Monday, August 25, 2014

WriteOnCon 2014: An Online Children's Writers Conference

Yay! It's almost time for WriteOnCon! I'm still on my blog break, but I couldn't let this slip by without mentioning it.

What is it?

A totally free, online conference for children's writers (donations in support of the conference are gratefully accepted).

I've attended at a couple of these online conferences in previous years. I've gotten valuable feedback on my writing, made new writing friends and learned a lot about what agents are looking for in their submission folders.

To see the list of fabulous agents and editors who will be sneaking around to get a peak at writer's latest projects, check out Announcing our Ninja Agents for 2014.

To get information on twitter pitch events, for a chance to have your pitch critiqued by agents, visit Pitch Event Instructions.

When is it?  August 26-27, but the forums are already open and writers are posting their work for critique and feedback from each other.

How to participate:

You need to register at http://www.writeoncon/forums if you want to participate in the critique forums (where the Ninja Agents will be on the prowl).

Otherwise, just visit their website at http://www.writeoncon.com







nCon is an Online Children’s Writers Conference created by writers, for writers.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Cute Dogs and A Break

My blog posts have been less frequent this summer, because I've been immersed in working on a new middle grade novel. I still don't have a title but I've finished the first draft! One of the characters in my novel was inspired by this little cutie:



I'm dog-sitting her for a while, along with her big friend:


And of course, I still have my own dog:


Some days it sounds like a dog kennel around here! Perhaps I'll be inspired to write some more dog stories. 


Besides looking after the dogs, I've also been participating in Teachers Write with Kate Messner, Jo Knowles, Gae Polisner and Jen Vincent. It's been very motivating, and has encouraged me to set some goals for August:

1) revise one of my as-yet-unqueried middle grade novels, which is about a girl who heads off into the wilderness for a competition to become the co-host of an adventure television show

2) write a new picture book, to keep up with my goal of 12 picture books in 12 months (In January, I joined Julie Hedlund's 12 x 12 picture book challenge group.)



Between my writing goals, the dogs and setting up my newly renovated classroom, I'm going to be a little busy. So I'm going to take a blog break for August. 

Happy reading and writing! I look forward to returning to a more regular posting schedule in September.