tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67168046846013940142024-03-15T18:10:00.413-07:00Children's Writers of the Hudson ValleyValhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-17936356713576426482024-03-03T11:52:00.000-08:002024-03-03T11:56:49.573-08:002024 June Conference<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">SAVE THE DATE: <b>June 8, 2024</b> CWHV Conference will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Poughkeepsie. This will be an all day event.<br /><br />We are busy lining up our faculty. <br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The sessions will be lecture with some hands-on writing exercises. Please bring your work-in-progress (if you have one), your favorite writing implements and paper. <br /><br />If your preference is a tablet, laptop or any other personal device, we can not assume responsibility for these items.<br /> <br /> On-site <b>paid editorial critiques</b> will be provided this year. You will have to leave your workshop for your critique, if you choose to have one. First come, first served.<br /> <br /> Registration will open late March or early April 2024.<br /><br />Check this site for updates.<br /><br /></span> <br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-45614487748474701702023-10-06T14:24:00.073-07:002024-03-03T12:03:49.977-08:002023 November First Pages Conference<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We were thrilled to have <b>Sean McCarthy</b>, agent and owner of the Sean McCarthy Literary Agency: <b>Meredith Mundy</b>, Editorial Director of Abrams Appleseed and the Abrams Preschool Program; and <b>Beth Terrill</b>, Editor, NorthSouth Books give their professional advice on our CWHV First Pages Conference.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Comments ranged from nice alliteration, liked the use
of onomatopoeia, too many shifts in perspective, voice feels didactic and many
comments on rhyme and character. There were also comments about conflict,
narrative action, transitions, wrong format for age and /or subject and 100 more opinions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">We broke for a delicious Panera lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">After the First Pages were concluded, Sean ran a
workshop on pacing. Below are the topics: Pacing, Meet the Characters, Anticipation
and Escalation of Conflict, Character Driven Action, Crisis and Resolution,
Lasting Memory and Transformation. Sean discussed all of these in more detail.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">We closed out the afternoon with a Faculty Q &A
with Sean, Meredith, and Beth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">We want to thank our attendees for their continued
support of the Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley and for our faculty, Sean
McCarthy, Meredith Mundy, and Beth Terrill for spending the day teaching us how
to make our first page stronger, clearer and more inviting. Last but no least,
we want to thank our hard working committee members for another successful
conference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></span></div></span>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-5999024796073478122023-03-05T12:55:00.079-08:002024-03-03T12:04:58.412-08:002023 June Self-Edit and Query Workshops<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGmJJSKxGn_6l2o2qDnXmhC-y26bQ3lnsggYNM8qyf9y20BAsLWEq8XZ_vc_5sltyHftbpcRvyPaGFftMxxl5g_asa3z6cYQcNQyZ8MKyj4TOUHidy_z7Ze1ty5NF8i3oAHp5PhJMMreFBruokwnibE_GN3u1N6KxqncGMJ3aOAUbLlqs_4ifqz-Ddw/s3088/Sara%20Schonfeld%20-%20Headshot.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2316" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGmJJSKxGn_6l2o2qDnXmhC-y26bQ3lnsggYNM8qyf9y20BAsLWEq8XZ_vc_5sltyHftbpcRvyPaGFftMxxl5g_asa3z6cYQcNQyZ8MKyj4TOUHidy_z7Ze1ty5NF8i3oAHp5PhJMMreFBruokwnibE_GN3u1N6KxqncGMJ3aOAUbLlqs_4ifqz-Ddw/w150-h200/Sara%20Schonfeld%20-%20Headshot.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">The Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley was delighted to have <b>Sara Schonfeld</b>, Associate Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, lead a workshop on self-editing like an editor and how to strengthen your query letter. Sara was warm, friendly, approachable, and knowledgeable. Below is a brief summary of our workshops. <br /><br />Some of Sara’s tips for self-editing was a reverse outline, write down what happened in the story and what is it doing for the story. When editing ask yourself questions, does each scene advance the character or plot? <br /><br />Think about your main character: what are the themes, relationships, growth, motivation. <br /><br />After Sara’s PowerPoint presentation, our writing exercise was to edit several pages of our manuscript focusing on specific areas. <br /><br />Tips for strengthening your query included what to look for when researching your comp titles, how to find examples of comp titles, answering the five basic questions (what, when, who, how and why) and following the four basic structural parts of a query letter. <br /><br />Sara reviewed proper query protocols when submitting multiple query letters to editors or agents. <br /><br />Some common mistakes in writing query letters were too much world building, too much information, too long and others. <br /><br /> Our writing exercise was to rewrite our query letter. Sara read many query letters to the group and gave constructive feedback. Even if your query wasn't read, listening to Sara's comments were still valuable.<br /><br />We want to thank Sara for spending the afternoon with us and teaching us about self-editing and making our queries stronger. Also, we want to thank our hard working attendees and the CWHV staff. </span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-61136535972621279802022-09-12T13:11:00.164-07:002024-03-03T12:06:57.473-08:002022 November Fall Conference<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwnwJH0Fwa6GA8ZE-Iyk6PiLIUJJZtemyj7jhql1XVpLK_pmRRX9Y--nhExVY932aagxiGeN9PWcXP0f_T88m0qcXUzwXa3T2SF4zS90DXmT8tx1HvTriYXHbZOoJ1IFkc_UC6A62SHj1k2zSJ9apz33eSOM90lkpAtNV3CabsYfkVAHePhG6uVE_tQ/s715/ScottyDog%20blue%20background.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="460" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwnwJH0Fwa6GA8ZE-Iyk6PiLIUJJZtemyj7jhql1XVpLK_pmRRX9Y--nhExVY932aagxiGeN9PWcXP0f_T88m0qcXUzwXa3T2SF4zS90DXmT8tx1HvTriYXHbZOoJ1IFkc_UC6A62SHj1k2zSJ9apz33eSOM90lkpAtNV3CabsYfkVAHePhG6uVE_tQ/w129-h200/ScottyDog%20blue%20background.gif" width="129" /></a></span></div></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Our November 2022 Fall Conference was a wonderful success. It was a pleasure to see so many familiar faces, and our faculty was welcoming, knowledgeable and their presentations, excellent. We had <b>Frances</b> <b>Gilbert</b>, VP and Editor-in-Chief of Doubleday Books for Young Readers; <b>Rachel Orr</b>, agent at Prospect Agency; and <b>Talia Benamy</b>, editor at Philomel Books.<span><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">We opened our conference with fellowship over
coffee, cookies and muffins.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">Our Keynote was Frances Gilbert. She talked
about the rules of writing. The tip is there are no rules in writing. She
showed a slide of 9 picture books, four of them were medal winners, and all of those writers did not follow the rules. She talked about some of her editorial preoccupations,
including word counts, plot, stories being too formulaic, main character growth
or no growth, plus others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">Rachel Orr talked about strong beginnings that
will hook the reader, the different categories of beginnings, what makes a bad
beginning, and what is the purpose of picture book beginnings. She talked about
nontraditional structures and the three categories of endings. Working on our
own manuscripts, we used some of the techniques that we learned to improve our
beginnings and endings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">Talia Benamy’s workshop was on crafting
compelling characters. We reviewed what makes characters seem real, three dimensional
and someone you’d like to spend time with. We examined ways to make characters
come alive, what are their wants, what do they think they want, mannerisms,
habits, etc. Our exercises encouraged us to delve deep into our characters to
flush them out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">Our
final session was a panel with Frances, Rachel, and Talia. Some questions asked
were about the submission process; multiple authors on the same story and how
royalties are split; if a client and agent part ways, what happens to future
royalties and commissions; how did the editors and agent feel about self-published
works; and what happens if an editor leaves in the middle of an acquisitions?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333;">The faculty and attendees enjoyed a Panera’s
lunch. Thank you Panera for providing our lunches. We want to thank our faculty,
staff, and our dedicated and hardworking attendees, without your support, we
