoz.com.
4. Kimberley Griffiths Little – Kimberly Griffiths Little has written over ten books, including "When the Butterflies Came" and "The Time of the Fireflies." She has won several awards such as the Southwest Book Award, Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel, Bank Street College Best Books of 2011, Crystal Kite Finalist, and New Mexico Book Award Finalist. you can find out more about her at KimberlyGriffithsLittle.com.
5. Becca Puglisi – Becca Puglisi is a YA fantasy and historical fiction writer. Some of her best-selling books are "The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression," "The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws," and "The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes."
6. Adam Wallace – A qualified Engineer and Primary School Teacher, Adam Wallace settled on writing books for children as his career of choice. With 20 published, including Better Out Than In and the How to Draw series, Adam is fast becoming a well-known name in the world of children’s books. You can find Adam's books at Adam Wallace Books and his Facebook author page here.
7. Roz Morris - Roz Morris's fiction has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, although you won't have seen her name on the covers as she ghostwrote for high-profile authors. She is now writing acclaimed fiction under her own name. She is a writer, journalist, fiction editor and the author of the Nail Your Novel series for writers. She is represented by Piers Blofeld at Sheil Land and by Jane Conway-Gordon. She has two novels under her real name: My Memories of a Future Life (Sept 2011) and Lifeform Three (Dec 2013). She is also the author of a series for writers - Nail Your Novel. If you want to get to know her a little better, drop in at www.rozmorris.wordpress.com and her blog www.nailyournovel.com - where she keeps a regular diary of challenges she's tackling in her writing.
8. Anne O’Konski – Anne O'Konski is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. She has designed numerous catalogs and has been illustrating children's books for several years. She founded AOK Studios and has some stunning artwork.
9. Julie Anne Grasso - Julie Anne Grasso is an Australian independently published author with a background in pediatric nursing. She spent many years literally wrapping children in cotton wool. Every day she witnessed great courage and resilience from the tiny people she cared for, which inspired her to write stories about a little girl elf just like them. The Adventures of Caramel Cardamom Trilogy was the result.
10. The Fall Fourteeners - The Fall Fourteeners are a group of fourteen authors who are gearing up for their YA debuts this Fall. Representing different genres, they came together by way of their love of all things books and a publishing timeline. Please check us out at www.FallFourteeners.com for more information about them and their upcoming books.
11. Amie Borst - Amie and her daughter Bethany are a mother daughter team, writing humorous middle grade fairy tales with a twist, such as "Cinderskella" and the upcoming "Little Dead Riding Hood." When not writing middle-grade books with her daughter, she is busy crafting her own worlds in young adult stories.
12. Emma Walton Hamilton - Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling children’s book author, editor and arts educator. With her mother, actress/author Julie Andrews, Emma has co-authored over twenty children’s books, seven of which have been on the NY Times Bestseller list. Emma also works as a freelance children’s book editor, and hosts the Just Write Children’s Books home-study courses in writing picture books, chapter books and middle grade and young adult novels, as well as the Children’s Book Hub - a center of resources and support for aspiring children’s book authors.
13. Melissa Gijsbers – Melissa Gijsbers is a ChaBooCha member, active in the challenge since its inset in 2012. She is also the Chapter Book Challenge's first official municipal liaison and recently helped facilitate a chapter book writing workshop in her region.She has short stories in three anthologies and has been blogging since 2006.
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A sample of some of the topics: reaching kidlit readers, writing for the education market, how to revise your chapter book, writing magical realism, how to get unstuck and write your story, dos and don'ts of writing with an illustrator, and encouraging kids to read as well, amongst other helpful topics.
There will be some posts by me as well, and if there is a topic that you would like covered that doesn't appear to be included, let me know and I'll see what can be arranged.
I posted earlier this year at The Writers' Collective on the differences between chapter books, middle grade books and YA novels, so if you are wondering, you can check out the post here.
Here are some helpful links to some guest posts on the Chapter Book Challenge from previous years:
Breakdown of Daily Word Count Goals for the Chapter Book Challenge
Writing First Pages
On Writing: Imagination is a Wonderful Thing
Humour is the Best
How to Outline Your Novel before You Write
Weather in Writing: 3 How-To Tips
How Conflict Fuels the Story
How to Make Writing a Priority in Your Life
Talent Vs. Learning: Do You Have to Be Born to Be a Writer?
Engaging the Reluctant Reader
Writer's Block
Using Social Media to Help Your Writing
Scheduling Your Writing Life to Maximize Your Output
Childhood Inspirations
10 Things to Remember when Submitting Your Work to an Agent
How to Successfully Use Crowdfunding for Your Book Project
Happily Ever-Afters: What Makes a Satisfying Chapter Book Ending
Balancing Home Life with Your Writing Career
How ChaBooCha Helped Me grow as a Writer
