SCBWI CenCal Writer's Day

This past weekend, I went to SCBWI CenCal Writer's Day in Simi Valley, California. The speakers were all pretty amazing.

Celia Lee, of Scholastic, talked about the importance of making book maps and dummies to help plan out our stories, as well as to help us judge the pacing of our work, and to look for any plot holes.

John Cusick, of Folio Literary Management, stressed the importance of staying sane while writing, including carving out a dedicated space to work in, and giving ourselves plenty of time to be creative.

Kelly Delaney, of Alfred A. Knopf, described the many different kinds of villains we write about, and the need to keep them three dimensional--not just use them as a plot device, but to help readers understand the source of their badness!

Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy, of Blue Slip Media, shared their thoughts about marketing. They suggested that marketing does not take place only before a book is sold, or after, but at all stages, including building your social media presence and getting your promotional materials in place. They gave useful feedback on website pages, and stressed the need for clean, professional, easily-read and -navigated sites.

And our Spotlight Speakers, local authors who have recently had books come out, provided a ton of encouragement. It was incredibly inspiring to hear about their journeys, and some of the wisdom they gathered along the way!

Here are the Spotlight Speakers and their books:

Rebecca Langston-George, FOR THE RIGHT TO LEARN: MALALA YOUSAFZAI'S STORY, Capstone

Robin Yardi, THEY JUST KNOW, Arbordale Press

Julie Dillemuth, author of LUCY IN THE CITY: A STORY ABOUT DEVELOPING SPATIAL THINKING SKILLS, Magination Press

--Lynn