In This Issue
- Golden Gate Conference @Asilomar: Registration is OPEN!
- A note from Regional Advisor Danielle Sunshine
- Bookstore events: Next one coming up November 11: My Best Failure
- Webinars: Next one coming up November 21: Meet the Mentors
- Local Get Togethers: Our regional coordinators have started planning!
- Critique Meet up: Give and receive feedback at our San Jose meet up Nov 13th
- Calling our illustrators: Seeking art submissions for this newsletter!
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Key Dates at a Glance (details below!)
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Now: Registration is OPEN for our beloved Golden Gate Conference
Nov 3: Successful Critique Groups: How They Support Us in Our Publishing Goals (Bookstore event)
Nov 11: My Best Failure: 6 Debut Authors Recall the Failures that Led to Success (Bookstore event)
Nov 12: Marketing for Authors (Bookstore event)
Nov 13: Critique Meet-up in San Jose
Nov 21: Meet the Mentors (Webinar)
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Dec 6: Early Bird Registration for the Golden Gate Conference ends
Dec 7:
SCBWI Peninsula Get Together
in Menlo Park
Dec 14: Character Design
(Webinar)
Jan 5: Deadline to submit for manuscript critiques (paid conference add-on)
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Golden Gate Conference 2020 at Asilomar
Registration is now OPEN!
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We are excited to announce the 37th Annual SCBWI Golden Gate Conference and Retreat, to be held March 13-15, 2020, at the breathtaking
Asilomar Conference Grounds
in Pacific Grove, CA.
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This year's theme: Your Weekend MFA. Be immersed and inspired by a diverse faculty of talented professionals of craft including editors and agents, award-winning authors and illustrators.
Whether you are new to children’s writing and illustration, pre-published, or published, come meet new and old friends, learn from experienced industry professionals, and walk away with the creative tools to take your work to the next level in the competitive industry of children’s publishing.
Click
here
to learn more. We hope to see you there!
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A note from Danielle Sunshine, Regional Advisor
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Dear Regional members,
What a busy time it has been here in the SF/South region! Illustrator Day was a huge success in October, with Alexandra Boiger, Ellice Lee and many others sharing experiences and providing guidance.Thanks to our Illustrator Coordinator Isabella Kung for her superb leadership and planning. At the conference, we awarded new regional member, Rob Sayegh, with our Portfolio Award. Rob is an incredibly talented illustrator whose work can now be seen on the SF South website. Be sure to check it out!
Also exciting: registration is now open for our annual Golden Gate conference, a beloved tradition of 37 years. We are laser focused on craft this year, with a theme of "Your Weekend MFA." An MFA is a masters of fine arts, a graduate degree with specialities in writing, painting, film, and more. While we can't provide attendees with a diploma at the end of the 3 day conference, we do promise to leave you with plenty of new techniques and inspiration to fuel your creativity for the year to come.
Finally, we're really ramping up our local events, thanks to the efforts of a growing team of regional area volunteers. There's sure to be an event coming up in your part of the region soon, so be sure to check the monthly calendar. We are also offering webinars so you can learn from the comfort of your own home. See below for more details.
I wish you a productive month of writing and illustrating!
Kind regards,
Danielle
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Bookstore Events coming up this month
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Successful Critique Groups: How They Support Us in Our Publishing Goals
Sunday, Nov 3, 2019 4:30-6:30
Linden Tree Books, 265 State Street, Los Altos
Join us for networking and book buying, followed by a panel discussion on critique groups, why they’re important, and how they can support you on your path to publication. Our panelists are:
- Christine Evans, author of picture book, “Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist: The True Story of a World-Traveling Bug Hunter” (Sept 2019)
- Vicky Fang, author of picture book, “Invent-a-Pet” (May 2020) and chapter book series, “Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws” (May 2020)
- Abigail Hing Wen, author of YA, “Loveboat, Taipei” (Jan 2020)
- Laura Zarrin, illustrator of the chapter book series, "Wallace and Grace" (Bloomsbury) and "Katie Woo's Neighborhood" (Capstone)
My Best Failure: 6 Debut Authors Recall the Failures that Led to Success
Monday, Nov 11, 2019, 7:00-9:00pm
Join six California-based authors whose debut middle grade novels were released in 2019 as they talk about the failures they've faced along their journey to publication, and how navigating those failures ultimately helped them achieve their dreams. Learn about their experiences as debut authors, and the biggest lessons they've learned before and after publication.
