INK Sisters Write

Dear Kim (and friends!), I attended a workshop last week with Sarah Aronson, Cori McCarthy, Emma Dryden, Laura Sibson, and Mary Winn Heider. The workshop, GETTING TO KNOW YOUR NOVEL , was part online/part on-site. And, let me tell you, for as fabulous as the lectures were online, the retreat opened my eyes to so many discoveries. THANKS, Sarah, Cori, Emma, Laura, and Mary! Most of the week I spent with Allie and Jess... my dearest fictional friends. Allie and Jess travel with the carnival for their final summer together. The critiques received at this workshop helped me shape the story I want to write (which, turns out, is different from the one I wrote 😁). I'm journaling tons of new backstory and exploring the relationship between Allie and Jess. 💜 Emma Dryden 💜 gave a three hour lecture on REVISION. (That's not a typo-- 3 hour lecture!) And it was captivating. Some of her tips are already in my rotation. ( I wrote about them last week .)  Emma gave us page...

Dear Kim, Thank you for the William Joyce recap. I really enjoyed his talk and more so was impressed with the way he kicked off the #NY16SCBWI conference. There was a certain amount of: MAKE IT WORK air to this year's conference. Don't you agree? It seemed to pulse with themes like HARD WORK, WRITE...NOW, and DO THE WORK. All themes that I can get behind. I was also pleasantly surprised with the level of guidance in each breakout session this year, at least the sessions that I was able to attend. It is difficult to fit lecture, writing exercises, and leave time for questions when only given one hour per breakout session. Alvina Ling's session on plot gave me a bucket full of strategies (and tangible models from Alvina's rockstar editorial perspective), all crammed into a single hour. Alvina began her session with a show of hands. How many start with character? Setting? A single scene? And how may start with plot? In the room of one hundred or so folks the fewest ...

OR The Long Title: How to Incorporate Revision Notes in Your Manuscript  (I like mine better) Moderated by Author, Martha Brockenbrough By Friday afternoons, most of us fizzle and droop after a long week. We're ready to shed our work clothes for our yoga pants and sweatshirts. For attendees of the conference, we already sat through a morning Agent Panel and two Group Intensives, but rather than sneak away for a caffeinated beverage, we gathered back in the ballroom for the Final Editor Panel.  I LOVED this session. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED. The Editors got along brilliantly. They were smart, funny, and nice, oh so nice. They LOVE books as much as we do, and they understand that it's tough being under the microscope--but a wonderful, marvelous, amazing relationship could turn an ordinary book into something extraordinary, provided we remember they're regular people just like us. (Sometimes Cliche adjectives get the point across! Catch my drift:) Sara Sargen t, ...