Tags
Always The Almost, Edward Underhill, mentoring, mentors, mentorship, Nicole Maggi, SCBWI community, What They Don't Know
by Nicole Maggi
Last June, I handed in a major rewrite on a write-for-hire project, took a deep breath, and turned my attention to a new venture: the SCBWI-L.A. Mentorship. I had spent several weeks earlier in the spring selecting the recipient of the Mentorship, and I was excited to get to work with my mentee, pre-published author Edward Underhill.
Over the course of the summer, as the pandemic grew worse and the world darkened, and my own creative spark began to dim, working with Ed was a beautiful bright spot, like a brilliant star in a moonless sky. His novel, a joyous trans coming-of-age rom-com, was a true escape every time I opened the manuscript.
The SCBWI-L.A. Mentorship program alternates between picture book writers, illustrators and novelists. And this year, it’s the novelists’ turn again.
For the past four years, SCBWI-L.A. has been offering mentorships to pre-published members, switching between writers and illustrators. It will be illustrators’ turn again in 2019, and that’s where out PAL illustrators come in!
Author/Illustrator Cassandra Federman was born and raised in Massachusetts where she spent her childhood reading comic books, playing action figures, drawing super heroes, and participating in all things nerdy. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University and moved to Los Angeles, where she became a hand model. When she isn’t pretending to be famous people’s hands, she’s creating art and literature for children. She is the 
SCBWI-L.A. is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2018 Mentorship Contest. These two lucky writers will each enjoy a six-month mentorship with their respective PAL member mentors. To all those who applied but were not selected, please know that our mentors considered the competition very steep. Your applications definitely made it difficult for them to choose their mentees.
It’s common knowledge that having a mentor can impact your writing career in wonderful ways. Sometimes the impact is immediately apparent; other times it takes a while for the coaching a mentee receives to translate into career success.
One year ago authors E. Katherine Kottaras and Catherine Linka answered our call for published members interested in mentoring. Since May, they have been working with their chosen mentees. As we now 
Kite Tales 