Spring Training for Writers

Spring is almost here. I hope. Maybe if I ignore the snow falling outside, some warm weather will drift in and kick this flu out of my system.

The Os are in Florida, getting ready for baseball season. We writers need to warm up, too. (At least, I do.) We've got to do some serious training if we're hoping to knock one out of the park and land ourselves a book contract.

Here’s the starting line-up for our local SCBWI spring workshop, “A WRITER’S TOOLBOX” on March 7, 2009. It's at McDaniel College in Westminster. You can find the full brochure at: http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/scbwi/

The Line-Up

Danna Bell-Russel is a member of the Library of Congress, Office of Strategic Initiatives Educational Outreach team, which helps teachers learn to use primary source material in classroom activities. If you've always wanted to do research at the LOC, this talk will give you your bearings.

Louise Borden, a member of SCBWI for more than twenty years, signed her first children’s book contract in 1987 (in casts with two broken wrists due to a skating accident) and is the author of 26 picture books. She has been published by Scholastic, Clarion Books, Margaret K. McElderry Books (Simon and Schuster), and Houghton Mifflin. Borden has spoken about the writing process to students and teachers in over 600 schools across the country, as well as at conferences for librarians, writers & teachers. Visit her website to check out Louise's impressive list of PB titles.

Henry Cole has illustrated over 70 picture books, including And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson, the Little Bo books by Julie Andrews Edwards, Big Chickens by Leslie Helakowski, and his own On Meadowview Street and Jack's Garden. He has recently completed work on his illustrated novel, A Nest for Celeste. Henry has a great reputation for being a funny, fascinating speaker.

Jill Santopolo is a Senior Editor at Balzer & Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins. She’s been at HarperCollins for six and a half years and has edited many critically acclaimed & award-winning picture books and novels, including The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff, Wind Rider by Susan Williams, The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires, illustrated by Holly Berry, Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe, & the Up All Night short story collection. Jill holds a BA from Columbia University & an MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of the Alec Flint mystery series, published by Scholastic’s Orchard Books. She teaches classes in young adult novel writing through mediabistro.com.

Michael Stearns is an agent at Firebrand Literary, but before that labored in the trenches of children’s publishing for many years. Among the books he’s edited and/or published are Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Gone by Michael Grant, Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson, & a whole slew of books by Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, Bruce Hale, and too many other folk to list. He occasionally writes about books on his much-neglected blog .

They make an impressive team! See you on the 7th.

Amok in Spring Workshops

I'm offering two writing workshops for adults this spring. One is an ongoing class. The other is a full day workshop with author Edie Hemingway at her fab log cabin. With a campfire lunch! First, the class: I'm back at Baltimore's CityLit Project, this time at their home base, the Creative Alliance. You'll love this course description for Write Here, Write Now: Poetry Café: Small Plates to Tempt Your Writing Palate You don’t have to be a gourmet to enjoy good food. Sample a variety of poetic styles and forms in this workshop for beginners. The Poetry Café is dishing out model poems and writing exercises for you to try. Through reading and writing, you’ll discover new tastes and flavors to add to your own literary menu. Yummy! (I must be hungry.) My class is running 8 Thursday evenings beginning in late March. Visit CityLit's website for details and registration info. Those new to writing poetry are especially welcome. On to the workshop. To celebrate National Poetry Month, novelist Edie Hemingway and I are offering an all-day poetry workshop for writers of all genres. It's on Saturday, April 18. Spring Cleaning: Finding a Fresh Literary Vision Through Poetry The workshop includes a campfire lunch and four sessions. Edie (whose middle grade novel "The Road to Tater Hill" is coming out from Delacorte in September!!!) is doing sessions on poetic language and "disconnecting habitual ways of thinking and writing." I'll be doing a session on simple odes and leading haiku hike -- nature walk and writing. Both forms focus on calling the writer (and reader) to attention. Edie's place is a beautiful log cabin in Frederick, MD -- wooded, mountains. Plus, did I mention the campfire lunch? Visit Edie's website for info. This one has a maximum enrollment of 15 and we've got 10 signed up already, so get going! Children's authors -- I'll be posting info soon about the MD/DE/WV Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conferences for 2009. The March 7, one day conference brochure is posted here. Registration deadline is 2/22, but if you want a critique send your stuff in sooner. (I'll be working registration and moderating the faculty panel discussion.) The regional SCBWI annual two-day shindig will be in mid-July. If you're a fan of the Purple Crayon website, you'll want to be at that conference (hint, hint). Hope to see you this spring!