2010 Raleigh Schmooze a Huge Success

The 5th Annual Raleigh SCBWI Schmooze (hosted, as usual, by my critique group, the Goalies,) was a huge success again this year!

Speaker John Claude Bemis shared his creative process and helped us think seriously about our own.

John's Clockwork Dark Steam Punk middle grade series began with the book "The Nine Pound Hammer," and the second book of three "The Wolf Tree" will be released in summer 2010, followed by the 3rd book, "The White City," coming out in 2011. Another book of his, not from the Clockwork Dark Series, called "The Prince who fell from the sky," will be released in 2012. Go John!

We mingled and munched and made plans for the future.

Writers shared tips with each other after John's presentation.

Networking and signing up for critique groups.

We spent time brainstorming titles and ideas, chatting over cheese and wine, and checking out the books of several published SCBWI members who were present. It was a great time of networking and learning -- and John even got us out of our seats to get our creative juices flowing with a little bit of theatre. Check it out!

Who says writers can't act? They didn't even practice ahead of time!

It was a great Schmooze! Thanks to all who came to join us. Kudos to those who came all the way from Fayetteville, Durham, Goldsboro -- and the Raleighites. And huge thanks to John Claude Bemis for sharing his creative process with us, and leading us in great activities to stimulate our own creative brains!

Come Schmooze With Us!

Come join us for the Annual Raleigh SCBWI Schmooze hosted by the Goalies (my wonderful critique group). It's a wine and cheese, networking, learning, all around fun event.

Our guest speaker this year is Middle Grade Author John Claude Bemis, a prior elementary school teacher who now writes middle grade novels for a living, and who also plays a mean guitar! His debut novel, The Nine Pound Hammer, is the first in the Clockwork Dark series, published by Random House. His next book in the series, The Prince Who Fell from the Sky, will come out in 2012.

Come fellowship with other children's/YA writers, learn some new tricks of the trade, brainstorm about your current or future book through the activities John Claude will be presenting... and if you're new to children's/teen writing, come on in and get to know us.

FREE.

April 18th, 3-6pm.

Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh, NC.

* For anyone coming from a distance, or for those coming directly after the Carolina Spring Retreat in Chapel Hill, there are two restaurants in the Quail Ridge parking lot for lunch and fellowship before the event.

See you there!

A Great NEW Resource for Writers

There is so much great info. for YA writers out there on various blogs.

• Some agents and editors share what types of submissions they're looking for.
• Some folks interview other professionals about their individual writing techniques, and tips.
• Some people give away fun stuff or hold writing contests!

But honestly -- how many of us have the time to sort through them all for the good stuff? We've got to really focus on putting most of our time into our own writing.

Luckily, my friend, YA writer Beverley BevenFlorez, has come to our rescue! In her weekly Friday post called "The Writer's Well," Beverly compiles a short summary of some of the most helpful blog posts out there in YA/Kid Lit Blog Land for that week. All the rest of us have to do is skim down, find the ones that look the most interesting to us, and click on the links, and EUREKA! -- the info. is at our finger tips. And it only took half a second!

Check it out a Beverley's blog today!

Thanks Beverley. Great idea!