I’ve had a lot of plates spinning in the last few months, but they’ve been fun plates to spin. A big one was prepping for and attending SCBWI-Southern Breeze’s 2018 writing-and-illustrating for kids (WIK) conference at the beginning of March. I presented sessions on non-rhyming picture books, revising young-adult and middle-grade novels for submission, and the state of the children’s book industry. The attendees were fabulous to work with, and the conference organizers made for smooth sailing for all.
Newbery Award-winner Linda Sue Park rocked the keynote. My other fellow faculty were..
Pat Cummings – Corretta Scott King Award winner and instructor at Pratt Institute
Nicki Carmack – Creative Director, Peachtree Publishers
Deborah Shine – Editor, Star Bright Books
John Cusick – Agent, Folio, Jr.
Erica Silverman – Agent, Stimola Literary
Matt Ringler – Editor, Scholastic
Janice Hardy – Author and founder of Fiction University
Kami Kinard – Author
Rebecca Petruck – Author
Heather Montgomery – Author
Jodi Wheeler Toppen, Author
Kristy Hunter – Agent, Knight Agency
Claire Easton – Agent, Painted Words
The Southern Breeze chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators offers support to writers and illustrators in Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida panhandle. It’s an amazing group of creative and supportive people, attendees and conference organizers alike. If you live in that area and write/illustrate for young people, do yourself a solid and check out the group.