wouldn’t exist. </span></p></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaF8fad9yd7aPpgD3oIGlVQjQyRMuXTKp6QPww3hWAOf-NkgnoUcuoYMP6JVvPZA0BZwGLFo0YwavstsgL758h6ZdaRgM4vmx5NEk5kTsxWv9yD06vdhEY03xArglIBGMZGt0A52vKsOndR1UyYMS2e8D53Apyinqgm9yuPpU_2fycLkVN_zLQSFGNLA/s4028/Frances%20Gilbert.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4028" data-original-width="2946" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaF8fad9yd7aPpgD3oIGlVQjQyRMuXTKp6QPww3hWAOf-NkgnoUcuoYMP6JVvPZA0BZwGLFo0YwavstsgL758h6ZdaRgM4vmx5NEk5kTsxWv9yD06vdhEY03xArglIBGMZGt0A52vKsOndR1UyYMS2e8D53Apyinqgm9yuPpU_2fycLkVN_zLQSFGNLA/w146-h200/Frances%20Gilbert.JPG" width="146" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frances Gilbert</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVA8PMJUkc4sSp_juONfPq32RK56QjV4ON1UqC7W79iY_g0NwonWKr46zjEb0eqCFLPhHYs4mfsovtJxcprqtQSEaesr8GVnbIHL-3rRQKqbV1Y4crLGezrvD5UN8H1q2A33vq-ee5zgfkOkBYrDs84kp_Qx6AAf1pYp14GCWs-sfiegROsiA3gGBcg/s2576/Talia%20Benamy%20Headshot%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVA8PMJUkc4sSp_juONfPq32RK56QjV4ON1UqC7W79iY_g0NwonWKr46zjEb0eqCFLPhHYs4mfsovtJxcprqtQSEaesr8GVnbIHL-3rRQKqbV1Y4crLGezrvD5UN8H1q2A33vq-ee5zgfkOkBYrDs84kp_Qx6AAf1pYp14GCWs-sfiegROsiA3gGBcg/w200-h150/Talia%20Benamy%20Headshot%202.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Talia Benamy</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioN2yCrTSwd2nmrDYJ18tpDgzKJeUYASzCnavIWbw8zIyLHlnZuKJBrzf343srO6xVVEFpltpw9N-66pWGIvw01Kat0gpaKQ1sn_dcqTZTGkg3QwP_Mnj101joRmqhWkGiUpC3k9DWO_up8T7A8wNfnXHtW9_AT6Mrc-TtpvP-To8l55jWFII2cld4FQ/s960/Rachel_Orr_headshot%20(1).png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioN2yCrTSwd2nmrDYJ18tpDgzKJeUYASzCnavIWbw8zIyLHlnZuKJBrzf343srO6xVVEFpltpw9N-66pWGIvw01Kat0gpaKQ1sn_dcqTZTGkg3QwP_Mnj101joRmqhWkGiUpC3k9DWO_up8T7A8wNfnXHtW9_AT6Mrc-TtpvP-To8l55jWFII2cld4FQ/w151-h200/Rachel_Orr_headshot%20(1).png" width="151" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rachel Orr</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-29172639512727123972022-04-10T15:02:00.133-07:002024-03-03T12:14:21.614-08:002022 JUNE CRAFTING A HOOK WORKSHOP<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjxI49o5ABJ6Vj4IwVu_I1HoRdLg17NSQ-Pp0UX5nCeCd8hjePTmjtnjWAYsoSvuuet9dvKEl6TJ3UxgV07HqR9OjNjl-B-qE6XJZl54On7lwsf18IGN1VxK3gdk1he8kdjOhuTscQqD_jllCgs414qfyseKJJ8tSERe2OTbEKbdvli3QARU7WMyspA/s720/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="464" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjxI49o5ABJ6Vj4IwVu_I1HoRdLg17NSQ-Pp0UX5nCeCd8hjePTmjtnjWAYsoSvuuet9dvKEl6TJ3UxgV07HqR9OjNjl-B-qE6XJZl54On7lwsf18IGN1VxK3gdk1he8kdjOhuTscQqD_jllCgs414qfyseKJJ8tSERe2OTbEKbdvli3QARU7WMyspA/w132-h205/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">We were thrilled to have <b>Elizabeth Law,</b> Senior Editor and Backlist Specialist at Holiday House run a workshop at our June 2022 CWHV Event on writing your manuscript’s hook. She was humorous, knowledgeable, approachable and a real delight.</span><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Crafting a compelling hook is essential in getting an agent’s or editor’s attention. If your hook doesn’t grab or appeal to them, they will stop reading. When writing your hook, try to put the key words in your title or in the first 25 words of description. Always highlight the conflict or tension.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Several examples of hooks were discussed, along with several formulas for crafting your hook.</span><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">1. Book A meets Book B (for example: Mean Girls Meet Parent Trap) <br /><br />2. My book, (title) has the sexual tension like Twilight but with pirates instead of vampires. (State what is similar and what is different.) <br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our hands-on-exercise was working on our hooks, sharing them (optional) and then getting Elizabeth’s feedback.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">If you’ve received letters from agents or editors with nice compliments like great writing, great characters, etc., but no acceptance offers, it could mean there was no hook and therefore they didn’t know how to sell it or there was no emotional arc. <br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tips on researching, finding comp titles and finding examples of hooks were discussed.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Thank you Elizabeth for a wonderful and fun afternoon! You can find Elizabeth on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/elawreads?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">@elawreads</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VeNcapaIrTbklIkrkJAwqGTIOATDhjvJ2lDUU32-s02_TWH6Mmf3as0KkQ5kCCcLjhsVdRKyvCrbovUkPRyPMtkVykd_ZFBCReQYcZLlbXltefKdFvikSXiCwLvCn4eCCB58ZnmVCMpotA2Pevv-VHxK2eOoxP0Vkj69dguCEQvhXUHNC38HcQ-VFg/s1650/Elizabeth%20Law%20in%20Antiqua.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1650" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VeNcapaIrTbklIkrkJAwqGTIOATDhjvJ2lDUU32-s02_TWH6Mmf3as0KkQ5kCCcLjhsVdRKyvCrbovUkPRyPMtkVykd_ZFBCReQYcZLlbXltefKdFvikSXiCwLvCn4eCCB58ZnmVCMpotA2Pevv-VHxK2eOoxP0Vkj69dguCEQvhXUHNC38HcQ-VFg/w229-h177/Elizabeth%20Law%20in%20Antiqua.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><br /></span><p></p></div></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-41980240515844861302021-09-22T12:06:00.212-07:002024-03-03T12:11:01.935-08:002021 November Fall Event<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s720/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="464" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/w128-h199/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Our debut in-person CWHV conference, since Covid, was a delightful success! We met at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Poughkeepsie on November 6, 2021.</span></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We began with registration and fellowship. This was the first time, since our last CWHV conference in June 2019, that many conference attendees met face to face. Attendees chatted, shared coffee and cookies and genuinely enjoyed seeing old writer friends.</span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Our opening speaker was <b>Alison Weiss</b>, acquisitions editor at Pixel+Ink. In 2016, she was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. She was friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and well prepared! Besides lecture and discussions, there were writing exercises and a three-page handout.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Alison discussed different approaches to planning and building a series across diverse age levels and genres. We discussed the different kinds of series, and ways to develop your character. We worked on our pitches and brainstormed book ideas for series potential. You can follow her on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/alioop7">@alioop7</a> and learn more about Pixel+Ink at <a href="https://holidayhouse.com/site/pixel-ink/?pg=books">pixelandinkbooks.com</a> </span><div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span>Our second presenter was <b>K. L. Going</b>, an award-winning author. Her first novel, FAT KID RULES THE WORLD was named a Michael Printz Honor Book, and was included on YALSA’s </span><i>Best Books for Young Adults</i><span> </span><span>and on their list of</span><span> </span><i>Best Books for the Past Decade. </i><span>Kelly has participated in prior conferences and is always a joy to listen to.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Kelly talked about different strategies to explore the creative process. Her exercises were unique with multiple stations, one table dealt with taste, texture, smell. Another table offered multiple cards with varying characters, settings and situations.<br /><br />There was a table with enlarged black and white photographs that inspired me to write a backstory. Other tables offered prompt cards and postcards to stroke one’s creative juices.<br /><br />To visit Kelly on-line go to <a href="http://klgoing.com/">klgoing.com</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KLGoing">facebook</a>, twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/klgoing">@klgoing</a>, instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/kl_going/?hl=en">@klgoing</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> <br />Critiques were offered on site by Alison Weiss, K.L. Going and Jalen Garcia-Hall (editorial assistant with Scholastic, Inc.)<br /><br />We want to thank our presenters and our industrious attendees for supporting us and making our return to hosting conferences an informative and fun afternoon! <br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">For announcements and conference updates, please visit our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/CWHV.books/community/">CWHV facebook</a> page. </span></span></p></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNW01ytLSAMBhOWNKeP-EvlmE7OSB168rm2Xou-39YGn4P1XcNuHW78t2YkjSfudyVyptF1vwXvdBmLRsFGgp3LJ2TrWmF-9hDcbdwiUPF-PW-rBvN2Guj0RLMMnvdmfkAZw5GR9m8cH_/s958/Alison+S+Weiss+Headshot.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="958" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNW01ytLSAMBhOWNKeP-EvlmE7OSB168rm2Xou-39YGn4P1XcNuHW78t2YkjSfudyVyptF1vwXvdBmLRsFGgp3LJ2TrWmF-9hDcbdwiUPF-PW-rBvN2Guj0RLMMnvdmfkAZw5GR9m8cH_/w200-h200/Alison+S+Weiss+Headshot.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Alison Weiss</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0H1SRjKDORSRyc9RX-kDViAo6vApLb-l5GzHnvcq1xKWTlqF39y7pa8SJtzopdPJY0vAA6rjtTh07OCf1WlNH-EIQH6BHGfvSvg_d146qcwSOLK3DOP2zzrFywIX5NTGbNipcaIb6iZCd/s1800/Kelling+Going+pic+2021.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1200" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0H1SRjKDORSRyc9RX-kDViAo6vApLb-l5GzHnvcq1xKWTlqF39y7pa8SJtzopdPJY0vAA6rjtTh07OCf1WlNH-EIQH6BHGfvSvg_d146qcwSOLK3DOP2zzrFywIX5NTGbNipcaIb6iZCd/w183-h275/Kelling+Going+pic+2021.jpg" width="183" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">K.L. Going</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p></div></div>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-57545576427633992702020-02-25T07:45:00.009-08:002020-09-29T17:32:27.850-07:002020 June Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="465" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We're sorry to announce that we canceled our June 13, 2020 Children's Writers of the Hudson Valley Conference due to the outbreak of coronavirus.