Writing can be frustrating, difficult, and rather solitary, but laughter really is the best medicine. So here they are, in no particular order:
1. Have children. Really, it helps with writer’s block. Or if you don’t have children or cannot have children, then visit your local library or park and watch the interactions of parents
and their offspring. Inspiration will abound.
2. Stay up all night. Howl at the moon if you have to because you will get some really good ideas when you are so tired that you are slap-happy. Someone had to invent “The Borrowers”
right? Teeny-tiny people sneaking around at night and borrowing things like sugar cubes and Kleenex? Sounds like a regular night at my house.
3. Read and re-read your favorite children’s book. Mine is “The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes” by Du Bose Heyward. I cry every time the bunny falls down the mountain after
visiting the sick child.
4. Go for a long walk. Longer. Even longer. Just keep walking until an idea pops into your head, and then record yourself talking about the idea on your phone.
5. Visit your preferred bookstore and read as many children’s books as you have time for, and then go back again every week.
6. Watch your favorite children’s movie and then run around in circles outside somewhere. Pretend you ARE a child again…it’s really fun!
7. Build yourself a blanket fort with lots of pillows, and crawl inside. This is just as much fun as it was when you were a child, see #6.
8. Find a serious subject, like bullying in school, and create a hero that overcomes this challenge. Instant success, because there will always be a need for these types of children’s
books.
9. Write down every interesting idea that you have on scraps of paper or sticky notes. Stick them on your bathroom mirror, so that you won’t forget to write about them later.
10. As the famous Miss Piggy once said, “Froggy, Make Time!” Carve out time in your day to write your children’s book, and it will get done. Best of luck to you!
Eight Hobbits 