by Ann Rousseau Smith

The SCBWI Central-Coastal California Region offers free meet-ups known as Mingles, where writers and illustrators share knowledge, good news, fellowship, and improve their craft. Four of the Mingles are geared toward our writers, one for each of our four counties—Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. We also have a Mingle for our illustrators, hosted by Jaime Zollars, CenCal’s Illustrator Coordinator.

Our Mingles are hosted by dedicated volunteers:

Kern County Mingle
Host: Allison Crotzer Kimmel
CenCal.KC.Host@gmail.com

San Luis Obispo County Mingle
Host: Claire Noland
CenCal.SLO.Host@gmail.com

Santa Barbara County Mingle
Host: Angela Russell
CenCal.SB.Host@gmail.com

Ventura County Mingle
Host: Lori Anaya, Mingle Lead
CenCal.VC.Host@gmail.com

Illustrator Mingle
Host: Jaime Zollars
CenCal-IC@scbwi.org

Having a couple of questions for our Mingle Hosts, these are the responses I received:

Ann Rousseau Smith: What are your plans or expectations for your county’s Mingles or the Illustrator Mingles this year? Any topics you are hoping to explore?

Claire Noland (San Luis Obispo): We are a very friendly, welcoming, supportive group. We have members at all stages of a children’s writing and illustrating career from those just starting their writing journey to multi-published, award-winning authors. We try to meet four times a year. Our group loves to share their works-in-progress, and we always have a topic for discussion.

At the last meeting we discussed social media:
– What works, what doesn’t
– Great sites for writers and illustrators
– Bookstagrammers and more…

In the past we have talked about writing resources, pitches, queries, ask the agent, rhyming, and much more.

Lori Anaya (Ventura): CenCal has an Illustrator Mingle and four County Mingles: Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura, all providing writers and illustrators a community. The journey of getting good literature for kids out into the world is best understood by other creatives. A place where you and your work is supported. Understood. Inspired and inspiring. That’s what Mingles offer. There is the occasional speaker, or debut author presenting. We may provide topics as a focal point if needed, but we’re flexible and follow the needs of our groups.

Ventura Mingle dates are posted for January, March, April, July, and an end-of-year-social 2024. Topics: Goals, First pages, Verbs Drive the Story, and Critique/Pitch Practice opportunity before Writers Day each year. See https://www.scbwi.org/regions/cencal/county-mingles. 

I’m the Mingle host for Ventura. It’s been a challenge to find a quiet outdoor space centrally located in our huge county, or even an inside space. In March we’ll try out a new venue, a local Ventura bookstore, Timbre on Main Street. The space is inviting with big windows and surrounded by books. Perfect, it seems. We welcome suggestions and feedback.

It’s great to be part of a supportive team of SCBWI volunteers. If anything, I would like the Ventura Mingle to be a reflector of our diverse community. I continue to reach out and make connections with underrepresented groups. All are welcome. Bienvenidos a todos. I look forward to the day when I hold Ventura Mingles in Spanish as well as English.

Jaime Zollars (Illustrators): This year, our area illustrators met in January and shared our goals for the year. We currently have a small enough group to allow for discussion and sharing. We plan to continue meeting every other month to check in on that progress, as well as discuss topics of interest to our specific group. In December, we broadly discussed getting your work out there and sharing it in 2024, and will likely dig deeper into specific popular social media and newsletter platforms this year. I am also planning a meeting where we can share opportunities available for illustrators to create new work and get exposure. There are many free (and reasonable) contests, scholarships, mentorships, classes, and networking opportunities out there if you know where to look. Beyond that, I will tap into the needs of the group throughout the year to cover topics of interest while we continue to support each other in our goals. All are welcome! If you are interested in being added to the e-mail list for this group, please e-mail Jaime at cencal-ic@scbwi.org.

To learn more about the SCBWI CenCal County Mingles, check out the County Mingles page on the CenCal website. To learn more about what the illustrators are up to, visit the Illustrators’ Corner page on the CenCal website.

Save the Dates!

Writers Day: Saturday, September 21, 2024
Camarillo Community Center (new location)

Retreat: January 24–26, 2025
San Simeon

For information on SCBWI CenCal events (open to all SCBWI members), go to the CenCal website.

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Images provided by Claire Noland, Lori Anaya, Jaime Zollars, and SCBWI Central-Coastal California Region