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are following recommendations encouraged by the state and federal government to cancel our event to discourage the spread of the virus. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Please keep checking this website for updates and sign up for our <a href="https://blogspot.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=45b2d3955929034adb3a4f3a5&id=5a466a8f12">newsletter</a> for announcements on future conferences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-69216910833053053082019-09-24T13:08:00.000-07:002020-04-16T13:16:50.775-07:002019 November Self-Editing Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our fall event was a self-editing workshop focusing on query pitches ran by Katherine Jacobs, a Senior Editor at Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group at St. James Church in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Katherine was engaging, informative and a pleasure to spend the afternoon with.</span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The first free writing exercise was to describe your work in progress and then using that writing sample, find words or phrases that get to the core of your story. We discussed what is the most important thing your reader needs to know about </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>your story</i> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">on the first page followed by another writing exercise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: left;">We examined the first page of two published works </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: left;">and discussed the important information that we learned from them. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: left;">Katherine then explained the written pitches for </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; text-align: left;">those two published works, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">one for a picture book and one for a novel.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katherine Jacobs</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Using information from our prior writing exercises, we worked on our own pitches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There was a discussion on competitive titles and agents. Everyone left with a handout with more </span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">advice for their work in progress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We look forward to seeing Katherine again! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To receive updates about our current or future conferences, sign up for our<a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf"> </a><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf">newsletter</a>.</span><br /><br />
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"Thanks again for organizing the workshop on Saturday. I found it SO HELPFUL! I am really excited about revising my picture book manuscript now." Caroline Nastro, 2019 attendee</i></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-16621097219608712652019-03-17T12:01:00.001-07:002020-04-16T12:41:55.576-07:002019 June Conference<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="465" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We were honored to have Alvina Ling, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as our opening keynote speaker. She spoke on her publishing journey and the importance of goal setting. Five steps for attaining your goals: do your research, outline a step by step plan, work hard and preserve, network like crazy and believe and hope in your goal and abilities. As Abe Lincoln said, “A goal properly set is hallway reached.” I love that!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Her workshop session reviewed the basics of novel structure: voice, character and plot. Voice: Who is the main character? Points of view: multiple or single. Tense, past or present. Prose or verse. Ways of making your character’s voice distinct was discussed. Character: learn about our character through physical descriptions, <br />action, self-discovery and dialogue. Plots: the seven basic plots and three simple plots were explored.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Eve Adler, Senior Editor at Sterling Children’s Books, picture book workshop talked about how to hook your readers with the right voice. Unfortunately, I was not in this workshop. If I find someone who can share their notes, I’ll add to this post.<br /><br />Kate Brzozowski, Editor at Feiwel & Friends and Swoon Reads, discussed your writing voice in novels. Your writing voice is influenced by your tone, your diction, sentence length and access into the character’s head.<br /><br />Emma Sector, Literary Agent at Prospect Agency, discussed the difference kinds of chapter books. Some are like graphic novels in the structure and art style, some are episodic with three or four different stories using the same main character and others are one storyline. Usual word count is 10,000 to 12,000 words with ten chapters. For a series potential, you need different secondary characters with a structure that can be repeated. Think Magic Tree House.<br /><br />Our closing speaker was David Neilsen, storyteller and author of creepy, funny middle grades. He described ways to build the mood so the reader can be scared, why the reader has to identify with the character, and why children want to be scared. He discussed some dos and don’ts when writing to scare young readers. He closed his session by entertaining us with a reading.<br /><br />We want to thank all of our attendees, without their support our conferences would not be a success! Thanks to our fabulous speakers: Alvina Ling </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">(<a href="https://twitter.com/planetalvina">@planetalvina</a> on twitter and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alvinaling/">@alvinaling</a> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">on Instagram), Eve Adler, Kate Brzozowski, Emma Sector, and David Neilsen. A special thanks to <a href="https://www.merrittbooks.com/">Merritt Bookstore</a> for all their heavy lifting to provide us with a bookstore, Panera for delivering our delicious lunches and finally, to our dedicated CWHV committee members.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">For my live tweets during the conference, search #CWHV.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />To receive updates about our current or future conferences, sign up for <a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf">our newsletter</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>"Thank you for another excellent writing conference in a welcome setting, with delicious food and lots of drinks.These conferences keep me focused on plugging along to my writing goals, and spur me on to work more diligently. And I always leave with new ideas to improve my writing." Catherine Cwiakala, 2019 attendee </i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP-6EVPSlPKdUYxuDnfQV-DQb5Yy-mCtNMC0d41kceAxyHMUFiO0sqlc77MGSziATIB84oPxOHAqZGYZFsBStPdxP1s-zpPYj0ml-FruQlkLjKl4FX-DHJP1-eyfYTi3mW2dDdpnqYBnTQ/s1600/Kat+Brzozowski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP-6EVPSlPKdUYxuDnfQV-DQb5Yy-mCtNMC0d41kceAxyHMUFiO0sqlc77MGSziATIB84oPxOHAqZGYZFsBStPdxP1s-zpPYj0ml-FruQlkLjKl4FX-DHJP1-eyfYTi3mW2dDdpnqYBnTQ/s200/Kat+Brzozowski.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kate Brzozowski</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alvina Ling</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eve Adler</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGsOagOkJpEQGS_1iPVyN1io8DXntR2Fr-p_iS6aX1Jq4Zp8x8i_cyZgHwCF_OKtb3rSYxpQaqaYyJoOKIrKKRkS5zn070sZ9MUq6lPZA9HqaMvjkOQOkvuEnZ1tb4-omWG6wcT68Jy0c/s1600/EmmaSector+-+headshot+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGsOagOkJpEQGS_1iPVyN1io8DXntR2Fr-p_iS6aX1Jq4Zp8x8i_cyZgHwCF_OKtb3rSYxpQaqaYyJoOKIrKKRkS5zn070sZ9MUq6lPZA9HqaMvjkOQOkvuEnZ1tb4-omWG6wcT68Jy0c/s200/EmmaSector+-+headshot+%25283%2529.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Sector</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-49909311092255202092018-09-05T06:53:00.000-07:002020-04-14T13:35:14.614-07:002018 October Boosting Creativity Workshop<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="465" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We were delighted to have Sara Sargent, Executive Editor at HarperCollins lead her workshop, Sparking Creativity, at our 2018 Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley fall event. She was enthusiastic and fostered a fun learning environment. Below is a sampling of some of the topics that we discussed.<br /><br /> Before you start writing, think about what you are writing, why are you writing it, who is it for and what is your goal. We talked about why writers get stuck and how identifying what makes us stuck is the answer to solving it. If you are feeling mired in your writing progress below are some ways to stimulate your writing muscles. <br /><br />Some external ways to boost your creativity include changing your environment, create a vision board of the story you want to write, help someone else with their project and get your brain off your problems to name a few.<br /><br />Internal ways to spark creativity include journaling or seeing a therapist to awaken that inner child or stir that pot! These were only two of the multiple suggestions. I picked my favorites.<br /><br />Sara discussed elements for a good beginning: sense of intrigue, strong sense of place, compelling voice, good writing, compelling character and one good device.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLXxDZjUbBbyeYgrC007C4dt53Pdxo9Bvu04IpmXwWJ39HOIYqle3v2RJyflaJ1GIxY3Jca_ojqJalmiU6n-jcvoq-RkSDIehgWuvTDIth_mgT4uXf3yLp8jyHnQP9GOgLIm0uLF1zSeJ/s1600/Sara+Sargent+headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLXxDZjUbBbyeYgrC007C4dt53Pdxo9Bvu04IpmXwWJ39HOIYqle3v2RJyflaJ1GIxY3Jca_ojqJalmiU6n-jcvoq-RkSDIehgWuvTDIth_mgT4uXf3yLp8jyHnQP9GOgLIm0uLF1zSeJ/s200/Sara+Sargent+headshot.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Other topics discussed were how to fix your beginning, errors on the first page, tangible and emotion objects of the story and writing exercises to encourage creativity. <br /><br />I left with three pages of handwritten notes and a three-page handout from Sara that also included additional writing exercises. <br /><br />Thank you, Sara, for spending your Saturday afternoon with us. We received numerous compliments and look forward to having you as an encore presenter in the near future. <br /><br />To receive updates about our current or future conferences, sign up for <a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf">our newsletter</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">"Thank you for hosting such a terrific
