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SCBWI-Midsouth

Shirley Amitrano, Tracy Barrett and Me, Co-Coordinators of the Conference

Tim Gilner (left, back) looks over the Illustrator's Display.

Patsi Trollinger and Me!

September 24, 2005

What a blast this year's SCBWI-Midsouth regional conference turned out to be! Of course, I'm biased, as the conference co-coordinator, along with my friend and fellow BRAT, Shirley Amitrano--we worked hard and it paid off!

Attendance was great, and our faculty this year (Tracy Barrett, Tim Gillner, Jen Weiss, Barbara Seuling, Rebecca Sherman and Kelly Millner Halls) was awesome! We learned a lot from their workshops and the panel discussion.

Workshops included "The Basics for Beginning Writers" (Tracy), "So You Want to Illustrate Picture Books" and "One on One with an Art Director" (Tim), "Editorspeak: Understanding the Language of Editors" and "Pitch Perfect: The Ins and Outs of Cover Letters" (Jen), "How Well Do You Know Your Plot?" and "How Long Should I Wait for a Manuscript to be Published" (Barbara), "Wear Your Weird with Pride!" and "Hands-On School Visits" (Kelly), and "Landing a Literary Agent: The Beginning" and "Aren't You a Bit Old to be Reading That?" (Rebecca).

This year, we added two new things to the conference. The first new addition was the Friday night First Page Critique with editor Jen Weiss, for published authors only. This involved 16 published authors who sent in, prior to the conference, the first two pages of a work-in-progress. Editor Jen Weiss read and critiqued the two pages in a roundtable setting. I think we all learned a lot! Afterward, we enjoyed a no-host dinner at Blackstone Brewery, and everyone had a chance to break bread with children's writing professionals!

The second new addition to the conference was a Joke Contest. The assignment for attendees was to think of the worst possible first line of a children's book, either original or a rewrite of an already-existing first line, such as "'Let me help you with that axe, Pa,' Fern said" (Charlotte's Web). We had a lot of funny entries, but we narrowed it down to three and judged by group applause. The winner of the joke contest was Ed Sullivan. His submission? "Mommy, why is Daddy wearing your bra?"

Conference Angels included Alan Gratz, Patsi Trollinger, Joanne Mamenta Bjordahl, Hester Bass, Rosalyn Ramage, Kristen O'Donnell Tubb, Mary Lafleur, Alison Lyne and Genetta Adair.

Lunch was supplied by Schlotsky's Deli.

All the lovely pics were taken by my BRAT buddy, Joanne Mamenta Bjordahl.

Spring Conference a Run-Away Hit!

(originally published in Borderlines, the newsletter for SCBWI-Midsouth)

Researching, strategizing, plotting. Creating, editing, promoting. Jogging through the steps of writing a novel. Sprinting through the plotting of a picture book. Zipping through a well-crafted query. The SCBWI-Midsouth annual spring conference, held in Nashville on April 26, 2003, offered something for everyone.

Attendees who negotiated interstate construction, Music City Marathon runners, a reunion and prom-goers enjoyed an exceptional faculty, a variety of presentations, a delicious Schlotsky's lunch, a well-stocked bookstore run by Border's West End, and temperate spring weather.

Our multi-faceted faculty came from as far away as Maine and California. Workshop topics ranged from starting your career and focusing on your future to marketing your picture books yourself and promoting your writing on the Internet.

Liza Ketchum of Watertown, MA, author of 13 books, offered concrete research tips in "The Writer as Research Detective" and "Writing a Serial Novel."

Linda White of Allenspark, CO, author of eight books, presented how-to savvy in "You've Got 10 Seconds!" and "Three-Act Structure: Plotting Children's Fiction the Ah-ha! Way."

Lea Wait of Edgecomb, ME, author of middle grade novels and adult cozy mysteries, provided insight for beginning writers in "Focus on Your Future: Developing Your Personal Strategy as a Writer" and "Historical Fiction Writing."

Reka Simonsen of New York City, an editor with Henry Holt and Company, showed us how the book biz works in "From Slushpile to Store or How a Manuscript Becomes a Book" and "Sylvester and Sal: Picture Books that Work."

Roxyanne Young of San Diego, CA, editorial director of SmartWriters.com and co-founder of 2-Tier Software, Inc., worked her techno-magic in "Professional Sites and Personal Style: Web Strategies for Writers and Illustrators" and "Working the Web: Ideas for Promoting Yourself on the Internet."

Suse MacDonald, also of San Diego, CA, author/illustrator of numerous books, rounded out the day with "Getting There: What it Takes to be a Professional Illustrator" and "Creating and Promoting Picture Books that Work."

Voted single best aspect of the day? The variety of workshops. Voted worst aspect of the day (besides negotiating the marathon traffic)? The variety of workshops! So many great choices left folks hard-pressed to pick which ones to attend.

Joanne Mamenta, my co-director for this year's shindig, summed it up: "For writers looking for an array of exercises to jog their creative minds, this was the conference to attend. From historical fiction to web design, our speakers offered numerous ways to get into tip-top writing shape." I say the conference was a run-away success.