#SpringMingle - Last Day for Early Bird Registration! - #SBreeze17

Last Day for Early Bird Registration

You know how the early bird always get the worm? Well, the early registers get a sweet discount on the conference! And today is the last day to get it!
So what are you waiting for? Click over and register!!!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Portfolio Set Up & Viewing - #SBreeze17

Portfolio Set Up & Viewing

Are you an illustrator wondering how to set up your portfolio? Maybe you would like some new tips to incorporate into what you are already doing? What better way than to learn from a pro! Elizabeth O. Dulemba is a former Illustrator Coordinator for Southern Breeze. Check out what she has to say...

Present Your Portfolio Like a Pro

by Elizabeth O. Dulemba 

     "It seems simple once you know how it’s done, but at some point you do have to actually learn how to correctly prepare and show an illustration portfolio. Despite being used for such different purposes as interviews, presentations, or shows, there are some basic rules most professionals follow.

      First, size matters. Most portfolio shows have limitations of about 17” x 22” (closed). Keep to that size or smaller and you’ll be able to travel easily with your portfolio and use it anywhere..."

Continue reading over on Elizabeth's blog:   http://dulemba.com/index-portfolio.html

Registration IS NOW OPEN for SCBWI members! 

Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Liz Conrad Scholarship - #SBreeze17

Illustrators, Enter the Liz Conrad Scholarship

Liz Conrad
May 21, 1954 - August 26, 2009

In honor of our dear friend, Liz Conrad, the Southern Breeze chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustratorsestablished the Liz Conrad Conference Tuition Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded annually to one budding illustrator in the children's book field and includes tuition to the annual conference and to Illustrators' Day or the Illustrators' Intensive, depending on the conference that year. In 2017 the winner will also receive a mentorship with the judge, Loraine Joyner.

This scholarship is open to Southern Breeze SCBWI members only and would be an impressive honor to add to one's resume.

Find more information on how to apply by clicking :::HERE::: 

DEADLINE IS JANUARY 15!

Illustrators' Day registration IS NOW OPEN for SCBWI members! 

Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Dinner & Gala - #SBreeze17

Dinner & Gala

Who said conferences were all work and NOOOOOO fun? Let us set the record straight. That's not true. At conferences you meet new friends and get to have fun seeing old ones. You get to dip your toes into new adventures or plunge deeper into things you thought you already knew.
BUT that's not all that SpringMingle offers. There's a time and a place for you to let your hair down, eat some great food, grab a few drinks, and maybe even sing a karaoke song or two. It is the Dinner & Gala offered for a small extra fee on your registration. This meal is held after the Saturday day-long  part of the conference. So it's a wonderful time to sit back and relax, and enjoy time spent with fellow authors and illustrators.
If you're wanting to join in on the festivities, make sure you check the box for the Gala on Saturday night.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Come Soar with Stephanie Fretwell-Hill - #SBreeze17

Come Soar with Sally Apokedak

Conferences have an added benefit of actually getting to meet agents, editors, & art directors. The people in the industry who know the ins and outs. The ones who determine which direction publishing will take. 

Southern Breeze's Spring Mingle is no exception to this! This year we have Sally Apokedak, with Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency, as an added bonus. Ms. Apokedak will be at this year's conference offering formal consultations and critiques. If you are interested in signing up, please note that these are an added fee to the normal conference registration. Please click the link below to take you to the SpringMingle conference registration page and sign up.

Stephanie Fretwell-Hill started her publishing career in 2004 at Walker Books Ltd. in London, where she sold foreign language rights. Working in a design-led company with legendary artists such as Helen Oxenbury and Lucy Cousins sparked her love of illustration, while her sales role gave her an international perspective on children’s publishing.

In 2011, Stephanie moved back home to the United States, where she joined Peachtree Publishers as an editor. During her four years there, she acquired fiction and non fiction picture books, middle grade, and young adult titles. Her acquisitions received such honors as YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year, Parents’ Choice Awards, and numerous starred reviews from major trade magazines.

As the newest agent to join Red Fox Literary, Stephanie represents both authors and illustrators of board books, picture books, middle grade, and young adult. She will consider stories in any genre, but looks for a strong voice, rich and multi-layered plots, and stylish, classic, or quirky illustrations. Most of all, she loves anything that really makes her laugh.

Stephanie lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her English husband, brand new baby girl, and a border collie named Rooney. When her nose isn’t in a book, she can often be found changing diapers, renovating a house, traveling someplace new, or cooking dinner.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Come Soar with Sally Apokedak - #SBreeze17

Come Soar with Sally Apokedak

Conferences have an added benefit of actually getting to meet agents, editors, & art directors. The people in the industry who know the ins and outs. The ones who determine which direction publishing will take. 

Southern Breeze's Spring Mingle is no exception to this! This year we have Sally Apokedak, with Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency, as an added bonus. Ms. Apokedak will be at this year's conference offering formal consultations and critiques. If you are interested in signing up, please note that these are an added fee to the normal conference registration. Please click the link below to take you to the SpringMingle conference registration page and sign up.