workshop today at the Hampton's </span><span style="background: white;">Inn Suites. Sara Sargent must come back
again, for Part Two! Her </span><span style="background: white;">presentation was so worthwhile." <o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Mary Whetstone, 2018 attendee</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: white;">"Thank you for a wonderful
workshop. It is so nice to come to a </span><span style="background: white;">workshop </span><span style="background: white;">that delivers. Yours did over the
weekend. Sara's insights are </span><span style="background: white;">quite </span><span style="background: white;">helpful." </span><span style="background: white;">Patrick Watson, 2018 attendee<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: white;"> "Just wanted to say thank you for
all your effect and generosity in </span><span style="background: white;">putting together a wonderful writing
workshop session on Saturday." </span><span style="background: white;">Roseann Crescimanno, 2018 attendee</span></i></span><br /><br /></span></div>
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-45304512623955860362018-03-13T12:24:00.000-07:002020-04-16T13:07:08.019-07:002018 June Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="465" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQMzwhKm-x1t8-A4eJIoByCKUjmCpPuH6vccs7OEY49yWnqTelZkV3hPNaiL7buDoMChwEjoU8C3fyu0DmQdkVJZRM4pMUdxpMqsLxnE8RZjxgdEtgJvimax1jXczKafJB2hpi0KVSqC7/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">June 9, 2018, the Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley celebrated its 6th annual writer’s conference with old and new writing friends at the Hampton Inn Suites in the Hudson Valley. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_V4i44BeGxlaMJmUKo-FDiJY1k0JFQNnL2C2vCs2_ZXPT1HmTKyMBEPNVn5HFuVqy9lU4tzApIo6ayMeLeyWUflPAcX9SP5TVgLemwYRadzveUhAlI5QXjXjxhDit1UX5WwsSV5K_XqP/s1600/jen+door+3+039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_V4i44BeGxlaMJmUKo-FDiJY1k0JFQNnL2C2vCs2_ZXPT1HmTKyMBEPNVn5HFuVqy9lU4tzApIo6ayMeLeyWUflPAcX9SP5TVgLemwYRadzveUhAlI5QXjXjxhDit1UX5WwsSV5K_XqP/s200/jen+door+3+039.JPG" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Doug Dundas</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />Our Keynote speaker was <a href="http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com/">Jennifer Donnelly</a>, a New York Times Bestselling author, who spoke of her writer’s journey. It was inspirational to hear how long and how hard she worked on her first novel (over 10 years!). There’s hope for all of us! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">She also hosted a workshop on writing historical novels and discussed how her research led to traveling as she wrote her first novel, A NORTHERN LIGHT, winner of the Carnegie Medal, the LA Times Book Prize, a Printz Honor, and named “One of the 100 Best Young Adult Book of all Time” by TIME Magazine. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcZ5RebBTWLzsN5kgHUeTxaQWA02rg5ylgZ-uumH58G67JRjLH9-DFd4u1FMbR_1Pq4_0IaHajZioMbPXy8D651sbzae_fZDTaTBEJIES6zKyHfpmCmgDjDaCtKEcHLeLPnhT4pO-sUD3/s1600/Lesa+Ransome+%25231+color+%2527hi-res%2527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1125" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcZ5RebBTWLzsN5kgHUeTxaQWA02rg5ylgZ-uumH58G67JRjLH9-DFd4u1FMbR_1Pq4_0IaHajZioMbPXy8D651sbzae_fZDTaTBEJIES6zKyHfpmCmgDjDaCtKEcHLeLPnhT4pO-sUD3/s200/Lesa+Ransome+%25231+color+%2527hi-res%2527.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lesa Cline-Ransome</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.lesaclineransome.com/">Lesa Cline-Ransome</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">, an award-winning </span> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">author, led a workshop on character exploration through observation, research and memory in non-fiction picture books. If you want your story to be authentic, research is</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> crucial. A bonus to researching your facts is that it can stimulate your creative juices and lead to other ideas. The writing exercises were to write a story a 6-word story and write a first line based on a photo that she displayed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />We broke for a delicious Panera's lunch, networking and bookstore. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />In the afternoon, Meredith Mundy, Executive Editor </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3vqg_dzuuyEcRMEX2S9GsrzFYujsGiLdyyzeNqTqyv389eiFZuA6_bKaDlN2cs9mTuC6oP702fi0pDI_X5RyAT_VXweNI6aeHI1bAMopE55T78fNumcGSIR9ud_qSTbyzNhzJj2z5lrB/s1600/19+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1600" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3vqg_dzuuyEcRMEX2S9GsrzFYujsGiLdyyzeNqTqyv389eiFZuA6_bKaDlN2cs9mTuC6oP702fi0pDI_X5RyAT_VXweNI6aeHI1bAMopE55T78fNumcGSIR9ud_qSTbyzNhzJj2z5lrB/s200/19+-+Copy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meredith Mundy</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">at Abrams Appleseed, discussed the importance </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">of the first line in your picture books. Your first </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">line should leave the reader wondering w</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">hat happened or why? </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The writing exercise was to take the first line from your manuscripts and rewrite them using the tips we learned in the workshop. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcM6ok_rNM7woddKH_l-TaSre-uSyjRX8LqsEMfMCa0cS69m_7xwJgA53z9rMkKWWF_zt77MgQYkn6R0Q0C7lB73ijKvfU-etk5itBLRmTR6u96-EJEcmZL-M_jXbDLLE8Aui0Y4dHKQUj/s1600/21+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcM6ok_rNM7woddKH_l-TaSre-uSyjRX8LqsEMfMCa0cS69m_7xwJgA53z9rMkKWWF_zt77MgQYkn6R0Q0C7lB73ijKvfU-etk5itBLRmTR6u96-EJEcmZL-M_jXbDLLE8Aui0Y4dHKQUj/s200/21+-+Copy.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bess Cozby</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Bess Cozby, Editor at Tor/Forge Books, led a workshop on world building in fantasy, science fiction and dystopian novels. She discussed the power of perspective and how characters are shaped by their reactions to time, place and the choices that they make. The writing exercise involved putting your characters in difference environments and how character choices were related to past or present experiences. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25qe67gVymb7ObsFXvmcrqrym3H9jPgXuUpagOzRxko7mz1YIv_275nOOGx3qpnaelxB_NCl7JTBUNE8GGRHqDvXA-XjeZ3Yb-_D2PM7ukGWeS8YNJZAX2pihQk0RLMDjxH5sR2RcBUTI/s1600/29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1519" data-original-width="1600" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25qe67gVymb7ObsFXvmcrqrym3H9jPgXuUpagOzRxko7mz1YIv_275nOOGx3qpnaelxB_NCl7JTBUNE8GGRHqDvXA-XjeZ3Yb-_D2PM7ukGWeS8YNJZAX2pihQk0RLMDjxH5sR2RcBUTI/s200/29.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Gary Giolo and Susanna Reich</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our closing speakers were Susanna Reich, an award-winning author, and Gary Giolo, a New York Times Bestselling author on writing biographies for children and young teens. They discussed primary and secondary sources for research, different methods of research and not leaving the writing behind. They closed out the session with music and song.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Additional manuscript critiques were done by Sarah LaPolla and Barbara Paulding. <br /><br />Check out #CWHV for my tweets during the conference. <br /><br />A special thanks to our faculty, Bess Cozby, Jennifer Donnelly, Gary Golio, Sarah LaPolla, Meredith Mundy, Barbara Paulding, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Susanna Reich; our book seller, <a href="https://www.merrittbooks.com/">Merritt Bookstore</a>; the <a href="http://www.cwhv.org/p/about-us.html">CWHV</a> team and Kara Cerilli, an attendee who showed up with her camera and took pictures. <br /><br />Our conference would not exist without the continued support from our hardworking attendees. The CWHV team thanks and appreciates you. <br /><br />To receive updates about our current or future conferences, sign up for <a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf">our newsletter</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>“Thank you for organizing such a great, intimate conference. Please keep me on your email list. I would definitely attend future events. I was thrilled to meet Jennifer as I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I read Northern Lights.” Debbie St. Thomas, 2018 attendee.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbara Paulding</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah LaPolla</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-8999046729845433582017-03-01T07:23:00.001-08:002020-01-07T06:54:54.002-08:002017 June Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2iz5J0wylGYT1NiObzwegPXvXCRvBoLO6pUTybEclUnEcmk_eMYY-tdEJ3vxPwrCiRYKDCNiVXdxooFUje6Rx5JXwamTs2TpV9ai9lnQ49irrqM5aoZ3mgdYwuVV2B_NuksI2s-DFrDa/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2iz5J0wylGYT1NiObzwegPXvXCRvBoLO6pUTybEclUnEcmk_eMYY-tdEJ3vxPwrCiRYKDCNiVXdxooFUje6Rx5JXwamTs2TpV9ai9lnQ49irrqM5aoZ3mgdYwuVV2B_NuksI2s-DFrDa/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our 5th annual June CWHV conference was an inspiring success! As always, our attendees were hard working and attacked every exercise with passion and due diligence. Our presenters were well-informed, personable and entertaining.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;"><a href="https://johnmcusick.wordpress.com/">John Cusick</a>, agent at Folio Jr./Folio Literary
