Welp, I had grand plans of posting a new picture book review more than once per week. But alas! Homeschooling, freelance editing, children's book writing, cooking, cleaning (and gardening!), eating and sleeping have taken up most of my time. I made this bread...and then ate almost all of it My little hyper-local community (I live on a dead-end street called a "close" in a semi-rural English village) has been actively bolstering each other during the pandemic. Non-quarantining people are offering to do the shopping for the sick or vulnerable. On our daily walks, we are crossing the street to give distance while also smiling, waving, and chatting. One of my neighbors (a potter) gave me a half

Hi, everyone! Happy what-day-is-it? As I mentioned here last week, I placed an order to my local independent bookstore, in order to: a) stock up on picture books before I wasn't able to leave the house for long (which, now in the UK, we're not) b) support my local indie bookshop, many of which are going to be struggling to survive at the moment c) support picture book authors and illustrators whose books are publishing in these "wild & uncertain times" Some books from my order arrived last week, right before my family went into self-isolation. Could I have asked for better timing? So now, onto my picture book review series, which I'm calling You Gotta Read This! I have a lot to read already,

As I mentioned in my post on Monday, I am thinking of you all and hoping you stay well and safe during the pandemic. I had drafted this blog post over a month ago, back when the world was a different place. I thought about not posting it today. But I am so proud of this project and how it's affected the world in a positive way, that I decided to go ahead. Especially during troubling times, celebrations are still important! It's been exactly two years since A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo was published! This book broke all of the rules: it was created in secret, published on a Sunday night (most US books are published on a Tuesday), and was created by a BUNNY, guys! Along with Jill Twiss an

Oh my goodness, friends...where to begin? The past couple of weeks have been trying, at best, devastating, at worst. It's more-than-strange to now be writing the words "we are in the middle of a pandemic." I've read lots of apocalyptic novels in my day, but they've all felt very fictional. Until now. In the UK, where I currently live, it's still (as of this moment) somewhat business-as-usual. There is no restriction on movement, like there is for many of my friends in Europe. Schools here are not closed, as is the case for many of my friends and their kids in the US. While people are trying to be responsible, there is no government mandate to self-isolate...yet. The toilet paper situation, t

Back in November, I delivered an online course to 12x12 Challenge, a group which motivates and inspires its members to write 12 picture book manuscripts throughout the year. Julie Hedlund has been running the group since 2012, and in addition to supporting members in the writing challenge, she also provides wonderful resources to its members, like the webinar series for which I was a guest speaker. The talk I gave was called "Picture Book Yoga: Bending Twisting and Stretching Your Manuscript Into Shape" and it was all about picture book REVISION. Up until now it was only viewable to members of 12 x 12, but now it's available to everyone HERE! Turns out, revising a manuscript has a LOT in com

This Friday morning, the sun is shining through the window of my home office, my kids shouted "Fri-YAY!" all the way to school, and I'm already looking forward to the weekend (and celebrating Ed Brydon's birthday)! This is the view from my office window today, with a little glimpse into what I've been working on this week... Fridays also feel like the perfect day to look back and take stock in what you've done during the week...and even further in the past. Since I started Alli Brydon Creative as a children's book editorial business (2.5 years ago!), several amazing folks have hosted me on their blogs to discuss children's book writing, reading, and the publishing industry. Through them, I'v