For Writers

Growing As a Writer – the Power of Community

By on May 23, 2025   /   Articles, For Writers  

Growing As a Writer – the Power of Community

If you’ve ever seen one of those sped-up videos illustrators post online, maybe you know the kind – of their artwork going from blank canvas to finished masterpiece all in the span of 30 seconds – I LOVE those! And yet I always walk away thinking how cool it would be for us writers to have something comparable. 

What would our sped up video show? 

 

My first thought is of a writer alone at their desk, possibly hunched over a low lit keyboard while frantically typing away. My next thought is of a writer in a cafe, at a table for one, tucked snugly in the corner with a tea in one hand and a pencil in the other. But neither capture the whole picture – or in this case: video.

 

Consider what writing looked like in early grade school. So many of us writers have a neatly “crafted” book on a shelf in our home (mine was

published via a manilla folder and some pink yarn). Then jump to middle school when our next novel’s printing press came in the form of a spiral binding machine found in the teacher’s lounge. These books weren’t written by our younger selves left alone to our own devices in classrooms or in the cafeteria sipping from tiny chocolate milk cartons. Instead, we had amazing teachers instructing us in the process of beginnings, middle, and ends. They were our first editors, showing us how to tighten our pages. And they partnered us up with peers who critiqued our work – maybe pointing out a spelling mistake or laughing at a well placed joke. These teachers and classmates were our community. They were who we bounced story ideas off of, who we asked questions about plot to, and who we sought advice from.

 

Upon graduation, if you were like me, chances are your community faded. This might be why we hear writing is a solitary effort. But, with no one to gain feedback from, to talk craft with, discuss books or the writing world with, and even perhaps no one who “gets” this side of us, how are we to grow? 

I believe community is the secret sauce. 

 

Community challenges us by holding us accountable. It lifts us up when imposter syndrome rears its ugly head. And it champions us by connecting us with experts and professionals. 

 

When I went looking to find “my people,” as happy as I was to attend conferences and workshops, I was saddened to leave the party, so to speak. It felt like the fun was over, and once again so, too, was the community. If my 30-second sped-up video were to be a true representation of writerly growth, then community needed to be a constant.

 

So I had an idea! 

 

Together with my literary bestie, Valerie Heller, we created MuchAdoAboutWriting.com where writers get to hone their craft AND stay connected. In our four years of running weekly live calls, we’ve had the privilege of seeing members truly become community as they interact with and support each other, share ideas and pages, deepen their understanding of writing craft, own techniques and skills, take in feedback and understand how to implement it when drafting and revising, and even celebrate getting published.

 

And the fun is just beginning! Now it’s our turn to grow by offering even more to writers. So, on top of our teaching calls, interactive workshops, and editing nights, we’re adding daily events to get you thinking and conversing about story on a deeper level through prompts, sprints, games, weekly eyes on pages, and much more.

 

As I round out my 30 second video, a HUGE shout out to Jon and Laura at https://writeforkids.online/ who are our biggest cheerleaders and collaborators in building this community’s offerings. We’re teaming up with them, and are inviting all the readers at From the Mixed Up Files to join us in a live webinar as we take you behind the scenes of The Insiders Coaching Club on Wednesday, May 28th at 8pm ET. Follow this link to sign up for the call: https://writeforkids.lpages.co/icc1/ 

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Crafting Purpose: Why Writers Need Mission and Vision Statements

By on May 9, 2025   /   Articles, For Writers, Writing  
Writer sits at a desk writing with pen in hand beneath a desk lamp

Successful businesses often refer to their companies’ mission and vision statements as foundational to their success. These statements help companies define purpose, stay focused, and set goals. If you’re a writer, you probably realize that purpose, focus, and goals are important to your writing life. But have you considered defining them with your own mission and vision statements?

The illustration shows a man in business attire leaning on a chart that contains a pie graph and a bar graph while holding a target in the opposite hand.

 

The  Mission Statement

A mission statement defines your creative purpose. There are a lot of distractions in the writing world, and it’s easy to find ourselves with multiple unfinished projects or on a path we did not intend to travel. A mission statement will narrow the focus of your work to only that which you have identified as important and will help you establish your “author brand.”

 

When defining your mission, it’s important to ask yourself a couple of questions. These questions will guide the development of your mission statement and help you maintain focus. 

 

What do I most like to write?

Identify the genre and style you gravitate toward. Finding joy in the creative process will yield a more authentic voice and produce stronger motivation. Your passion will sustain you through the tough times and will shine through to your readers.

 

What is my creative purpose?

