Julie, thanks so much for bringing that awesome article to my attention. Added to the list. *thumbs-up*

By the way, sorry about my atrociously delayed response. Your comment inexplicably got caught in my spam filter. I'm getting rid of Intense Debate and switching back to Wordpress commenting. (Again, sorry!) Have a great day.

Hi Christie! Thanks. I didn't find it. I did, however, join the Picture Books Group at Goodreads and get myself a widget, too. ;)

Corey, that is SO AWESOME!!!! Congratulations, woman! Thanks for coming by and sharing your great news. xD

Hi Shannon! Thanks - and will see you there! Just checked out your blog - fabulous! I'll be following you as well. Have a great weekend. :D

Hi, Tara. :D It was my pleasure. Thanks for your support of other picture book writers/authors, and for being awesome in general. I appreciate you stopping by to tell me that.

Thank you so much, Julie, and thanks for coming by to tell me that. :) I'm having fun with it. I love uncovering hot resources and sharing them with like-minded people.

By the way, I added "by Julie Hedlund" to the end of the "How to Research Editors and Agents" link in case anyone reads this and is curious about which post is yours. (Excellent post, by the way! I can tell you put a lot of time and elbow grease into it.) Be well, Heather

Christie, thanks so much for coming by. I've been reading your blog of and on for a while now. What an honor!

Lol @ "no wonder he's bored". It's amazing, isn't it, how difficult it is to write picture books? Those ignorant of the process, as I was when I first sat down and started writing stories, aren't aware of all the rules, layers, conventions. To be honest, I wish there were fewer rules and conventions! But alas, I want to learn how to do things according to established guidelines before breaking some rules. Okay, I don't. But I realize it's neccesssary. :)

Thanks, Holly! I already close my eyes and let things flow organically while picturing the "actors". I will work on voice, and on seeing the world through the eyes of the different characters, and letting that influence their words and actions.

Thanks, Holly. That was awfully kind of you. :) That's the thing I don't get about voice - we're supposed to be writing in a character's voice instead of our own, aren't we? (Or is that just with first-person?) But I know that authors' voices carry over across characters and novels. It confuses me much, and if I could just figure out how to include my own voice while creating a character that should have a completely different voice, I might have something to work with ! lol

Okay, so the voice is current and possibly sounds like an actual 17 year old. Hey, at least that's something! I loved Judy Blume and whatnot when I was very young - up until about age 11. After that I was reading adult novels - mostly horror and mysteries and Nora Roberts-type stuff. I hate to think that a 12 year old with a still-positive outlook on life would be influenced by any negativity written by me. Something to think about, for sure. I'd prefer to have kids relate and feel as though they're not alone, but a lot of 17 year olds don't read YA.

When I started goofing around I was going for a humorous voice. I had no idea where this other one came from. I think there is probably a market for it, but I don't think it's the kind of voice I want to adopt, unless the character changes considerably by the end of the book.

Mary Kole says this type of voice works for urban fantasy and that type of thing, but probably wouldn't be good to carry a regular novel. And MG is totally different, regardless. Much more upbeat.

I think the moral here is to listen to our own voices. Mine was obviously telling me that something wasn't right, or I would have ran with it. One thing I'm noticing about critique is that any little things that give me cause for pause are always brought up by others. Every single time. I also think it's about trust. When self-editing, we need to trust our instincts. As a learner, I don't yet trust my instincts. Hopefully that will be earned over time.

Thanks for your thoughts, Holly. I really appreciate your honesty.