Sands Hetherington is the creator of the Night Buddies Adventures. The four books were born out of bedtime stories he made up with his son John. The unique banter and fun words were created in the nightly give-and-take. Sands majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an MFA in […]
Happy New Year! Can you believe we’re already over halfway through with January? As always, the first month of the year seems to fly by and with it, so do our New Year’s goals and resolutions. Today I just wanted to come on here and tell you that if writing a book was on your […]
As an author, the question I hear most often is this: Sands, how can I write my own children’s book? I don’t blame these aspiring writers for looking for the secret. I remember the days of wanting to see my own words in print and not knowing where to start. I had this idea—a story […]
A lot of you reading this blog are writers yourselves, and we had a tribe of people tackle National Novel Writing Month this past November! I know how rewarding it is to type, “The End,” but finishing that first draft is far from the end of your book’s journey. This year, the NaNoWriMo organization wants […]
Halloween is almost here, and while some get excited for costumes, trick-or-treating, and scary movie nights, most writers out there will tell you that the best part of Halloween is when the clock strikes midnight…and NaNoWriMo officially begins! Every November thousands of writers come together with one common goal—to write a 50,000-word novel (or start […]
Before we get into this week’s blog post, I want you to know that I am running a giveway through this Friday, October 28th, where you have the chance to win a complete 3-book Night Buddies set! Enter on my Facebook page here. Well folks, we are only one week away from the most hectic, […]
People often talk about writing a book as similar to giving birth to a child. You conceive the idea, spend many months forming it into existence, and then birth it out into the world to develop a life of its own. While that metaphor makes sense to me, I’ve always looked at writing the Night […]
One question authors get asked all the time is, “What advice do you have for someone who wants to write a book?” or “How do I get a book published?” So for today’s Q&A, I thought I’d share my answers with any of you aspiring authors out there! The really true, and absurdly simple, answer […]
Now that most kids have gone back to school, we writer-parents have a little more alone time on our hands to get back into a writing groove. Which is why I thought now would be a perfect time to share a few writing tips over the next few weeks with you! I’ve given and been […]
First off, I have some exciting news! At the most recent American Library Association Conference, all three of my Night Buddies books were proudly on display! You can see them there at the bottom of the shelf. Just want to say a MAJOR thank you to ALA for that amazing moment and photo opp! I […]
When you usually hear the term “NaNoWriMo” it’s equated with a marathon-sprint of writing that takes place in the month of November. Anyone in the world can sign up to the challenge of writing a 50,000 word book in a single month (this comes out to just under 2k words a day), and thousands—perhaps millions—of […]
I’m very pleased to announce that this week we are featuring a post from author Laurie McKay about where she finds inspiration to write. One of the most common questions asked to writers is “What inspired you?” I never thought too much about inspiration until after I finished my first book and was asked that […]