John Briggs Books

And yours, too!

EDITING BRAIN VS. WRITING BRAIN: WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT WRITING FROM DONALD TRUMP’S COVID CASE

Want to know what you can learn about writing from the top story du jour? Then read on because you’re a writer and you need to find the story in everything.

October 5, 2020 · Leave a comment

Why Being Uncertain Ruins Your Writing (I Think)

Imagine you climb into a taxi and the driver says, “I don’t know. It’s over there somewhere.”

Now, imagine you climb into a second cab and the driver says, “Yeah, I know exactly where it is. We go up three streets, make a right, and it’s two miles on the left.”

You’d feel a lot better getting in the second car, right?

That’s a lot like writing.

Imagine those taxi drivers are authors. The first driver/writer will meander, appear lost, look for the next turn or destination, and you’re not sure your trip is ever going to pay off or bring you to a good destination.

But your feel like the second driver is in control. He may go a way you don’t know or expect, but you’re always confident you’ll reach your destination.

Uncertain writing has the same effect. But with the first writer, you don’t climb out of the car, you abandon the book. You stick with the second writer until the end.

How to Avoid Uncertain Writing

May 13, 2020 · Leave a comment

How Putting Together a Picture Book Is Like Managing a Baseball Team

When I was a kid, I was passionate about two things: baseball and reading. There were summers where I barely missed a Phillies game on the radio. I either watched … Continue reading

August 29, 2016 · Leave a comment

What Five Years as a Children’s Writer Means

I realized upon logging in to my Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators account the other day that I have been with SCBWI for five years. That raises the … Continue reading

August 30, 2014 · Leave a comment

Are You Invested in Your Book?

When you finish writing your book, few people will doubt you’re committed to your writing. You’ve spent months or years putting it on paper, and hopefully poured your heart into … Continue reading

August 18, 2014 · Leave a comment

Making Sense of Your Book’s Readability Statistics

Is your picture book really written at an 8th-grade level? You’ve just completed your first picture book. Congratulations! Now you run it through the spell-checker to see if it’s a … Continue reading

May 30, 2014 · Leave a comment

Categories