If you’re like me (and every other creative I know), you have a negative voice in your head that whispers ugliness to you every time you sit down to do your creative work. I call mine the You Suck Monster. …
SCBWI Recap #7: Gennifer Choldenko on Writing for Today’s Kids
Gennifer Choldenko, author of Newberry Honor winning Al Capone Does My Shirts, gave a great keynote address during the Summer 2010 SCBWI Conference. Her talk was full of inspiration and advice for both kidlit authors and writers in general. Here’s a …
SCBWI Recap #6: Rachel Vail on Hearing Your Characters
I found Rachel Vail‘s session on Hearing Your Characters during the Summer 2010 SCBWI Conference not just entertaining, but insightful. Using examples from her own work, she gave practical exercises for figuring out who your characters are and how each …
SCBWI Recap #5: Paul Fleischman on Surviving The Novel
One of the most reassuring keynotes at the Summer 2010 SCBWI Conference was Paul Fleischman‘s session, “Surviving the Novel”. In this keynote, he blended practical advice with honest and encouraging insights, breaking up the arduous process of writing a novel into …
SCBWI Recap #2: Courtney Bongiolatti Talks Boy MG Fiction
Given my current and future projects, I decided to attend Courtney Bongliolatti’s Boy MG Fiction 101 breakout session. Her key pieces of advice for writers of boy MG fiction were: Know your genre Write the character your kids want to …