Management, schooled us with helpful tips on time management, creating a work
space, how to persevere in our writer’s journey, the value of critique groups
and what qualities they should have and how the “Love of your life” can mess
you up! My favorite line: “Give your inner voice a name.” He explained why. </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Jane Abbott and John Cusick</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://offtheshelf.com/">Sarah Jane Abbott</a>, assistant editor for Paula Wiseman
Books and Beach Lane Books at Simon & Schuster (<a href="http://rivetedlit.com/">Riveted</a>), talked about what contributes
to a picture book’s read aloud quality, audience participation, creating a plot
arc, your story’s heart and meta books. She discussed character qualities and
how to achieve them through writing devices (my favorite part!).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The writing exercises were graphing your plot arc,
editing a picture book manuscript using the tools and techniques discussed
earlier and giving your character a quality and showing it through writing devices.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch with Brett Duquette</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Brett Duquette, senior editor at Sterling Publishing,
reviewed the plot arc elements for a novel, why more choices or complications
are better for your characters, different ways to start a novel, and when to
use a prologue. Favorite line: “Write to kill your characters; edit to save
them.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;">The hands-on exercise involved writing out a plot arc for
your novel or WIP (work in progress).</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harold Underdown</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://www.underdown.org/">Harold Underdown</a>, independent editor, publishing
consultant and founder of the well-respected <a href="http://www.underdown.org/">Purple Crayon</a> website, discussed
reader’s response and revision tools. What is the goal of your text? Attendees
received a handout listing helpful revision resources, questions to ask
yourself about your characters and picture book and novel revision grids. My
favorite line actually happened during our First 100 Words Panel: “The way we
are reading these is like a parlor game for your amusement. We don’t really do
it this way.” </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The attendee participation was pairing up with someone
who was not familiar with your story and reading your first page. What was the
other person’s reader response? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We closed out the afternoon with our First 100 Words
Panel. John, Sarah, Brett and Harold read the first 100 words of randomly
selected attendee first pages. Their first impression comments were insightful
and helpful to all our attendees.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;">I tweeted writing tips and advice during the
conference. Enter #cwhv in the search bar or go to my feed @val_marchini and
scroll down.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We are indebted to our faculty and attendee writers
who made our conference a wonderful event. Thank you John Cusick, Sarah Jane
Abbott, Brett Duquette, Harold Underdown, attendee writers, Merritt Bookstore
and the CWHV committee for your time, participation and investment in our
conference!</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sign up for </span><span style="background: white; line-height: 25.68px;"><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">our newsletter</span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">to get updates and notifications about upcoming conferences<span style="background: white; line-height: 25.68px;">. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“As usual, it [the conference] was fabulous. I really
appreciate the work you all put in to make this a stellar event! I especially loved
the sessions by John Cusick and Brett Duquette.” Heather Versace, 2017 attendee<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #444444;">“I loved the 100-word critique session. Even though
mine was not read, I found that session to be extremely educational. Lots of “lightbulb”
moments.” . . . “Great speakers, venue, food, etc.” Judy Cooper, 2017 attendee</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 25.68px;"><br /></span></span>Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-26222567032482549132016-08-02T06:36:00.000-07:002017-10-20T09:58:52.212-07:002016 October Robust Revisions Workshop<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our October event led by Emma Dryden, former Vice President
and Publisher of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Margaret K. McElderry Books, was an afternoon packed full of revision tips and techniques. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">From using highlighters to track your character’s
wants or backstory to changing the font or size of type to trick yourself into
seeing something differently to boiling down your synopsis from 10 pages to one
sentence are a few examples of Emma’s revision tips.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">She discussed creating a character purpose list. Every
character in your story needs a reason to be there. If too many characters only
serve one function, combine some of them together. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Comb through your manuscript looking for repeated
words or phrases — change or delete them, remove stage directions, look for
several adjectives in a row and pick the best one or replace them with more efficient prose. Check the last line in every scene, does it
make the reader want to keep reading?<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">These are only a handful of Emma's revision techniques, I can't possibly list them all. I left with four pages of notes and a stack of handouts (40 pages!). Emma was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, personable and generous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Thank you, Emma, for making our fall event successful and enjoyable, too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Visit Emma's blog, <a href="http://emmaddryden.blogspot.com/">Our stories, Ourselves</a>, and her website <a href="http://www.drydenbks.com/">www.drydenbks.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To receive updates
about our current or future conferences,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>sign up
</span>for </span><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf"><span style="background: white; color: #3d85c6; line-height: 107%;">our newsletter</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">. </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Dryden</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-23812141754483380022016-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:002017-02-02T13:30:36.405-08:002016 June Conference<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our June 2016 CWHV Conference, held at the Hampton Inn
& Suites, was a wonderful success with knowledgeable and friendly
presenters and a full house of excited writers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Sylvie Frank, Editor, Paula Wiseman Books, started the
morning with our first picture book session.
Attendees learned about “cubing.” Describe the topic, compare it,
associate it, analyze it, apply it, and argue for or against it. The writing
exercise involved using “cubing.” Remember your stories need conflict and
tension, for example, in LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, the mother says, “Don’t stray
from the path,” that line gives the story tension.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Kelsey Horton, Assistant Editor, HarperCollins
Publishers, ran a novel session. The opening topic was how a book makes you
feel emotionally, using a sports reference, we have: pregame, start of the
game, close game, bottom of the ninth, win or lose. The reader is on an
emotional roller coaster. The structure of a novel starts with stasis, then the
trigger, the quest with obstacles, a surprise, a critical choice, the climax,
reversal and closure. The writing exercise was writing an elevator pitch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">After a delicious Panera’s lunch, we had free time to
network with conference friends and faculty and visit the bookstore, courtesy
of Merritt Books.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Emma Ledbetter, Editor, Atheneum Books for Young
Readers led the second picture book session. She used I DON’T LIKE KOALA by
Sean Ferrell to explain pacing a picture book and the placement of art and text.
