The National Poetry Month celebration continues! 12 x 12 charter member, poet, and author Lisa Rogers shares how poetry comes into play when writing picture books—even picture book biographies.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What it's like to be a poet and write a picture book about a poet
• How she finds the emotional throughline in her stories
• Why she's drawn to writing about creative people
• The impact of writing her John Cage book in second person
• Why she writes picture book biographies
• Why she didn't give up writing picture books
• The steps she took to stay committed to the writing craft
• How she determines the stories she's meant to write
• Why reading and writing poetry helps with writing picture books
• How word choice influences her writing choices
• The importance of creating mental images in your stories
• How sounds influence her word choice

Books mentioned in this episode*:

• 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and "The Red Wheelbarrow" by Lisa Rogers and Chuck Groenink
• Beautiful Noise: The Music of John Cage by Lisa Rogers and Il Sung Na
• Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony by Lisa Rogers and Stacy Innerst
• Woody's Words: Woodrow Wilson Rawls and Where the Red Fern Grows by Lisa Rogers and Susan Reagan
• Hound Won't Go by Lisa Rogers and Meg Ishihara
• All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth and Natalie Babbitt
• Gnomes and Ungnomes: Poems of Hidden Creatures
• Ode to Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice by Kari Lavelle and Bryan Collier

Get the 12 x 12 Poetry Playbook for Picture Book Writers HERE: https://12x12challenge.com/poetryplaybook

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Thank you for listening!