At conferences, Jesse Florea, editor of Clubhouse Magazine from Focus on the Family, makes it a point to give positive feedback and encouragement to every author whose work he reads. He is an author of several books for Tyndale House and thousands of newspaper and magazine articles. Florea has held his current position as editor of Clubhouse for 12 years.

“The most important advice is not to talk down to children. Children learn from and enjoy stories, and this is something you want to cultivate as a writer. By preaching at them, it can hurt their love of literature," he advices. "I’d like to share that as children’s writers we have the awesome responsibility of shaping the next generation. Like I said, kids develop their values and learn from story. We need to make sure we’re helping them build a solid foundation that will help them have a positive impact on the world in years to come."

Florea had the following suggestions in his workshop on writing for Clubhouse Magazine which can be used as a checklist as you write:
1. Don’t underestimate your audience.
2. Get into a child’s mind. What are kids interested in? Write for 11 year olds.
3. Work on a gripping opening. Catch them in the first ten seconds.
4. Use vibrant action verbs. Take out passive verbs.
5. Think like a poet.
6. Omit needless words. Every word should count. Vigorous writing should be concise.
7. Leave children a nugget of truth. Give them something to take away from your article.
8. Do play by the rules. You do wrong and you reap the consequences.
9. Do use humor. Exaggeration and switching are funny. Switching is like the “Freaky Friday” theme.
10. Stay away from clichés like quiet as a mouse.
11. Don’t wrap up the story in a neat little bow. Realize you do not always have happy endings. If you make bad choices, you have bad consequences.
12. Be creative.
13. Be industry savvy. Keep up with the trends like now we are eco-friendly and “edutertaining” which is educational and entertaining. Learning is made fun. Pay attention to movie trailers.
14. Have compelling characters. Harry Potter was compelling and the children should be the main character.
15. Be yourself. Children can sniff out a phony.

Florea added, “Study the market before writing Have a clear voice by observing the children’s speech and interests. Give them hope. Be persistent and don’t give up.”

Clubhouse magazine, for 8-12 year olds who desire to know more about God and the Bible, began 21 years ago as Focus on the Family’s first children’s product. "It’s also an award-winning publication," says Florea. "Every year our art and editorial is recognized amongst the best by the Evangelical Press Association.”

Clubhouse is currently seeking fiction (humor, historical, mysteries, fantasy, contemporary multicultural) of 500-1600 words, and nonfiction (essays, interviews, how-to, profiles of ordinary kids, news articles) of 800-1000 words, plus activities and quizzes. Clubhouse Jr. seeks wholesome fiction for beginning readers (250-750 words) or read-aloud stories (700-1000 words), nonfiction to 600 words, Bible stories up to 800 words, rebuses, poetry, activities and puzzles. Fiction for both magazines should have well-developed characters and a fast-paced storyline built upon a foundation of Christian values.