Thursday, June 23, 2011

Weekly Scratch:Contest!, Sequels, Tumble, Commas

Howdy, folks!   Our next Schmooze is next Wednesday. Here's the info:   6-29-2011 at 10 AM at B&N in College Station. Writing Fiction from Life with Kathy Whitehead is the program. Kathy will take a look at how to use real life experiences in creating story.  I hope your work is humming.

CONTEST!

The 2012 Highlights Fiction Contest is up and perhaps you are feeling particularly inspired. Give it a look. :)

SEQUELS

Do you want to write a sequel?  I mean you've got the first one done, right? Here is some advice to make the second one.

TUMBLE

Not into blogging?  Here is something to try, TUMBLR. As if you dont have anything else to do with your time. :)

COMMAS

Do you struggle with grammar? Do you need comma rehab?  Try this blog post.

DICTATE

Do you want to reinvent how you create a rough draft? Here is something to try: dictate your story.  Check out this blog post for the full scoop.

Well, there is a handful of scratch. Come back next week for more. :) 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Weekly Scratch: YA BOOKS, LAUNCH TIPS, IMPROVE

Howdy, folks. Are you hot?  At least this makes me want to hunker inside and write.  I hope you are doing excellent work. Here's some news about our local authors. We love libraries!  Kathi Appelt will be at the Elgin Library on June 22. Read about it here. Kathi Whitehead and Molly Blaisdell are going to be at the Georgetown Library on July 28th.    Here is a great interview from Sherry Garland at Marjoleinbookblog. I hope you are writing your hearts out!

YA BOOKS

An interesting article in PW about whether YA books are dark and depraved or are saving lives.  

BOOK LAUNCH TIPS

Hey, it's never too early to plan! That's my motto. Here is a great article to tuck for that book launch in the future. 

IMPROVE

Want to really pick apart the bones of a children's book with some experts. Here is a great blog to help you on your journey - Story Sleuths.

Here is a list of 40 questions that is guaranteed to help you make a stronger manuscript. 

Here is a list of 11 free resources to help you with editing

BLOG

Thinking about blogging? Here are some good tips to help you on your way! 

Hope your writing is hotter that outside this week!  See you next week with more scratch.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Weekly Scratch: Genre Writing, Agents, Self Publishing, Tweets

Howdy, folks,  hope your work is humming! I hope you find something here to help you on your creative journey.

GENRE WRITING

Summer season is out and I have noticed that there are a boatload of superhero movies out there. Here is a blog post that shares some good advice for superhero writing at SuperheroNation.

AGENTS

Here is a new agent to check out at JABerwocky Literary: Jesse Cammack.  

Here is a spotlight at Literary Rambles about Spieler Agency's Eric Meyer.

SELF PUBLISHING

DuoLit offers some good weekly links and advice about self-publishing and marketing.

TWEETS

Too busy for twitter, here is mystery writer's Elizabeth Spain Craig's best tweets for lit folks this week.  Useful stuff.

Hope you make awesome progress this week! 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Weekly Scratch: Statewide Opportunities, Great Conferences, Educational Opportunities

Howdy, folks,

I hope that you are having a good week. Please remember that all the links provided below are for informational purpose and not to be considered an endorsement unless it is an SCBWI event. Do you your research. If I missed anything, send me an email and I will post the link next week.
Here is news about our next local SCBWI event.

For the next Saturday opportunity in the Brazos Valley, bring your work-in-progress or a new notebook to our mini-retreat on August 27.

SCBWI Saturday Mini-RetreatL August 27, 2011, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,  Arts Council of the Brazos Valley building, -- A Mini-Retreat to Inspire Your Writing Voice: SCBWI Brazos Valley Children’s Literature Book Club co-coordinators, Jacqueline Gramann and Alicia Clay O’Neill, will team-up and present A Mini-Retreat to Inspire Your Writing Voice. They are combining their professional backgrounds to inform and inspire beginning and seasoned writers. Jacqueline and Alicia will present new ways to look at writing for children and have several writing exercises to unlock your writing obstacles.

Alicia Clay O’Neill, M.A. is a college-level English instructor and has taught writing at Texas A&M University and most recently to students at Blinn College. Alicia is a 2nd grade Faith Formation teacher, mother to an energetic 3 year old, and works as a reading intervention tutor with a special interest in instruction for dyslexic students. Alicia enjoys coaching writers at all levels of the writing process and she has found that teaching is the best way to learn. She will present “Voicing Your Characters.”

Jacqueline Gramann, Ed.M. has over twenty years of experience in teaching, research, and the writing of educational briefs, research reports, and training manuals. She has taught toddlers to adults in the fields of gifted and talented, early childhood, child development, and family literacy. Research work has been in metacognition and emergent literacy. A SCBWI member since 1982, she has attended many workshops, including the Writers Workshop at Chautauqua. Currently, Jacqueline is crossing her fingers and following-up her first publication in children’s writing with rewriting, blogging and submitting new manuscripts to editors. She will lead off with “Informing Your Story Voice.”

CLBC:

For information about our Children's Literature Book Club, join the yahoo group to view the calendar of meetings and books, past books, and to get reminders. The Children's Literature Book Club meets for book discussion at the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, 2275 Dartmouth Street in College Station. The next book club meeting will be in September with a couple of books by Richard Peck.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChildLitbookclub/

STATEWIDE OPPORTUNITIES

Registration is open now for summer classes and workshops at  Gemini Ink in San Antonio.
SCBWI Austin - July 30th Workshop – Beyond the Basics: Applying and Analyzing Constructive Criticism with the Texas Sweethearts.</a>

GREAT CONFERENCES TO EXPLORE

 SCBWI SUMMER CONFERENCE
 SCBWI WINTER CONFERENCE
SCBWI NEVADA Mentorship Program
SCBWI Bologna in conjunction with the Bologna Book Fair. </a>
 SCBWI San Fransisco Asilomar Conference 

Writers Workshop at Chautauqua.
The Founder's Workshops at the the Highlights Foundation were not "highlighted" at our Schmooze.
The  Rutger's One-on-one Conference sponsored by the Rutger's Council on Children's Literature.
The Backspace Writer's Conference. Backspace (http://www.bksp.org/) is an online writers organization with over 1,400 members in a dozen countries.
For publsihed writing professionals,  Kindling Words Retreats--Kindling Words is an inspiring retreat where accomplished authors, illustrators and editors meet, talk shop, participate in workshops, and inspire each other.
Write On Con is an online conference site for children's writers with monthly events. It's sponsored by a group of very generous authors.
Robert McKee's Story Seminar.
The Whidbey Island Writer's Conference, a conference for all writers, but it does have a children's author track.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Institute of Children's Literature
Vermont College Low Residency Children's Writing MFA
Hamline University Low Residency Children's Writing MFA
Hollins University Low Residency Children's Writing MFA
Northwest Institute for Literary Arts Low Residency Children's Writing MFA