Hi friends,
I’m writing this like a newsletter since there’s a lot going on right now for the blog (my Twitter is taken over by Shilo Snow!) and also with some neat conferences I’ve been able to attend. Thanks for your patience while things have been getting updated, like upcoming articles and I’m lining up some neat things.
RIGHT NOW -Reclaiming Shilo Snow Scavenger Hunt!
This week author Mary Weber and Just Commonly are hosting a huge, international giveaway and my Twitter feed has been taken over! If you’ve stopped at Thorn & Vine looking for the next clue, just go HERE and look in my tweets, and I hope you’ll follow me so we can stay in touch too! Be sure to stop at the original post HERE for all the blogs and reviews of Reclaiming Shilo Snow, too!
The San Francisco Writer’s Conference
I just returned from this terrific conference for all kinds of writers who are interested in improving their craft, connecting with other writers and industry professionals. Since we recently moved to the Bay Area, and I thought it would be a great way to connect with other local writers and resources. I keep getting requests for my take on it all, so here’s some general thoughts. I still have “conference brain” a bit but was pleasantly surprised:
The whole event was run very professionally, generally on time, and featured amazing keynote speakers on a range of topics. As a person who speaks and blogs about nonfiction topics but writes fiction for middle grade readers, I’ve been to other conferences where I’ve left a bit disappointed. Perhaps they’re good for one side, but not the other. This conference had so much great content for every kind of author, no matter how you’re published, I was deeply thankful and feel much more current about issues and subjects close to kids’ hearts in the publishing industry. And I met some great authors I’ve admired for a long time as well!
Although the event is Bay Area focused, people came from international locations and across the country. Somehow I didn’t expect to meet authors from Mexico, Washington D.C., England, and Canada but was delighted with our shared interests and conversations!
I met several people writing memoirs and interesting nonfiction topics which made for delightful lunch conversations with librarians, a dog/cat masseuse, people with stories of bravery or survival of addiction or other deep topics. It really was all over the board and if you write nonfiction, they have a good track for that as well.
Hearing from the Poet Laureate for California was such a treat!
I met some great middle grade and young adult writers! A few picture book writers also, but I found I met more of that specialty at the SCBWI annual conference in Los Angeles. The author panels were EXCELLENT and really encouraging no matter where you are in your process.
And meeting Evelyn Skye and hearing her publishing journey was wonderful!
Next year, it will be on the same weekend in February in the Hyatt near Market Street since the group has grown so much and you may find more focus for film and screenwriting as well.
I’d highly recommend this conference.
Beaulitfulcon Los Angeles Conference
I will post separately later this week about this amazing conference. Three words: Instagram, Bookstagram, and Entrepreneurs. Stay tuned for more. It was a good experience and really complemented my background in writing and marketing as well. More soon…
What’s going on in your world this week?
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