Eleanor Watkins has has more than 40 novels published (including the Beech Bank Girls books published by Dernier Publishing). Many of her books are Christian stories for young people, so her advice

We all know there’s no point wasting our time submitting a proposal for a picture book to publishers who don’t do children’s stories, or a novel for teens to a publisher who only publishes adult fiction. And completely pointless if they don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts at all. But how do you go about finding a suitable publisher for your novel?

Before you put your precious manuscript into the envelope, there are 5 things you need to do . . .

This week, instead of a writing tip, here’s an exercise: Listen to a group of children talking – but don’t let them know you are . . .

The Bible encourages us to comfort each other with the comfort we ourselves have received. What is the worst thing you have had to face? The time you felt like Job? How did you get through it? Could you include something of your own victory in . . .

In case you hadn’t guessed from the title, this writing tip is about the passive tense! Whether you are writing in the first person (I, me) or the third person (he, she or they), you want to get this right . . .