Guest Author: Lea Schizas

Please join me in welcoming author, Lea Schizas today! She'll be floating around today...so please don't hesitate to ask her any questions that you may have...she'll be happy to answer them.

Lea shares with us today as to What Inspires Her:

There's nothing greater than knowing children and young adults are inspired by my words, entertained by my characters, and learn a lesson from within my penned words.

Being a mother of five, I'm only too aware of this age levels nature, such as their curiosity, their dialogue, their need to prod for answers, their sneakiness, vows to be good and then forget those vows. I use all of these characteristics in several of my characters to bring the realistic side to them.

When I came up with the idea for my young adult fantasy/adventure, The Rock of Realm, I wanted characters that were distinct from each other.

Alexandra Stone is the main character: strong, discovers a secret that makes her wonder why her parents never told her, needs to carry the image of strength and bravery around her friends in order to keep their morale up while they search for a way back to their world.

Sarah Breckinridge is Alex's best friend: puts up a front of bravery but without Alex by her side, she cowers. She draws her own strenght from Alex.

Butch is the hero: a 110 pound German Shepherd who is not afraid to put his life on the line to protect Alex. Pops is Butch's best friend- he's a sneaky, humorous and sarcastic squirrel who takes pleasure in putting down Jinx. Jinx is the six-legged hamster, their guide in Rock Kingdom. Pops and Jinx have a love/hate relationship throughout the novel.

As you can see, each character above inspires different attributes we find in real life, and also each character brings a lesson to the reader.

So my inspiration is a deep love to offer children and young adults stories that will make them laugh, cry, grip the edge of their seat, and travel through my world, all the while learning something important hidden within my novels.

CWCC at the National Writing for Children Center - Weekly Teleclasses for February

The Children's Writers' Coaching Club at the National Writing for Children Center has an exciting schedule of weekly teleclasses set for February. Just look at this lineup of topics:

Thursday, February 7, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. central time - Author Lila Guzman will present a 55-minute teleclass about writing historical biographies for young readers

Wednesday, February 13, 2008, at 4:00 pacific time - Author Margot Finke will present a 55-minute teleclass called Picture (Book) Perfect

Thursday, February 21, 2008, time TBA - Author Simon Rose will present Part 1 of a 2 part teleclass about writing science fiction and fantasy for young readers

Thursday, February 28, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time - Rita Milios will present a 55-minute teleclass called The Lucrative Educational Market: Where Do YOU fit In? (this is session 1 in the Writing for Children's Educational Markets Series)

Join the CWCC today and get ready for these informative, fun, LIVE teleclasses.

As a club member you'll also receive the link to a recording of each session, so you can listen to it at your own convenience when you are unable to attend the live class.

As a coaching club member, you also receive short weekly writing lessons and assignments and weekly manuscript critique telesessions, where your manuscript is read by at least one (often more) published children's book author. A

All this for ONLY $27.00 per month. How could you go wrong?

Join the Children's Writers' Coaching Club today and you'll be on your way to creating your own part time or full time career as a published children's book author and/or illustrator.

Click here to join the club


The Children's Writers
Coaching Club


See you in the club!

Learn to Write for Children ~ Join the Children's Writers' Coaching Club!

If you'd like to become a published children's book author yourself, join the Children's Writers' Coaching Club like I did, at the National Writing for Children Center and get the help you need to succeed.

Just look at all you get for only $27.00 per month when you become a member of this fantastic club:

* Four 55-minute teleclasses EVERY month. Each teleclass is taught by a successful children's book author and/or illustrator who knows the "tricks of the trade" of children's writing, illustrating, and publishing.

* The opportunity to have one of your manuscripts professionally critiqued EVERY week during a LIVE manuscript critique telesession. This means you can have up to four manuscripts professionally critiqued each month. This alone is worth well over $27.00 per month. You also receive the link to a recording of each of these weekly sessions, so you can learn from these critiques whether or not you're able to attend the LIVE sessions.

* A short, short assignment EVERY Monday morning, via email, designed to help you improve your skills in some aspect of children's writing and/or publishing or promotion. You can submit your completed assignments for evaluation each week.

* The opportunity to network daily via an online discussion list with other members of the CWCC, as well as the instructors.

Join the Children's Writers' Coaching Club today and you'll be on your way to creating your own part time or full time career as a published children's book author and/or illustrator.

Click here to join the club!


The Children's Writers
Coaching Club


See you in the club!