Whispering Pines 2011

I had a wonderful time this weekend at Whispering Pines, a writer’s retreat in Rhode Island organized by SCBWI. It’s so incredibly beautiful and peaceful there. I just love that place. I learned a ton from the extremely knowledgeable and talented mentors, in particular from the talks on revision by Cynthia Lord, Cheryl Klein, and Ammi-Joan Paquette.
But the best part was connecting with friends, old and new--my ex-critique group buddy Sarah Albee, fellow inky Lena Goldfinch, blueboarder KarenB, and old WP friends Laurie Murphy, Mary Pierce, Julie Kingsley, Janet Costa Bates, Liz Dubois and many, many, more.
What else? Let me see … I carpooled with Natalie Reid and Alisa Libby, marveled at Jennifer Thermes's gorgeous artwork and maps, was very moved by WP organizer Lynda Hunt’s spontaneous sharing of her writing journey (no, didn’t record it for YouTube, Lynda), enjoyed participating in the YA peer critique group and kidlit jeopardy (we came second!), and even won a beautiful American Girl doll and book for my daughter in the raffle. The food was awesome too!

So, lots to remember and hold on to there. I’m currently reading my (signed copy!!) of Second Sight by Cheryl Klein to continue the learning from the weekend. And looking forward to next year already :).

A sad farewell ...

Karate trophies, teddy bears, ballet shoes, dance dress ... these belong in a child's room not her wake. Ayesha Chauhan was just seventeen when she passed away on March 17th after a two year battle with cancer. Can't say how sad these past few days have been ... :(

Appropriately, her memorial was on a beautiful, sunny, first day of spring. It felt like half the High School showed up for it. Click here to see the pictures.

Ayesha was my first teenage beta reader. I was nervous about putting my story in the hands of a real teenager, but I hoped to distract her from the discomforts of her treatment. When I got the ms back the first few pages were covered in careful notes, but after that, according to to her mom, she "just wanted to see what happened next". She loved it. I know that's common for friends and family, but I was still very touched by her feedback. If that novel ever sees ink I'm dedicating it to her memory. I wish so very much that I didn't have to.

Writing workshop in RI

Yesterday was a good day! My local critique group trekked down to Providence RI to workshop our manuscripts with editor/author Kara LaReau. Given that I hadn't seen them since last December (Jan got canceled because of snow, and I couldn't get to Feb because of the flu) I was thrilled simply to see everyone. But the workshop itself was awesome too.

(Natalie Reid, Me)

Other positives: Natalie and I drove down together, so had time for a long chat. I didn't get lost! The library was beautiful, though not as beautiful as the BPL, of course ;). The four liters of hot water I hauled over for the tea didn't leak or spill.

Kara was wonderful! The picture of her (left) is from her Bluebird Works website. I'm embarrassed to say I took not one individual picture of her, so had to steal this. We were all in awe of her on account of her, you know, having edited books like Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux etc. After which we were going to read our humble stuff, YIKES! But she was so sweet and unassuming and truly gave each of our mss her full attention. She was liberal with praise and constructive feedback, and brainstormed some great ideas to fix the problems we identified together.

(Allison Vinkels, Amy Benoit)

I was horrified to realize that I had to read first, since they decided on alphabetical by last name order. This had something to do with my not being there for the last crit. meeting, I suspect (Thanks a lot, gals ...) I managed to read a couple of pages without swallowing my tongue. We'd settled on 15 minutes of critique for each piece--Kate did a great job being timekeeper--and spent most of my time talking about my synopsis. I hate writing them and really appreciate the input from Kara on how to make it better.

(Kara LaReau, Kate Narita, JoAnn DiVerdi Miller, Sue Lovejoy, Natalie Reid)

Then we went around in order and worked through everyone's writing. Kara's insights really gave so much energy to the discussion! I don't even know where the time went. Now we're all thinking over the individual critiques we had from Kara and from each other. I know my synopsis is definitely going to improve as a result of this exercise. And we'll have a LOT to talk about at our next critique meeting. Like I said ... a good day! I should mention that what made the workshop possible at all was a grant from our local SCBWI, so thank you SCBWI! You rock!

(Deborah Orzack, and last but NOT least, the lovely and talented, April Jones Prince)

Belated thanks and links ...

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but various things got in the way. Better late than never, so here goes. Belated but heartfelt thanks to--

Alisa Libby : For trekking out to talk to my daughter’s girl scout troop last month and for the inspiring and fun discussion she had with them. Thanks also for bringing me flowers, Alisa. You’re a sweetheart! Check out Alisa’s blog post about the visit, Pay me in cookies.

Heather Kelly : For being the designated driver on our trip to the wilds of Westford for the Central Mass Kidlit tweetup. And for bringing a camera :). Thanks to her we have pictures of the lovely group of writers at the tweetup, and of our adventures at the gas station afterwards. Check them out at her blog, Edited to within an inch of my life.

And last but not least …

Uma Krishnaswami : For the best and most in-depth critique I’ve had of my ms. Her sage advice helped me put my setbacks behind me and get back to work on my revision again. I can’t thank her enough! Speaking of Uma, I should mention that my review of her beautiful picture book Out of the Way, Out of the Way is currently up at incultureparent.com, a parent webzine with a global awareness. Check it out at incultureparent.com.