2014 Children's Literature Conference in Bellingham

You've got until February 3 to take advantage of the early-bird discount for this year's Children's Literature Conference in Bellingham, which is sponsored by Western Washington University. The event will be Saturday, March 1, and will feature Nic Bishop, Jennifer Holm, Steve Sheinkin, and Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Get more information or register here.

PW discount

Publishers' Weekly offers SCBWI members a discount on its Spring and Fall 2014 Children's Announcements, which can be helpful for keeping tabs on industry trends, what's selling, and when it'll be released. Both announcements issues are available for only $25. Members are also eligible for discounted full-year subscriptions that are 60% off the regular rate. Click here to take advantage of either offer and make 2014 a more informed year!

Register to revise

It may be in the future, but there are ONLY THREE SPACES LEFT in Darcy Pattison's Novel Revision Retreat, which takes place June 6-8, 2014, in Tacoma. Darcy is the author of Novel Metamorphosis, and has been a teacher at our own WWA retreat not once, but twice.

For information on the retreat, which comes highly recommended by our own Joni Sensel (who attended in the past), click here. For the full details, also click this link. It may only be January, but sometimes planning ahead can be a good thing. With a teacher like Darcy, it can be a very, very good thing!

Dana does dummies!

Art by––who else?––Dana Sullivan

How are YOU planning to shake off last year's cobwebs?

 

By signing up for Dana Sullivan's dazzling class, Picture books for Dummies! 

 

(As in, MAKE a dummy, not BE a dummy. Just to clarify. Ahem.) 

 

If, like many of us, your New Year's resolution is to finally make that nebulous book idea into a real book dummy, this is the class for you. Dana will march/goad/cajole/limerick you step by step through the process. From character development to story, right up to holding your very own dummy, ready for submission, in your creative hands!* 

 

Join Dana Sullivan, writer and illustrator of Ozzie and the Art Contest and illustrator of the Digger and Daisy series, for this intensive Dummy Boot Camp, which will focus on playful doodling, storyboarding, inside stories of the publishing world, and just having some serious fun. This is the perfect class for beginning illustrators AND writers looking for a new perspective on their work.

 

Click on the links for registration and all those good (and we mean delicious!) details:

Six-week classes at Kirkland Arts Center, beginning Tuesday, January 21–February 25. 7-10pm

Four-week classes at Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, beginning Wednesday, January 22. 10am–2 pm

Questions for the man? Email Dana directly. He'll know what to tell you. And responds quickly! 

*actual results may vary. You've gotta put in the work!

Graphic novel goodness

Interested in creating a graphic novel? Learn from experts when Seattle's Graphic Arts Guild presents a day of graphic novel goodness on Saturday, January 25, 2014. This all-day event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., includes a panel and two morning workshops. David Lasky will present “Make Your Own Comic” for artists and Megan Kelso will lead a workshop for writers called "Comics For Writers." Then five panelists and a moderator will cover the rest! The session takes place at the Seattle Design Center. Check here for more information and a link to buy tickets.

Calling Clark County authors and illustrators

Here's a sweet promotional opportunity for someone who attends our Southern Network events or other members living in the Vancouver, WA, area! A writer for Vancouver Family Magazine, which is published for parents in the Clark County area, is looking for children's book authors who live in southwest Washington for a feature she's writing. If you're a published author who might like to be interviewed or otherwise featured, contact Pamela Swearingen at info@lavishbookshelf.com

Plan now for a fantastic February film!

We're pleased to announce an addition to SCBWI Western Washington's 2014 schedule. Please join us from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, February 6, for a meeting at SPU's Demaray Hall 150 (the usual location) for a full program, including:

• Mini session: Be a Fiction Magician! Tips & Card Tricks for Writers, from the marvelous Deb Lund.
• Business: Bring your good news and hear about upcoming events, including our 2014 conference in April.
• Main session: A screening of The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations. This documentary film "playfully explores the creation, creators, lasting impact, and enduring relevance of one of the most universally loved children's books of our time." (Check out the trailer now!)

The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations on Vimeo.

No advance reservations will be taken; just plan to pay at the door — and arrive early so you can find parking, pay for an evening of creative genius, visit with peers, and get your snacks.

Members: $8.00
Non-members: $10.00

Mark your calendars, and we'll see you then!

We scribbled, we scrawled...

...we dribbled, we drawled.

Such was the scene at our most recent Kid Lit Drink Night, held December 27 at the Tippe and Drague Ale House on Beacon Hill.

It was a warren of like-minded knuffle bunnies, all cozy in the corner while legions of canine fans came for Husky Fight Hunger Bowl game, which was available on multiple TVs. Dawgs and bunnies filled the house, and draughts and pints were shared by all. It was a post-holiday treat to see Joni Sensel, our beloved former RA and current blog editrix, back in the city after an extended midwestern sojourn. Among the many who came to the warren in the corner were: Kevan Atteberry, Tina Hoggatt, Suzanne Kaufman, Elizabeth Rose Stanton, Laurie Thompson, Brenda Winter Hansen, and Dana Sullivan (who howled with the Dawg Pack at every nuanced ref's call, when he wasn't scribbling to save his life). It was, you could say, A Very Good Night.

Here's the proof:

Register! Right here. Right now.

Registration is officially open for the 2014 Write Here, Write Now, a unique literary intensive.

Sponsored by the Seattle7 Writers, the day features mini-lessons and tips from Seattle7 Writers and friends; receive consultations; write for sustained blocks of time; listen to opening and closing remarks by Claire Dederer and Garth Stein; and much, much more. The event will take place at Fremont Abbey. (Think Downton, but with less waitstaff. And no fancy dress. Or high tea.)


To register, click on this link.



Imagine: a day spent cranking on, and thinking about, your writing. No plane fares, no fancy hotels, just you, a network of support in the city, and a lot of words waiting to hit the screen.


Ahhhhh. What are you waiting for?

Last-minute Laurie!

This just in:


Laurie Halse Anderson is coming THIS WEDNESDAY, January 8 to University Book Store.

Yes, really. You read that right!

The author of beloved YA books Speak, Wintergirls, Twisted, Catalyst, Prom, and historical novels Chains, Forge, and Fever: 1793, will appear to support her latest work, The Impossible Knife of Memory. This is a novel centered around a returned Iraqi war vet and his teenage daughter.


The deets:


WHO: Laurie Halse Anderson
WHAT: The Impossible Knife of Memory
WHERE: University Book Store, U-District, Seattle
WHEN: Wednesday, January 8 at 7pm

Arty inspiration

Need a creative kick in the drawers? Try one of these:

• This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney (left), which is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

 

• This Seven Impossible Things post featuring debut author/illustrator Lori Nichols and a new perspective on leaves (just in time to make you long for spring).

 

• A great post on book layout, with free templates, from Tara Lazar.

— Contributed by Street Team member Suzanne Kaufman, who says she's going to focus on tips and new artists for the next month

Happy New Year — and a new chance to learn!

Need a new class to perk up your writing for the New Year? Member Lois V. Harris, whose credits include multiple picture books, will be teaching a class called Shining the Spotlight on Children's Concept Books, Picture Books, and Story Books at the Skagit Valley College on Thursday evenings starting on January 30. The $49 course will include discussion of the guidelines for each category of young children's literature and creation of a dummy for feedback. For more info or to register, call Skagit Valley College at (360) 416–7638 or check out their website.