Today's Scratch: Craft, Query, Fun

Howdy, folks! Thought I'd toss a little scratch before Thanksgiving.

The conference was most excellent. Yay to our RA Liz Mertz and her assistant RA Jacqueline Gramann. What a wonderful event! I hope things are buzzing for you from all that inspiration.

We have one more event for the year-end.  Our Holiday Gathering is set for Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in The Village Cafe, 210 W. 26th Street, Bryan, TX.  Come on for good conversation.  

CRAFT

Need some plot support here are 27 plot points to get you on the road to creating a solid novel.  A free master class on plotting from plot whisperer Martha Anderson.. Totally check this out. It is time well spent. 

QUERY

Here is some very straight forward querying advice if you need a little more to get that query sparkling.

Check out the new agent over at DMLA. Here is an interview article  of Katie Shea at Writer Unboxed.

FOR FUN

I just watched the "THE BOOK JOB",  a Simpson episode, guest starring Neil Gaiman (he totally has a Newbery Medal), where Homer and the gang form a team to create a YA phenom book series. It's quite hysterical. Here is an article where Neil discusses his experience.  Look around at streaming sites and catch this Simpsons episode. You will laugh and nod.  Good stuff.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: Nanowrimo, Connect, Revolution

Howdy, folks!  I know this weather is begging you to get outside, but take time to work on your projects. Our conference is also coming up folks.  Here is the link. Sign up!  It's going to be fab.  Here's the scoop:

Connections & Craft Conference! Speaker are fab -- Author Kathi Appelt, Author/Illustrator Brian Floca, author Doris Fisher, author Molly Blasidell, editor Claudia Gabel of Katherine Tegen Books and agent Elena Mechlin of Pippin Properties.

November 12, 2011 A&M United Methodist Church
417 University Drive
College Station, TX 77840

SCBWI Members! Alert! Registration for the Winter 2012 Conference is Open!

More local events:

November 18th: CLBC member Janet Fox will be at the CS Barnes & Noble to discuss her books and writing from 4 to 6 PM.

November 30th: SCBWI BV Holiday Gathering at The Village Cafe at 5:30 PM.

January 26th in 2012: the next CLBC (ChildLitbookclub) meeting. Book: Bridge Over Terabithia. The discussion leader will be Alicia Clay O'Neill. Check their calendar for upcoming books to be read. Join the book club yahoo group to get updates: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChildLitbookclub/ .

January 25th: next Schmooze.

NANOWRIMO

It's the time of the year for NANOWRIMO, the National Novel Writing Month project. Writers all over the world join together and write 50,000 word novels.  You've missed the kick off but you could still jump in. Check it out it.

CONNECT

Writers need to connect. Here are some online spots to meet up with writers and find critique partners..

SCBWI Forums
SCBWI LinkedIn
Verla Kay's Blue Board
SheWrites
AbsoluteWrite
Writer's Guide to Twitter

Revolution

The Publising App Expo site will help you become more aware of this growing segment of the publishing industry.

uTales is a site for authors and illustrators to come together and create and publish e-picture books.

Learn about popular app trends at AppData.

Also interested in what's happening with ebooks? Try EBOOKNEWSER, an online magazine from Mediabistro all about ebooks.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.