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Schools, conferences, professional development for teachers–I have a little bit of everything planned for this year. March 17 Pine Ridge Elementary, Maumelle, AR April 1 Cathedral School, Little Rock, AR April 4-6 Act 2 of Novel Retreat in 3 Acts, Nebraska April 11-12 Arkansas Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators, Conway, AR http://members.aol.com/ddpattison/scbwi/spring.html April 21 [...]
FSG and National Geographic editors to speak Arkansas SCBWI Spring Conference, April 11-12 If you’re anywhere close, you won’t want to miss the Arkansas SCBWI Spring Conference. Editors include Lisa Graff of FSG and Jennifer Emmett of National Geographic.
Here’s a current schedule of my speaking. It may change at any time, because I’m in discussion with a couple people about other events. February 4 Ft. Smith Public Library, Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Children’s program. February 5 Mountain Home Public Library, Mountain Home, Arkansas. Children’s Program with book signing and Adult Writer’s Workshop. Feb 9-10 [...]
I’m working on a revision right now and after several false starts, I created a voice that I really like. It’s heavily dependent on a narrator and is pretty informal. It’s worked well for most of Act I. But as I enter Act II, I’m finding it hard to judge whether I strayed from the [...]
Wow! What a trip to Seattle! I got to meet Mitsy, the Dragon who guards the entrance to the Mirrorstone Books office. And of course, I also met with Nina Hess, the Senior Editor Extraordinaire. Then, I almost got swept off my feet with the windstorm that hit the city, sending fall leaves blowing. I [...]
Fall Schedule October 19-21 Novel Revision Retreat, Washington SCBWI, outside Seattle, WA at a retreat center. October 22 Arkansas Governor’s Arts Awards Luncheon. Rogers, AR. I will be the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for my work in children’s literature. November 2-3 Self-Editing Workshop, Hawaii SCBWI, Honolulu, HI November [...]
Character Names Help Characterize A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but do you really WANT to smell a swamp lily? Doesn’t the name itself just put you off? Or consider that in early drafts Margaret Mitchell is supposed to have named her famous heroine Pansy, instead of Scarlett O’Hara. Do you [...]
The Arkansas SCBWI will hold its fall retreat, Voice: The Writer as Ventriloquist on September28-30, 2007 at Mt. Magazine State Park. Speakers are author Kathi Appelt and Candlewick editor Hilary Breed Van Dusen. We’ve just had a cancellation, so there’s an open spot. If you’re anywhere close to Arkansas and want to join us, you [...]
It was 110 degrees in Phoenix this weekend for a Novel Revision Retreat. If you’ve never attended one, I’ll try to give you an idea of what it’s like. First, it’s limited to only 20 people at a time, purposely kept small so there’s lots of interaction. Before the retreat, they are divided into groups [...]
Novel Secrets Series Author Nancy Sharp has designed a series of three retreats, which is unique in the writing world. It takes writers from an initial idea to a finished manuscript and an evaluation by an agent or editor–in JUST ONE YEAR. Awesome! Cynsations website is running a series of interviews with the speakers. One [...]
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