Authors Judy Enderle and Stephanie Gordon on Founding the Working Writer’s Retreat, Making the Most of Critiques and Writing with a Partner

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critiques, editing, Judy Enderle, Little Zack?, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, Smile! Principessa!, Stephanie Gordon, Where are You, writing tips

Since they met during a UCLA writing class in 1979, Stephanie Gordon and Judy Enderle have led prolific careers as writing partners, publishing more than 20 picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels like Smile! Principessa! and Where Are You, Little Zack?  They have also published books individually and under the joint pen names Jeffie Ross Gordon and J.R. Gordon.

They were also the co-editors of the Fox Broadcasting Children’s Network magazine, Totally Fox Kids, and story editors and writers for the first season of the Fox children’s television program Rimba’s Island. They have been lecturers, teachers, and editors for Boyd’s Mills Press, and are still famous for saying, “yes.” Today, they also run the manuscript critique and editing business Writers Ink.

Enderle and Gordon have crafted writing communities, founding SCBWI’s Southern California chapter (which would later be segmented to include the Los Angeles Chapter) and were the first Regional Advisor Chairpersons, taking SCBW(I) from six chapters to sixty and international, as well as launching the Working Writer’s Retreat. The retreat returns this year, Sept 15-17, with Enderle and Gordon again serving as faculty.

We asked them about their careers, working with a writing partner, and making the most of a critique.

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Agent, Editor, & Author Kari Sutherland On First Lines, Revisions, & Representation

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Author Tips, Kari Sutherland, publishing, SCBWI events

 

Agent and author Kari Sutherland joins this year’s LA SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat faculty. She was a Senior Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books before joining the Bradford Literary Agency in 2017 and she co-writes the middle grade Menagerie series with her sister, Tui Sutherland. She’s worked with bestselling and critically acclaimed authors on projects such as the #1 New York Times bestselling Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and the #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. Needless to say, she knows a thing or ten or about writing, editing, and publishing books, and she’s here to share some of that knowledge with us!

Sarah Parker-Lee: You graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in English and Psychology. Why do you consider this the perfect combination for working with authors on character and plot development?

Kari Sutherland: I’d say both fields help me pinpoint when a character is behaving in a way that isn’t authentic or in a way that may produce a reaction in readers that the author is not intending. Having studied the way minds work, it gives me insight into personality and character growth. With my English studies, I know how to catch and keep a reader’s attention through voice, sentence structure, and plotting. Psychology classes also prepared me to be an excellent listener and to help coax out what a person really wants to say – in this case, through their manuscripts.

SPL: Your Bradford Lit bio says you’re passionate about helping to polish each manuscript and equip your clients for success. What does that entail?

SCBWI Central Coast Regional News, Third Quarter 2017

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Alexis O'Neill, Robin LaFevers, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Writers Day

By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Rediscovering Your TRUE Voice with Robin LaFevers, by Andrea Custer

Equal parts group therapy and expansion of craft, the Voice Workshop with Robin LaFevers, held on April 29, explored the concept of voice in all its forms: writer, character and story.

The main objective of the day was to help us identify our unique writer’s voice by connecting with our core selves. To accomplish this, Robin led attendees through a series of writing exercises that revealed our emotional truths.

The LitMingle Minute: West San Gabriel Valley

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pitching, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

Written by Heather Banis and Ronna Mandel

Hot dogs! Peanuts!

The 2016-2017 WSGV Mingle World Series, led by Ronna Mandel and Heather Banis, is coming to a close in July with the annual, celebratory, planning picnic in the park. It may not be Dodger Stadium, but the plays we’ve seen all year have kept our fans coming back month after month. Starting in September with “The First Pitch,” minglers pitched new story ideas to one another in a workshop format. Racing ahead to “1^st Base” in October, our focus was on the creation of a big-screen-worthy team of characters. As so often happens in the world of sports, unavoidable date and venue changes kept our minglers on their toes. In November, our plotting workshop moved us collectively forward to “2^nd Base” and minglers with plotting problems were coached on ways to best remedy plot issues.

Judges Award Sue Alexander Grant, SCBWI-L.A.’s Top Writing Prize

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Andrea Custer, Debbie Friedman, Julia Edwards, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, Sue Alexander Grant

By Marcelle Greene, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

Our anonymous judges were unanimous in their opinion that awarding this year’s Sue Alexander Grant was one tough decision. But after three rounds of whittling more than one hundred entries, there emerged this clear winner:

I do my best thinking in my underwear. Mamma always understood that about me.

 “We Rockfort women are at our best when we’re wearing the least,” she’d say. But Lord in Heaven, I don’t think she had in mind that I’d be wearing a man’s jockey shorts, standard Army issue, second-hand no less. And I’ll say it plain, as much time as men have spent getting into my drawers, I can’t quite get right with walking around in theirs.

