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Writer’s Day in L.A.
Yesterday I attended the SCBWI-LA’s 30th Annual Writer’s Day. It was my second official writing conference since taking up writing seriously again. I was a little anxious about attending at first. I kinda felt like that little five year old girl I once was. I was always nervous about having to move for the 3rd time in two years and then go to a new school and make new friends all over again. Well I’ve come a long way since then and I am happy to report – I loved every minute of it!The camaraderie with fellow writers was excellent. I also felt very inspired by the speakers of the…
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I’ve joined SCBWI!
At the recommendation of several fellow writing friends and Children’s book author Merrily Kutner I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in October 2010. As I am not yet a Published Author I am currently an Associate Member. Here is a link to my profile page if you’d like to take a peek! I cannot express to you how invaluable this organization has been for me thus far. The bulletins are jam-packed with information ~ inspirational stories, online resources, contests, workshops, and much more. When I read the March/April 2011 issue I was more inspired to write that I had been in some time. Ideas that had been…
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A story reborn…
Out of the ashes rose a phoenix…wait scratch that, a raven. When I was thirteen years old I began my love affair with dark, paranormal fiction (back then I think the whole section of the bookstore I was drawn to was simply called “Horror.” One of my favorites was Of Saints and Shadows by Christopher Golden. Some of the vampires in the story could transform into animals. This inspired me to write a novel about a young shape-shifter on a quest. I called it Ravyn’s Quest. I began typing the story on my tiny Mac Classic. I actually made 3/4 of the way through the manuscript before I realized I didn’t…
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My Personal Journey
I think it is quite apropos that my new music obsession (actually an old music obsession that has been rekindled) is with the rock band “Journey,” because I have been on quite an interesting personal journey of my own. You might notice my lack of blogging the past few months. Well, in a nutshell…here is what happened. I was blessed enough to enjoy a family trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth ~ Tahiti, in early Nov. 2010. When I returned to a gloomy, rainy California I had a bit of a case of the post-vacation blues. Okay, more the a bit, more like a lot! Just…
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Query Time
I am so excited to have sent out my first set of queries and manuscript submissions for my first children’s book, Iris the Colorful Spider in the past few weeks! If the query package process is foreshadowing the road I’m on it is going to be a bumpy one! I spent several weeks researching publishing houses, manuscript submission guidelines, how to write query/cover letters and more! I also spent a big chunk of time on getting to know the books each publisher produces and whether or not it seemed like my manuscript would be a good match for them. Once I had completed all of these things I was ready…
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Book Review: 2011 Children’s Writer and Illustrator’s Market
I have been absent from the blogosphere for about two weeks now, sorry Readers. It has been an insanely busy two weeks! I made it through the first two weeks of school and a weekend trip to San Luis Obispo for the Central Coast Writer’s Conference (more to come on the conference soon!). Our drive for the trip was a total of 10 hours in one weekend. I have also spent this last week trying my hand at queries/manuscript submissions, which has been quite a challenging, yet enjoyable ride thus far. During my free times in the evenings I have been avidly reading, writing, and researching. One of my current…
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Loving my new Kindle
A few weeks ago my husband bought me a Latest Generation Amazon Kindle for my birthday. I don’t have any other kindle models to compare it to, but nonetheless I am very happy with it. It sure beats what I was using before. Last December my brother-in-law gave my hubby an itouch for Christmas. At night time, when he wasn’t using it I hijacked it and instantly downloaded the Kindle application for itouch. From December 2009 until now I had been reading books off of the itouch. The screen was tiny and I had to turn pages every few seconds but it did the job. So in essence, in the…
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My Year 30 Epiphany- I want to be a Writer.
I had a milestone birthday recently. I am now 30 years old. You know it feels less weird to say that out loud than I thought it would. I’m genuinely surprised. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I feel settled into my life or maybe that I am moving in a new direction in my life? It is likely a combination of both of these things and more. I finally feel like I’m on a new path.You know how they say a career has an average lifespan of approximately seven years and then you starting feeling the itch to pursue a new one? Well a few…
