Author Archives: Jessica Chrysler

Getting the Most Out of Critique: The Art of Listening

08 Wednesday Jun 2022

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This weekend on June 12th, SCBWI-L.A. will be hosting its annual Critique Day which is open to all members of SCBWI. Creatives from all over the tri-regions (and beyond) will have the opportunity to share their work with each other in a safe and structured environment. It is one of the best places to get started when taking those first steps into honing your craft without having to fully commit to a class or pay for a workshop. This event is always free to our members. (Registration for this year’s event is now closed, however, so be sure to check back on the regional page for next time!)

But we’re here to talk about getting the most out of that critique. For first timers it can be nerve-racking just having someone else read your work, but for the seasoned pro it might be a testing ground for an experimental piece. Both need open and honest feedback about the work, but with only a few minutes to read and talk about each piece, how can we best make use of that time?

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When the Writing (or Drawing) Gets Tough: How to Plow Through the Block

25 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Illustrator's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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You may have heard about writer’s block, or have gotten stuck mid-way through a story or a sketch. Maybe you’ve redrawn the same scene multiple times only to have to throw away the paper after you’ve erased right through it. These times can be tough, and it’s hard to pick up that pencil and keep going. But that’s what you’ve got to do.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 5

18 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Community Corner, PAL

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by R.S. Mellette

Me and Dad

This blog-umentary started out as an analysis of hiring a PR firm for a small-press book, and I promise we’ll get back to that, but to assess that value for the month of April I have to fill you in on some personal backstory. 

You might want to get a tissue.

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#KTChat with Amy Duchene and Elisa Parhad: Collab x Fab – 7 Tips on Collaborative Creation

04 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by in #KTChat, Author's Perspective, PAL

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by Amy Duchene and Elisa Parhad

Editor’s Note: On Twitter this Friday (5/6/22) from 12-1PM PST, Amy and Elisa will take your questions and discuss why our stories matter, even when we think they don’t. Log into your Twitter account during our chat hour and use the hashtag #KTChat or @mention @amydishes and @SCBWISOCALLA to join the discussion! If you aren’t on Twitter, leave questions in the blog comments before the chat! 

We (Amy and Elisa) are long-time friends and co-authors of Pool Party. Luckily, we had a stellar experience working together on this project, but we know that not every collaboration ends with hugs and a publication. Collaborating together for nearly nine months on this project, we learned a lot about what works and what to watch out for so that you can find success too. Here are seven tips.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 4

20 Wednesday Apr 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

Jennifer Vance of Books Forward, you saved the book! Or, you know, at least kept the release date from being pushed back to oblivion.

Spoiler Alert—At the end of this story, we finally get our cover.

Now that we have the cover wrapped up, here are some details of the issues we were having. 

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How Attending SCBWI-L.A. Writer’s Day Led to a Book Deal

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Writers Days

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by Charlotte Offsay

Unpublished and unagented, I attended SCBWI-L.A. Writer’s Day 2019 full of hope but never expecting that the events of the day would ultimately lead to a big five publishing contract. 

For the second year in a row, I attended as an aspiring picture book author, and this time around I knew what to expect. I arrived eager to soak in the wisdom of the day’s fabulous lineup of speakers and had submitted a picture book manuscript for critique by one of the event day faculty. The manuscript that I submitted was one that I had been working on for months, Gram’s Got the Magic Touch. Here is the pitch:

Gram’s leaving, and she’s taking her magic with her. Without it Rose’s baby brother Henry wails and life as Rose knows it is dooooomed. There’s only one solution, Rose needs magic powers too.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 3

23 Wednesday Mar 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

January 17th was my 60th birthday. All I wanted as a gift was a cover for my book.

I didn’t get it.

But I did get the reviews from Kirkus and Foreword.

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Illustrator’s Day 2022: Welcome Laura-Susan Thomas!

16 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by in Illustrator's Perspective, Illustrators Day

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SCBWI-L.A. Illustrator’s Day is coming around the corner and we have a wonderful presenter lined up, ready to dive deep into the craft of digital art making with you!

Please welcome Laura-Susan Thomas, a digital artist extraordinaire with experience creating art on a grand scale as a Walt Disney Imagineer where she was able to embrace her inner 10-year-old every day, working on designs for Paris, Orlando, and Tokyo theme parks. She has had her work featured in the LA Times Kids’ Reading Room and Babybug Magazine. A professor of Fine Arts at the Allan Hancock College, she is also the Gallery Director at the Ann Foxworthy Gallery and the Illustrator Coordinator for the SCBWI-CenCal region.

For Illustrator Day, Thomas will share with us different strategies for working creatively with technology. The workshop will delve into two of the main applications artists use for creating on the computer and will have a little “sandbox” time for participants to begin experimenting in the medium as well. If you haven’t signed up yet, please visit the regional events page to register.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study — Part 2

23 Wednesday Feb 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

When last we left, I had set aside $20,000 to spend on the promotion of my next book, Kiya And The Morian Treasure, which hits streets April 26th, 2022. So, let’s look at the heat I’m getting from the money I’ve set on fire.

Summer 2021: After a COVID delay of a year-and-a-half, my publisher, Elephant’s Bookshelf Press, was eager to get the ball rolling again, but our original cover artist gracefully bowed out to concentrate on her picture book/lower MG work. Matt at EBP found a new artist who promised to deliver in November. As that was the only big thing holding up publication, I reached out again to Books Forward saying, “We were a go in 2019. How about 2021?” They honored their 2019 bid. Contracts were signed in August for a November start to a six-month campaign ending with a launch sometime in the Spring of 2022. I was also sent an Author’s Questionnaire to complete before November.

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What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey #3: Be Ready to Nix Your Darlings

09 Wednesday Feb 2022

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by Rieko Mendez

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final installment on What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey. 

Now that you are prioritizing feedback with your community of writers and hopefully scratching the surface on — if not digging to the core of — answering the question “why must you write this book?” from my earlier articles, let’s talk about the most important step in being a writer: revisions, many revisions.

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