A long Saturday
I woke up early this morning to drive to Lancaster, PA, where I moderated critiques all day at a table of ten picture book writers as part of the Eastern PA SCBWI's first-ever Critique Fest (attendees got three private critiques, one each from an experienced author, an agent and an editor, plus another group critique, one of which is what I moderated). It was an interesting and fun day, since I also got to catch up with some friends, including Paul Acampora, Nancy Viau, and Marilyn Hershey.
The mix of manuscripts at the table was fascinating, really - from the short to the long, from very simple to very complex, from concrete to abstract, prose to verse, fact to fiction, serious to silly and more. And all in ten manuscripts. It was an interesting format, and one I'd recommend for groups: Each critique got 20 minutes, during which the author read their work, then was required to sit out and listen as others discussed the manuscript - they weren't allowed to interject, or to ask (or answer) questions. The philosophy was that it was kind of like sitting in on an editorial meeting, and I suppose it's true in a way - as long as you have enough writers with experience among the group or someone to steer the conversation to enforce the rules and be sure things don't take a turn for the ugly or otherwise run off the rails. (And hey, that was my job. That's right, I got to be bossy the facilitator, and it was fun.)
And now, I'm for a bit of writing on my WIP (it has been calling to me, and I had some thoughts while driving that I want to add into my outline/summary thingummy), and then bed, since I have an early morning writing date with Angela De Groot (angeladegroot).
Tomorrow: Two posts - one will be a quoteskimming post, and the other will be a chapter of Sense & Sensibility, since I'm feeling like we've been lagging lately. And we're about to get one of the really good/horrible scenes. *rubs hands in anticipation*
The mix of manuscripts at the table was fascinating, really - from the short to the long, from very simple to very complex, from concrete to abstract, prose to verse, fact to fiction, serious to silly and more. And all in ten manuscripts. It was an interesting format, and one I'd recommend for groups: Each critique got 20 minutes, during which the author read their work, then was required to sit out and listen as others discussed the manuscript - they weren't allowed to interject, or to ask (or answer) questions. The philosophy was that it was kind of like sitting in on an editorial meeting, and I suppose it's true in a way - as long as you have enough writers with experience among the group or someone to steer the conversation to enforce the rules and be sure things don't take a turn for the ugly or otherwise run off the rails. (And hey, that was my job. That's right, I got to be bossy the facilitator, and it was fun.)
And now, I'm for a bit of writing on my WIP (it has been calling to me, and I had some thoughts while driving that I want to add into my outline/summary thingummy), and then bed, since I have an early morning writing date with Angela De Groot (angeladegroot).
Tomorrow: Two posts - one will be a quoteskimming post, and the other will be a chapter of Sense & Sensibility, since I'm feeling like we've been lagging lately. And we're about to get one of the really good/horrible scenes. *rubs hands in anticipation*