2. What is your message?
Many authors have described writing as a calling. In his book Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, Frederick Buechner tells us that the English word "vocation" comes from the Latin word vocare, "to call," which "means the work a person is called to by God." He writes:
"By and large a good rule for finding out is this: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. ... The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."
Contemplate this. Write down your answers to these questions:
What drives you to this place?
What do you want to communicate to children's hearts and minds?
Hundreds of books and many thousands of articles on writing for children have been published. I've read MANY over the past 40 years. You will find your own favorites. One book I recently began reading is not about writing, but rather it is about doing, and about FOCUS.
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by
"When you want the absolute best chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be the same. Go small. When you go as small as possible, you'll be staring at one thing. And that's the point." ~ Gary Keller from The ONE Thing Here's an 11-minute video summary of the book by Brian Johnson of Philosopher's Notes. "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one." Russian proverb
Writing for children is not the simplest form of writing. Many of the best children's authors have said they consider it the most difficult of all writing. I liken it to writing poetry in that I must put a thought or an image into the smallest number of words, the most precise and necessary words possible, to convey the message in a way that lets the child's heart and mind understand, and welcome it in. The younger the child, the more important this is.