Don’t write a children's picture book without it. Build your story around it and watch readers appreciate your story from start to finish.

I’m not saying to completely abandon your masterpiece. It's just that you and your story need to spend some time apart — temporarily.

Your readers are smart. Yet their attention spans won’t keep them still for long. So, your book needs to grab their attention. Fast. . .

And when I say “read other picture books,” I mean “analyze numerous picture books and dissect them.”