The folks at the Highlights Foundation sent me the flyer below, advertising their upcoming Founders’ Workshop.

Oh, if I could go, I’d be there. I went to a Founders’ Workshop a year ago and it was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. I think that’s because we women are always serving others and for that week I was being served the whole time. It was incredible. They think of everything—you will want for nothing. You will be given good food, good sleep, good conversation, good instruction, and good friends. I’m not kidding. If you can go, you should go. Take with you a desire to be refreshed and go.

Nine more days to sign up—the application period ends March 25.

You’ve written a novel, something that everyone seems to talk about doing but almost no one manages. But you . . . you have done it. What an accomplishment!

Now what? Once your book lands on an editor’s desk, it has about three seconds to grab the editor and hold his or her attention. Three seconds. After all of your work, your struggle, the heart and soul you have put into those pages. Three seconds. Your next step is crucial: you must be certain—before you send the book out—that it is ready for editorial review.

The Highlights Foundation, along with Newbery-honor author Carolyn Coman, created the Whole Novel Workshop for writers like you. This workshop does what an MFA program does—without the added time and expense. It provides the writer with an accomplished mentor. That mentor will read and critique your entire novel before the workshop begins and then work with you for a full week, guiding you as you polish your book so that an editor will pick it up and not want to put it down until the last page has been turned.

During the Whole Novel Workshop, you will enjoy
• focused one-on-one response to your entire novel in progress from
acclaimed author Carolyn Coman or accomplished editor Joy Neaves;
• group critiques;
• seminars on technique and craft; and
• ample time to write and revise in a private, rustic cabin.

Give your work its best chance to pass the three-second test. Devote a week of your summer (June 5–12, 2011) to polishing your novel at the Whole Novel Workshop.

ABOUT THE FACULTY
Carolyn Coman’s most recent book for children, The Memory Bank, is a graphic story book created in collaboration with artist Rob Shepperson.

Other books for children and young adults include What Jamie Saw (National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor book), Many Stones (National Book Award finalist and Printz Honor book), The Big House, and Sneaking Suspicions. She has taught fiction writing at Harvard Extension, and been on the faculty of Vermont College and Hamline University, in their MFA programs for Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Joy Neaves has ten years of experience as an editor of children’s picture books, poetry, and middle-grade and young-adult fiction. She has overseen the publication of several internationally acclaimed authors, including the Australian writers Judith Clarke and Steven Herrick, and the Swedish writer Per Nilsson. She is currently the Assistant Director of the University Writing Center at UNC Asheville and a freelance editor at namelos.com.

Applications for the Whole Novel Workshop are being accepted through March 25, 2011. You will be notified of acceptance status by April 8, 2011. Only eight students will be accepted, to ensure that each novel receives the close attention it deserves. To apply, contact Jo Lloyd at 570-253-1192, e-mail jo.lloyd@highlightsfoundation.org, or request an application online.

Highlights Foundation Founders Workshops take place near Honesdale, Pennsylvania. You’ll stay in your own cozy cabin, surrounded by 1,300 wooded acres and hiking trails. Workshop fee includes individual cabins; all meals (provided by a top-notch chef); airport pickup service, if needed; and an intimate teaching setting at the homeplace of the Founders of Highlights for Children.

Your email:

 

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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1 comment

Oh yeah! I got a scholarship to Chautauqua!

I’m so excited. I’ve never been, but I have heard wonderful things about this conference. I went to a Founder’s Workshop last fall and loved every minute of it. After that I decided to make Chautauqua my conference this year. (I try to go to at least one a year—two or three usually. I’m a conference junkie. I just love hanging out with writers. They are so talented and funny and energetic—especially children’s authors.) But I did a little twelve-day visit to the hospital several months ago and that took a big bite out my plans to play a [wikipop]free bird[/wikipop], conference groupie, artiste-type person this year.  How can you go conference hopping when you’re broke? Those babies aren’t cheap.

So when the good folks at the Highlights Foundation sent out their email reminding writers that they were offering scholarships, I jumped.

And today I found out I’ll be going to Chautauqua this summer!

Those Highlights people are some of the nicest around!

Yesterday I got my ICL newsletter. (What’s that you ask?A wonderful little FREE newsletter full of tips and fun. Go here to get yours.) And I followed a link to the ICL bulletin boards where they are having a fun little contest.( Write up the opening of a classic as if it were a rhyming picture book.)

One of the gals entering the contest was really funny and really talented (not to say they weren’t all talented, just this women really hooked me) so I went over to her blog to read more of her stuff. Wow! She writes the blog with a friend and, “my, oh my,” they are good. Check ‘em out.

Joining writing groups will speed up your arrival at the “published author” gate. More importantly, along the way you will make wonderful friends who share your passion for writing for children.

Professional Organizations in Alphabetical Order:

American Christian Fiction Writers
This organization is comprised of fiction writers publishing in the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association). They are not primarily children’s writers but they are open to children’s writers and do have a children’s writers forum (though it really is a sloooowww forum–not many talkative people there, I mean).

The cost of membership is fifty dollars for the first year and forty dollars for every year after that. If you’re working on a Christian YA novel it might be advantageous to join this group so you can enter your manuscript in their annual Genesis contest. Otherwise you can probably get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Children’s Literature Association
For seventy-five dollars (for a US individual) you can join this organization. I’m sorry I can’t tell you much about it. I’ve never joined and I’ve never been to one of their conferences.

The Christian Writer’s Guild
This organization, while not specifically for children’s writers, offers classes, conferences, and forums that can help writers improve their craft and break in to the Christian marketplace.

I was a member for a year, but I didn’t take any of the classes or go to any conferences. I didn’t find what they offered on their website to be worth what I paid in membership and they didn’t offer local support. I have known novelists and short story writers who have signed up for their two-year courses and dropped out because they didn’t want to complete the nonfiction part of the course before being allowed to move on to the fiction part, as they were required to do.

The Institute of Children’s Literature
The Institute offers a writing course geared especially toward children’s writers. I am not sure how much the classes cost presently, but I can say that I’ve known several people who have taken the course and really liked it. They’ve all gone on to publish articles after completing the course.

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
If you’re serious about writing and publishing for children, joining SCBWI may be the best investment you can make in your career.

For seventy dollars a year you gain access to their extensive website full of articles, forums, and friendly helpers. You get a quarterly magazine filled with craft tips, market news, and legal topics. And you are attached to a local chapter where you will find critique groups and local conferences. I was a member in Alaska and am still in the organization in Georgia. I’ve found the value I’ve gotten from SCBWI is easily worth the price of membership.

I have heard freelance writers complain that the organization is slanted toward book writers (which makes sense since the name says they are for book writers and illustrators) but I think even a person writing short stories and articles for magazines would gain much in the way of fellowship and education by getting involved with SCBWI. I can’t say enough good things about this organization.