Category Archives: Writers’ Retreat

SCBWI CenCal Focus and Flourish Writers and Illustrators Retreat

09 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by in Central Coast, Tri-Regional News, Writers' Retreat

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Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Join us for a weekend of pursuing creativity at the Cavalier Oceanfront Resort in San Simeon along the beach. Enjoy plenty of unstructured writing or illustrating time, plus short inspirational gatherings and optional critique groups.

The retreat begins Friday, January 24, 2025, at 4:00 pm and continues through Sunday, January 26, 2025, at 11:00 am. Four meals are included: Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, Saturday dinner, and Sunday breakfast.

As a no-speaker event, flexibility and abundant time to focus on your projects can be combined with community gatherings at meals and optional opportunities for feedback.

Bring your critique group!

The hotel will be offering special rates. Local commuters are also welcome. Full information will be posted on the CenCal Website by October 15, 2024. Make sure you are following SCBWI CenCal on your SCBWI profile home in order to receive an alert when information about this event is posted.

Volunteers Needed for 2025!

SCBWI CenCal is looking for volunteers. Contact Regional Advisor Rebecca Lanston-George at cencal-ra@scbwi.org.

Images provided by the SCBWI Central-Coastal Region and Cavalier Oceanfront Resort, San Simeon

Pack Your Bags for the 2024 SCBWI-LA Working Writer’s Retreat!

18 Wednesday Sep 2024

Posted by in Los Angeles, Tri-Regional News, Writers' Retreat

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2018 Working Writer’s Retreat at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino

Be sure to reserve your spot for the 2024 SCBWI-LA Working Writers Retreat from September 27–29, 2024 at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, CA! While there will be plenty of quiet time to revise at your leisure, you’ll also be in the company of peers and industry professionals who will provide feedback on your craft as they help you take your project to new heights! There are only a few spots left for this exclusive event, so sign up soon! 

Over the weekend, you’ll have access to tasty meals and snacks during your stay, a wine and cheese night, a karaoke party, as well as critique sessions led by industry professionals, all of which are included in the registration fees! Our incredible faculty members are absolutely looking forward to this year’s exclusive event and have shared a little bit about who they are as we get ready for the retreat! 

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Treasure Chest: September 2024

04 Wednesday Sep 2024

Posted by in Contests & Grants, Illustrators Day, Treasure Chest, Tri-Regional News, Writers Days, Writers' Retreat

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Events, Opportunities, and Resources happening now and coming soon for the Tri-Regions and beyond

OPEN NOW
Registration for the popular SCBWI Los Angeles Working Writers Retreat is now open! Join fellow writers from September 27–29, 2024, at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino “for a weekend of immersive writing, critique, revision and camaraderie.” This annual retreat will have plenty of quiet work spaces, social evenings, and even group critique sessions led by four publishing industry professionals! Spots are filling up very quickly!

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Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Sue Alexander Grant!

14 Wednesday Aug 2024

Posted by in Contests & Grants, SAG, Writers' Retreat

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by Brenda Scott Royce, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

Author Sherry Shahan, recipient of this year’s Sue Alexander Grant

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winner of the Sue Alexander Grant, Sherry Shahan, whose middle-grade adventure got our judges’ hearts racing!

“My middle-grade work-in-progress, The Icy Wilds, was inspired by my many treks to Alaska as a photojournalist,” Sherry says. “In particular, visiting a small town where 95 percent of the residents live in a building that also houses a post office, church, general store, etc.” 

Here’s what the judges had to say: 

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Treasure Chest: August 2024

31 Wednesday Jul 2024

Posted by in Contests & Grants, Illustrators Day, Industry Conferences, SCBWI Summer Conference, Treasure Chest, Tri-Regional News, Writers Days, Writers' Retreat

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Events, Opportunities, and Resources happening now and coming soon for the Tri-Regions and beyond

OPEN NOW
Registration is open! Learn about craft and book publishing, connect with professionals in the industry, and mingle with creative people at the SCBWI SoCal Fall Harvest Writers and Illustrators Day! This full-day conference will take place in-person at the California State University Fullerton Titan Student Union OR online, on Saturday, October 5, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and will include agents, an art director, local authors, and an illustrator. There will be critiques, portfolio reviews, pitches, and contests. Click here to register!

OPEN NOW
Join SCBWI in celebrating World Kid Lit Month in September by submitting your book recommendations now! The Official SCBWI Blog is hosting a month-long celebration of “children’s and YA literature from around the world,” and your short book reviews are invited. There will be four blog posts, each focusing on a different continent: the Americas, Africa, Asia & Oceania, and Europe. For more information, click the link here. All submissions should be emailed to World Kit Lit (worldkidlit@gmail.com).

ONGOING
Submit your book now for the SCBWI Impact & Legacy Fund (ILF) Russell Freedman Award or apply for a grant from The ILF Encouragement Fund! No SCBWI membership is required. However, you must be traditionally published. Submissions will close on September 15, 2024.

