Tags
Andrea Custer, contests, critique groups, critiquing, pitching, SAG, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, Sue Alexander, Sue Alexander Grant, writing
By Karol Ruth Silverstein, SCBWI-L.A. Contest Coordinator
It’s time once again to polish up those manuscripts and submit to the Sue Alexander Grant, the winner of which receives a guaranteed spot and free tuition to the SCBWI-L.A. September 2018 Working Writers Retreat.
The WWR is an intense critiquing weekend with critique sessions, revision time, and parties — including karaoke! The retreat culminates in a first-pages pitch session with four acquiring editors and agents.
I recently caught up with last year’s Sue Alexander Grant winner, Andrea Custer, for her insight on the retreat, how it influenced her writing, and why you should apply for this grant to attend.
KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN: Did you put in a lot of work on your manuscript before submitting it to the Sue Alexander Grant or did you have a polished manuscript ready to go?
ANDREA CUSTER: I workshopped it with my critique group as I was writing the first draft. They are an amazing group, quite astute, and so I had the benefit of their comments early on and had already revised the first half of the manuscript based on their feedback. Submitting it for consideration for SAG was actually a bit of an impulse! I saw the reminder on Facebook that the submission deadline was coming up, and thought why not go for it? I had about a week to re-read, polish, and get it ready. I found out I’d won on my birthday! It was the best gift I’ve ever gotten.
KRS: What was your favorite part of the retreat? What was most valuable? Continue reading
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.
*Editor’s Note: After a successful SCBWI Los Angeles Writers Day, whether you attended or not, we thought you might be looking for more ways to “level up” your writing, no matter the stage of your career, so we asked author Ann Whitford Paul, who belongs to a lot of groups, to share some community-building, group-oriented ways you can do just that for this quarter’s “Community Corner.” Read on for her fabulous insights!
Process fascinates me, in part because I find it challenging. It’s tempting to focus on other things that start with p: publication, perfection, panic, pretzels (snacks, help, right?) and, of course, the desire to polish off a manuscript and be finished.
Our 2018 Middle-Grade Mentor is Mary Hershey.
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.
I fell into the children’s publishing world by accident.
Have you ever wanted to pick the brain of today’s Young Adult reader? The Minglers at the San Fernando Valley LitMingle did, which is why we invited five voracious teen readers to our June LitMingle to share what they read and why. As to be expected, their answers were as diverse as their backgrounds, but listening to them was extremely insightful. It would be impossible to summarize all the insight given by these bright young readers, but here are a few highlights*:
Kite Tales 