I ♥ the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators)

I'm crossposting this from my Mafia blog. If you're not the clubbable sort, read no further. Otherwise, read on to learn a bit more about one of the writing organizations to which I belong.

Last Thursday, I attended a session with the head honchos from the SCBWI: Lin Oliver (Executive Director), Stephen Mooser (President), and Chelsea Mooser (Director of Outreach).

Chelsea Mooser is back row second from left
Front row, first from right is Stephen Mooser; second is Lin Oliver

They were in Portland because there's a changing of the leadership guard. Our long-time Regional Advisor is stepping down after many years of service.

As always happens at a change of leadership, there is new blood and new ideas. There will be four people coordinating our chapter's activities. The folks from head office shared some new ideas, and were open to hearing from the membership.

First, the SCBWI is always ready to change with the times. Lin Oliver spoke about a new focus being on how best to promote SCBWI members. Getting one's book read is perhaps an author's hardest task in this day and age (beyond the writing of the book, of course). The public has so many other diversions, breaking into the public consciousness is difficult. (Trust me, the readers of this blog and all others versed in childrens' books have heard of all manner of books, but when one mentions to a member of the "general public" what one considers to be a well-known title--DIVERGENT, let's say--you'll see a lot of headscratching. The books that everyone knows, the Harry Potters and Hunger Games and Twilight and, sorry to say, 50 Shades of Grey, are few and far between.)

The SCBWI plans on using its website to feature books and bloggers and to even have a bookstore, with links to IndieBound, Barnes and Noble, and that old Trex, Amazon. (But please go to IndieBound and keep the indie bookstores alive!)

They plan to do more for their "PAL" members (which means published and listed), but are also talking about how to support well-written self-published works.

I was impressed with Lin Oliver, who was the moutpiece for the leadership. She's smart and funny and thoughtful. One thing that shone through was how much the SCBWI leadership wants all of its members to succeed. If you are a children's writer and illustrator, belonging to the SCBWI is a must!

Do you belong to any Writers' Organizations? If so, which ones?

Conference Download, Part 2

The best thing about going to writing conferences is rubbing shoulders with other writers. The childrens' writing gang seems even friendlier than most--and I was lucky to have four other members of my critique group there: Cliff, Barbara, Lyra and Rosanne. (Collectively, we are Tale Spinners at least on our GoodReads page.)

I listened to keynotes from three NY editors. Christy Webster is an editor at Random House and she shared info about writing "Step into Reading" books. Anna Bloom, from Scholastic, works on series books and talked about both character-driven series (think Ramona or Judy Moody) and concept-driven series (39 Clues or Goosebumps). Sha handed around a whole stash of books for us to leaf through. The third editor, Little Brown's Kate Sullivan, spoke on plot structure.

I also attended two workshops. One, by agent Michael Stearns, was called Plot Mechanics 101 and was delivered with humour and aplomb. I would write it all out, but I'm not the world's most accomplished typist. (Here's a link to a similar talk he gave elsewhere.)

The second workshop was given by writer Michele Torrey: The Query and Onward. I found it fascinating, as Michele had sold a number of books directly to publishers and gave us very detailed instructions on how to do so. She was an excellent and engaging speaker.

Finally, there was the great door prize give away. Cliff and I waited through about half an hour of people winning--and then it was revealed that a sizeable number hadn't even had their tickets placed in the raffle! we stormed the stage for a second crack at the prizes. Zilch. then, it came down to the grand prize, a handmade teddy bear, stitched together by SCBWI member, Bob Griggs. The woman whose number was called said she didn't want it, so another ticket was drawn: MINE.

So I walked out a winner in so many ways. SCBWI-Oregon is great, and I have to thank Judi and Robin for a great conference. They are bright, funny people and set a marvellous tone for the proceedings.

And now off for yet more revision...