Focusing on Valentine’s Day and on romance can limit the time of year when a book is most likely to sell. As I read the first draft of this story, I imagined myself back at the children’s bookstore I worked at and how I would recommend this story to parents and teachers. I knew I would think of this story in February, but probably not at other times of year.

I’ve had a lot of clients who used their own lives as the starting point for their fiction story. They aren’t writing memoirs or autobiographies. They’re using a moment, a feeling, a person, an experience from their own lives as a starting point from which they spin a tale. Many successfully published authors will tell you they do this, too. Our lives are great fodder for fiction.

There are a few tips to keep in mind that can help make it easier to use your own life in your fiction.

Repetition plays a major, if not always obvious role, in most storytelling. It can help build patterns, which is useful in guiding readers to particular conclusions or in solving a mystery, or it can create a feeling of familiarity and comfort, which helps readers understand and buy-in to new ideas. In picture books and books for new reading learners it helps with memorization and internalization. Also, it can be really fun!

I was talking to someone in the publishing industry recently about why I do what I do. I told him I want to help authors build their careers, and I want to help publishers build their businesses. It’s all completely true. However, it isn’t why I initially started editing and certainly not why I started my freelance business.

When you are preparing a query for an agent or an acquiring editor, it can be a good idea to include one or two comparative titles in your pitch. Comp titles are books that are similar in some way to yours and they help agents and editors and publishing staff (like sales and marketing) know who is likely to buy and read your book, how well and where it will sell, and how best to promote it.

But, how do you know what titles are just the right comparisons?

I was watching a video of some kids dancing, recently—well, one of them was dancing. The other was running in figure 8s and 9s swinging his arms wildly in the air above his head. I’m a naturally cautious person and I kept cringing in anticipation of him whacking someone in the head or knocking something to the ground. But I also reveled in his obvious delight those helicoptering limbs portrayed. I was reminded of an action I’ve noticed occurring more and more in projects I've been editing:

The character “threw his arms up.”

I wonder if the character is overstimulated and letting off steam, like the boy in my dance video.

I’m so thrilled to unveil my new logo and website and all of these amazing illustrations my designer created. Meet my book loving mascot, Beatrix Otter, and her romp of literary otters and colorful butterflies!

If we are to make real change in publishing we have to stop lamenting the death of the agent-editor business lunch, and what’s more, we have to start actively seeking creative ways to connect across regions and communities.

This experience, the metaphoric light that emanates from a writer when they figure out what’s going to take their work from something with potential to something they can’t wait to share with young readers is what I hope to facilitate for all my clients. That is an Aha! moment.

Many of my clients (and authors in general) write because they want to express a universal truth. Or because they want to encourage readers to accept an emotional or social concept, like self-love or the benefits of helping others. It can be tempting to state simply and absolutely: “Treat others as you want to be treated,” or “You will be happy if you just love yourself as you are.” And then just leave it at that. I advise against it, though. For one thing, that’s not very much fun, as reading experiences go. And it’s also not convincing.

I ask every new client, “Who is your intended audience?” Quite often the answer is an enthusiastic “Everyone!” And I’m so glad to know my writer friends are ambitious and inclusive. You must be ambitious to be successful as a published author. And while it’s not always necessary to be inclusive, it is a laudable desire, especially when creating content for children.