Paper, tape and scissors were passed out and attendees made a book dummy using
their own manuscripts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Matt Ringler, Senior Editor, Scholastic, hosted the afternoon
novel session on character development. One exercise involved making a postcard
bio. List name, occupation, birthplace, job title or position, wants, likes,
challenges, obstacles, and a defining moment for your character. After creating
two different characters, the writing exercise was to put them in the same
scene. Stand out line: A memorable
character is there when you need him, right time, right place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our closing speaker was Gail Carson Levine, a novelist
and a Newbery Honor award winner. Gail describes herself as a “pantzer.” She
keeps files of ideas, notes and cut material from manuscripts; doesn’t use outlines
and uses fairy tales to help her write. She prefers to end her chapters with
her characters reacting to the cliff hanger. For character development, she
starts with an idea of what kind of character could (blank) or couldn’t (blank)
to further her plot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our good news: Tracy Marchini, a freelance editor, co-founder of CWHV, a former committee member and critiquer for our June conferences has recently signed with BookEnds Literary Agency <a href="http://bookendsliterary.com/">http://bookendsliterary.com/</a> as a literary agent. Tracy is passionate about books, publishing and has already signed her first client! Congrats! She is actively seeking submissions.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 107%;">Thanks to our presenters, Merritt Books, Panera, the CWHV
committee and our enthusiastic attendees for another successful conference.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #444444; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To receive updates about our current or future conferences, sign up for <a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf">our newsletter</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>"This was my first year at the conference, and I LOVED it! I think both the picture book sessions were helpful, well-organized, and inspiring. Both editors were knowledgeable, approachable, and energetic. Loved them!" Jamie Rabideau, 2016 attendee.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>"Excellent novel workshops with both editors in the Hudson Room. The writing exercises in those workshops helped uncork some writing energy in me that has been seriously lagging lately.</i></span><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Fantastic, real-writer-process talk by Gail Carson Levine. Loved her energy and her honest struggles with what it takes to get a novel into publishable shape, which we can all relate to, of course." Alison Formento, 2016 attendee. </span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00yOH3LSgakndtRf0O9UeE4fRBU94Hr27GLL11sKdXCXfXiyYXc284PfTCqkbVFofISc0CYNa0XcNsNbZhPzxT2yaoIoGmnNYoqXG2vsJcy7F8rKysycq1T5ZEkK_4exideMI_By54rsv/s1600/IMG_2295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00yOH3LSgakndtRf0O9UeE4fRBU94Hr27GLL11sKdXCXfXiyYXc284PfTCqkbVFofISc0CYNa0XcNsNbZhPzxT2yaoIoGmnNYoqXG2vsJcy7F8rKysycq1T5ZEkK_4exideMI_By54rsv/s200/IMG_2295.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kelsey Horton<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9XB58_IUdCybPIZ0nwk0L4mZN0hmA1azkgeCkYU0mYIeagJlRrdtzTQaAn2Sp8KMa06Rz2VW6KyBss1C58npNJEFU3Y4tNmBYisVPG8L2d-65vNItbt4uES1fkOtcRuPzvp-oeL7E7Q2/s1600/IMG_2306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9XB58_IUdCybPIZ0nwk0L4mZN0hmA1azkgeCkYU0mYIeagJlRrdtzTQaAn2Sp8KMa06Rz2VW6KyBss1C58npNJEFU3Y4tNmBYisVPG8L2d-65vNItbt4uES1fkOtcRuPzvp-oeL7E7Q2/s200/IMG_2306.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt Ringler</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLSEOLMRniToZo7tykRX6ywdo8lckm3rLCCdGrfA58hTllsSND5vce8riNbNKckWCv-K_sXaV44h8dcS0_7lfMVfi5uWVVyGgMlW4WzEhv7MlCV4IOwzEfnM4pXw4rCXYoknn5JfIJCFI/s1600/IMG_2309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWLSEOLMRniToZo7tykRX6ywdo8lckm3rLCCdGrfA58hTllsSND5vce8riNbNKckWCv-K_sXaV44h8dcS0_7lfMVfi5uWVVyGgMlW4WzEhv7MlCV4IOwzEfnM4pXw4rCXYoknn5JfIJCFI/s200/IMG_2309.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Ledbetter</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi80m2AX1lgDCQIfaOb-6Lo2U_CTeAjdjGjLz6Le4FfQuBTHw3da2Vfa0pNGhYPJynDUr2IlmRCw95Tg7JZcY1n5dd1VjxLCOBazzRi1PTeQvnnK-7TAqMEabIsztJYUlfGcyylmXyzbNy8/s1600/IMG_2315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi80m2AX1lgDCQIfaOb-6Lo2U_CTeAjdjGjLz6Le4FfQuBTHw3da2Vfa0pNGhYPJynDUr2IlmRCw95Tg7JZcY1n5dd1VjxLCOBazzRi1PTeQvnnK-7TAqMEabIsztJYUlfGcyylmXyzbNy8/s200/IMG_2315.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gail Carson Levine</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1-DlL8Fw4_vcgUlTw5irMR7B4VQl4OlFx5oAweF2adUIpzlx183Zlo-eMQiy9VuUqteMjW43bhr6peb4KYYLNRIwsBNWG_F2s3rJg05uwR6nYhh-a5kpdJkAQLY4DMab78hac059Qz8k/s1600/Sylvie+Frank.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1-DlL8Fw4_vcgUlTw5irMR7B4VQl4OlFx5oAweF2adUIpzlx183Zlo-eMQiy9VuUqteMjW43bhr6peb4KYYLNRIwsBNWG_F2s3rJg05uwR6nYhh-a5kpdJkAQLY4DMab78hac059Qz8k/s200/Sylvie+Frank.png" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sylvie Frank</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-20535981115093269282015-08-14T18:42:00.001-07:002017-02-02T13:30:51.762-08:002015 October Inspiration for Writers Workshop<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRpyEHOa6QCvTzHNQmse11THUrm4PjUqaxh7f7CqBgk_GB23CnOxJ8xXFiiZrEUItzFiFhBuFQ9JFUPYYk7cF4AoCZ8POLxvE7E9mADVJt1tZgxP0SFZslEqa19yPP0Ftzj3ARhyphenhypheniIDms/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRpyEHOa6QCvTzHNQmse11THUrm4PjUqaxh7f7CqBgk_GB23CnOxJ8xXFiiZrEUItzFiFhBuFQ9JFUPYYk7cF4AoCZ8POLxvE7E9mADVJt1tZgxP0SFZslEqa19yPP0Ftzj3ARhyphenhypheniIDms/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Attendees shared an afternoon with the affable Kendra Levin, a Senior Editor at Viking Books and a certified life coach for writers and artists (<a href="http://www.kendracoaching.com/">kendralevin.com</a>). She opened the afternoon by discussing writing with intention and connecting with the ideal reader. To boil it down, successful authors "create for an audience of one"<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">(Kurt Vonnegut). The exercise involved thinking of a </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">character, being specific in </span>the details and writing something for that character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Attendees learned what their monster was that kept them from reaching their writing goals and also, what their character wanted to tell them after a meditation
exercise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Kendra finished the workshop with a discussion on goals. The
final exercise was a schematic drawing depicting how to achieve your writing goals
and record your progress. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Thank you, Kendra, and our attendees for a wonderful afternoon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"Thank you for all your hard work in pulling
yesterday’s event together. </span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">It was
inspiring having an afternoon to discuss the process and learn </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">about
better ways to work. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Thank you. Your time was well appreciated." Frances Hollowell
Ryan, 2015 attendee.</span></span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">"I enjoyed the workshop with Kendra last Saturday--not only her, </span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">but
the input from the participants, and the way the workshop was organized. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Nice
job to all who made it happen." Rachel, 2015 attendee.</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">To receive updates about our current or future conferences,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>sign up for </span><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf"><span style="background: white; color: #3d85c6;">our newsletter</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333;">. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9NYW-2nW7HRCNxK6HKwKMQQ_huSm6_lx4zALCpfdMXFxnMpuFYXuX7qRVTqWIbsZ6XMM7dLrTycyol11h1fgGOH2s-m-5TeW7RQ5JdT1dZew36pgH_4-XacNahj_i1f-9i2F_IkRU4Vv/s1600/IMG_2062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9NYW-2nW7HRCNxK6HKwKMQQ_huSm6_lx4zALCpfdMXFxnMpuFYXuX7qRVTqWIbsZ6XMM7dLrTycyol11h1fgGOH2s-m-5TeW7RQ5JdT1dZew36pgH_4-XacNahj_i1f-9i2F_IkRU4Vv/s200/IMG_2062.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kendra Levin discussing goals</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbKairH3RPpdTlasJlBCQhqtT64BrWxX26GH7L5er61msx75VhOwK3ye51jRbXD82qLT34p9X-EPsBwW4U3ry39bxN8kImPCwIic74Z_Unz9KYzaThQh8hW8WRpl-imkJUT3W99Ty3w92/s1600/IMG_2063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbKairH3RPpdTlasJlBCQhqtT64BrWxX26GH7L5er61msx75VhOwK3ye51jRbXD82qLT34p9X-EPsBwW4U3ry39bxN8kImPCwIic74Z_Unz9KYzaThQh8hW8WRpl-imkJUT3W99Ty3w92/s200/IMG_2063.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Schematic drawing for goals</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-52696137859524344562015-03-03T18:48:00.001-08:002017-02-02T13:31:08.530-08:002015 June Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuQxQiflhGlpGPEJaUyjbLAmMmsnWcFvLwjLYez-qwFHYdbyIu9ShC5jsDcZO2P5nXnaCJKTGhyPtOAc2dcIw1bVCw6AjCRSEir3REh72EMNshuhRJySmWlkSU21XXdQk29oChbx6RueC/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuQxQiflhGlpGPEJaUyjbLAmMmsnWcFvLwjLYez-qwFHYdbyIu9ShC5jsDcZO2P5nXnaCJKTGhyPtOAc2dcIw1bVCw6AjCRSEir3REh72EMNshuhRJySmWlkSU21XXdQk29oChbx6RueC/s200/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">We were delighted to have Kendra Levin, Senior Editor at
Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House; Emily Feinberg, Associate
Editor at Roaring Brook Press; and Stacy Whitman, Publisher of Tu, an imprint
of Lee and Low Books at our June 2015 CWHV conference. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Kendra kicked off her novel writing workshops
with a three-page handout. Several exercises explored character development and
getting to know your character by sharing a secret or receiving a gift. When
building your character you are "building layers or unpeeling layers." Some
exercises involved writing in a different perspective and stepping outside your
comfort zone by writing in a different genre or POV; another exercise was to
identify your main character. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"The key to successful picture book writing is to learn to think visually," </span><span style="background-color: white;">said Emily Feinberg, leader of the
picture book workshops. One exercise involved working with shapes to help the
writers think visually and to understand the importance of scene changes and
page turns. Another exercise was to rewrite the first scene from your
