2011 SCBWI-Illinois' Prairie Writer's Day

Saturday's Prairie Writer's Day: Get Hooked! was a huge success.  This year's speakers and sessions were informative and inspiring.  (And full of lots of fishing metaphors.)  The all-star line up included:  Josh Adams, Co-founder Adams Literary, Stacey Barney, Editor at G.P. Putnams's Sons, Michele Burke, Editor at Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, Karen Kohn, Senior Art Director for Carus Publishing, Kathy Landwehr, Vice President & Associate Publisher for Peachtree Publishers, Daniel Nayeri, Editor for Clarion Books, Molly O'Neill, Editor for Katherine Tegen Books and Mary Rodgers, Editor-in-Chief for Lerner Publishing Groups.  Also, Author Bruce Hale, Author Esther Hershenhorn, Literary Attorney Debra Kass Orenstein, and Chair of the Teacher Education department at DePaul University Roxanne Owens.   

Something new this year was a skype visit by Bruce Hale on humor in your writing.  He did a fabulous job and it was so neat to see a skype visit in action.  Bruce was a pro!  I really enjoyed it.

I have tons of notes to sort through this week and lots of submissions to polish up!  It's also always so great to to be with all of my writer pals for the day.  Thanks so much to the hard working committee.  Now, off to write!

Prairie Writer's Day 2010

Ahhh...This past Saturday was the SCBWI-Illinois 2010 Prairie Writer's Day at Harper College.  It was fantastic!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend the day with my fellow writing pals and to learn from such an amazing line-up of editors and agents.  This was definitely my favorite PWD yet and I've been attending for many years. 

The fabulous speakers included:  Andrea Welch, Editor (Beach Lane Books), Marilyn Brigham, Editor (Marshall Cavendish Children's Books), Katherine Jacobs, Associate Editor (Roaring Brook Press), Tamra Tuller, Editor (Philomel Books Hothouse), Jennifer Mattson, Associate Agent (Andrea Brown Literary) and Edward Necarsulmer, Director of the Children's Department (McIntosh & Otis).  There were also breakout sessions by:  Janice Del Negro, Author, Professor and Reviewer, Michelle Bayuk, Director of Marketing (Albert Whitman & Co.), Meg Moss, Contributing Editor for ASK/Muse magazines and Tori Telfer with Cricket Magazine Group.   I left inspired and motivated.  Oh, I wish it would come more than once a year.  Heartfelt thanks go out to the tremendous planning committee.  All of your efforts are so appreciated.  Already looking forward to the next one. 

Writing is such a solitary job and it can take years to reap the rewards of your efforts.  Attending functions like this remind you that you are not alone in this endeavor.  And helps to refocus all of us on why we do this.  When I speak to children about writing, I always tell them about how much books meant to me growing up.  I always loved that feeling of being taken away to another place and was in awe when writers like Judy Blume could write something that described exactly how I was feeling.  How did they do that?  I was hooked way back then and still am now.  I loved that feeling as a child and hope that I can help kids to feel that way with my stories. 
That would be a dream come true!

 

SCBWI-IL Prairie Writers Day

This past Saturday I attended the Fifth Annual SCBWI-IL Prairie Writer's Day at Harper College in Palatine.  It was amazing!  The day long conference was themed "Brick by Brick: The Architecture of Our Stories".  The panelists were wonderful and included:  Yolanda LeRoy Editorial Director at Charlesbridge, Alisha Niehaus Editor at Dial, Stacy Cantor Associate Editor at Walker Books, Nick Eliopulos Associate Editor at Random House, Michael Stearns Agent and Co-Founder of Upstart Crow Literary and award-winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith.  One of the highlights was a broadway worthy performance by Yolanda LeRoy to her song "There's no business like book business".  The day was truly spectacular!