Welcome to the Kite Tales Writing Challenge: #KTWriteOn. Each writing challenge is crafted by a kid-lit publishing professional to help spark ideas, creative energy, and get your work moving out into the world.
This exercise was created by Christian McKay Heidicker, the author of the Newbery Honor-winning Scary Stories for Young Foxes, Thieves of Weirdwood, Cure for the Common Universe, and Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he reads and writes and drinks tea. Between his demon-hunting cat and his fiddling, red-headed fiancée, he feels completely protected from evil spirits. He wasn’t always an award-winning author. Read on for Christian’s excellent advice and exercises:
THE DESPERATE AUTHOR (Getting Good with Low Time and Resources)
By Christian McKay Heidicker
It took me twelve years to get my first book published. So in the interest of your sanity and my conscience, I’m going to tell you how to get better at this writing thing no matter what your obstacles are. Don’t have time? Don’t have money? Blessed with the attention span of a fruit fly? I experienced that in spades, my friend. And I’ve got some workarounds. All you need is a little window of time every day, a handful of unique shortcuts, and maybe some heartbreak. (That last one certainly helped me.)
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A week into 2020, are you still working on your goals for the year? If your goals include things like sharing your work/personal successes, being more active in the SCBWI community, increasing your online presence, or helping fellow writers/illustrators by sharing your expertise – then you should consider submitting to Kite Tales!
At conferences, one of the things I hear many writers and artists talk about is that their biggest fear/worry/stumbling block/insecurity (besides their craft – because hey, we all know how that is), is how to use social media. I’m writing this quick article with some tips because while I’m not officially a paid social media person, I’m really good at it. Really. 
Lori Nichols
I find my creative juices flow better when I have a fair amount of playtime. Right now, we are doing a kitchen renovation. Walls are being demolished and floors ripped up. My world has been turned upside down, so creative juices are not flowing– at least not until yesterday when I took a sharpie and started drawing on the exposed ceiling rafters and unfinished walls. That helped some.
Illustrator and animation artist, Stephanie Olivieri, takes us on her journey from pencil to pixel in this quarter’s “Illustrator’s Gallery.” Read on for tools, tips, and encouragement if you’re looking to switch from hand drawing to digital, are deciding if you should, or would just like to compare digital notes with another fantastic illustrator!
Bridget Smith is more than an agent at 
Prolific illustrator John Nez shares with us about the tools he uses, why life as a working illustrator really is work, how to be your own best advocate, and how to keep that “little mouse of creative happiness” alive and thriving through it all. Read on for some great insight, tips, and illustrative goodness!
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