SCBWI APRIL EVENT – You’re Invited!

The Amazing Amigas of April Arrive Anon!

 

Wednesday, April 20:

Monthly Meeting with Special Guests (above)!

Seattle Pacific University, Demaray Hall, 6:15–9pm

Free for Passport Holders. $10 for SCBWI members. $15 for non-members.

Keep It Simple Art Showcase begins at 6:15 pm. 

Meeting starts at 7pm (get there early for snacks and chat), till 9pm.

Inside an Editor's Brain

Random House Children's Books Senior Editor Caroline Abbey and Bloomsbury Children's Books Senior Editor Mary Kate Castellani become our “Gray Matter Guides,” giving us a behind-the-scenes tour through all the different ways editors think about a project. The tour winds up in YOUR brain and how you should be using it for your writing. You’ve never had a tour like this!

Putting on a Curator Hat

Art director, graphic designer, and educator Joy Chu will talk about how curating the illustration exhibit Writing With Pictures at The Museum at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, was much like organizing a picture book – a really BIG picture book. With rooms. Exploring several case studies of the myriad ways artists are influenced, Joy will inspire your creative flame!

Keep It Simple Art Showcase

Ooh and ahh over the amazing artwork of 40 illustrators from our chapter, showcased informally in the lobby of Demaray Hall prior to our meeting, beginning at 6:15pm. This showcase is closed to additional submissions. Thanks to those illustrators who grabbed this opportunity early!

Thursday, April 21:

One-On-One Consultations

Library Seminar Room of Ames Library, Seattle Pacific University campus.

Those writers and illustrators with scheduled consults should have their confirmation emails and parking passes. Send us a frantic email if you don’t.

Master Classes – still some seats available!

1) Writers’ Master Class: Caroline Abbey & Mary Kate Castellani

3:00 – 5:00 p.m., in Demaray 150, Seattle Pacific University campus.

First hour: Finding A Hook with Caroline Abbey

What’s a hook? Why are they important? How are they used to pitch books to sales and marketing teams? We'll look at examples and brainstorm to come up with hooks of our own.

Second hour: Making Your Writing Sing with Mary Kate Castellani

Okay, so you’ve hooked your reader. Now how do you hold their interest? Mary Kate Castellani will share examples of writing that made her stand up and take notice and help you find ways to make your writing sing.

2) Illustrators’ Master Class with Joy Chu

3:00 – 5:00 p.m., in Demaray 358, Seattle Pacific University campus.

Using filmic storytelling as our model, we’ll create multi-panel storyboards to consider pacing, movement, framing and action. Stick figures are fine because this is about sketching out a good story from start to finish! Flex your drawing chops, tell stories, figure out what works and have fun!

To sign up for a Master Class:

1. If you are a Passport Holder, click the link in your email confirmation, log in and click the Modify button to add the class.

2. Write a check to SCBWI WWA in the appropriate amount (see below) and bring it with you to Wednesday’s meeting or to the Master Class on Thursday OR mail it (immediately!) to:

SCBWI WWA, PO Box 30505, Seattle, WA. 98113

The non-refundable fee is $80 for non-members and $60 for SCBWI members. Include a note about which class you are signing up for.

We can’t wait to see you Wednesday, April 20! 

Many thanks,

Dana Arnim and Dana Sullivan

Co-Regional Advisors, SCBWI Western Washington

April workshops/consults for artists: UPDATE

There are still a few Joy Chu Master Class and Consult spaces open in April!

Thursday morning, April 21, 2016 time slots are available for Joy to review either a book dummy or illustrator portfolio. Location: Seattle Pacific University, library. Further details upon confirmation.

Thursday afternoon, April 21, 2016, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., in Bertona Hall, on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, Joy Chu will offer a workshop using storyboarding and filmic storytelling as a model for creating picture books. Come prepared to flex your drawing chops (even if stick figures is how you roll), tell stories and talk about what works and what doesn’t.

To add an opportunity to your existing Passport, just open your Passport confirmation email and click on the "To view or modify your registration” link to be walked through the process. 

If you don't have a current Passport, please email Debbie Mickelson at debbiefaithmickelson@gmail.com.

Agent for a cause

Dear SCBWI-ers,

 

Here is an amazing opportunity to both receive personal feedback from a literary agent AND do some good in the world at the same time. Please read this letter from NJ-based agent Anna Olswanger:

 

As I do every summer, I've donated a manuscript consultation as a literary agent to The Born Free Foundation online auction. Born Free is an international wildlife charity that works throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering. 

Here's my page on the auction site:

You'll see that people can submit up to 10 pages of a manuscript for a 20-minute phone consultation. It's a great chance to get feedback from an agent.

My clients have won the Newbery Honor, Asian Pacific American Award for Literature Honor, Flora Stieglitz Strauss Award for Nonfiction, Orbis Pictus Honor, PEN/Steven Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing, Parents Choice Gold Award, Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book, Sibert Award Honor, Ezra Jack Keats Book Award Honor, and been on The New York Times Bestseller list. 

I’ve sold to all the major publishers, including Bloomsbury, Chronicle, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster.

You can view my full client list on Pinterest:

For information about the auction and bidding on my services, please click here for all the details. NOTE:  The auction closes on Monday, June 29th, at 5:00 p.m. EST.

We all fall in love with animal characters in books. Now it's time to help them in real life.

Thanks for your help. 

Best,

Anna

The SCBWI WWA conference is NOT American Idol

Are you signed up for a consultation at the conference this weekend? Hoping to catch your big break and get discovered, so you can launch your career as the next J.K.? Agent Mary Kole offers a word to the wise about what to expect, and what not to:

 ... "telling you that your writing still needs work is not personally mean. It’s most likely honest. All writers, even published ones, strive to improve their writing, so “needs work” is not a bad thing. Just because someone doesn’t heap praise on you or call you “the next J.K. Rowling” in critique doesn’t mean it’s a bad critique. No professional critique would say such a thing, so if that’s what you’re expecting, you’re in for disappointment."

Read the rest of her post here, and get yourself ready for a good critique!