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Writing Children's Picture Books with Microsoft Word

Name: Writing Children's Picture Books with Microsoft Word
Rating: 3.4 (2 reviews)

Outlining, writing and copy editing a children's picture book with Microsoft Word and ProWritingAid

Created byBrian Jackson

Last updated 11/2022

English

What you'll learn

Use the Microsoft Word Navigation Pane to outline your children's picture book. Use Heading 1 levels to outline the pages in your children's picture book.
Use Microsoft Word to write your children's picture book. Use word writing assist tools such as automated spell checking, synonyms and the thesaurus.
Use the Grammarly or ProWritingAid Microsoft Word plugins to automate the process of copy editing your book for spelling, grammar and style errors.
Manually copy edit your manuscript to be sure by reading it backward out loud to find the greatest number of errors.

Course content

11 sections • 34 lectures • 2h 55m total length

Course Overview2:55
In this lecture, I introduce to the course and its structure.
Course Resources0:04
Access the Resources for this lecture to download my working copy of "Busy Bee Meets Spelling Bee".
How to Watch This Course4:38
In this lecture, I explain how to watch Udemy courses fast and to record notes on the timeline along the way.

Optimize Your Microsoft Word Screen Layout9:27
In this lecture, I prepare my editor window for editing by optimizing my screen real estate. This is how I setup Microsoft Word before I begin to write.
Select and Edit Text9:25
In this lecture, I review basic text selection and editing operations using Microsoft Word. Note that these operations work in almost any Windows application.
Configure Normal Paragraph and Heading 1 Styles13:41
In this lecture, I demonstrate how to configure your paragraph style for a fun picture book and how to setup the heading 1 style for use in outlining as explained in the next section.
Addendum: Numbering Heading 1 Levels2:23
In this lecture, I demonstrate how to number headings which I forgot to do in the previous lecture.
Introduction to Microsoft Word Project0:08
In this lecture, I provide your first project of the course — to basically get started!

Introduction to the Navigation Pane4:05
In this lecture, I introduce you to the navigation pane and its features related to outlining.
Children's Story Plots, People and Places7:54
In this lecture, I describe the elements of outlining plots, people and places and hint at the technique we'll use in the next lecture to outline a children's picture book.
Outline with Headings and the Navigation Pane8:01
In this lecture, I demonstrate outlining a children's picture book using my Word based outlining technique.
Outlining with the Navigation Pane Project0:08
In this lecture, I provide your second project of the course — to outline your story.

Length, Topic, Vocabulary and Style4:01
In this lecture, I discuss the length of a typical children's picture book, writing topics, vocabulary and the option of writing in verse.
Modes of Narration7:42
In this lecture, I discuss selecting and consistently applying a mode of narration including point of view (POV), voice and tense.
Plotters vs Pantsters7:27
In this lecture, I discuss plotters, those who like to outline before writing, versus pantster, those who like to write by the seat of their pants.
Writing with Style Project0:09
In this lecture, I provide your third project of the course — to choose your writing style.

Configuring Bold, Italic and Colored Text3:38
In this lecture, I discuss emphasizing your text with bold and italic fonts and color.
Spell Checking, Synonyms and the Thesaurus3:17
In this lecture, I demonstrate Word's writing assist features in the form of automatic spell checking and synonyms.
Maintain Age Appropriate Language with ProWritingAid4:04
In this lecture, I demonstrate how to use ProWritingAid to measure your writing level and map it to age.
Writing with Microsoft Word and ProWritingAid Project0:07
In this lecture, I provide your fourth project of the course — to write with Microsoft Word.

Introduction to Copy Editing12:08
In this lecture, I introduce the concept of copy editing your own work... and why.
Copy Edit Your Own Work with ProWritingAid7:46
In this lecture, I demonstrate using ProWritingAid to catch 90% of my errors, what I'd like to see you check and the depth to which you can check your writing.
Copy Edit Your Own Work with Grammarly8:17
This is a lecture from an older course in which I demonstrate using the Grammarly Microsoft Word plugin to copy edit your own work.
Manually Copy Edit Your Own Work and Draft Others5:11
In this lecture, I demonstrate copy editing your manuscript manually and stress getting others to read your book.
Copy Editing with ProWritingAid Project0:06
In this lecture, I provide your fifth project of the course — to copy edit your children's picture book.

Requirements

You'll need a copy of Microsoft Word to follow along.
You'll need either a copy of Grammarly or ProWritingAid to follow along with the automated copy editing section (see Course Resources for details).

Description

Note: I remember nothing about this course except that it is relatively new and poorly reviewed.

This is a course for Brian Jackson completists ;-).

Hello,

Welcome to my course, Writing Children's Picture Books with Microsoft Word.

In this course, I explain how to use Microsoft Word to write a children's picture book. The course begins by explaining how to optimize your Microsoft Word screen real estate and quickly moves on to outlining your children's book. It then explains the how to write your book using assist from Word and ProWritingAid. The course concludes with information on copy editing your own work using ProWritingAid and manually.

Learn to write children's picture books even if you're not a very good writer.

My name is Brian Jackson. I'm the instructor of the course. I'm also the writer of over one dozen books, publisher of well over 100 Amazon Kindle e-books and instructor with almost 40 Udemy courses to my name.

In this course, I demonstrate using Microsoft Word to write a children's picture book. More specifically, I address the following topics in detail:

Optimizing your Word screen real estate and setting up your writing environment.
Outlining your book using the Microsoft Word Navigation Pane.
Writing your book using Microsoft Word and ProWritingAid.
Copy editing your own work with Microsoft Word and ProWritingAid.

Learn to write professional quality children's picture books the easy way.

I am directing this course to writers new to writing Amazon children's picture books and those old timers wanting to brush up their writing and Microsoft Word skills.

Whichever is the case, I look forward to joining you on a journey through the lectures ahead.

I'll see you in the classroom,

---Brian

Who this course is for:

This course is intended for those new to writing children's picture books.
This course is also intended for old timers wishing to brush up on their children's picture book writing skills.

Writing Children's Picture Books with Microsoft Word

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction3 lectures • 8min

Setting Up Microsoft Word5 lectures • 35min

Outlining with the Navigation Pane4 lectures • 20min

Writing with Style4 lectures • 19min

Intermission1 lecture • 1min

Writing with Microsoft Word and ProWritingAid4 lectures • 11min

Copy Editing with ProWritingAid5 lectures • 33min

Children's Picture Book Writing Workshop2 lectures • 15min

Additional Material1 lecture • 3min

Deprecated Original Material3 lectures • 26min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: