Current Scratch: Join Us, Good News, Book News, Contests, & Just For Fun

Hi there, folks! Sorry for the delay, but I was without phone & Internet Monday and Tuesday due to the storms. You never realize how plugged in you are, until you're without! Here's one positive about all the rainy weather... At least we have time to work on all of our creative projects. Let's get busy!


Need a little inspiration? JOIN US at our next event!

At Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park on June 13 for a Writing Day and Sketch Crawl. We'll meet at the large pavilion in the park at 9:30 a.m. and after brief introductions you'll be on your own to write, sketch, research and relax. Bring a picnic lunch, and we'll reconvene from 12 to 1 p.m. to eat together. Work on your own again, then 3-4 p.m. will be an optional time to meet and critique.

Admission to the park is FREE. There is a small fee for the museum ($5) and for the living history farm ($5 for each side or $9 for all 3 sides). NO LAWN CHAIRS are allowed. In addition to the pavilion, there is seating in the historical buildings and there are benches and picnic tables around the grounds, including the river overlook. We will have access to a few electrical outlets and running water in the pavilion. Bring a picnic blanket or cushions if you plan to sit on the ground.

We will arrange carpools early in June. Please email Liz Mertz or Candi Fite for any questions or if you'd like to carpool. lizbmertz@gmail.com and candice.fite@gmail.com . If severe weather is predicted ahead of time, we may cancel, but the plan is to go rain or shine.

Next month's schmooze will be on June 24th with illustrator Garrett Hines from Waco. Stay tuned for details.


GOOD NEWS!


Congrats to member Kelly Bennett! Her picture book, Not Norman, a Goldfish Story, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones (published by Candlewick Press, 2005) has been selected as Jumpstart’s Read for the Record book for 2015. On October 22nd folks all over the world will read the book. Support Jumpstarts goal of helping every child become Kindergarten ready by signing up to #ReadfortheRecord and buy your Jumpstart edition here http://bit.ly/jumpstore

ALSO...

Ellen McGinty met an agent at the Houston conference in April who has requested her full manuscript. Fingers crossed!

Let us know your good news and we'll publish it here on the Scratchpad!

BOOK NEWS

This is one of the best inventions I've heard so far. A children's book transforms into a tree. Just wow!

What to Expect When You're Expecting YA. See what trends are getting hot in the YA world.

CONTESTS

Pockets Contest

This is something new! A Twitter Pitch for Picture Book Contest. Check the link for deets.

Greenhouse Literary Contest

JUST FOR FUN

From YouTube to Author? Anything is Possible.



Current Scratch: Join Us, Local Event, Member News, Contests, Pipeline, & Just For Fun

Howdy, folks!

Rolling thunder! I hope that these gray skies inspire you to create master works!  Summer is upon us, plan to roll out your most awesome story yet.

Join Us

Join us on May 27, 2015 for discussion, news, and encouragement. Topic TBA. Meet us at Barnes & Noble in College Station. Gentle critique begins at 9:30 a.m. Bring copies of 5 double-spaced pages of your work in progress. Those who have time stay for lunch at a local restaurant. Members and friends welcome!

Local Events

Want to jump start you writing?  Try this. Write Away Day at the Writing Barn in Austin. 

Date(s): May 24, 2015 09:00 AM – May 24, 2015 04:00 PM
Cost: $15
Maximum Class Size: 18
Pay Online: To reserve a spot for May 24th's Write Away Day, please email Lily atwbprogramassistant@gmail.com and an invoice will be issued.

Molly Blaisdell will be holding a 8 week summer workshop called TeensPUBLISH for 7th through 12th graders.  Wednesdays in June and July except July 1.Time: 2:30 to 5:00.   For more info about this event and registration info, please follow this link. 

Member News

Molly Blaisdell's coming of age novel PLUMB CRAZY (Caney Creek Books, 2015) is now available on Amazon as an ebook and in paperback.  Here is the link.

Contest

2016 Helen Sheehan Book Prize from Elephant Rock Books. 

What: unpublished YA manuscripts, only one per author.
Prize: $1000 and ERB Book Contract
Length: Minimum of 50,000 words.
Submission fee: There is a $20 submission fee

For more info. 

PIPELINE 

Interested in what is being acquired by publishing houses. Here is the PW rights report.  Shout out for Texan Don Tate. 

Washington Post's best picture books for May.   Here is one opinion. 

Check out the New York Times picture book list.  Here is what is selling. 

FOR FUN

Daily routines of Famous Creative People.   Who are you like? Check it out.

The story of bees. This might inspire you.  21 days of a bee's life in 60 seconds.  

Here is a three part series with Lloyd Alexander  This charming stuff. How the reality of things is transferred into imaginary.  Here is a link.

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

Current Scratch: Join Us, Local Event, Member News, Awards, Contests, Opportunities, & Just For Fun

April is poetry month! Let's celebrate!

Raindrops fall from skies

Blades of grass dance in delight

Hydrate, world, hydrate

JOIN US

For our Poetry Slam Schmooze Wednesday, April 29th at 10:00 a.m. Meet us at Barnes & Noble in College Station. (Gentle critique will still begin at 9:30.) Here's the PROMPT LIST for our Poetry Slam. Rules are posted on the event page.

Include at least four words from the following list in each poem presented. Plural forms are allowed.

1. favorite

2. open
3. purple
4. rabbit
5. splash
6. sunshine
7. zest


LOCAL EVENT


Young Poets on the Brazos Poetry Contest Join us on Tuesday evening at Larry J. Ringer Library in College Station as we celebrate the winners of our 20th annual Young Poets on the Brazos Poetry Contest. We will start setting up at 6:30 and the poetry reading will begin at 7 p.m. Twenty-four sixth, seventh, and eighth graders will have their poems included in this year's anthology. There will be cake!


BV MEMBER NEWS


It's fun to get to share good news. Let us know what is going on with your work so we can celebrate together. Here's the latest news:

Carol Tollefson will be signing her first book, Lana Ladybug's Garden Party (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2014), from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday in the Nacogdoches Hastings store. Her second book, McTavich That Rascal Squirrel, is due to come out in June 2015.

Alice Brock has sold her middle grade novel, River of Cattle, to Duke Pennell with Pen-L Publishing in Fayetteville, AR.  She pitched it to him at the Oklahoma Writers Federation convention a couple of years ago, and now she has a three book contract.

Linnea Heaney has two poems coming out this summer in Highlights Hello.

Kathi Appelt’s latest picture books, Counting Crows (Simon & Schuster, March 2015) and When Otis Courted Mama (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January 2015), were featured in Glenn Dromgoole’s column on March 22. Both books also have received starred reviews.

Author of the picture book biography, Art from Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter, Kathy Whitehead attended the opening of "The Murals of Clementine Hunter" featuring the African House Murals and other large format works in their first ever museum installation at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Congratulations everyone!!!

AWARDS
SCBWI Announces Golden Kite Awards for 2015. Congrats to all the winners!

CONTEST




We need diverse books short story contest. Details here. Hurry, deadline on May 8th.

OPPORTUNITY

MeeGenius welcomes children's book manuscripts. 
MeeGenius (est. 2010), the top-selling ebook reader app for young readers, is accepting children’s book manuscripts from writers. The publisher works individually with writers to publish stories for young ones (ages 2-8). Visit the link for more details.

JUST FOR FUN

Recently found... 3 scrapped pages of A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughter.

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

Current Scratch: Join Us, Opportunities, Awards, Book Biz, For the Illustrator & Just For Fun

I bet we're all hoping March's showers will bring lots of April flowers, right? Something beautiful must come from the torrential downpours we've experienced this month. (And I'm not talking about the accidental mini waterfall which has occurred in our backyard, due to the raging water flowing from the hill, washing out a section of our land.) I'm thinking of writing a story. I'm seeing a fire ant (Yes, I said fire ant. What? They can be cute, too! Sort of. Okay... maybe not.) family facing the extreme challenge of the backyard river. Texas... Fire ants... I may be onto something! What about you? Any new projects springing up?

JOIN US

"Writing for the Youngest Readers" is our Schmooze topic this Wednesday with author Linnea Heaney. Linnea’s poems are being published in the 2015 summer issues of Highlights Hello. A Real Best Friend, her lyrical picture book story, was published at Hunger Mountain: the Vermont College of Fine Arts Journal for the Arts. She brings the perspective of a teacher and researcher in the early childhood and emergent literacy fields to writing for the youngest readers.

Join us for her presentation at 10 a.m. followed by time for questions and discussion. We meet in the back corner of the College Station Barnes & Noble. Gentle critique begins at 9:30 a.m. Bring copies of 5 double-spaced pages of your work in progress. Those who have time stay for lunch at a local restaurant. Members and friends welcome!

BV folks & friends, do you have a Facebook? Join us over at our new group! The more, the merrier!

Kid Lit Coffee Klatch

Join other SCBWI members and friends for a Kid Lit Coffee Klatch for their next meet up in the evening! This is be a chance to meet other writers and illustrators, maybe gossip a bit about our characters, and encourage each other. You can email Liz at lizbmertz@gmail.com for the next date.

OPPORTUNITIES

The Grateful American Book Prize is the only award for excellence in writing, storytelling and illustration for children’s historical non-fiction and fiction focused on the events and personalities that have shaped the United States since the country’s founding. Details from the website: There is a market out there for well-written, well-illustrated and well-researched accounts of the way we, as Americans, were and the way we will continue to grow, prosper and contribute on a global scale in the future. We invite your interest in and support of the Prize. And, of course, we welcome your participation by submitting your books that meet our criteria for consideration.

Writing YA? A small book publisher Intrigue Publishing (est. 2012) is accepting stories for a forthcoming anthology titled, Young Adventurers: Heroes, Explorers & Swashbucklers. Find out details here. Be quick! The deadline is April 1, 2015.

AWARDS

The Jane Yolen Midlist Author Award 2015 winner is Sanna Stanley. Congrats!!

And the runner-up is Jane Mitchell! Congrats to both! You can read about both authors on the SCBWI blog. Just follow the links.

BOOK BIZ

Big publishers selling books through Twitter? Check out this article about Harper Collins & Twitter. Although this is a special promotion for Harper, Hatchette recently explored the same selling adventure. The article above is certainly well worth the read!

What if you could get your books ordered from Amazon by drones? Yes, directly to your front lawn. *shakes head* Crazy thought, right? Well, Amazon just received approval to test. Read about it here.

FOR THE ILLUSTRATOR

This blog post just popped up, literally, as I was putting this together! Check it out. 10 Mistakes the Illustrator Makes on the SCBWI blog. Just read through it. Great tips to pack into your mental toolbox, illustrators!

JUST FOR FUN

This is a hilarious, short article I found on our fabulous SCBWI Blog called, "If Strangers Talked to Everybody Like They Talk to Writers." You can read the entire article here. I had a few giggles over my coffee this morning. Enjoy!

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

Current Scratch: Join Us, Local SCBWI Happenings, SCBWI Opportunities, Events, Agents, Inspiration

Did you miss us? Your intrepid Scratchpad contributors were slammed with stuff last month, but we are back: "better, stronger, faster."  Wow, what great creative weather we are having!  Nothing like dull, rainy days to make us turn to our imaginations. I hope that you are doing awesome things.

Join us at the College Station Barnes and Noble on March 25 (Last Wednesday of the month). for discussion, news, and encouragement. Topic "Writing for the Youngest Readers." Gentle critique begins at 9:30 a.m, our program stars at 10:00 a.m. Bring copies of 5 double-spaced pages of your work in progress. Those who have time stay for lunch at a local restaurant. Members and friends welcome!

LOCAL SCBWI HAPPENINGS  

Kid Lit Coffee Klatch

Join other SCBWI members and friends for a Kid Lit Coffee Klatch on Monday, March 16, 2015 7-8 p.m. in the Starbucks at the corner of Hwy. 6 and Rock Prairie Rd. This will be a chance to meet other writers and illustrators, maybe gossip a bit about our characters, and encourage each other. You can email Liz…

The Deets: 

Date: 03/16/2015
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location:  Starbucks, 3985 State Highway 6 South, College Station, TX, Un

BV Illustrator Event! Free Lecture by The Neuland Concept Designers

Concept designers Margaret Wuller and Patrick Hannenberger will discuss their work for film projects such as The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Monsters vs. Aliens, and How to Train Your Dragon. The free public lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Geren Auditorium at the College of Architecture on the A&M campus. http://www.theneuland.com/about/

Date/Time: 04/16/2015,7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Langford Building, College of Architecture, Texas A&M Universtiy, College Station, TX,

SCBWI OPPORTUNITIES

TAX Seminar, Phone

It's tax season, and to take away some of the pain, we've arranged for a seminar to help. Tax Tips for Writers & Illustrators will be given by Robert Pesce, a CPA with the New York firm Marcum LLP. The one-hour seminar is for both writers and illustrators, self-published, traditionally published and pursuing. Click here for more info.

Date/Time: 03/17/2015, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant

SCBWI provides numerous grants to unpublished writers. The application window is currently open! 

Please click here for more info.

Crystal Kite Award Deadline

The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award to recognize great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world. ~~Deadline: You must enter your book published in 2014 by March 15th, 2015. For more information, visit: http://www.scbwi.org/awards/crystal-kite-member-choice-award/ ​

EVENTS

Do you want to participate in the East Texas Book Festival?  Click here for all the info. 

NF4NF Childrens Writers' Conference.  Do you write Non-fiction? Are you interested? Check out the link to the conference held in Rosenburg, Texas on September 17-20.  

AGENTS

This listing of children's literary agents may be interesting to you. Follow this link thanks to Casey McComick at Literary Rambles. 

INSPIRATION

Because you freaking need inspiration.  Here are links to many podcasts that are sure to stir you up. Here is the link. 

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