The KidLit Lab by Laura Wifler
I'm a bestselling, award-winning children's book author, and I provide education and e-courses on writing, publishing, and marketing kidlit. Subscribe for a bi-weekly email with all my best tips for children's book authors. It's my goal to see more high-quality literature for kids hit the shelves—together, we can make books kids will want to read again and again.
A Look Behind the Scenes at Writing a Picture Book 🙌
Hey there, me again with one of those I'm-so-passionate-I-could-burst kinda emails, and I think you'll be right there with me. Let's talk about—*drumroll*—the behind-the-scenes of making a picture book. 🙌 While every picture book has its own origin story, the process for A World Wonder was fairly straightforward, so this will give you a good idea of the process as you think about writing your own book. You may have heard me mention this before, but A World Wonder was inspired by my own life,...
Closing a Chapter: What's Next for Me and Risen Motherhood
Dear friends, By now you may have heard the news: After nearly a decade doing ministry at Risen Motherhood, Emily and I, along with our board of directors have decided to close the ministry next year, in May 2025. I’m sure this comes as quite the shock for many of you—even if you’re not a mom, or someone who regularly tunes into my work there. For the full story, your best bet is to head over to this page to read a letter from Emily and me, and/or tune into the podcast on the RM feed, where...
3 Ways to Find The Right Illustrator 📚
One of my favorite parts of writing children’s books is working with an illustrator to make the book come to life. 🎨 But I'll be honest, finding an illustrator can also be one of the hardest parts! As I write a book, I typically visualize the style of illustrations I want to see paired with my words. While I don’t usually have specific images in mind, there’s sort of a fuzzy outline to what I want, and definitely a style—I know if the manuscript calls for folksy or modern, high or low...
Writer's block? Try this. 👉
As a writer, I’m a firm believer in “going where the words are,” or following ideas and concepts you’re excited about as a writer, rather than forcing yourself to be creative in an area you feel dry. This isn’t to say we should quit when we experience dissonance in our work or we have a tough spot in our manuscript that we can’t seem to wrestle through—we can and we must be able to persevere when things get hard or we’d never finish a project! But it is to say, that sometimes when writing is...
This one change improved everything I write.
Friends, I have a confession: I went to journalism school and somehow skipped the part on passive vs. active voice. 🫣 As I think back, I’m certain they taught it to me. Honestly, I’ll bet I learned it in elementary! But it wasn’t until I was in the thick of writing board member notes and strategic plans for a global organization that someone pointed out to me how much I used passive voice. I’m so thankful they did, because I’ve learned to watch for it in every area of my writing (including...
I'm a bestselling, award-winning children's book author, and I provide education and e-courses on writing, publishing, and marketing kidlit. Subscribe for a bi-weekly email with all my best tips for children's book authors. It's my goal to see more high-quality literature for kids hit the shelves—together, we can make books kids will want to read again and again.