Should Christians mount a YesChristianYA campaign on Twitter? I asked that question and gave my answer on Novel Rocket on Saturday. Please read and weigh in if you’d like.

I didn’t do a companion post over here because I was still recuperating from a wonderful retreat I went to the weekend before. Yes it takes me a full week to recover after a retreat. I don’t sleep well in strange hotel rooms. Why go to retreats, then?

I’m glad you asked.

Retreat From the Cares of the World, Refine Your Plan, and Re-engage Culture

The Bible talks about retreating from things at times. It talks about retreating from food so that you can concentrate on prayer and on setting the oppressed free. I’m not sure how going hungry makes you better able to pray or better able to love the oppressed. Maybe it’s that you can sympathize with others when you suffer. Maybe it’s that preparing meals is so time consuming that if you forego it, you have time for other important things.

The Bible also talks about retreating from sex for a time to aid you in your prayers. Saint Paul warns husbands and wives to not do this for too long, so they won’t fall into temptation. But he seems to think that a time of self denial is a good way to draw near to God.

I won’t go on with this Bible lesson, but I think it’s worth noting that the point of the retreat is not to lie around on the beach all day or to drink and dance all night. The point of the retreat is to draw away from the good things that you partake of every day, in order to bend your mind around something new. Extended times devoted to prayer are not where we are to be every day. They are special times we go to when we are seeking direction. Fasts are not the norm, they are special times for us to align our hearts with God’s heart for those who suffer and for us to seek ways to help.

Writer’s retreats can be like spiritual retreats in that they can give you new direction for your writing and sometimes they even afford time to think about the readers you want to reach and about what you can give them.

There is something about getting away from the daily grind that enables you to hear better, to see more clearly, and to plan for the future.

The folks at my wonderful management company, Reclaim, had a retreat last weekend for their authors. We retreated from the everyday world to meet with one another, to encourage one another, and to juice up for continued work when we went back home.

Rebeca, Steve, and Jessica worked hard to remove from us the need to do any work, so we could focus on where we are going with our writing. They reserved our hotel rooms and paid for them. They fed us. They provided transportation between the hotel and the farm. And they gave us time to talk to one another, to find new friends, and to talk about our goals and get direction.

There are working retreats—where you get away from the world so you can write, write, write. And there are retreats where you study the craft of writing. That wasn’t what this retreat was about. This time we looked at where we came from and where we are going with this writing stuff. What does God want us to do with our writing? There were no right or wrong answers. The point was not for our managers to tell us what we should write. The point was for us to dig down and find out what we wanted to write and why. The point was to give us a sense of calling or a mission statement for our writing, maybe.

It was very helpful. It was hugely refreshing and encouraging to meet with the others.

Have you been on retreats? Have they changed the direction of your writing or put wind in your sails in some way?

I hate having my picture taken and I didn’t take any pictures of others, but here are some I stole off of the Facebook pages of more diligent retreat goers.

	Steve Feldman and Rebeca Seitz. I love this one. The two Reclaim Management partners, putting their heads together. And the gorgeous pond in the background.
	And there’s the third member of the Reclaim team on the left, Jessica Dotta. She’s in the dining room at Storybook Farm, along with Marti Pieper, Marinilda Leatherman, and Todd Hafer.
	Spouses were welcome at this retreat. This is David Perkins (Edwina‘s husband) fishing for…I think he said catfish.
	Lorraine Walker, Rebeca Seitz, and Lorraine’s daughter, Angel. I had to put this one in because it’s such a good picture of them.
	And here I am with Kristine McGuire in the hotel on the last morning.
	Another one at the hotel. Marti Pieper, me, and Elizabeth Fisher.
	Oh, yes, I spent some quality time in this baby. Loved lazing and praying and dreaming on a delicious fall day.

There were plenty more people there—this is but a smattering, to give you a glimpse of how much fun we had. We roasted hot dogs over open fires one night and made s’mores. We talked and visited and had a great time. I hope we do this yearly.

Back from The Writers Workshop at Chautauqua! Yowsers, what a conference! If you ever have a chance to go, take it. You will not regret it.

No pictures right now—the dog ate the cord I need to upload from my camera.

But…I learned so much about beautiful language that I’m tempted to think, “Who needs pictures when a thousand words can build a world and populate it with wonders.”

