A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the 50th Annual New England SCBWI Conference with Co-Director Jim Hill

The 2023 New England SCBWI Conference will be held Friday, April 28th – Sunday, April 30th.

This is my go-to writing conference because it’s always got great depth in everything kidlit, from writing picture books to middle grade and young adult novels, plus graphic novels and illustration. I was looking for the inside scoop to share with readers and got it and thanks to Co-Director Jim Hill.

This year’s conference will be extra special because:

– It’s the conference’s 50th anniversary!
– It’s IN PERSON. While Zoom conferences are great, I think we’re all ready to meet up live with writing and illustrating peeps who we haven’t seen for a bit.

For a run-down on what the schedule includes and more, read our full article! Continue reading A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the 50th Annual New England SCBWI Conference with Co-Director Jim Hill

The Inside Scoop on the 2022 New England SCBWI Conference: An Interview with Juliana Spink Mills

This year’s New England SCBWI Conference is Friday, April 29th through Sunday, May 1st. It’s my regional conference and I look forward to it every year. This year’s conference is particularly special because co-director Juliana Spink Mills lives in my town. It’s wonderful that a writer-friend is running the show!

I wanted to get the word out about how great this conference is, so I sat down with Juliana to get the inside scoop. Continue reading The Inside Scoop on the 2022 New England SCBWI Conference: An Interview with Juliana Spink Mills

Goodbye 2020 Road Trip

All of us at The Winged Pen are looking forward to seeing the end of 2020 and have high hopes for 2021…especially all the new Pennie books coming out, including Halli Gomez’s LIST OF TEN, Jessica Vitalis’s THE WOLF’S CURSE, Gabrielle K. Byrne’s THE EDGE OF STRANGE HOLLOW, and Gita Trelease’s EVERYTHING THAT BURNS. To prepare for the excitement, we’re going to take a few weeks off. But never … Continue reading Goodbye 2020 Road Trip

Socially Distant, but Still Connected

For all of us writers, one of the difficult things about the pandemic has been the cancellation of so many of the annual conferences that we depend on for continuing education, camaraderie, critiques and just general get-out-from-behind-our-desks opportunities. But even though our in-person connections may have been curtailed this year, there are still a ton of ways to experience the networking and learning of a … Continue reading Socially Distant, but Still Connected

It’s Never Too Early: Marketing for Published and Non-published Authors

This year we are surrounded, slammed, by political news, and unfortunately, there is no end in sight. Not even on November 4, 2020.  It got me thinking about those poor books being published later this year. Will their announcements get lost in the presidential candidate bickering? Will the book tweets disappear in the mass of berating tweets from—? How will readers hear the good news? … Continue reading It’s Never Too Early: Marketing for Published and Non-published Authors

Writing Neurodiverse Characters Responsibly

Who is ready for WriteOnCon? You know we are! For those who can’t wait until next week, I am going to give you a sneak peek into my presentation about neurodiversity. The entire presentation will be shown on Sunday, February 23, 2020, from 12:00 – 12:30 pm EST. Of course, if you get an extended ticket, you can view all events throughout March 22, 2020. … Continue reading Writing Neurodiverse Characters Responsibly

WriteOnCon 2020 – An Online Kidlit Writers’ Conference

WriteOnCon 2020 is right around the corner, Friday, February 21st – Sunday the 23rd. This year, Halli and I will both be speaking at the conference, so we wanted to share info on the talks we’ll be giving as well as topics we’re excited about in the line-up… Continue reading WriteOnCon 2020 – An Online Kidlit Writers’ Conference

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the 2019 New England SCBWI Conference with Loretta Jo Kapinos

The New England SCBWI conference is fast approaching, and Loretta Jo Kapinos, one of the conference co-directors took a few minutes out of her busy prep-work to give us the behind-the-scenes scoop on the conference. Welcome, Loretta! Continue reading A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the 2019 New England SCBWI Conference with Loretta Jo Kapinos

Tales From an Introvert: My Experience at the SCBWI Winter Conference 2019

We’ve all heard that writers are introverts. Maybe it’s because we spend so much time working alone, or because we’re always in our heads thinking, developing, and writing stories.  Some writers know how to get out of their own minds and socialize when at conferences. Others do not.  I fall into the DO NOT category. But let me explain. Not only am I constantly writing … Continue reading Tales From an Introvert: My Experience at the SCBWI Winter Conference 2019

Ghosts, Haunts, and Haints: A Paranormal Writing Weekend

Do you believe in ghosts?
Do you love ghost stories?
Do you want to write ghost stories?
If you answered yes to these questions, then I dare you to visit the historic and haunted city of Charleston, South Carolina and ponder the ghostly stories inhabiting the shadowy corners of your mind. Continue reading Ghosts, Haunts, and Haints: A Paranormal Writing Weekend