Julia Stilchen

6th Annual PiBoIdMo November 2014 I am very excited to be participating in this year's, Tara Lazar 's, PiBoIdMo ! Each year, I had caught it just too late. This time, I made sure to set the date on my Calendar.  PiBoIdMo, Picture Book Idea Month, is pretty much what it says. A month where writers get together for a 30-day challenge to create 30 picture book concepts in 30 days! Along the way, we get to enjoy daily blog posts by picture book professionals and enter for prizes. To learn more about the challenge, visit here . If you are a writer or illustrator or both, and love to write and learn about writing picture books, this is a great online opportunity to challenge yourself. Registration is open from Oct. 25th - Nov. 7th.  Just visit Tara's website to register.

  Interview Q/A with Anika Arrington Tell us a little about yourself and your background? I moved to Arizona when I was 4, and I’ve been here ever since. I’m married to the best guy ever! I just gave birth to my sixth child, and he is just scrumptious. I’m a huge believer in self-education and life long learning, so I read all kinds of non-fiction as well as fiction. I studied at Northern Arizona University for three years: political science, communications, and creative writing. Obviously only one of those really stuck.  Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?   That’s actually kind of a tricky question. Not because Rezdin isn’t special (he’s a wizard for crying out loud), but because he isn’t riveting in the way so many main characters are these days. He’s dry and witty, he’s naturally an introvert in a world where the extroverts get the praise and the glory (nothing we writer’s can relate to, right?), a...