Those interested in writing for children were benefited by the conference appearance of renowned author pat Rynearson, who gave us insightful and inspiring tips to make our stories more pleasing to children and to the editors who review them.

At the age of seven, Rynearson wrote and illustrated her first children's book. It was another 30 years, however, before she pursued writing with dedication. She is an educator, a mother of three teenage boys, and an animal lover. With her already full life, she still dedicates three days a week to writing.

Rynearson asserts that writing for children is distinctly different from writing for adults. In writing for children we need to be less descriptive and start close to the action. An adult reader will give you one chapter. A child will only give you three lines. Children's books should have 'fun" language because children love to read stories that make them happy.

For those of us who are tempted to illustrate out own books, Rynearson encouraged us to keep our options open because the editor picks the illustrator. If we are trained, however, we could write a note letting the editor choose our story and illustrations either together or separately. In regards to the illustrations, she also taught us to "think action." For a picture book of 1000 words or less, "You'll need a minimum of 16 action scenes."

We were strongly cautions not to write in rhyme. She said that editors get bombarded with thousands of rhyming books, most of which aren't any good, and their first reaction is to toss them aside. Instead, Rynearson counseled us to "Get yourself published first. If they already know you're a good writer, then they are willing to give you a fair reading."

One more bit of advice from Pat Rynearson is, since we are all flawed, our characters should be too—even the good guys. She says, "If they're perfect—Blah! Characters need flaws to help readers relate."

Her words, spoken from experience, will enable those who have published before to hone their skills. Those who haven't published yet can glean from her knowledge, thereby gaining the expertise to become successful. Thank you, Pat Rynearson, for an outstanding workshop!