The Power of the Swarm and 12x12 Picture Book Writers

© 2013  Sylvia Liu

A year ago, I wrote about the benefits of Julie Hedlund's 12x12 Picture Book Challenge (write 12 picture book manuscripts in 12 months). In December, I wrote about how my creative communities, including 12x12 and my amazing critique group, did so much to advance my writing and illustrating.

2013 New Voices Award Winner Announced!

May I share the limelight with you, Mr. Magnifico? © 2013 Sylvia Liu

Today I am beyond excited to announce that I WAS SELECTED AS THE WINNER OF THE LEE AND LOW 2013 NEW VOICES AWARD (click the link to see the announcement). So excited that fresh words fail me so I shall resort to cliches:

A to Z Cephalopods: L thru R

This is a catch up post of my December Doodle Day Cephalopods. I only got to P by the end of December, but I will slowly finish the alphabet, hopefully before the end of January. The Doodle Day prompts in January have been locations (like Bedroom, Bathroom), so I will incorporate those as well.

L for Longfin Inshore Squid

© 2013 Sylvia Liu

Neuroscientists practice on the giant axon of this squid because it behaves exactly like humans, but is many time larger and easier to manipulate. Also, long fin inshore squid do not have good malpractice lawyers.

Introducing Kidlit411

Screenshot of Kidlit411

It's five days into the new year, and I've been very productive . . .  on everything but my illustrations. But that's okay, because these are some of the fun things I've worked on:

• Launch of KidLit411. I helped children's writer Elaine Kearns launch her awesome website KidLit411, which aims to be a one stop hub of information for children's book writers and illustrators. I helped design the site using a free Blogger template provided by Confluent Forms, which designs websites and provides great information for Blogger blogs on their website Blogger Xpertise. (Yes, the whole look is done on a Blogger blog. It's the same template as my portfolio). The site provides soup to nuts information on the kid lit world, including resources (web and print), classes, challenges, submissions, and more. 

5 Types of Unproductive Procrastination and How to Stop it Now

© 2011 Sylvia Liu

The new year is a great time to make changes. My main resolution for 2014 is to stop procrastinating.