Nancy L. Sharp – Wordsowers Christian Writers Group

N. L. Sharp has been writing for children for more than 20 years. Her first book, Today I’m Going Fishing with My Dad, was a Nebraska Golden Sower nominee. In 2003, Sharp created her own publishing company, Prairieland Press, to publish and market her books. Her debut book under that company, Effie’s Image, was a Nebraska Golden Sower nominee. Her second book, The Flower Girl / The Ring Bear: A Flip-Over Book, was a Nebraska Center for the Book Award winner. Sharp’s first novel for middle grade readers, Keeping Captain, was a winner in the children’s category in the 2017 Nebraska Center for the Book Awards.

Nancy will be teaching the workshop Writing for the Children’s Market. Visit the workshop page to learn more.

We asked Nancy a few questions to help you get to know her better.

Do you set goals for the new year? If so, does it help you produce more? I have found that yearly goals are too long for me–and make me think I have more time than I really have! I do much better setting quarterly goals and then dividing those goals into weekly and monthly mini-goals and projects. These seem to allow me to be more accountable and stay on track better, and, in the long run, more productive.

What or who inspired you to become an author or singer or preacher? I was fortunate enough to have attended a one-room country school, where our teacher read to us every day. That was my favorite part of the day. When our teacher read the book THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE to us, and I realized that you could be an author by just writing down the stories of your own life, I was hooked and knew that someday, I wanted to be a writer, just like Laura Ingalls Wilder!

How do you deal with writer’s block? Because I am a teacher, I have found the best way for me to overcome “writers’ block” is to give myself an assignment and a deadline–and the smaller the assignment (and the shorter the deadline) the better I will do. It is much easier for me to think about writing a scene or a character description than a novel–so I work on small steps–and try not to worry about the entire project at one time.

Do you have a favorite scripture, if so, how has it helped you? One of my favorite scriptures comes from Galatians 6: 1, 4-5, taken from THE MESSAGE. These words remind me that God calls us to do the creative best we can with the gifts we have been given and leave it to him to decide where those gifts will take us. //”Live creatively, friends. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”

What is your favorite part of a writing conference? Networking and talking shop with other writers–something I don’t get to do at home!

Visit N.L. Sharp on her website to learn more about what she writes.

Meet Nancy L. Sharp, children’s author and 2017 Wordsowers conference workshop leader.

Children’s Author N. L. Sharp is an educational writing consultant from Fremont, Nebraska. Born in Valentine, graduated from Ponca, with college degrees from both the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she is proud to claim that she is now and always has been a Nebraska writer. She is the author of several published books, including Effie’s Image (a former Nebraska Golden Sower nominee), The Flower Girl / The Ring Bear: A Flip-Over Book(named an iParenting Media Award winner by the Disney Corporation), and the novel Keeping Captain. Sharp is currently working on several other writing projects, including a series of middle-grade novels for children, ages 8-12, and a writing curriculum for elementary and middle-grade students.

Connect with Nancy on her website.

What would you like conference attendees to know about you? Maybe something that would help them feel comfortable approaching you. Besides being a writer, I am a teacher. One of my greatest joys is to share with others some of the lessons I have been fortunate enough to have experienced on my own personal writing and publishing journey. If anything I have done (or not done, and wished I had) can help others, I am more than eager to share that information with them.

What do you see as the greatest take away from your workshop and why. Who will get the most out of your workshop? Because I am a children’s writer, anyone who is writing for the children’s market will find my workshop of value. But because I have been published both traditionally (Boyds Mills Press) and as an independent author (with my own publishing house, Prairieland Press) and have had success with both routes (I have had 2 of my books listed on Nebraska’s Golden Sower list–which is the children’s choice award in Nebraska), I think anyone who is trying to better understand the pros and cons of publishing traditionally vs. self-publishing will find my workshop helpful.

Therefore, I think the biggest take-away from my workshop will be to help participants decide what is the best publishing route for them (traditional or self-publishing), regardless of which age writer they are targeting, but especially, if they are writing for children.

If you could share only one piece of information/tip/encouragement with a writer, what would it be? Years ago, I took a Steven Covey class, and I think that his advice to “Begin with the end in mind” is great advice when choosing a publishing route. If you understand exactly what your main goal is in writing and publishing a piece of writing, then the choice of how to publish it (a short story in a magazine, a blog post, a self-published book, publish with a royalty publisher, publish with a work-for-hire publisher, etc.) will be much more easily made.

Check out Nancy’s books!