Yesterday’s 90-minute webinar on picture-book cadence had me tapping beats on my desk like a woodpecker on spread 12–13. What continuing ed has truly tuned your ear for age-appropriate language — courses, instructors, or quirky tools that make our edits sing at bedtime?
I do a cold read into Voice Memos with a metronome around 88 bpm; any phrase that trips me or breaks the beat gets pared or swapped for a simpler verb. What cadence trick do you reach for when a line feels “huffy-puffy”? Renée LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab tuned my ear for stress, and while readability scores aren’t great for picture books, a quick Hemingway pass still flags clutter.