Words of Wisdom from SCBWI #DreamToDo17

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the Maryland / Delaware / West Virginia regional conference for the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), and it was AMAZING! In addition to the excellent break-out sessions that covered topics such as revision, social media, and small press vs. large press, I was able to meet​​ writer friends from Twitter and Pitch​​ Wars in person. And, guess what?! Those people were even more incredible than I thought they'd be! :-)

Meeting real people = yeay!

​artwork by Deborah Schaumberg

There were so many gems of writery wisdom (and just plain good advice!) flying around the conference—from the keynote address given by Bruce Coville, to each of the break-out sessions, so I created graphics to illustrate ten of my favorites. Thanks go out to Tamara Girardi for providing quotes from sessions I couldn't attend—because, alas, I left my Time-Turner at home. *shakes head*

writing is the art of choosing

try to evoke

The right storyat the right momentis like an arrow through the

The perfect ending is both a surprise and inevitable. But it is not a coincidence.

Revision means looking at the entire piece as a whole.

listen to people's experienves (1)

LOVE. HATE.

It's about writing your best work and then revising, and revising, and revising it.

Coincidences are good to get characters into trouble. Coincidences to get them out of trouble, are cheesy. Bruce Coville #SCBWI #DreamToDo17

Action and choice display charachter.

As you can see from these quotes, there was an abundance of inspiration around the From Dreaming to Doing SCBWI Conference​, and I left there feeling like everything was possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Special thanks to all the SCBWI conference coordinators, as well as the presenters. I can't wait to see what you cook up for next year! As for 2016 it was a dream come true, for sure! :)