Volunteer as a STAR Reader, Keep Kids Reading

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literacy, reading to kids, volunteering

Most folks in kid lit were big readers, and writers, as soon as they could string together sentences, myself included. But literacy among children isn’t a given. Kids’ book sales have been rising, which is great news, but there are still huge populations of kids who are underserved and overlooked when it comes to literacy. And that isn’t just bad for kid lit sales, it’s bad for society at large. According to the NEA, “…poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement…And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.” Nobody wants that! So I decided to do something about it, and there’s an easy, fun way that you can too:

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Community Corner: What SCBWI Community Means to Us

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illustrators, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, writers

We asked attendees at Los Angeles Writers & Illustrators Day 2017 what the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators community means to them. From critique groups and partners on the journey to publishing to new lunch-friends and small-world connections, the day was full of smiles, introductions, and proof that a gaggle of introverts can build a thriving, dynamic community. As it turns out, we’re all just a big bunch of super supportive people who can’t get enough of each other! Here are just some of the things we heard:

SCBWI Community Corner with Maria D. Laso and Dawne Knobbe

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author, community, published, SCBWI members

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for Dawne Knobbe’s story, in memory of her friend Mari Lou, celebrating her publishing success and her life well-lived.

Don’t ever give up your book dreams. In the publishing world, anything is possible. Imagine signing your first contract with Scholastic. Impossible, you think? Here’s how it happened for my friend, Mari Lou.

SCBWI Community Corner with Stephanie Olivieri

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community, conferences, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

SCBWI Summer Conference 2015

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for a member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has changed my life for the better in many ways. It’s hard to explain how a group of book writers and illustrators can do that, but they have. I’m not sure where to start, so I’ll start at the beginning: I’m a writer, who also draws. I worked in animation for many years and have recently worked in children’s books both as a writer and an illustrator.

SCBWI Community Corner with Deborah Fletcher Blum

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authors, community, SCBWI members, volunteers, writing tips

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for a member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages. Read on for former Hollywood LitMingle Coordinator Deborah Fletcher Blum’s story!

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators launched my career as a filmmaker. It may sound odd to credit a children’s writers and illustrators group with this, but writing and filmmaking are integrally connected artistic disciplines. As an artist and English teacher, who wrote poetry and non-fiction, I embarked on a middle grade novel in the Summer of 2010 and joined SCBWI soon after.

SCBWI Community Corner with Annie Ruygt

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authors, community, illustrator tips, SCBWI members, tribe, writing tips

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for a member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages.

I’ve been hearing the term “tribe” quite a bit these days. At a music festival I attended last year, everyone referred to their small communities as tribes. The festival even built a small village of Teepees and wooden shelters for people to hang out in. Then I noticed the term surfacing in magazines, online, and among the social groups I attended in San Francisco. “Find your tribe!” they said. What is this phenomenon, I thought? Have I been blind to it all along, or is it actually trending?

SCBWI Community Corner with Colleen Paeff

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book clubs, picture books, published, publishing, SCBWI members, tools, writing tips

Top row: Colleen Paeff, Joseph Taylor, Phephe Rose, Frank Acosta, Anne-Marie Campbell; Bottom row: Eloise Freeman, Susan Burritt, Jill Tuckman, Jennifer O.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Read on for a member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages.

I’d been an on-again off-again SCBWI member for more than fifteen years when I decided to get serious about writing picture books. My son had recently moved out and I chose to fill my empty nest by digging into the world of children’s publishing. Naturally, I turned to the SCBWI.

Coloring Outside the Lines with Drew Daywalt

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best seller, crayons, Drew Daywalt, local, parent, writer

We all love a success story. By success, I mean Drew Daywalt’s book, The Day the Crayons Quit, with over 1.1 million copies in print in 17 languages. TIME magazine named this book one of “100 Best Children’s Books of All Time.” It was on the New York Times best-seller list for 100+ weeks (No. 1 in its category for more than half that span) until recently, when bumped from this spot by its sequel, The Day the Crayons Came Home.

It gets better! This talented, amazing author is an SCBWI member who writes, lives, and raises his kids here in Los Angeles. You may have seen him on the cover of this month’s Writer’s Digest magazine.

SCBWI Community Corner with Sarah Parker-Lee

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critiques, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, writing tips

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a dynamic community of professionals and aspirings. Here’s one member’s story about how SCBWI has influenced their work and connected them to publishing professionals, life-long friends, and the tools they need to share their stories with children of all ages.

SCBWI 2013 Summer Conference

My name is Sarah Parker-Lee. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in 2013, at the suggestion of an editor from Simon and Schuster, who is also a member. She told me, if I was serious about writing for children, and I wanted publishers and agents to know it, I needed to be here. And she was right. Nothing has influenced my work more or guided me on my career path like the SCBWI.

Interview with Brenda Drake of Pitch Wars

Each quarter we try to spotlight something helpful to writers and provide them with appropriate information. This week I have an interview with BRENDA DRAKE, founder of PITCH WARS. Read on to find out more about this interactive and free service for writers.

Brenda Drake

 

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: What is Pitch Wars?

BRENDA DRAKE: Pitch Wars is a contest where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each, read their entire manuscript, and help the writers to shine it up for agents. The mentors also help with their mentees’ pitches to get them ready for the agent round. Writers send applications (query and first chapter of manuscript) to the four mentors that best fit their work. The mentors then read all their applications and choose the writer they want to mentor for the next two months. Then we hold an agent round with tons of amazing agents making requests.