Maybe your creative purpose is very personal, like writing stories that record your family’s history. Maybe your purpose is larger, and you want to make a positive impact on the social and emotional development of young children. Or perhaps you are driven to bring science to life in ways that draw kids into STEM. Articulate your greater purpose and allow that purpose to guide you.

 

Once you’ve answered both of these questions, you’re ready to craft a mission statement that defines your creative focus. Identify that focus and be very selective with the action verb(s) you use. Here are a few examples of possible mission statements:

 

  • My creative works will shine a light on the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ youth.
  • I write to preserve the stories and personalities that shaped our family.
  • My books will engage young adult readers in imaginative worlds where diversity is celebrated and good triumphs over evil. 
Two images -- one with an a person sitting at a desk writing on a laptop and the other of a woman sitting in a casual chair with her feet on an ottoman and a laptop in her lap

The Vision Statement

A vision statement gives you a trajectory toward an ultimate destination. It’s less about what you will do and more about who you will be.

 

To craft a vision statement, picture what success looks like for you. This isn’t a wish or a dream; it’s a realistic image of your future self that will help you generate specific goals. Ask yourself these questions:

 

What impact do I hope to make with my writing?

Your impact is about the effect you want to have on your readers. Some writers want to bring humor and joy to childhood. Others want to reveal untold stories from the past or make sure kids from marginalized groups find themselves represented in books.

 

What do I hope to achieve?

You might define success in a personal way, like presenting your family with bound copies of family history, complete with photographs, descriptions, and meaningful stories that shaped generations. Or, maybe you aspire to see your books on the shelves of bookstores and in the hands of readers. 

 

Your vision statement declares your aspirations. It’s about your creative legacy and the long-term impact of your work. As the name suggests, this is something visual, so many writers find it helpful to create a vision board. Whether you create a visual display or not, articulating your vision is a powerful step. Here are a few examples of possible vision statements:

 

  • To create thought-provoking poetry that addresses social justice and creates change in my community
  • To bring history to life for elementary-age children through engaging reading material published in educational resources.
  • To build a body of work that helps young readers from marginalized populations feel seen, valued, and empowered

Setting Goals

Once you have your mission and vision established, your writing has a focus and a destination. Now you are able to set measurable goals that will get you to that destination. 

Red and white concentric circles form a target; an arrow pierces the center of the target

 

One goal might focus on your work habits. Many writers like to set a specific number of words, pages, or minutes they will write each day. Another goal might focus on building your craft, like attending three craft workshops within the calendar year. If you seek publication, you probably want to set some goals involving your connection to writing communities, submissions to literary agents, and the establishment of your online presence.

 

Be sure to avoid setting goals that rely on the responses of others, like securing a literary agent within six months or winning a Pulitzer prize. These are great aspirations to work toward, but your goals should focus on what you can control.

 

Once your purpose, focus, and goals are established, you can weed out the activities that don’t serve you and make a plan for achieving your goals. Now there’s only one thing left to do….Write!

 

 

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EDITOR SPOTLIGHT: Meet Kristin Gilson, Editorial Director at Aladdin

By on April 30, 2025   /   Editor / Agent Spotlight, For Writers  
Photo of ediorial Director Kristin Gilson

We are thrilled to welcome Kristin Gilson to the Editor/Agent Spotlight on The Mixed-up Files of Middle Grade Authors today.

Photo of ediorial Director Kristin Gilson Kristin Gilson is the Editorial Director of Aladdin, an imprint dedicated to quality commercial fiction and non-fiction for ages 12 and under.

Gilson began her long career in children’s publishing at Knopf and spent many years at HarperCollins and Penguin Random House before joining Aladdin. She is primarily looking for fiction and is drawn to stories with honesty and heart; books that make her laugh, cry, think, and feel; and quirky characters who are looking to find, figure out, or create their place in the world. She loves smart protagonists, sibling or found family stories, snarky humor, and books that speak to the growing young LGBTQ and GNC community.

A lifelong lover of books and reading, Kristin still has her very first library card!

Welcome to the blog, Kristin. We’re excited to learn about your editorial journey. Can you share any highlights or insights learned along the way from your early days at Knopf to your role at Aladdin?  

“Never underestimate the power of the paperback.”

Before I came to Aladdin all of my editorial positions had been focused primarily on paperbacks, though they encompassed the full range of paperback publishing—straight reprint conversions, traditional acquisitions, original titles developed in-house and with packagers, and licensed/tie-in publishing.

Publishing Opportunities

Publishing a title in paperback can create opportunities to reach different and often much broader audience and build a long tail that can sustain a title or author for years to come. Even in the case of a straight reprint conversion from hardcover, a strategic paperback publication—one that may involve a new cover or added bonus materials—can change the trajectory of a book and land it on a bestseller list!

