How are children’s authors looked upon? From my experience early on not very well. In fact at one writer’s meeting a fellow author scoffed and said he could write a children’s book in one night. There was nothing to it. I was so stun I did not have a come back remark. Of course after as I was driving home I came up with a lot. This was not the only time I was made to feel this genre was easy peasy.

That ticks me off. According to reports this genre is one of the hardest to write in. You have to write it in a language that is not above their hands or beneath them. The dialogue has to be just right.

Ask a kid to read your book. If they don’t like it by page two they drop it and look for another book. Most adults will at least carry on to the end of the chapter.

My very first children’s book I had kids from a daycare look it over and the reviews were hard to hear but I welcomed them for they gave me what I needed to fix it. Have an adult write a children’s book yeah you can critique it but not through the eyes of a child.

A children’s book is like any other book. You have to have plots, characters and a time line that works together and not fall apart. You still need to revise, edit and revise again. You still need to come up with a cover that shines on your work. You still need to sent it through your beta and critique groups.

But aft all this it finally hit me on how to reply the next time I hear this.

If you think writing a children’s book is so easy go for it. I mean it. Go for it. After we will talk. But only after.