Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter

Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter and illustrated by Matt Phelan was published in 2010. I was lucky enough to find this book in a Little Free Library. This book would make a great gift for the young writer in your life. It would also make a great addition as a class set in a creative writing classroom.

Anne and Ellen trade off sections of this book and they cover everything from first drafts, character development, plotting, finding ideas to write about, creating setting, building suspense, writing dialogue, the writing process, writer's identity, and many other things.

The illustrations are fun and add just the right touch for students from elementary to high school age. Older writers will also find this book motivational. I can attest to that. :)

The writing process is broken down into understandable and bite-sized pieces. This book helps the writer see that although writing can be a lot of work, it is doable.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.