Hello, Brazos Valley SCBWI!
We hope you are all well, finding ways to create even during these strange times. For the time being our events will continue to occur virtually via Zoom (see the bottom of the newsletter for tech support). Our first Zoom monthly meeting went very well - it was nice to see everyone’s faces again! If you were unable to attend, please be sure to catch the replay (link below).
This month, in addition to our regular meeting, we will be debuting the Brazos Valley Book Report, a new way to connect with fellow Brazos Valley Members. In addition, SCBWI continues to offer digital workshops, and regions throughout the world are hosting more virtual events than would ever be physically possible to attend.
Please remember, whether you’re using this time in isolation to hunker down and revise your manuscript or reading and re-reading the same picture books to your home-bound toddlers, you are a kid-lit creator. Your ideas and voice matter!
Romy Natalia & Liz
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Brazos Valley Book Report
Thursday, May 14th, 7:30 p.m.
Please join us for our very first Brazos Valley Book Report - a new way to connect with and learn from our Brazos Valley SCBWI members. These meetings will take place virtually, via Zoom, in the middle of every month. Come prepared to discuss a children’s book you’ve read recently. Some information you can share includes:
- Potential comparative titles (“if you liked this book you’ll also like X & Y books”). You can come up with your own or research how the book was pitched/announced on Publishers Weekly
- How the book compares to other books by the same author
- The official book pitch or your own pitch
Don’t be intimidated! This will be a fun and informal way to learn from each other.
Register on the
SCBWI BV website
and we’ll send the login information via email (please note, you will receive this information via the email information on your SCBWI account).
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Monthly Meeting Wednesday, May 27th
9:30-10 a.m. Meet & Greet
10-11 a.m. Social Services for Teens in MG and YA
Author and social worker Maria Frazer will discuss the social services available to fictional characters and real life readers. Maria Frazer is a middle grade and young adult author from deep in the heart of Texas.She enjoys playing board games and reading every book she can get her hands on.
This meeting will take place via Zoom. Register on the
SCBWI BV website
and we’ll send the login information via email (please note, you will receive this information via the email information on your SCBWI account).
Can’t make the meeting? Don’t worry!
A replay will be provided for all registrants after the meeting.
Feel free to submit questions ahead of time to
[email protected]
. Participants will have a chance to ask questions after the presentation as well.
Our first Zoom meeting was a great success!
The replay for our April meeting on novels in verse with David Bowles is available
here
through May 26, 2020.
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Member Survey -- Your opinions matter!
If you haven’t answered our member survey yet, please take a moment to do so. Your answers will help us better tailor our programming and resources to our region. Even if your membership hasn't been renewed for a while, we would like to hear from you. Your entry will be private and anonymous.
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Crystal Kite Voting Round Two
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The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award to recognize great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world. The Brazos Valley is part of the Texas/Oklahoma Division.
Voting for the second round opened May 1. To cast your vote, log on to
www.scbwi.org
. Once you are on your Member Home page, go to the left navigation bar, scroll to the bottom and click on Vote in the Crystal Kite Awards. That takes you right to the voting page where all of the books in your division appear. Then click the VOTE FOR THIS BOOK button below your chosen book and you are done!
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Registration is open for the free online workshop,
Two Art Directors Talking: The Theater of Picture Books.
This webinar will take place on Thursday, May 7th at 1pm, Pacific Daylight Time. It will be led by Laurent Linn, Art Director at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and Cecilia Yung, Executive Art Director & VP at Penguin Books for Young Readers.
If you’d like to attend the workshop live, you can register by clicking
here
. Registration for this free event is limited to 3000 attendees.
If you can’t attend the live workshop, a video recording of the event will be placed on the SCBWI website 24-hours later and will remain up for one month.
Please note: If you do not plan to attend live, there is no need to register in advance. The video recording will be available to all current SCBWI members
here
.
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SCBWI Summer Conference Goes Virtual
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The Summer Spectacular
will be held August 1-4, featuring 12 Zoom presentations from the biggest children's book creators today!
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There will also be opportunities for individual
manuscript and portfolio critique
, consultations on your social media presence and your career path, the talent-discovering portfolio showcase, live Twitter chat socials, an online member book sale, a meme contest and a festive costume contest via Instagram. The complete schedule will be posted on the SCBWI website the week of
May 10
. Check your inboxes for more information. This is an event for the ages, not to be missed!
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Upcoming Events--a sampling of online offerings
FREE Webinar: Tips for Great Critique Groups with Laura Gehl
Saturday, May 9, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CST
Registration to view webinar live and access recording: SCBWI Members: FREE! Non-members: $25. Registration to access recording only: SCBWI Members: FREE! Non-members: $25
Optional written critique from a Published and Listed Member following webinar available to SCBWI Members only: $70.00 (see link for complete list of critiquers)
Behind every great writer is a great critique group. Learn tips for forming a critique group, being a valuable critique group member, how to handle negative feedback, and what to do when your critique group doesn’t agree. Most importantly, learn how to use feedback from your critique partners to make your manuscript the best it can be.
Click here
for more details and registration.
Graphic Novels Webinar
Saturday,
May 9 at 12 p.m. CST
Janna Morishima, co-founder of the Graphic department at Scholastic, will do a graphics novel workshop. It’ll be nuts and bolts for those who are considering writing a graphic novel. Janna became an agent at the end of last year.
$15 for members. $30 for nonmembers. Details and registration
here
.
For illustrators
SCBWI CenCal is hosting their biennial Artworks event for Illustrators on May 30 in two 90 minute webinars from 9:30 to 11:00 and 1:00 to 2:30 (Pacific Time). Marissa Moss, publisher of Creston Books, will discuss what illustrators bring to picture books and how to bring a text to life. You'll learn how Creston Books guides and works with illustrators and how to avoid some basic beginner mistakes. There will be time for Q & A and the second webinar will be devoted to live review of portfolio images. It's $20 for SCBWI members (for both webinars) or $30 for nonmembers. You can attend the event live or view the recording for up to two weeks. Read all about it and register
here
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If you are having problems with Zoom or with registering for a Brazos Valley SCBWI event, please contact
[email protected]
. Please note, unless otherwise stated, all Brazos Valley SCBWI events are free of cost. We are currently requiring registration in order to keep our events private and safe from hackers. Your event login information will be emailed to the email address on file in your SCBWI account.
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