Even Children's Writers Build Upon their Published Books

Writers are taught to "get the most mileage" from the material they research and write. When we write a book, can we write others in the same vein or related to it? You'll even find this in the children's book writing field.

When I discovered the children's story book, The Quiltmaker's Gift, I didn't realize there were related books with quilt patterns and suggestions. In researching an answer for a reader's question about this book, I discovered more and wrote about them in Follow-up Books for the Quiltmaker's Gift. You may want to check out these books:

The Quiltmaker's Gift
Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift
More Quilts From the Quiltmaker's Gift

How can you expand upon the books you write, whether they're for children or adults, fiction or non-fiction? Put on your thinking cap!

Books About Daylight Saving Time & Spring

Discover facts and figures (the curious and the ordinary) about Spring and Daylight Saving
Time

Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by David Prerau
Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time by Michael Downing
Crafting Springtime Gifts: 25 Adorable Projects Featuring Bunnies, Chicks, Lambs & Other Springtime Favorites by Tone Finnanger
Time for Change: Setting Clocks Forward by One Hour Thorughout the Year by Mayer Hillman
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Promoting Your Book Through Lectures &Talks

Learning to promote your book(s) through lectures and talks can become an enjoyable and profitable venture. Becoming an authority on the topic you write about also helps you gain recognition and appeal as a speaker.

Feather Schwartz Foster has become one of the foremost authorities on the First Ladies of the White House. She writes about them, gives presentations and teaches workshops. Feather through her research and writing, Feather has become a specialist or authority so her entertaining programs about the First Ladies are popular.

Her book, Ladies: A Conjecture of Personalities, presents the voices of the First Ladies in novel format in an entertaining way. The Ladies talk with one another without regard to time and express their thoughts and feelings. Garfield's Train, although not specifically about First Ladies, relates the death of President Garfield in novel form. Thus it ties in with the topic of the Presidency.

To further aid writers, Feather has written an e-book, On the Road with the Old Gals. Here she gives hints on how to promote one's book through lectures/speaking engagements.

Writing Prompts from Photos

Check out Mary Emma's Writing Tips at One Book Two Book for suggestions on developing writing prompts from photos. One photo can yield ideas for many types of writing. In this post, I've used a photo from my childhood of Nubble Lighthouse, Cape Neddick, Maine.

I'm also incorporating this idea into a workshop I'm teaching this week for a group of homeschoolers.

(If you'd like to learn more about my workshops for young writers, e-mail me at me.allen@juno.com .)