Reported by Dana Sullivan Jesse Watson is fed spiritually and artistically in part by refereeing family ninja fights, school visits and surfing. After seeing his dad making no money in art he went into the lucrative business of art framing. But having to frame so much bad art forced him to go ahead and do... Continue Reading →
Deborah Wiles Keynote #scbwiwwa
Reported by Allyson Valentine Schrier: In her opening remarks at the SCBWI WWA Book to the Future Conference, Deborah Wiles shared with her listeners that story comes from three places: What you know, What you feel and What you can imagine. Deborah, who is never without a notebook to record everything from grocery lists to... Continue Reading →
Martha Mihalick on building characters #scbwiwwa
Reported by Kerri Kokias: Martha Mihalick, associate editor of Greenwillow Books, spoke on Hidden Spaces: Building Memorable Characters and the Ties Between Them. She said writers need to develop characters that their readers can identify with, love, sympathize with, or love to hate. It’s important to develop your main character, your secondary characters, and just... Continue Reading →
Justin Chanda: The Future Is Coming #scbwiwwa
Justin Chanda is vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Justin started his talk about the future of publishing by dispelling a couple of myths: 1) Myth: Simon and Schuster isn't interested in literary books. This isn't true--they have literary imprints. But he wasn't about to disparage any sort of... Continue Reading →
Lionel Bender: Visiting Book Fairs & Exhibitions #SCBWIWWA
Lionel Bender, who's on our Editorial and Art Director Faculty spoke about visiting book fairs and exhibitions. A valuable event because:You can see huge number of publishers (all at one place).Publishers will display what they are about to publish (new products).You can get key information for submitting knowing the new products.Only place you stand a... Continue Reading →
Rosanne Parry: Character and the 7 Deadly Sins
Developing Flaws in the Characters You Love Rosanne Parry is the author of DADDY'S HOME and the middle-grade novels THE HEART OF A SHEPHERD and SECOND FIDDLE. What you need in a story is conflict. People in this industry are nice people. A lot of nice people write nice characters. Rosanne sees others write many... Continue Reading →
Editor/Agent/Art Director Panel #scbwiwwa
A favorite conference tradition we do here at the annual SCBWI Western Washington conference is to host a panel discussion by editors, agents, and art directors, who talk about what they do, what they're looking for, and their perspectives on the industry today. Lionel Bender, editorial director Bender Richardson White: Most work is work-for-hire commissioned... Continue Reading →
First-Time Attendees Tips from Jolie Stekly #SCBWIWWA
Jolie is welcoming us all and sharing some delicious trivia: the most common question asked by a first-time attendee: What should I wear? Jolie Stekly welcoming the crowd Fortunately, everyone got the message this is not a clothing-optional conference. Everyone is appropriately dressed. Yay! The room is now buzzing as people introduce themselves to each... Continue Reading →
Follow Along at the #SCBWIWWA Annual Conference
Hip Hip Hooray! Today is opening day for our 20th Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference!! For those of you who are joining us we have a rich & full day of programming! Make sure you check your schedules for information about the day! If you are missing the conference (and we're missing you!)... Continue Reading →
Schamet Horsfield Book Reading
Can't make it to the conference this weekend, but looking for something to do? Fellow SCBWI WWA member Schamet Horsfield has a book reading this Sunday, April 17, starting at 11:30 a.m. at Whole Foods Market in Redmond (17991 Redmond Way). Schamet's book OM BABY, CHILD OF THE UNIVERSE is a picture book that shares... Continue Reading →