SCBWI loves celebrating our members’ successes and noteworthy news, and there are many! Read on to find out who’s got something to shout about. Digital high-fives welcome in the comments!
Great News!
28 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted in Great News!
Am I Too Old to Be an Illustrator?
21 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted in Illustrator's Perspective
Tags
Globe Pequot Press, Illustration, Illustrators Journal, kidlit, Lon Levin, networking, publishing
by Lon Levin
When are you too old to become an artist?
I always envisioned myself with white hair and a beard wearing drawstring pants and sandals wandering through my studio filled with large paintings sipping on some nice wine. A true Impressionist’s fantasy.
I had trained to become an illustrator. I graduated from Art Center in the late 1970’s and couldn’t find enough work to continue down that path. I thought I may not be good enough so I turned to art direction which I thought suited me better.
Hope in the Mail: An Interview with Wendelin Van Draanen
14 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted in Author's Perspective, Central Coast
Tags
fiction, Flipped, Hope In The Mail, inspiration, interview, nonfiction, Sammy Keyes, Wendlin Van Draanen, Writing Life
by Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison
Wendelin Van Draanen, a member of the SCBWI Central-Coastal California region, has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Rob Reiner directed Warner Brothers feature film.
Her first non-fiction book, Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing and Life, is part memoir, part writing guide, and part publishing insight.
ANN ROUSSEAU SMITH: Congratulations on your newest book Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing and Life! You have written many novels, why a non-fiction book, why now?
#KTWriteOn with Children’s Librarian Amber Morrell: Author Visits in the Time of Remote Learning
07 Wednesday Oct 2020
Posted in #KTWriteOn, Tips and Tools
Tags
Amber Morrell, Author Tips, authors, remote learning, remote school visits, tips, writing exercise, writing tips
Welcome to the Kite Tales Writing Challenge: #KTWriteOn. Each writing challenge is crafted by a kid-lit publishing professional to help spark ideas, creative energy, and get your work moving out into the world.
This exercise was created by Amber Morrell, an author of middle-grade fantasy from Orange County, CA, where she’s a member of SCBWI SoCal. She’s also a children’s librarian and professional storyteller: “With poems, puppets, and songs, I create narrative experiences for children of all ages.”
Today, Amber’s bringing us an exercise that challenges authors to rethink their school visit presentations in a time when almost everyone is learning from home, online. If you’ve never done a visit before, or aren’t there yet in your career, you’re still going to learn a lot about keeping kids engaged, and we can all use that! Write on!
Continue readingSmart Research—Or How to Approach Research for Your Manuscript
30 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools
by Colleen McAllister
Stuck in an endless hole of research? Overwhelmed by what you still must learn in order to write your manuscript? Is it stopping you from moving forward?
Here’s how to refocus and make a directed approach that will break you out of your standstill.
When I worked as a Hollywood film executive, part of my job was researching topics our CEO was interested in. I had to cover the topic quickly, gain a thorough working knowledge of it, then regurgitate what I learned in an interesting, easy-to-digest way. Topics ranged from the concept of Biohacking, to researching a video game company, to “futurists” and what they’re thinking about!
I usually had a few hours to turn my research around and zero knowledge of these topics beforehand. Under time pressure and a desire to impress my boss, I learned how to do comprehensive research in no time flat. Here are some tips to help you do the same!
#KTChat with Janie Emaus: Perseverance, Potato Latkes and #PitMad—After Mere Decades, I Was an Overnight Success
23 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in #KTChat, Author's Perspective
by Janie Emaus
Editor’s Note: Author Janie Emaus will be available to chat with you on Twitter this Friday (October 2) from 12 pm to 1 pm (Pacific Time). Keep on reading for her story of perseverance, #PitMad and success, and get your questions ready for the live Twitter chat!
PERSEVERANCE
I believe it’s the most important factor in my long writing career. I kept the valuable parts of each rejection (of which there were hundreds), tossed away the rest and put my butt back in the chair.
Last November my determination paid off.
Announcing New Illustration Contest for SCBWI-LA Members!
16 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in #KTIllustrates, Contests & Grants
Similar to SCBWI-LA’s annual Twitter Banner Contest, Kite Tales wants to invite our members to take part in #KTIllustrates, a new illustration contest to reward and promote your work! The contest will begin with a prompt, but it’s up to you on how you want to illustrate it. It can be either conceptual or literal, spot or spread, and keeping the idea of the prompt as it would apply to children’s books. We encourage every medium, genre, and age range! (Maybe you’d be inspired to do a cover piece for a middle grade, for example?) All are welcome, as long as the final entry stays within the guidelines posted on the entry page.
Community Corner with Barbara A. Bagwell: How to Own the Name Writer
09 Wednesday Sep 2020
When you dream something and envision it, goals drive you onwards.
At the encouragement of my childhood friend, I became an SCBWI member and attended the 2013 Los Angeles summer conference. Although I wrote marketing copy or non-fiction often at work, and had developed stories and poems for fun, I never considered myself a writer. In my misbelief, only English majors became authors. That was not me. I could not write like them.
Regardless, I attended the 2013 SCBWI Summer Conference.
Ask an Editor: Should I Be Querying Now?
02 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in Ask an Editor
Tags
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Christine – With all that’s going on in the world, should I be querying? Thanks.
—Lynn, Los Angeles
Dear Lynn – Query, just be sure to check the agency’s or publisher’s website first. If they are closed to submissions, it should state that.
Community Corner with Monica Sagaser: SCBWI Critique Groups and Taking the Leap
26 Wednesday Aug 2020
Posted in Author's Perspective, Community Corner
At the start of quarantine, I checked in with my writer friends. All of them reported they simply couldn’t write or open a book. They berated themselves, something painfully easy for writers. The anguish of loss and uncertainty during this global pandemic was taking a toll on their creativity. Feeling no different, I was terrified of even glancing at my half-baked manuscript. I feared it would go unfinished.
I didn’t want that to happen, so I took a leap.
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