Anita Nolan's blog

Welcome to my blog!  Check back frequently for a discussion about writing techniques and to learn the latest information on children’s books and the book publishing business. I post most days.

Contrary to many authors, I didn’t always want to be a writer. Granted, my brother and sisters called me Bookworm and my parents insisted I stop reading and go outside for fresh air, but writing never occurred to me, not even after my college English professor suggested I major in English.

I might have been convinced if he’d given me better grades. He told me that I needed to revise my work. I did eventually take the professor’s comments to heart and now conduct workshops on revision. (Find out about the workshops I conduct here, and an article I wrote for Sprouts, the New Jersey SCBWI on revisions here.)

I graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Food Science (not English). But after working in Quality Control and Product Development at a frozen food bakery for two years, I became Assistant Editor at Food Engineering, a food industry trade journal, and then started a gourmet take-out shop (one of my middle grade manuscripts is a mystery/adventure set in a gourmet shop). I  ran The Main Course until our first child was born.

After becoming a mother I began writing for children. Writing fiction, I found out, is totally different from nonfiction. But success in writing is as much about patience and determination as talent (fortunately my husband has plenty of patience). I’ve had a middle grade historical published with an educational publisher (it’s sold in packs of 25 with a teacher’s guide).

I also was the editor for Sprouts, (Find some of the articles I wrote for Sprouts here) and a freelance editor for an e-publisher.

I’ve written both contemporary and historical middle grade and young adult manuscripts. I also conduct writing workshops for both adults and children. You can find more information about those workshops here.