Panel members: Chris Baron, Jen Camiccia, Lindsay Lackey, Aimee Lucido, Lisa Ramee, Brian Weisfeld.
Marketing for Authors
with
Annemarie O’Brien
Tuesday, November 12, 2019, 6:00-8:00pm
Book Passage, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco
What do potential agents, editors, other industry professionals, and readers find when they look for you online? The goal of Marketing for Authors is to arm you with 15 action items you can do now to build and improve your “brand,” i.e. who you are, what you write, and where to find you; and to improve your google ranking to expand your audience. In particular, Annemarie will cover tips on improving your website from the perspective of Google searches, using SEO to reach more targeted audiences and to build an effective and memorable author brand. This talk is designed for any writer at any stage in the publishing process. We’ll also browse for books and network over light refreshments. RSVP: Free for SCBWI members with reservation; $10 at the door.
Annemarie O’Brien is an award-winning children’s author and marketing professional with twenty-plus years of global brand experience. She has a BBA in marketing, an MBA in international business, and an MFA in writing for Children & Young Adults. She teaches story marketing at Stanford Continuing Studies and writing courses at UC Berkeley Extension and Pixar. She is a frequent conference speaker on story marketing.
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Upcoming Local Events
Our Regional Area Coordinators
are starting to plan events!
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Our region is quite large, and we know how hard it is for our members to fight their way through heavy Bay Area traffic.
We are delighted to announce that we have recruited a team of volunteer leaders from each of our sub-regions to organize more local, in-person events. Less driving, more gathering!
We hope the introduction of Regional Area Coordinators (RACs) will give more of our members the opportunity to interact in person throughout the year.
Here's the first one: (More coming soon in an area near you!)
Menlo Park: SCBWI Peninsula Get Together
Date: December 7th, 11-1pm
Location: Cafe Barrone, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Note: Outside tables, look for the SCBWI sign
Come meet fellow SCBWI members in your area! Charlotte and Kris are the new Regional Area Coordinators (RACs). We would love to meet you all and learn more about the kinds of events you'd like to see on the peninsula. We'll be meeting at the Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park to play some creative writing/illustrating ice breakers.
It's free, but please do RSVP so that we know how many to expect. See you there!
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Wednesday, November 11
7pm-9pm
Calabazas Branch Library
1230 South Blaney Ave, San Jose
Hosted by SCBWI member Lorraine Rader
Join fellow writers and illustrators for an evening of critiquing. Receive feedback on your work and hone your craft by critiquing other's work. All kid lit genres welcome. Please bring 5 copies of your work to share. [Suggestions: MG/YA Novel—10 pages double-spaced; Picture Book—2500 words (bring several if you'd like); illustrations/portfolio.] All writers and illustrators are welcome, from all areas, including non-members.
Questions: contact Critique Connection Coordinator, Lynne Ann Biscay, at
[email protected]
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THANK YOU to Lorraine for planning this event!
Registration is helpful, but not required.
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Critique Connection
Access our self serve "seeking a critique group" database through our SCBWI San Fran/South regional page.
Click here! Please note: you must be signed in to the SCBWI website in order to access the database.
If you are seeking critique partners, add your name/info to the database and then take the initiative to contact writers/artists listed in your area to see if they might be a good fit for a critique exchange. Our system is “self-serve” because only YOU can determine what works best for you.
If you have any questions about Critique Connection, please contact our coordinator, Lynne Ann Biscay, at
[email protected].
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Calling our Illustrators:
We're looking for illustrations to make our newsletter more visually engaging. We are an organization of artists after all!
If you would be willing to let us use one of your illustrations, please send it to us with your name and a link to your website so we may give you credit.
We are particularly interested in illustrations that in some way relate to topics frequently covered in this newsletter: reading, writing, illustrating, bookstores, events, etc. We also always love fun illustrations of children reading books.
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Find out more about what's happening in our region by visiting us on Facebook or Twitter:
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