So I hope to take a several days and go over my notes and post what I learned at [wikipop]Chautauqua[/wikipop].

I will kick things off today with some thoughts on the flavor of this conference as opposed to all the other conferences I’ve been to.

Chautauqua is about:

• making friends (not networking).
• learning to write great books and articles (not just learning to sell them).
• encouragement (not competition).
• talking to authors and editors (not pitching to them).

Chautauqua offers:

• food for the body. (I have never eaten so well in my life, except for when I went to the Founders Workshop last fall. If you attend any Highlights Foundation conference or workshop, you can rest assured that you will be fed well.)
• food for the soul. (The lovely lake, the opera, the art, the old houses, the flowers, the absence of cars—all these work together to invite you to slow down and breathe and connect with God.)
• food for the mind. (A trip to a museum, plenty of programs at the Chautauqua Institution, some great speeches by conference speakers.)

Chautauqua staff members:

• are interested in you (rather than talking endlessly about themselves).
• give you two half-hour, one-on-one sessions where they talk about your writing (rather than talking endlessly about their own writing ¹).
• love to talk about good literature (rather than talking endlessly about the latest blockbuster ²).
• act like normal people (rather than acting like rock stars).

OK, I’m laying it on a little thick. Other conferences are good, too. I love SCBWI conferences and I really love the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. At some conferences you’ll find good food, at others you’ll find refreshment for your soul, and at every conference you’re sure to find some people who don’t think they’re rock stars. Still Chautauqua is unique. Kent Brown must be the world’s best host. He seems bent on making sure everyone is having a good time. The Writers Workshop at Chautauqua is a wonderful way to spend a week and change your life.

~~~~

1. Not that I have a great need to talk about myself and my work to strangers. I mean, I do have a blog wherein I can blab about myself all day long. It’s just that sometimes when you pay authors, agents, or editors to critique your work, it’s a little disappointing when they talk more about their work than yours, is all. ↩
2. Though I did overhear several people wishing that Mockingjay would come early. ↩

categories: Chautauqua, Conference Notes, Highlights Fdn., Retreats
tags: Chautauqua, children's writers, Highlights Fdn., the writers workshop at chautauqua, writing conference

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For more info go to http://writeoncon.com/

As promised, here’s some of what Amalia Ellison had to say at SCBWI LA ’08.

Amalia is young and she’s an assistant editor. She wanted to tell us why that was a good thing and how she could benefit us.

She is autonomous (at Abram’s Amulet Books, where she works now) and she acquires just as many books as anyone.

Abram’s is a mid-sized publisher in regards to the number of books they publish each year. But it’s a small publishers in terms of employees. They have only 80 employees, five in children’s books. Amalia is Amulet—all submissions go to her.

And the five people at Amulet do the same amount of work as a house with sixteen employees. So they are working hard and there is a slow response time.

The best bet in submitting is to submit to the bottom of the ladder because those on the bottom are so dedicated and so hungry. It’s also good to direct your submissions toward someone who loves what you love. It’s harder to target young assistant editors, but it’s worth the risk.

She says:

• “I have the energy to devote to you, if you have a kernel of talent.”
• “We see you as the golden ticket. When we take a first-time writer, we have something to prove. We want to show that we can spot potential and we can mold it.”

She likes:

• The Unknowns was her first big acquisition (six figure multi-book deal).
• books that will cross-over (to adult readers) such as The Book Thief, His Dark Materials, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
• PB’s that are funny, unique, and clever.
• MGs. She’s a huge fan and will take almost anything. She thinks that is a magical time in reading. It’s a formative time in life. She’ll look at all genres. She’d love to see a funny mystery MG.
• YAs with a sense of humor. A lot of teen books are angst-filled. That’s not her cup of tea. She’s very picky when it comes to YA.
• Mystery, fantastic language, quirky, and a little left of mainstream—she looks for these elements.

She doesn’t like:

• Goblins and dragons—she loves fantasy, just not goblins and dragons.

Some favorites from childhood:

• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
• The Westing Game
• Tuck Everlasting (the perfect book—you don’t have to dumb down your language or your sentences)
• Nancy Drew books
• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Holes
• Wayside School books
• Roald Dahl books

