I’m so excited to announce that starting January 15, 2019, I am the SCBWI Regional Advisor of Pennsylvania: West! It’s a true honor and I’m really eager to build a new leadership team and to work to support the creative members of our region. We have some great events planned for 2019 already and we’re… Read more »
SCBWI
Five Focal Points for Revising A Manuscript
I am training for a triathlon. That means I have to practice three different ways of racing: swimming, biking and running. Each one requires me to work on my form for that sport. But the form for each sport has lots of moving parts: arms, legs, head, neck, spine. When you’re practicing any of those,… Read more »
Advice for Writers from an Agent
In May, I attended the SCBWI Western PA Agent Workshop. I learned a lot and got some excellent advice for writers on pitches, storytelling, and revision and I wanted to share it with you! Pitching Advice for Writers While they need to be short, they still need to include the main character, the obstacle and some… Read more »
How to Run a Critique Group
What do you need to run a good critique group? First you need people. But once you have enough people, running a good critique group needs something more than just kind words and cheerleading. They need structure. We’re working on tightening up our critique group structure in our SCBWI group and I feel like we’ve… Read more »
SCBWI Western PA Fall Conference
In November 2015 I attended my third fall conference hosted by SCBWI Western PA. I felt very excited for this conference, mostly because I felt very prepared. It’s nice to be past the novice stage and to be heading to an event with clear goals and specific things I wanted to learn. For instance, Valentine’s Day and… Read more »
12×12 Picture Book Writing
It’s November and like many writers, I’m at the early stages of NaNoWriMo. I love NaNoWriMo because it helps me produce one big project, a 50,000 word novel in a specific period of time. But I’m not only writing novels. I write magazine articles throughout the year and try my hand at short stories here… Read more »
Brain Food: SCBWI and SWPFSP
I hate being hungry. I can’t concentrate and I’m really grouchy. Imagine if you were a kid who was hungry all summer. But here in Pittsburgh, that’s not an imaginary thing. It’s real. In fact, there are more than 45,000 children in Allegheny County that are considered to be food insecure, and 73,500 children… Read more »