profile

Kirsten W. Larson

Special offer for nonfiction newbies, plus new a new craft podcast

Published 6 months ago • 1 min read

Hello friends!

The big news at our house this month was our backyard beehive in one of our pine trees. Apparently this is very dangerous for the bees, who need to form their hive inside a protected location. Fortunately, we found "Beeman Mike" (center) who relocated our bees to his property AND taught us all about bee lifecycles. What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning! I gifted him a copy of Candy Fleming and Eric Rohmann's HONEYBEE.

New this month: The Nonfiction Kidlit Craft Conversations podcast on Youtube. Check out my first-ever podcast episode with guest Nell Cross Beckerman (VOLCANOES) as we discuss writing nonfiction series. Each podcast episode features the author or illustrator of a new nonfiction book and focuses on a single craft element. I am trying to see if there is an inexpensive (ok, free) way to push these podcasts from YouTube to other podcast services like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. Stay tuned. In the meantime, you can watch and listen here.​

In other fun things, I'm 2/3 of the way through my cozy mystery for adults. This is a new category and genre for me, and I'm having a blast stretching my craft. What are you doing to stretch and grow your craft? If a novel (or novel-length nonfiction) is on your radar, remember November is NaNoWriMo. If you're a planner (or a plantser), now is a good idea to start brainstorming your ideas.
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Happy writing and revising!
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Kirsten
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P.S. When you are ready to pitch your MG or YA nonfiction, check out my latest blog post, "Winning Middle Grade Expository Book Pitches." Big thanks to Stephanie Gibeault and Annette Whipple for sharing their pitches so we can all learn from them.

Learn with me!

Crash Course in Craft

Have you ever purchased a book to learn the craft of writing books for kids, but aren't sure how to best put it to use? Here's a chance to learn from the authors themselves!

Fall freebie

Want to learn the basics of research and drafting a nonfiction picture book? Sign up for my self-paced course by Oct. 1 and get two live Q&A sessions with me. These will be recorded for those who can't attend live.

New in nonfiction

Roundup of October New Releases

Here's the latest roundup of the latest juvenile nonfiction books from U.S. publishers. You'll find the full list of 124 books in Edelweiss by clicking the link below.

My books

Kirsten W. Larson

Let's Reimagine Nonfiction!

Think nonfiction kids' books are boring? Think again! I'm a writer, teacher, and writing coach dedicated to helping students reimagine their true stories, turning them into captivating reads. Subscribe to my newsletter for tips, new releases, and more.

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