She closed with some figures on advances that I found very interesting, since almost no one likes to talk about money. She said an average advance for a first-time author is 10 to 15 thousand dollars. 7 thousand is low. If Amulet really feels committed they might go 20 thousand. If the author’s agent is a bad ass, they will go 25-30 thousand. Auctions go for more, obviously, and the publisher will take you for the lowest amount they can get away with.

As promised, here are my notes from SCBWI LA 2008 on Michael Stearns and Amalia Ellison.

Michael Stearns, first.

He’s now with Firebrand Literary. He has edited on and off for twenty years with Harcourt and HarperCollins.

Among the books he’s published:

• East by Edith Pattou
• Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
• Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
• Tangerine by Edward Bloor
• Gone by Michael Grant
• Whale on Stilts by M.T. Anderson

Also he’s published books by Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, Bruce Hale, Vivian Velde, Andrew Auseon, and Diane Duane.

What he likes?

• Novels, not picture books.
• Fine writing with great plots (ha ha, he and every other editor and agent in the world).
• He also likes to laugh. (Read the books he’s published—that kind of funny.)

What doesn’t he like?

• Issue books

Some random answers he gave to questions:

• He’s not looking for one book. Each staff member at SCBWI was supposed to give one word when they were introduced. Michael’s word was perseverance which tells me he’s looking for someone who is in it for the long haul, not looking for someone wanting to get rich quick. In the questions and answer time he said he doesn’t want to sign up one book. He used Edith Pattou as an example of how an author’s career can grow. Her first book sold 2000 copies. The next sold 5000. The third sold 40,000. Once the third book took off the first two sold, also.
• He wants authors who will trust him and work with him and believe him if he says, “This book is never going anywhere,” even.
• On the issue of issue books: Moral fiction is great. If fiction is well thought out, it tends to be moral. It has to be about something. But first it is a story with a hook—not an issue book. Why do kids want to read the book. Kids pick up Thirteen Reasons Why because it has an awsome hook.
• He will absolutely represent authors outside the US.
• Historical fiction? Tough to place right now. Lately people have been marrying historical with other genres—The Lux is an example. It’s an 1890′s Gossip Girls. So position your novel as and adventure or a mystery or something else. Don’t lead off with, “It’s a historical novel. . .”
• Fly by Night sold 40,000 in hard copy, but it kept bubbling just under the best seller lists so Harper was disappointed. They’d spent a lot of money on it and it didn’t meet expectations. The second novel is out– Well Witch
• Is he open to a series from a first time author? Pitches don’t tell him anything about the writer. Books live or die on the page. So, “No.” He wants to see writing. Submit the first book as a book, not a series.
• How to submit? Go to the website [firebrand literary] and upload a letter of submission. Upload a bio. Upload two pages. In two pages, he knows if he wants to see more. It’s easy to submit and they respond quickly.
• What do we put in the bio? Whatever shows you’re a professional—awards you have won, columns you’ve published for years. Basically he wants anything that lets him know you’re not an inmate. (But then, I think he changed his mind and said inmates who could write well would be fine.)
• What’s the difference between commercial and literary? Literary=vintage international novels you can’t finish. Nothing happens. Commercial=John Grisham. Action and plot. On the one hand you can have language so fantastic but you don’t give a damn. That’s literary. On the other hand you can have great action but the writing is terrible. He likes fine writing, so he thinks he might not recognize a poorly written blockbuster plot novel—he wouldn’t read far enough to see it was a great story. (I’m paraphrasing)
• How do you signal that in your query that you are simultaneously submitting? You say, “I’ve sent this to several agents, but I’d prefer to be repped by you because you’re brilliant. (heh heh)
• Age range? He loves middle grade and teen books.
• What if I have no awards or clips. He’ll read your query anyway. His favorite bio was from a guy who gave a bulleted list. Built the Brooklyn Bridge, Won Chewing Gum Contest, etc. (didn’t offer to represent the guy, though.)
• He wants writers who aren’t afraid of plot. Look at A Northern Light. It has a lot of plot. Plot is not “This and then this and then this. . .” That’s sequel. Plot is how it all ties together. You need to add big events. You need to make it worse for the characters. Push the characters. Take them to the worst possible place. “You have to write the book, you don’t think you can write.” (I’m not sure if he said that or if he was quoting someone.)

Oh, there was a lot more there than I thought. We’ll visit Amalia next week.