Author: Cathryn Free
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5 Reasons to Write Nonfiction for Children
When most writers dream about writing for children (or perhaps writing in general) they picture writing fiction. Fun stories about spunky animals or hilarious children. They dream about stories that capture the magic and fairy tale wishes of kids, and you know what? I get that. I did that too. Fiction is wonderful, creative, and…
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Young Adult Book Review: Sky Without Stars
Title: Sky Without StarsSystem Divine: Book 1 Author/ Illustrator: Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction Year published: 2019 Premise: Les Miserables in space Summary: The book follows three young characters: Chatine, Marcus, and Alouette and the rolls they play in a revolution on a desolate planet, Laterre, in the System Divine.…
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Acceptance and Writing Updates
Do you follow me on Instagram? If you don’t, please do! It’s my favorite place to connect with others and also where I share most of my writing updates and other random shenanigans. Recently, I shared some exciting news I received within these past couple of weeks: my first MAJOR acceptance. Now, I’ve had plenty…
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8 Resources for Distance Learning
It’s back to school, but this year, school is looking VERY different for many. (That might be the understatement of the year.) Plenty of schools are doing virtual learning or some kind of hybrid version of that, and many parents are deciding to homeschool. Whatever your school year looks like, I want to share with…
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Middle Grade Book Review: The One and Only Ivan
Normally, I would post a new blog on a Monday, but today is a very exciting day and a perfect fit for this book review. The One and Only Ivan is now a movie and is being released TODAY on Disney+, and I thought the timing was perfect! Title: The One and Only Ivan Author/…
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The Free Writer's Workshop Wednesday: Combining Sentences
As a teacher, I have seen my fair share of essays, stories, and papers. Some are good, some are bad, and some are very, very ugly. But there is one type of paper I find painfully frustrating: the B paper. The B Paper The B paper is easy to spot: very limited punctuation mistakes, adequate…
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7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Writers
Writers are weird. Now before you go and get offended, please understand that I think weird is perfectly acceptable. Wonderful. Necessary, even. I mean, you don’t create entire worlds, landscapes, and people without some weirdness. And writers have some pretty weird habits. Obsessively drinking coffee. Constantly jumping back and forth between: “this is brilliant!”and “this…
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Picture Book Review: Diary of a Spider
Title: Diary of a Spider Author/ Illustrator: Written by: Doreen Cronin/ Illustrated by: Harry Bliss Genre: Picture book, realistic fiction Year published: 2005 Summary: Funny book written in diary style about the life of a spider. Review: I love this picture book for so many reasons. First of all, it’s funny! This book takes a…
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5 Ways Create a Culture of Literacy in Your Home
“I just don’t like reading.” “I’m not a big reader.” “Reading is boring.” “Reading is hard.” The number of times I’ve heard this from both students and adults is staggering. Quite frankly, it’s terrifying. Reading is one of the single greatest skills you can give to a child to help them succeed. It improves everything…
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11 Places to Publish Your Short Fiction for Children
One of the hardest roadblocks I hit as I try and put my work out there is finding places to build writing credits. If you’re someone who wants to take themselves seriously as a writer, and plans to pursue this as a career or calling, you need to start building writing credits. My first writing…
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