20 Wednesday Jun 2018
Posted in Ask an Editor, Critique Day
Tags
critique groups, critiquenic, critiques, critiquing, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Editor – I think my YA novel is finished but would like to show it to other people for feedback. Where can I find a critique group?
—Effie, Culver City Continue reading
30 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in LitMingles!
By Laurie Young
After two-plus years as our marvelous co-coordinator of the Westside Writers Mingle, Lori Snyder stepped down in December 2017. We are so grateful for her invaluable energy and spirit, and her contributions to our group. She leaves us with these parting words: “I’m happy to say that it was really fun to do and to work with you, and I’m excited to get to come as a participant again.”
When Lori and I were thinking about who could fill her very large shoes, we immediately thought of Rebecca Light. Her intelligence and enthusiasm, as well as an eagerness to volunteer, made a big impression on us from her first Mingle. Rebecca was a natural and obvious choice. Continue reading
11 Friday May 2018
Posted in Toot Your Horn!
SCBWI members’ publishing news is something to celebrate! Check out whose book is coming to a platform near you or around the world:
Los Angeles Is…, by Elisa Parhad, illustrated by Alexander Vidal, Cameron Kids, ages 0-6, Board Book, ISBN: 978-1-944903-23-7, released 04/24/2018. Continue reading
09 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Great News!
SCBWI loves celebrating our members’ successes and noteworthy news, and there are many! Read on to find out who’s got something to shout about. Digital high-fives welcome in the comments!
“The Jackpot,” a memoir by Karen Gorback, has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul – My Amazing Mom (March 2018).
Joan Bransfield Graham’s poetry is featured in two recent Lee Bennett Hopkins anthologies: “Teacher” in School People (Feb. 13, Wordsong) and “Great Indian Fruit Bat” in World Make Way (March 27, Abrams, a book in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.)
Shireen Hakim blogged for NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month), a motivational writing community site with 250k followers. She wrote her tips for getting traditionally published, based on her experience writing and publishing her children’s refugee story, Rabbi the Rabbiti.
02 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Community Corner, Contests & Grants, Writers' Retreat
Tags
awards, published, publishing, SAG, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Susan Lendroth, Working Writer's Retreat
By Susan Lendroth
In 2010, I submitted the picture book Not So Loud, Natsumi! to the Sue Alexander Grant contest sponsored by SCBWI-LA. Little did I realize the winding road my story and I would take over the next eight years from contest entry to manuscript submission to eventual publication. Continue reading
25 Wednesday Apr 2018
Posted in Contests & Grants, SAWW Retreat Grant, Writers' Retreat
Tags
Andrea Custer, contests, critique groups, critiquing, pitching, SAG, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, Sue Alexander Grant, writing
By Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
It’s time once again to polish up those manuscripts and submit to the Sue Alexander Grant, the winner of which receives a guaranteed spot and free tuition to the SCBWI-L.A. September 2018 Working Writers Retreat.
The WWR is an intense critiquing weekend with critique sessions, revision time, and parties — including karaoke! The retreat culminates in a first-pages pitch session with four acquiring editors and agents.
I recently caught up with last year’s Sue Alexander Grant winner, Andrea Custer, for her insight on the retreat, how it influenced her writing, and why you should apply for this grant to attend.
KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN: Did you put in a lot of work on your manuscript before submitting it to the Sue Alexander Grant or did you have a polished manuscript ready to go?
ANDREA CUSTER: I workshopped it with my critique group as I was writing the first draft. They are an amazing group, quite astute, and so I had the benefit of their comments early on and had already revised the first half of the manuscript based on their feedback. Submitting it for consideration for SAG was actually a bit of an impulse! I saw the reminder on Facebook that the submission deadline was coming up, and thought why not go for it? I had about a week to re-read, polish, and get it ready. I found out I’d won on my birthday! It was the best gift I’ve ever gotten.
KRS: What was your favorite part of the retreat? What was most valuable? Continue reading
20 Friday Apr 2018
Posted in Contests & Grants, Mentorship Contest
Tags
Andrea J. Loney, Jennifer Fitzgerald, mentors, mentorship, Monica Mancillas, picture books, SCBWI community, Wade Bradford
By Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
SCBWI-L.A. is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2018 Mentorship Contest. These two lucky writers will each enjoy a six-month mentorship with their respective PAL member mentors. To all those who applied but were not selected, please know that our mentors considered the competition very steep. Your applications definitely made it difficult for them to choose their mentees.
“I am so honored by and grateful for everyone who submitted to be my SCBWI mentee,” mentor Andrea J. Loney said. “Everyone put a tremendous amount of thought, passion, and heart into their applications and it showed. So I encourage everyone who submitted to keep going, keep writing, keep critiquing, keep sharing, keep networking, keep revising, and once again, keep writing. I’m looking forward to seeing your words in the world.
And now for our lucky winners: Continue reading
28 Wednesday Mar 2018
Posted in Community Corner, Tips and Tools
By Ann Whitford Paul
*Editor’s Note: After a successful SCBWI Los Angeles Writers Day, whether you attended or not, we thought you might be looking for more ways to “level up” your writing, no matter the stage of your career, so we asked author Ann Whitford Paul, who belongs to a lot of groups, to share some community-building, group-oriented ways you can do just that for this quarter’s “Community Corner.” Read on for her fabulous insights!
You’re a writer. You prefer to be alone in the peace and quiet of your home, creating ideas, developing and revising them. Still you know you should (and you want to) make time to be with others, just not so much that it interferes with your writing. What about joining or creating groups that may take you away from your computer, but also enhance your career? Continue reading
23 Friday Feb 2018
Posted in #KTChat, Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools
Tags
chat, Danielle Davis, Q&A, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Twitter, writing exercise, writing tips, Zinnia and the Bees
On Twitter today (Friday, 2/23/18) from 4-5 PM PST, Danielle will be taking your questions and discussing her article on the writing process, how to find value in your work, and ways to keep moving forward, even when you don’t feel like it. Log into your Twitter account during our chat hour and use the hashtag #KTChat or @mention Danielle (@writesinLA) to join the discussion! If you aren’t on Twitter, leave your questions in the comments before the chat begins! Find SCBWI-LA on Twitter: @SCBWISOCALLA
By Danielle Davis, author of Zinnia and the Bees
Process fascinates me, in part because I find it challenging. It’s tempting to focus on other things that start with p: publication, perfection, panic, pretzels (snacks, help, right?) and, of course, the desire to polish off a manuscript and be finished.
Before my debut middle grade novel, Zinnia and the Bees, was published, I always thought that I wouldn’t have that “second book problem” because I had two manuscript drafts I already planned on pursuing.
But then I did have that second book problem. I had it big time. Continue reading
24 Wednesday Jan 2018
By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison
SCBWI Cen-Cal 2018 Mentor Program: Matching Successful PAL’s with Promising Writers
Our 2018 Middle-Grade Mentor is Mary Hershey.
About Mary: Mary Penney Hershey (a.k.a. Mary Penney) is the author of five humorous (and heartfelt, she hopes) middle grade novels. Her next novel, entitled Green Eyes & Ham will be published by HarperCollins in winter 2018. Mary holds a Master’s Degree in Education and is a certified personal and executive coach. She is a long-standing SCBWI Cen-Cal member and served on the board for our region for a number of years. She has taught workshops for Cen-Cal events and served on the faculty at SCBWI nationals. She is profoundly grateful for all the guidance she has received over the years from other writers and is thrilled to serve as our 2018 mentor.
About the Program: Continue reading
