Just Shop Talk

Shop Talk: I've just mailed in the registration to attend my first writer's conference. It's in New Hampshire in April. I'm very excited about going - and a little nervous about it too. The conference is put on by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators-SCBWI- and they are a national book writers organization. The conference is set up for all levels of writers as well as illustrators. I'm only going up for one day but I'll get to attend four different workshops. It will also be a nice opportunity to meet some people in the business - publishers, editors, etc. I keep thinking it will be a bit intimidating but I know I'll be so glad that I went! I believe they offer a fall conference as well. Maybe by then I'll have had something published - or dare I hope for a couple of somethings published! I've also officially signed up to part of the Book In a Week club. The next writing week is March 3-9. I've got a cute idea rolling around in my head for an early chapter book. Many writing tips I read suggest pulling ideas from your childhood for stories. I'm going to pull some ideas from my elementary school days and hope for the best. The plan with Book In a Week - BIW - is to just TYPE. No editing along the way. That will be challenging. I'm definitely an edit as I go kind of writer but I know I could be much more productive if I could force myself to just keep typing. The plan is to train myself to write well from the get go by learning to choose my words carefully and let the revision process be for fixing things. I'm looking forward to trying it out.