Do you have a completed manuscript that you need to revise? Do you have the first third of a novel written and you need help and a push to get to the end? Join Ann Gonzalez, MFA and author of Running for My Life, and a group of other writers in an eight-week workshop class... Continue Reading →
Patience pays off for Lois Harris
She writes: “Fun for Kidz Magazine published my article “Nose Twisters” and photos in their May issue on Plants. They accepted my manuscript in April 2006...patience...patience.”
Help Tennessee flood victims
This comes from Tracy Barrett, the RAE from the SCBWI Midsouth chapter: Most of you have heard, I'm sure, about the horrendous rains and flooding in Nashville and surrounding areas. As far as I know, all Midsouth members are accounted for. Cheryl's home was four houses away from the evacuation zone! Several of my friends... Continue Reading →
Quote of the Day: Jane Smiley
"Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist." --Jane Smiley
Let’s play the roommate matchup game
If you're going to the SCBWI conference in L.A. and are looking for a roommate, comment below. Then talk amongst yourselves. It would be great to get people's accommodations all set.
Alice Pope moves her blog to SCBWI
Hey, everyone! Alice Pope has new SCBWI blog. Here's the start of her introductory post:After blogging for four years as editor of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (a position I just left), next week I'll begin blogging full force for SCBWI! (Please pardon our dust--we're still under construction.)This blog will be similar to my last--but... Continue Reading →
Entertaining advice on querying
If you're thinking about querying an agent, here's some advice worth reading:“My story is about a man, a woman, and two dogs. It’s a modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice, except the characters of Jane and Mr. Bingley are a tad hairier than in the original.” Confession time. That is an honest-to-God excerpt from the... Continue Reading →
There be dragons (unfortunately for your manuscript)
Here's a post from the Swivet, a blog by literary agent Colleen Lindsay. It's written by Roseanne Wells (who's acquiring).Good advice abounds:My friend Jane* has a tendency to tell really boring stories. She inflicts you-had-to-be-there stories, I-find-this-to-be-funny-but-you-might-not stories, and this-is-interesting-but-not-well-told stories on us all the time.In college Jane started noticing that when she was telling... Continue Reading →
From a Meg Cabot rejection letter
"The Princess Diaries ... just not suitable for children." Hahahahahahaha! Also, she keeps a bag of rejection letters under the bed of her apartment in New York (which is the sort of thing you say when you also have real estate in other parts of the country). Read more of the collected rejection quotes from... Continue Reading →
Reasons to write: from Sara Crowe’s blog
Sara's client Rachel Greer writes this post (sent our way by Liz Mills): I’ve heard other writers say that when they get a rejection letter, they post it on the wall of their office. A well-known poet I know says his walls are just plastered in them. I have never understood this; it’s one of... Continue Reading →