Are there any updates you would add to your Wish List?

Given the impact that various recent events have had on young readers, I would add shorter/easier reads that still have relatable content for middle-graders and emphasize my desire for humorous and lighthearted stories. We are also publishing very little non-fiction at this time.

Building on Success

Congratulations on the release of your latest projects, including two NYT Bestsellers: Megan E. Freeman’s Away, the companion book to Alone; and Edgar Award winner James Ponti’s City Spies: London Calling.

How did you initially discover these authors?

I wish I had a triumphant story about how I saw a spark in a slush manuscript or hand-picked them after a presentation at a writer’s conference. But the truth is that I inherited them both from my predecessor at Aladdin. And boy am I glad I did.

What made you want to acquire their manuscripts?

From a business perspective, it was the fact that their previous books had done well and I wanted to build on that success. From a creative perspective, it’s because the authors had created such wonderful characters and scenarios and I wanted to see what they could create next and share that with readers. The fact that both authors are absolutely wonderful to work with was a plus as well.

Revisions

Typically, are there many revisions from acquisitions to final draft?

Sometimes, sometimes not—there are so many different things that factor into it. An author who prefers a more collaborative approach might submit something in a rougher or looser form so they can use my feedback to guide them as they work on the next version; others might prefer to get input from peers and sensitivity readers and do a lot of revising and polishing before I even see it; and still others will reach out to me to discuss things during the writing process so that when the manuscript comes to me we’ve already resolved things that might have needed revising. The important thing to know is that it doesn’t really matter how many revisions it takes as long as the author, the editor, and most importantly the readers, are excited about how it turned out.

Companion Books

Speaking of Freeman’s Away, what are the challenges and joys in editing a companion book? Can you share what this process was like?

Book cover of Away plus New York Times Bestseller The biggest joy is being able to return to characters and a world that you are already familiar with and get to know them a bit better or a bit differently. Those same things can also be challenges, because you can’t change their characteristics to fit the new story, the new story has to fit with what has already been established.

In the case of Away—which runs parallel to Alone—fitting the timeline was a pretty major challenge. This led to a fair amount of discussion and margin comments to make sure things were unfolding in a way that made sense, and that characters were developing accordingly. Fortunately, the use of different narrative forms allowed the story to take some leaps in time that would not have been easy to accomplish in a straight prose novel.

 

“Freeman delivers an engaging tale in which young crusaders strive to overcome both parental passivity

and corrupt authorities to discover and expose a dastardly scheme. . . . Scary and satisfying.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Series Proposals or Stand-Alones?

Michael Vey book cover

Did Ponti’s City Spies series and Richard Paul Evans’ Michael Vey series begin as stand-alone novels or were they series proposals?

They were both series proposals, though the extent of both series has gone beyond what was initially acquired. (As an editor, my favorite kinds of series are those that allow you to build on them if the initial titles are successful, but at the same time are not reliant on additional books to complete a story or character arc. We don’t like to leave readers hanging.)

About that first library card…

We love that you still have your very first library card. What books or genres caught card-carrying young Kristin’s attention?

I’ve always been drawn to realistic fiction, stories with strong girl protagonists, and books that pack an emotional punch. I also loved (and still love) books about big families and secret clubs. To that point, some of my most cherished books from childhood are

  • The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright,
  • The Secret Language, by Ursula Nordstrom,
  • Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars,
  • Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth
  • William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth, by E. L. Konigsberg,
  • Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume, and
  • The Cat Ate my Gymsuit, by Paula Danziger.

(Young Kristin would be absolutely floored by the fact that not-young Kristin has had the good fortune of meeting some of these favorite authors!)

Kristin Gilson's actual, very first library card from 1971

Submissions

How and when can authors submit to you?

Their agents can submit to me via email at any time.

Are there any upcoming titles/current projects you are excited about?

I’m really looking forward to the publication of Hurricane Heist, the second book in James Ponti’s new series The Sherlock Society, this fall.

book cover of Hurricane Heist with four teens and their biclcles and inclement weather in the distance

BONUS Editor Lightning Round:

  1. Query/Pitch pet peeve: _I wrote this story for my grandchildren.”
  2. Please don’t send me: _picture books______
  3. Title on your TBR pile: _The Bletchley Riddle_by Ruta Sepetys & Steve Sheinkin 
  4. PB you could probably recite by heart: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. (It’s a classic for a reason.)
  5. Favorite line from a mg or YA novel: From Gayle Forman’s novel, I Was Here: ”Some messes can wait.”
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