Author Catherine Linka on Community for Introverts, Critique Tips, What Sells, & Balancing Romance with Wonder Woman

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A Girl Called Fearless, A Girl Undone, Author Tips, Catherine Linka, community, romance, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Wonder Woman, writing tips, YA

Catherine Linka, author of the A Girl Called Fearless series, joins this year’s LA SCBWI Working Writer’s Retreat faculty. She is a world traveler, former buyer for an independent book store, and was almost thrown out of boarding school for being “too verbal.” She spoke with me about her work, your work, Wonder Woman, and the kid lit community’s place in the world.

Linka first became involved in SCBWI “forever ago.” It was the first time she’d found people interested in the same kid lit things as her. Later, she added her Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA community and then the debut author community. “Everyone was so generous and warm and inclusive.” That’s why she believes it’s so important to give back. “It costs me nothing but time to help someone else out, really, so why not?”

True to that ideal, Linka is a huge supporter of SCBWI and an active SCBWI mentor and member. She knows every writer needs a supportive community. “It can take years to develop your craft, and you need people to cheer you on, point out opportunities, open doors, celebrate successes and mourn defeats. We really can’t do this alone, and it is so much more fun and satisfying to do it together.”

Linka acknowledges that writers who are often introverted, herself included, may feel overwhelmed in social situations, even when taking advantage of SCBWI’s group activities and professional development opportunities. This can also make it harder when we eventually have to do our own marketing. Her biggest advice:

Critiquenic 2017 offers children’s authors community, feedback on works in progress

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critique groups, Critiquenic, critiques, SCBWI community, SCBWI events

By Claire Moore

So you’ve written a book – devoted countless hours (hopefully you weren’t actually counting) toward its creation. Bravo! Well done! But wait, how do you know if your book reads as you imagined, or that you’re on the right track? Critique groups, baby.

“They’re necessary,” said Sue Berger, a published author and one of the minds behind The Pen and Ink Blog, a blog devoted to the “wild, wild world of children’s literature.” This is why the Los Angeles chapter of SCBWI hosts a Critiquenic each year. This year’s event took place on Sunday, June 11th at the Skirball Cultural Center.

More than 70 writers – some aspiring, some published but beginning new works – gathered to give and receive feedback on their picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult manuscripts. For longer manuscripts, writers kept their critiques to the first five pages.

The LitMingle Minute: Santa Clarita Writers

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SCBWI events, SCBWI members

By Cindy Kobler and Mia Turner

Mia Turner and Cindy Marcus have taken over leadership of the Santa Clarita chapter of SCBWI, after Laurisa White Reyes and Mary Cerny stepped down. Laurisa and Mary are a hard act to follow–both warm and supportive advocates for all things writing–but Mia and Cindy will do their best.

SCBWI Central Coast Regional News, Second Quarter 2017

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Donald Maass, Lee Wardlaw, mentors, Robin LaFevers, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Congratulations to our 2017 Mentees:

Julie Dillemuth – Picture Book

Karen Jordan – Poetry Collection

Mentor Lee Wardlaw

Our 2017 mentor Lee Wardlaw, award-winning author of 30 books for children and young adults, will communicate with both Julie Dillemuth and Karen Jordan a minimum of twice a month, beginning April 1, 2017. Lee Wardlaw will provide feedback on one complete manuscript, plus comments on revisions.

And drum roll please! The winner of the SCBWI Summer Conference Grant is…

SCBWI SoCal Regional News, 2nd Quarter 2017

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Erin Young, Estelle Laure, illustrators, Imagine 2, John Dadlez, Kate Sullivan, Salina Yoon, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Steve Bramucci, writers

By CenCal Regional Team

Tahquitz Pines Retreat Center

Spring Retreat

It’s spring in the SoCal region and our Spring Retreat: Finding Gold is coming up soon! We have a few spots left for the perfect writer’s getaway at the Tahquitz Pines Retreat Center nestled in the beautiful Idyllwild mountains. Come join us May 5-7, 2017 as we seek to “find gold” in our manuscripts during this intensive revision weekend. Designed for Middle Grade and Young Adult authors, the retreat will include writing time, revision time, and roundtable critiques in an intimate setting with an editor or an agent, an author, and a few of your colleagues. Staff in Attendance: Kate Sullivan, Delacorte Press; Erin Young, Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret LLC; Estelle Laure, YA author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back; Steve Bramucci, MG author of The Danger Gang & the Pirates of Borneo!  Hope to see you there! Register here. And read on for more awesome events you won’t want to miss!

Estelle Laure

Kate Sullivan