ONGOING
Sign up for the SCBWI CenCal’s 2024 Writers and Illustrators Day! Regular pricing registration for SCBWI members is $137 and will remain open until all seats are filled. The event will be held in-person at the Camarillo Community Center on Saturday, September 21, 2024. There will be an additional “optional online Pitchfest via Zoom” on Sunday, September 22, 2024.

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You Are a Writer (And Here’s Why You Should Apply for the Sue Alexander Grant!) 

10 Wednesday Apr 2024

Posted by in Contests & Grants, Los Angeles, SAG, Tri-Regional News, Writers' Retreat

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by Julia Edwards

The 2024 Sue Alexander Grant contest opens this week—April 13. The winner receives a guaranteed spot and free tuition to the Working Writers Retreat (to be held at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino, September 27–29, 2024). We asked last year’s Sue Alexander Grant recipient, Julia Edwards, to talk about her experience at the 2023 retreat.

Julia Edwards (at right) with the writers from her Retreat crit group.

“I am a writer.” 

SCBWI-Los Angeles Co-Regional Advisor Nutschell Windsor encouraged the attendees gathered at the 2023 Working Writers Retreat to write down these four words. I penned the phrase quickly, not realizing at first how much I needed to write it. How much I needed to think it. After a several-year hiatus from the retreat due to COVID and an aversion to online anything, I was finally shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow writers. Colleagues. Friends.

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SCBWI CenCal Recharge Beach Writing Retreat

11 Wednesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Central Coast, Community Corner, Writers' Retreat

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by Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Recharge your writing at CenCal’s beach retreat in San Simeon.

Recharge your writing life beside the sea. Join us January 19–21, 2024. The CenCal get-away-to-write retreat will be held at the Cavalier Oceanfront Resort in San Simeon, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Enjoy writing time, beach walks, ten-minute TED-style talks, campfire chats, and optional critique group sessions.

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Meet the Faculty…part 2!

13 Wednesday Sep 2023

Posted by in Agent's Perspective, Editor's Perspective, Los Angeles, Writers' Retreat

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Welcome back to Meet the Faculty! In anticipation of the SCBWI-L.A. Working Writers Retreat on September 29–October 1, we’re getting to know the agents and editors who will be sharing their time and expertise at the event. This week we spoke with agent Sera Rivers and editor Sydnee Monday. Read on to discover what they look for in books and tips for making the most of the retreat!

(And if you’re inspired and would like to hear more from Sera and Sydnee, you can register for the retreat here! Registration will close at 11:59pm on Thursday, September 14.)

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Introducing … The Faculty for the 2023 SCBWI-L.A. Working Writers Retreat

06 Wednesday Sep 2023

Posted by in Agent's Perspective, Los Angeles, Tips and Tools, Tri-Regional News, Writers' Retreat

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Lucy Hamilburg, owner and agent at The Hamilburg Agency

The SCBWI-LA Working Writers Retreat returns on September 29-October 1. There are still some seats left for this popular in-person gathering that puts you in the company of kidlit agents or editors and writing colleagues with a serious commitment to their craft. Our fabulous faculty members are looking forward to it, and they’ve been kind enough to field some mix-and-match interview questions about themselves to help break the ice. Whether you’re attending this year or just curious, there’s plenty to discover in their words.

First up: Lucy Hamilburg, who is a literary agent based in Los Angeles. A former teacher with a goal of motivating young people to love books, she’s now an agent who works to create long-lasting relationships with her clients, editors, and publishers, to amplify diverse voices, and to inspire and sustain life-long readers. Heading the kidlit side of her agency, Lucy represents picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. Read on to get acquainted.

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Announcing the Winner of the 2023 Sue Alexander Grant!

02 Wednesday Aug 2023

Posted by in Contests & Grants, SAG, Writers' Retreat

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by Brenda Scott Royce, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator

Julia Edwards, 2023 Sue Alexander Grant winner

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winner of the Sue Alexander Grant, Julia Edwards, for her middle grade novel “I Speak for the Trees”! Here’s what the judges had to say about her excerpt:

“The opening pages of this middle grade novel grabbed me immediately, and the witty narrator had me hooked. While funny and smart, the environmental angle put this over the top for me, in terms of a super layered and entertaining read.”

“Written in a fun, fast and lively style, ‘I Speak for the Trees’ begins at ‘drool o’clock,’ as protagonist Phoenix Moonbeam Reising, a.k.a. Fifi, is awakened by one of her sister’s frequent night terrors. The reader is quickly thrown into a fully drawn family in which the mom is a throwback to the hippie days, the dad has gone mysteriously missing, and the sister is suffering from climate change anxiety….Fifi herself is opinionated, sardonic, smart, and not afraid to get into a physical fight.”

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