Right About Time - Writing Stimulus

This is my first blog post since New Year's Day - as usual, I started out the New Year with good intentions and writing aspirations, but somehow seemed to fizzle out.

For the past couple of months, I've felt blocked in my writing and blah in general. I could blame it on my suspected seasonal depression; or my insomnia; or my stress, frustration and dissatisfaction with my current day-to-day situation. But I don't want to make excuses anymore - I want to get back to feeling creative, feeling inspired, and to writing.

Today's SCBWI Shop Talk meeting at the bookstore was just the writing stimulus that I needed. I went with Michelle - it was the first meeting I've been to since October, when store events and group meetings went on a 2-month hiatus for the holiday season. Then, at the end of January, Kim S. and I missed the meeting because we attended the SCBWI conference in New York City. And last month, a massive snowstorm and power outage that weekend kept me and many others homebound.

Today's group was huge - there were 19 people squeezed around the large meeting table and in another row of folding chairs. It was great to see the familiar faces of SCBWI regulars: group moderator Val; Karen O. (www.karenkaufmanorloff.com); Della (www.dellarossferreri.com); Kim (www.kimmiepoppins.livejournal.com and www.kimberlysabatini.blogspot.com); Karen S.; Bill; Laurie; Janine; Shiloh; and Heather.

Val has been submitting her novel about a 13-year-old girl who's in the burn unit of a hospital - it sounds like an excellent story; I'd love to read it. Karen O. showed us the mock-up of her soon-to-be-published picture book, I Wanna New Room, the sequel to I Wanna Iguana, and Della shared her latest published picture book, Star of the Show. Both are wonderfully-illustrated stories that should easily capture kids' interests and imaginations. Kim read her adorable, energetic counting book manuscript, Muggly, showing the number of ways that a little kid can turn an moth into an unlikely friend. She also sent her Young Adult book, Touching the Surface, to an agent and got a "good rejection" - with a lot of positive, constructive feedback. Karen S. has submitted her middle-grade historical novel to an agent, and is looking forward to a reply. She's read passages from it during several meetings - it's well-written and descriptive and has great potential to be published. Bill read us his amusing poem about a boy who's been trapped in a school locker by bullies and is trying to use his cell phone to call the principal to help him get out. Laurie, a middle-school teacher, assigned 500 students to write books for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November - she said it was a success; the kids had great enthusiasm for writing their books. And her humorous play, The Ransom of Miss Elverna Dower, about a class of students who kidnap their teacher, recently won a playwriting award.

There were several newcomers too - I can't remember all the names, but Carol is an illustrator who shared her portfolio of beautifully imaginative artwork with us; Marisa gave us a synopsis of her Spanish -language picture book about two brothers who lose their pet hamster; and Jean read us her inspirational parenting article. It's always great to see new faces - I hope they'll be interested in coming to future meetings.

We also spent a lot of time discussing the upcoming local Eastern NY Regional Conference - Val, Karen O., Della, and Karen S. are some of the planners, and they've put together what sounds like a great line-up for the June 12th event. The keynote speaker will be Caldecott-winning picture book author Emily Arnold McCully, and sessions will feature Scholastic Books' editor Dianne Hess; Eve Adler, editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers; Ellen Wittlinger, author of several notable middle-grade and young adult books; award-wining author-illustrator Peter McCarty; and Mary Watson, Creative Director of Shenanigan Books.

Manuscript and artwork critique consultations are already filling up - I've got to send in my registration soon, so I can hopefully get a critique session. Michelle and I had a question for the conference organizers - what would be the best work to send in for a critique: a portion of a finished manuscript that's been critiqued before, or something new? I thought it might be beneficial to get some professional feedback on a new work, but Karen O., Val, Della and Karen S. all said we should show our very best work, with the hope of connecting with someone who'll want to see more of it.

So Michelle is going to send in again the first part of her middle-grade novel, Blackboard, and I decided to re-submit the first chapter of What Luck. I've had the manuscript critiqued three times already - author KL Going and her editor, Kathy Dawson, both gave positive and constructive feedback. And agent Liza Voges couldn't relate well to the story premise. I'll see what happens this year, and hopefully the feedback will spur me to finally finish the book and get it ready for submission.

After the meeting ended, Michelle, Kim, Janine, Karen S., Della, Val and I continued our writing discussion over lunch in the bookstore cafe. We each got to talk about our work, and about our writing experiences, more in depth. Our talk was so inspiring that I wished we could go on all afternoon. But I'm glad to say the writing stimulus has continued, even after I came home to the computer and to this blog, for the first time in months.

So now I feel renewed energy for my writing - I hope it lasts. And I have a new writing goal - to keep working on What Luck, so I may have a first draft of the book finished in time for the June conference. And also, to make sure my first chapter is at its polished best, and ready for another critique. I'll keep my fingers crossed for more positive feedback, and hopefully some professional interest in the rest of the story. And I wish for the same positive critique outcome, for my fellow SCBWI writing peers and friends.