The New Jersey Children’s Writer’s Guild

Sunday April 21, 2013 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

We are excited to announce that the awesome Linda Sue Park (Newbery winner, no less!) will be visiting Princeton in April and we have snagged her for a Wine & Cheese evening with NJSCWBI - yay! Registration is now open, just click the link below. Only $35 a ticket (scbwi members), $45 (non-scbwi members). Linda Sue will be talking about her process of writing across genres, sharing tips and tricks of her trade — and there will also be an opportunity to ask questions and have books signed. Space is limited and you must be registered to attend. This event is NOT to be missed folks!  

TO REGISTER FOR LINDA SUE PARK, CLICK HERE!
 

If you want to write fiction that inspires and encourages, join Paula Morrow and Kristi Holl for “Sharing our Hope: Writing for Religious and Inspirational Markets.” This Highlights Foundation workshop will be held at The Barn, outside of Honesdale, PA, May 30 through June 2.

Paula has been involved with children’s literature all her life. She was a long-time editor of children’s books and magazines at Cricket Magazine Group and Cricket Books. She currently has an independent editing service and is an instructor with the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Kristi is a children’s choice award-winning author, and has written 42 books for children, and much more. She taught writing for children and teens for the Institute of Children’s Literature for twenty-five years.

To secure your spot, or for more information, contact Jo Lloyd at 570-253-1192, e-mail jo.lloyd@highlightsfoundation.org, or request an application online.

To view more 2012 Founders Workshops, which take place near Honesdale, Pennsylvania, please visit www.highlightsfoundation.org.

From 10:00 AM to 5:00PM on Saturday and Sunday, Jan.26 & 27,
the Somerset County 4-H Trainmasters will hold their annual Winter
Train Show at the 4-H Center at 310 Milltown Road in Bridgewater.

The show features a large, operating, O-Gauge layout with now four
tracks of trains (expanded from last year’s 3 track loops) running all
day, an operating multi-track yard, demonstrations, and hands-on activities.

Hot and cold food concessions are available all day long.
Admission is $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for children from 3 to 12.

Proceeds benefit the Trainmasters’ scholarship fund.

Directions can be found on:  http://somerset.rce.rutgers.edu/directions

-submitted by Tony S

Self-Promotion:  Your Key to Success

Where can you learn the publicity techniques needed to promote your books, gain practice in public speaking and presentation skills, and participate in a real-life school experience—all in an intimate group setting, with one-to-one attention? Gail Jarrow believes it is with the Highlights Foundation in March 2013.

In 2012, Gail, an award-winning author of books for young readers, attended this workshop. She shares her experience below.

If you’re like me and many of my writer friends, you’re more comfortable in front of a computer screen than in front of an audience. But we all realize that being in the public eye is an important and necessary part of being an author. Peter Jacobi’s Life in the Spotlight workshop has helped me to do a better job of promoting myself and my books.

My name is Rich Wallace, and I’m really looking forward to our upcoming “Writing for Boys” workshop. I’ll join Bruce Coville and Lenore Look for some intense, hands-on sharing of everything we know about writing for boys—from beginning readers to teenagers.

Specifically, I’ll be talking about where the best ideas are found, how to utilize dialogue to propel a story and reveal character, how to keep your plot line on target, and the attributes of a story that appeal most to boys. Bruce and Lenore will also share the lessons they’ve learned in creating successful work for boys.

I’ve taught a couple dozen such Highlights Foundation workshops, and the setting always seems to generate the kind of in-depth learning that can turn a good manuscript into a great one. We meet in small groups, share all of our meals (wonderful meals!) in a cozy dining room, stay up late talking about the quirks of writing, and retire to our nicely appointed cabins for reading, writing, and at least a little bit of sleep.

It’s February 7-10 at the Barn at Boyds Mills, near Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Details about the workshop, the Barn, the cabins, and the meals, can be found here. 

http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshops/writing-for-boys/

Hope you can join us.

The Book Garden in Frenchtown is hosting a range of YA author workshops.

For info go to www.bookgarden.biz and click on SPARK Community Writers Workshop Series.

We’re wondering whether any of these actions would help make 2013

a meaningful year for you:

Judy Byron Schachner, #1 New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and first-ever winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, and Lindsay Barrett George, author/illustrator and winner of the prestigious One Book for Every Child Award, will share with you the ins and outs of writing and illustrating your own picture book.

Read More…