Happy Friday, everyone! This week, I’ve got some literary and language innovations to share, and a quiz to celebrate Banned Books Week. Check it out and let us know what fun stuff you’ve read from around the web lately! The Most Dangerous Writing App If you’re easily distracted when writing, maybe it’s time to try a new writing app. The Most Dangerous Writing App forces you to focus on your writing, or else. If you go five minutes without putting words on the page, all your work will disappear. Here is a write prompt generator to help things moving along! Creating a Comic For Blind Readers Image: Unseen by Chad Allen Comic books are a visual medium by nature, so it might be hard to imagine a

Welcome to Ask the Author! In these series published authors will share their experiences with us, allow us a glimpse into their creative processes, and shed some light on the steps that helped them become a published writer. We do hope that emerging authors or writers-in-the-making will find these interviews useful. About the Author: David Cole, author of The Math Kids Series, published by Common Deer Press. What do you write about? I am currently working on three different projects. The first is The Math Kids series. I just finished initial edits for book 4 in the series and I’m working on the first version of book 5 and doing some initial outlining on book 6. I have also completed a longe

Happy Friday again, dear readers! September is absolutely flying by, so I hope you’re all getting a chance to relax (and read) amidst the chaos of the month’s many new beginnings. If you’re looking for some non-fiction reading, I’ve got posts on writing, editing, and author finances this week. Hope you enjoy! Lively Writing Ever heard of phonetic profiling? How about phonaesthemes? Editor and linguist James Harbeck explains these linguistic terms, showing how certain sound clusters evoke certain meanings and can contribute to the overall tone of your writing. How to Be An Author Remember when I shared that article about the author who lost half a million dollars? Well, it got some extra atte

Welcome to Ask the Author! In these series published authors will share their experiences with us, allow us a glimpse into their creative processes, and shed some light on the steps that helped them become a published writer. We do hope that emerging authors or writers-in-the-making will find these interviews useful. About the Author: Caroline Fernandez, author of Stop Reading This Book and Grandmasaurus, published by Common Deer Press. What do you write about? What I write about depends upon who I am writing for…as a children’s book author…my audience is kids, teachers, parents and as such I write kid stuff. My first two books were non-fiction Boredom Busters about crafts and activities. I’

Welcome back, dear readers! This week I’m sharing a take on quoting authors, a reminder of the importance of reading, a writing course, and a bit of publishing history. Hope you enjoy! Author Quotations Quoting authors is something we’ve all done, or at least seen, on social media. But distilling an author into a single quote may do a disservice. At least that’s what Sandra Newman believes. She investigates the potential downsides of viral author quotes in the context of Toni Morrison’s death, reminding us that context is important. The Importance of Reading We all know how important reading is to the writing process, but in case you need another reminder check out Nancy Jo Cullen’s recent O

Welcome to Ask the Author! In these series published authors will share their experiences with us, allow us a glimpse into their creative processes, and shed some light on the steps that helped them become a published writer. We do hope that emerging authors or writers-in-the-making will find these interviews useful. About the Author: Cate Carlyle, author of #NotReadyToDie published by Common Deer Press. What do you write about? I write about anything and everything. I especially love to write short stories, many of which will never see the light of day. I write adult fiction and non-fiction, adult creative non-fiction, children’s stories, young adult fiction, professional articles …. Why do

Canadian English is already a delightful (or messy, depending on who you talk to) combination of terms and spellings, but Linguist Sali Tagliamonte is looking to document even more Canadianisms. According to CBC, she wants to add Ontario slang to the dictionary, which is a process that takes plenty of research and dedication. What You May Not Know About English If you’re on social media, there’s a high chance you’ve seen folks call each other out for typos and supposed misuse of the English language. Self-appointed grammar police abound and there’s fierce debate over cases like “literally” being used for “figuratively.” But these so-called proponents of “correct” English fail to recognize is

Welcome to our inaugural Ask the Author post! In these series published authors will share their experiences with us, allow us a glimpse into their creative processes, and shed some light on the steps that helped them become a published writer. We do hope that emerging authors or writers-in-the-making will find these interviews useful. About the Author: Pen Avey, writer/ illustrator of The Dear Earthling series published by Common Deer Press. What do you write about? When I'm writing for children I lean towards fantasy or sci-fi. I love to include at least one cantankerous old woman in my stories, as they are fun to write, and can add a lot of humour. Why do you write? I love it! I can't ima

Hello! I’m Kirsten Marion, the Publisher at Common Deer Press. We are a young press (est. in 2016), run by four women passionately committed to publishing the best books for children and teens. Already we have 15 novels published and 10 more in the pipeline for the remainder of 2019/2020. Our mission is to find and publish extraordinary and enduring books for young people. Books that change lives. Books that build bridges, connect cultures, transcend differences and, by showing the humanity in others, open hearts. When you captivate a child with books, a world of possibilities open. Books widen the aperture of what a child’s life can become. Last year, we introduced our annual writing compet