INK Sisters Write

Dear Alison and readers, Have I got a surprise for you...Guess who stopped by to chat? Any guesses? No peeking at the title. Wait, I guess it's too late. Okay, I'll tell you anyway, KM Walton, the YA Author of all of these books... Hi K.M., Thanks so much for stopping by to talk to me. Care for a chai latte or a glass of wine? It’s Friday. Let’s go for the wine. Excellent choice. I’ll have one as well. So tell me, when did you become a writer? Despite my debut novel releasing when I was 44, my stacks of journals from childhood onward prove that I’ve always been a writer. Yeah, it took me a while to figure out what I really wanted to be when I grew up. The bulging folder filled with scraps of paper and napkins of all my “book” ideas and “story” ideas didn’t make me realize my true calling until six or seven years ago. So tell me, what do you love about writing? Possibility. I’m a wildly anticipatory person, always have been. A dreamer for...

Dear Alison, Last weekend, we had a lot of fun, didn't we? Friday night we entertained loads of children (adults too) at the Night of 1000 Reading Stars. You were a gazelle, I was an ox, and we read XO, OX: A Love Story by Adam Rex and Illustrated by Scott Campbell. I mean it's kind of our story...Two characters writing love letters to each other--could there be a book any more perfect?    Saturday, we were faculty at the Think Like a Writer event sponsored by the Northeast Pennsylvania Reading Association and the Panuska College, University of Scranton. We sat on our first panel together and shared our own connections to story. Mine began with the chickenpox. Yours began with a child's desire to find a safe place--that safe place was the library where you could visit far off lands.  After our panel, we broke away from each other to present our own workshops. Lindsay Barrett George and you discussed  ways to bring picture book formats in...

Dear Alison, Picture it: the first week of June 2013. The sun shining, the lilacs blooming, and me, a young writer armed with a suitcase full of new clothes, two young adult manuscripts, shiny and new and ready to be published, (READ: naive and nowhere near ready to be published), and a burning desire to learn more about the revision process from two revision masters, Harold Underdown and Eileen Robinson at the Highlights Foundation Revision Retreat.  I should mention the second suitcase I packed. The one filled with balled nerves, reservations, and self-doubt brought on by the handful of rejections I received from agents. (READ AGAIN: naive and nowhere near ready to be published.)  It was my first visit to the Highlights Foundation, my first experience as a writer attending a writing workshop, my first time away from my three kids, my first time spending a week working on my dream since my husband and I started our family. A week filled with firsts... My first impress...

In May, our SCBWI Eastern PA Chapter held our annual Pocono Retreat at the Highlights Foundation in Boyds Mill, PA. We started out as strangers but became FAST FRIENDS--the beauty of a writer's workshop or conference. Friday started out quiet and then Sunday morning bustled with conversation, as witnessed above. Workshops and conference create opportunities to network and talk to people who GET you from the moment your eyes meet. SCBWI and the Highlights Foundation offer loads of different writer and illustrator opportunities throughout the year. And if finances are an issue, scholarships are available. I received scholarships to the May 2013 SCBWI EPA Pocono Retreat and 2012 Highlights Workshop Kid's Book Retreat with Harold Underdown and Eileen Robinson. Both experiences left me with a wealth of information about the world of writing and lifelong friends who cheerlead for me to this day. Take a chance on you. Expand your ho...