I know at least one children’s writer who challenges my notions about myself.

I work with him everyday. And he challenges me to write engaging, relevant stories for kids and families. When I think I don’t have anything to say, he tells me I’m trying too hard to SAY something…when I should be diligently writing to TELL something.

“But you don’t understand,” I respond. “Everything has already been said a million times over!”

“Not exactly the way you can say it,” he calmly replies.

“Oh shut up,” I think to myself.

But I just smile and get my hands back on my Macbook keyboard and start typing. In fact, that’s how each of these letters and words appeared here in this story I’m sharing with you right now. Even a guy like me, who calls himself a children’s writer, sometimes needs a nudge in the creative direction. There are those times when the left-brain logical writer makes an incorrect deduction about the wants, needs, and desires of his target audience. This causes him to pause for too long and stifle his “flow”. Then the so-called logic becomes more and more inflexible and cautious. And the flow becomes a trickle and the trickle fades away.

Then the older, wiser writer reminds me…

“Use the trick I showed you to jump-start that flow again. Take a news article, or series of facts, or some other basic information and weave it into a creative story with energy, optimism, and hope. In a world where those three things are increasingly scarce (is that an oxymoron?) it’s important to inject them into the veins of public consciousness. It’s like getting a big whiff of peppermint or lemon scents. They just pick you up and keep you going.”

So…I go grab some lemon oil and honey…or a nice piece of peppermint…and let the words out into the green pastures of productivity. It’s awesome to watch them dance and jump and live.

Stay tuned,

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