I love attending writer’s conferences, workshops, and critique groups with fellow children’s and young adult writers. I get to spend time with like-minded, spirited individuals who love children’s books as much as I do. And, I don’t get people looking at me funny for enjoying them either!
This past summer, I received a wonderful piece of advice while attending a Children’s Writers Schmooze — ‘Expand your horizons. Don’t limit yourself to events just for children’s writers. Branch out! Explore events for other genres as well.’
I percolated over the idea for some time and finally decided to take the plunge. I signed up for the SDSU Writer’s Conference in San Diego, and will be posting recaps of it very soon! Writers from all genres were present at this event — and I was very nervous to attend. I am so happy I did! Most sessions didn’t address my genre specifically, but nonetheless I was able to pick out information relevant to me and soak it all in. I was also exposed to many ideas about the new digital and technological world of publishing (more on that soon too.)
One of my favorite sessions was put on by author, Angela Hunt, entitled Evoking Emotion. It was wonderful! She had a box of tissues on the counter for all of us — just in case. I didn’t think I would need them, but oh how wrong I was about that! She used various videos as discussion points in discovering how they evoked such a strong emotional response. Take a look at the video below about Christian the Lion Cub and see what I mean. (The singer featured in the video is the Late Whitney Houston. May she rest in peace. My heart goes out to her family and friends.)