work-in-progress using a different perspective. In addition to other writing
exercises, pagination, page turns and the acquisition process was discussed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: inherit;">Stacy Whitman closed our conference with her
presentation on multiculturalism. "</span><span style="background: white;">There are
much more children of color in the United States than there aren't and those
children deserve to see themselves in books." Stacy explained the importance of
doing research; w</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">hen the story isn’t accurate, it pulls the reader out of the story. She advocated u</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">sing experts to review your manuscript to help ensure its
accuracy and authenticity and having strong characters who "push on the plot
more than it pushes on them." Check out<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.stacylwhitman.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">stacylwhitman.com</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">,</span> if you are
considering writing </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">cross-culturally</span><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Manuscripts
were critiqued by Tracy Marchini off site. Attendees received a written
critique from Tracy upon check-in and had the opportunity to speak with her during free time. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We bid
farewell to Tracy as a CWHV co-founder and committee member. She will continue to function as
a critiquer for future CWHV conferences. We wish Tracy well in her future
writing endeavors and will miss her insights, her enthusiasm and her ideas. Thank
you, Tracy, for all your hard work and time that you invested in the newsletters and other
tasks. Go forth and be brilliant!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Finally,
conferences are a great way to network, reunite with old writer friends and exchange
information. A writer informed me of a local fiction writing group where you can
share and get feedback on your manuscript. Meetings are on selected Tuesday
nights at Barnes & Noble in Poughkeepsie. <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Hudson-Valley-Fiction-Writers-Workshop/">http://www.meetup.com/Hudson-Valley-Fiction-Writers-Workshop/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">Thank
you </span><span style="background-color: white;">Emily Feinberg, </span><span style="background: white;">Kendra Levin, </span><a href="http://www.tracymarchini.com/"><span style="background: white;">Tracy Marchini</span></a><span style="background: white;">, </span><span style="background-color: white;">Stacy Whitman, </span><span style="background: white;">the </span><a href="http://www.cwhv.org/p/about-us.html"><span style="background: white;">CWHV</span></a><span style="background: white;"> team, </span><a href="http://www.merrittbooks.com/"><span style="background: white;">Merritt Bookstore</span></a><span style="background: white;"> and our hard working attendees for another
successful event!</span></span></div>
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To receive updates about our current or future conferences<span style="background-color: white;">,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">sign up for </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf" style="text-decoration: none;">our newsletter</a>. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kendra Levin and Stacy Whitman</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emily Feinberg<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tracy Marchini discussing a critique</td></tr>
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<br />Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-53558572011012677102014-09-22T03:46:00.002-07:002020-04-14T13:51:33.525-07:002014 November First Impressions Event<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sfAf0VM9q_nl0FGWjSQWRBREhv6MFyRFrhKcP_tZEDlNOHzwDzFHvFAVRV1kZjVR7zTrC9bjTF_lItiU01W8Y_Ip-74IHdHEgg-8JfT0OxuAUTH_jlnLWw2KkcTxdhfRjjJboKMjZMdM/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sfAf0VM9q_nl0FGWjSQWRBREhv6MFyRFrhKcP_tZEDlNOHzwDzFHvFAVRV1kZjVR7zTrC9bjTF_lItiU01W8Y_Ip-74IHdHEgg-8JfT0OxuAUTH_jlnLWw2KkcTxdhfRjjJboKMjZMdM/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our First Impressions Event was a wonderful success! <span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Susan Kochan</b>, </span>Associate Editorial Director of Putnam Children's at Penguin Group USA and <b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jennie Dunham</span></b> of the Dunham Literary, Inc. gave their first impression on our attendees first manuscript page or query letter on Saturday, November 15, 2014. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Besides learning what to do and what <i>not</i> to do on your first page or query letter, attendees enjoyed fellowship by reuniting with past writer friends or conference colleagues over light refreshments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Special submission information has been emailed to all conference attendees. Please follow the instructions regarding marking </span><span style="font-size: large;">your</span><span style="font-size: large;"> envelope and note the submission deadline.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To receive updates about current or future conferences,</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">sign <span style="font-family: inherit;">up for </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://eepurl.com/wGplf"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">our newsletter</span></a>. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>"The First Impressions Event was a rousing success. So much helpful </i></span></span><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">information and constructive critiques from Susan & Jennie."</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> Doreen Tango Hampton, 2014 attendee.</span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Kochan and Jennie Dunham</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-21248370312404783072014-02-05T11:38:00.001-08:002017-02-02T13:47:35.563-08:002014 Conference<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68IdcEEh21onERaQRu5x-MTRYtD0Kfv_NI4OowtenLhuk_8Fxbk1g6YlaIs2wu34aL1TpLB3QqZQTSl7JAp4jqUji8B48lI06cQj7pvXMesgu66EyVuABO1gx7s86vcNFFAYegZi8MoPr/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg68IdcEEh21onERaQRu5x-MTRYtD0Kfv_NI4OowtenLhuk_8Fxbk1g6YlaIs2wu34aL1TpLB3QqZQTSl7JAp4jqUji8B48lI06cQj7pvXMesgu66EyVuABO1gx7s86vcNFFAYegZi8MoPr/s1600/ScottishTerrier.2.jpg" width="128" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">The Children's Writers of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Hudson</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> held their second annual writer's conference at the Hampton Inn & Suites in </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Poughkeepsie</st1:city><st1:state w:st="on"> on June 14, 2014.</st1:state></st1:place> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Jill Davis, Executive Editor, Katherine Tegen Books led the picture book workshop. She said get to know your character: who are they, where do they come from, where do they live, etc. She reviewed the picture book basics: the physical structure of a picture book, voice, rhythm, language, tone, page turns, universal experience and emotion. She also spoke on point of view, the rule of threes and playing with concepts and character.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The writing exercise involved mining your childhood memories to recall memories and objects and using some of those memories to write paragraphs.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Stacey Barney, Senior Editor, Penguin/Putnam Books for Young Readers led the novel writing workshop. Stacey reviewed the mechanics of novel revising: character, plot, setting, conflict, dialogue, voice, point of view, genre, writing style and mood. Each of the above topics were discussed and broken down further.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">The writing exercise was to work in pairs and write a first page using the elements above and expand that to five pages.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Our closing speaker was Alan Katz who entertained us as only Alan Katz could. He sang several songs, shared some of his childhood experiences and his family history. Specifically, how he was told at every turn, "no one needs funny." His advice was to play with words, have fun with them, be all you can be, meet everyone you can and put your work everywhere you can. His closing words were anyone can "do funny."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Manuscripts were critiqued by Tracy Marchini off site. Attendees received their written critique when they checked in and had the opportunity to speak with Tracy during the conference.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">Thank you Stacey Barney, Jill Davis, Alan Katz, <a href="http://www.tracymarchini.com/">Tracy Marchini</a>, the <a href="http://www.cwhv.org/p/about-us.html">CWHV</a> team, <a href="http://www.merrittbooks.com/">Merritt Bookstore</a>, Panera for delivering our lunches and our hard working attendees for another successful event.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> <i><span style="font-size: large;">"Thank you for an excellent Children's Writers Conference. I found it </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background: white;">both enjoyable and enlightening with lots of good ideas.</span><span style="background: white;"> My editor review by Tracy was also quite helpful and [an] incentive to keep </span><span style="background: white;">writing." Catherine </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cwiakala, 2014 attendee.</span></span></i></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">"Thank you for encouraging me to attend
the young adult novel workshop with</span><span style="color: #222222;"> <span style="background: white;">editor
Stacey Barney. Just weeks before, I had decided to give up writing.</span> <span style="background: white;">I was done, and I didn't want to write anymore. During
Stacey's workshop</span> <span style="background: white;">she not only presented
the dynamics of writing a young adult novel, she </span><span style="background: white;">offered how-to instructions. Her Powerpoint
presentation was chocked full</span> <span style="background: white;">of writing
ingredients from types of genres, and dialogue to the high</span> <span style="background: white;">school five point plot.</span></span></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">During the workshop, I had the opportunity to</span><span style="color: #222222;"> <span style="background: white;">discuss my first page with another participant, and
actually crafted a</span> <span style="background: white;">query letter based Ms.
