Martha Brockenbrough's new book deal!

Congratulations are in order!

The ever-industrious Martha Brockenbrough shared the announcement today that her new YA novel, The Game of Love and Death, has been bought by Arthur A. Levine Books!

The story features two teens from different rungs of 1920s Seattle society, who are brought together by forces beyond their control. There's jazz, there's heartbreak, and there's a city we all recognize in its infancy. Publication is slated for 2015.

What wonderful news to start the day!

New master classes added to SCBWI LA conference

OMG! Arthur Levine and Linda Sue Park will each be teaching a master class at the L.A. conference this summer.

Sign up now. Go. Do it. Here's the link.

OK. Now that you've done that, let me tell you why you want to study fiction writing with these people.

First, Arthur Levine (pictured here with Sara and Jolie--hi, ladies!).

I went to the working writers' roundup in Los Angeles last summer, where I got to hang out with the amazing and talented people of the L.A. chapter. Every single one of them brought multiple manuscripts to be critiqued in small-group settings. This is a serious group of writers.

Arthur was the sixth and final group leader, and one of our members read a picture book we'd all loved. You know, to the point of saying, "It's perfect! What more could be done?"

Then Arthur listened to her read, and in about five minutes, explained beautifully and kindly how the book had a problem with its story arc. Suddenly, we were all able to see what he was talking about. It was one of those scales-falling-from-the-eyes moments. Once you're able to see problems like that, you can always see problems like that.

So, it was a transformative experience.

I can praise Linda Sue Park with equal ardor. I took her scene writing master class last summer and was astounded at how much she taught us about the structure of scenes, tricks with point of view, as well as repeated story motifs. Yes, the class was about scenes. But it was really about revising your writing with the highest levels of the craft in mind.

Linda Sue is blunt and funny, and she will make you feel better about the challenges we face as writers.

I know these conferences cost a lot of money and time. They are so worth it. If you're at all able to go, don't miss out--and seriously, these workshops are going to fill up shortly. Sign up now!

National Book Award news

OMG!

It's Laini Taylor and Jim DiBartolo, proud parents AND National Book Award finalists for their collaboration LIPS TOUCH (published by Arthur A. Levine Books, a Scholastic imprint).

Check it out.

Laini and Jim live in Portland, but Laini has spoken at a conference and regional meeting, and both are honorary members of our chapter.

Good news for Martha Brockenbrough

She is very happy to announce the sale of her picture book, The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy, to Arthur A. Levine Books. Michael Stearns of Upstart Crow Literary is her agent.

Martha feels sort of silly talking about herself in the third person, but she makes everyone else do it so it seems only fair. She's also grateful beyond words to everyone at the SCBWI, because this never would have happened without the support and serendipitous opportunities the organization provides.