Weekend Links: Nonfiction, Mentor Texts and Whimsy

I've had the pleasure of listening to the WOW-Nonfiction Webinars. Kristen Fulton is the brains behind WOW and her fantastic website has all the links and info you need to get started writing nonfiction. And best of all, the Week of Writing Nonfiction is coming up. Here's a brief blurb:

"Welcome to Week Of Writing also known as WOW. For one week you are challenged to perfect, hone and produce great Non-Fiction Picture Books. This includes True Non-Fiction (Biographies and Historical events as well as How-To books and information or reference books), Faction (Facts presented in a fictitious way), and of course Historical Fiction (totally fictitious story based on real people, real events or real places)."

For more information, click here:  http://www.kristenfulton.org/wow--nonficpic.html

In fact, it was through one of Kristen's webinars where I heard Marcie Atkins' presentation on using mentor texts. Using mentor texts is essentially a self-taught class on how to write. You chose books or authors you love, dissect what works and use that to improve your own writing. Click here for more links to Marcie's website including the link to her presentation: http://www.marcieatkins.com/making-time-to-write/mentor-texts-writers-resources/

And just for fun, see the video above. Everything you need to know about writing picture books and getting rich off it from the horses...I mean elephant's mouth. Thanks Mandy Yates for putting it together.