Barney's guidance. Her workshop sparked my interest</span> <span style="background: white;">in revising my own novel, not just simply revising to
revise, but specific</span> <span style="background: white;">revision: remove
dialogue tags and quotes, check verb tense, remove</span> <span style="background: white;">overuse of phonetically spelled words. Ms. Barney
coached, she guided, instructed, she did not lecture."</span></span></span></i><i style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;"> Angela Hooks, 2014 attendee.</span></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VpLg-q-3ev8P1a-VQf3iZLSbetBrL0MBdMQF7F2ejOZK11zE6te1qgW04nxrrA3cJYdM7OnGllgxc5CDPcbW99RErgsUys0nUWxsyuefJwM-JSAh1twGDGUlePs4ahk4HWkHl59GGL8n/s1600/031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VpLg-q-3ev8P1a-VQf3iZLSbetBrL0MBdMQF7F2ejOZK11zE6te1qgW04nxrrA3cJYdM7OnGllgxc5CDPcbW99RErgsUys0nUWxsyuefJwM-JSAh1twGDGUlePs4ahk4HWkHl59GGL8n/s1600/031.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Q&A with Stacey Barney and Jill Davis</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tracy Marchini talking to an attendee during lunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closing remarks by Alan Katz<br />
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716804684601394014.post-61359447462816123972013-02-13T05:47:00.003-08:002020-04-15T17:28:09.073-07:00Welcome<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Our debut CWHV (Children’s Writers of the
Hudson Valley) conference was held at the Hampton Inn & Suites on June 8, 2013. It was a huge sold-out success. Thank you to all our
wonderful attendees and presenters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sarah LaPolla, agent for the Bradford
Literary Agency, led the novel writing workshops. Volunteer attendees read
their first 10 pages and then received feedback from their peers and from
Sarah. (Can you say free critique?!) Sarah’s timed writing exercise focused on
plot and character. One exercise was to put your main character in a different
setting and different situation. How would your main character react?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">During one of the mini-discussions,
we talked about being verbose. Some of us love our words so much, we refuse to
edit. The problem, as Sarah pointed out is “… can your prose and description
hold the reader’s attention? Do they have the patience?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The picture book workshops were led
by Brett Duquette,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Associate Editor at
Sterling Children’s Books. Some of his</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>writing exercises focused on
thinking outside the box. With every word precious, the words can’t be
ordinary. The word choice must be </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">extraordinary</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">. One writing
exercise was to list the words that come to mind with the color red. For
example, if you said fire truck, ball, apple and crayon then cross them out.
The idea is to go for the uncommon word; the one that doesn’t immediately pop
into your head.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In between the workshops, we had a
Panera’s lunch, a Q&A with Brett and Sarah, networking and bookstore time,
courtesy of </span><a href="http://www.merrittbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Merritt Bookstore</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">One of the books I purchased
was </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cracked-K-M-Walton/dp/1442429178"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">CRACKED</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> (the
actual spelling of the book has the E backwards) by </span><a href="http://www.kmwalton.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">K. M. Walton</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> and edited by Sarah
LaPolla. A good way to know what agents are interested in is to read books
they’ve edited.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Tracy Marchini, editorial
consultant, led a query letter workshop that challenged the attendees, first,
because query letter writing is hard and second, it was timed. Sometimes the
benefit to a timed writing exercise is it shows the writer how much they know
or </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">don’t</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> know about their story or characters. (Raises hand)
This exercise also involved peer review.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Closing word: Networking. You never
know at which conference or event you may be discovered. I’m thrilled to
announce that a CWHV conference attendee was approached by one of our
presenters, who requested her complete manuscript! (Jumping for joy for her!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Congratulations to the </span><a href="http://www.cwhv.blogspot.com/p/about-us.html"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">CWHV Team</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">, </span><a href="http://glasscasesblog.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sarah LaPolla</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">, </span><a href="http://www.cwhv.blogspot.com/p/faculty.html"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Brett </span></a><a href="http://www.cwhv.blogspot.com/p/faculty.html"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Duquette</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> and </span><a href="http://tracymarchini.com/aboutme/"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Tracy Marchini</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> for a
fantastic first event. </span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>". . . This [conference] fills the hole
local children's writers were experiencing." 2013 attendee<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9N6pCQCzTngd7XnGVR27wEIW3iPTKzzeX6SlIKqlLY_sb2LU4zrcbySM5uzFyUqLoK86FjZ2LnXwqmpYlFETCT179AHzbvZBtyEiVomTQB3GX0khOJt8Mb3EBdjCL46Gb0VrjeaYRlJs/s1600/108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9N6pCQCzTngd7XnGVR27wEIW3iPTKzzeX6SlIKqlLY_sb2LU4zrcbySM5uzFyUqLoK86FjZ2LnXwqmpYlFETCT179AHzbvZBtyEiVomTQB3GX0khOJt8Mb3EBdjCL46Gb0VrjeaYRlJs/s1600/108.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An attendee with Catherine and Val</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ThRmqYm0MZLUnrDs9hgr6bB3xKzZ9WtoeJzgCSRA5Vs2Y4A9qEaxS1ZkasDujFd07ZCymiTRHWMh9KPTRwne5tq6ctKYbdTT-mZUtbiezdnB9YIfSGKeI_Dky3xnLikjorBoHcsD8BOS/s1600/112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ThRmqYm0MZLUnrDs9hgr6bB3xKzZ9WtoeJzgCSRA5Vs2Y4A9qEaxS1ZkasDujFd07ZCymiTRHWMh9KPTRwne5tq6ctKYbdTT-mZUtbiezdnB9YIfSGKeI_Dky3xnLikjorBoHcsD8BOS/s1600/112.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tracy Marchini with Brett Duquette</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjInZ0ti9K65xVCB-bHhWqfsG7W4Oe34P43BFfxdL2IeNdQQa-2s7hKepKEWTOdJ18nJZ5obmOvLMAnNArwyYuQRZvVY5hYPG_6C30AY18FzB6R0lq8tBLMzDxgVxGihyphenhyphenYQMkUfnxYG_XsM/s1600/095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjInZ0ti9K65xVCB-bHhWqfsG7W4Oe34P43BFfxdL2IeNdQQa-2s7hKepKEWTOdJ18nJZ5obmOvLMAnNArwyYuQRZvVY5hYPG_6C30AY18FzB6R0lq8tBLMzDxgVxGihyphenhyphenYQMkUfnxYG_XsM/s1600/095.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah LaPolla</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMDBdYS3LwEZn5xnpSmXD17xOwo3VQTVeo736K9xK-DfT7mx31n6xRNrk-dj0qHdtclgCMNQo0TsRDQUP-nX19ECDD7EfTm_Txbof4IRIh74uxY3aJzl_fAzwVye5MCMa_Tkc6rO46Zek/s1600/089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMDBdYS3LwEZn5xnpSmXD17xOwo3VQTVeo736K9xK-DfT7mx31n6xRNrk-dj0qHdtclgCMNQo0TsRDQUP-nX19ECDD7EfTm_Txbof4IRIh74uxY3aJzl_fAzwVye5MCMa_Tkc6rO46Zek/s1600/089.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catherine, Karen, Karen and Della</td></tr>
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Valhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429019002286612072noreply@blogger.com0