Sally Apokedak is an agent with the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. She is the agent for a small, but brave group of writers, which includes the best selling authors Hannah Hall and Tayrn Souders, as wells as the Multi-Award-Winning author Mark Waxman. Sally's first book as an agent released in February 2015 and sold over 30,000 copies in the first month. But her favorite thing about being an agent may be the Southern Breeze pals she's made over the years. She's proud to have several clients who are Southern Breezers.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Come Soar with Janell Walden Agyeman - #SBreeze17

Come Soar with Janell Walden Agyeman

Conferences have an added benefit of actually getting to meet agents, editors, & art directors. The people in the industry who know the ins and outs. The ones who determine which direction publishing will take. 

Southern Breeze's Spring Mingle is no exception to this! This year we have Janell Walden Agyeman, with Marie Brown Associates, as an added bonus. Ms. Janell will be at this year's conference offering formal consultations and critiques. If you are interested in signing up, please note that these are an added fee to the normal conference registration. Please click the link below to take you to the SpringMingle conference registration page and sign up.

Janell Walden Agyeman is an agent with Marie Brown Associates, where she represents a diverse roster of authors who write for young readers and adults.  Her clients include New York Times bestselling author Sharon M. Draper, (Out of My Mind, Stella by Starlight and Pulitzer Prize-winner Leonard M. Pitts, Jr., (Freeman, Grant Park). Previously, she held editorial positions at Doubleday and Company and at Howard University Press, where she also administered their book publishing institute. She was a contributing author to the groundbreaking project, Contributions of Black Women to America, 1777-1976.  In 2013 she was named “Agent of the Year” by Black Pearls Literary Magazine. Apart from her literary work, which includes educational outreach targeting new and emerging writers, she especially enjoys her family, singing with her community’s choir and learning to grow fruits and vegetables.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Come Make Your Illustrations Soar w/ Loraine Joyner - #SBreeze17

Come Make Your Illustrations Soar with Loraine Joyner

Southern Breeze is pleased to announce that Loraine Joyner, former Art Director for Peachtree Publishers, will be the judge for the Liz Conrad Scholarship for Springmingle and Illustrators Day '17, and will participate in the Quickfire Portfolio review on Illustrators' Day. She will also be available for private portfolio reviews.

An added bonus for this year's Liz Conrad Scholarship includes a mentorship with Loraine for the winning illustrator. The winner of the scholarship will work with Loraine to complete the following in accordance with specified formatting and deadlines:

● a picturebook storyboard, including main character sketches and selection

● roughs for a selected scene

● final drawing of a scene

● final finish of a scene

● 3 character finishes of the main protagonist showing 3 distinctly different emotions, each from a different angle or point of view, but with no settings or secondary characters

The Mentorship will include meetings in person, skype, email or phone and will reflect what it would be like to work with an AD on a picture book project complete with required format specifications and deadlines to meet.

What an amazing opportunity for a lucky illustrator!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Agent Adriana Dominguez - #SBreeze17

Come Soar with Andriana Dominguez

Ready for your query to soar? Then fly to sign up for Springmingle and catch a session with one of our awesome agents!

Adriana Domínguez is much more than an agent at Full Circle Literary. She has 20 years of experience in publishing!

Prior to becoming an agent, she was Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Before that, she was Children’s Reviews Editor at Críticas magazine, published by Library Journal. She’s also done editorial work for both children and adult publishers and she’s a professional translator, a member of the Brooklyn Literary Council that organizes the Brooklyn Book Festival, and one of the founders of the Comadres and Compadres Writers Conference in New York City.

Whew! All that experience makes Dominguez one of our awesome agents! She represents children’s books for all ages, and select adult fiction and nonfiction. She has a long trajectory of publishing underrepresented authors and illustrators, and welcomes submissions that offer diverse points of view. Books that she has edited or represented have been awarded the Pura Belpré Medal, the Coretta Scott King Honor and the MPIBA’s Reading the West Award among others, and been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Award.

Her session on Saturday is “The Query Quandary: Acquiring an Agent.” But if you want to know more about this quandary, you’ll just have to join us in Decatur, March 10th-12th at Springmingle, the only conference in Southern Breeze for 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Tackling the Tough Topics with Michael Joosten - #SBreeze17

Tackling the Tough Topics with Michael Joosten

Want your illustrating to soar? Then fly to sign up for Springmingle and catch a session with one of our super artsy speakers!

Michael Joosten has been working in children's publishing for a decade, having started his career in the Cross Channel division of Scholastic Books. Now, he’s at Random House Children's Books where he works as an editor on such classic properties as Dr. Seuss, Little Golden Books, The Berenstain Bears, Richard Scarry, and Little Critter.

In addition, Michael also works on original picture books. And so he knows a lot about covers, so you’ll want to hear his Illustrator's Day session, “Lovers of Covers: All You Need to Know About Creating a Memorable Book Cover.”

He’ll also be presenting a Saturday session, “Well This is Awkward: Tackling Tricky Topics in Picture Books.” Having recently acquired picture books about the Gay Pride Flag and the Stonewall Riot, Joosten will discuss how you can tackle tricky topics in your work.

That’s a session you won’t want to miss! So join us in Decatur, March 10th-12th at Springmingle, the only conference in Southern Breeze for 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - All About Revision with Editor Alison Weiss! - #SBreeze17

All About Revision with Editor Alison Weiss!

Still more soaring to come with editor Alison S. Weiss! And still plenty of time to sign up for Springmingle and watch your writing soar!

Alison S. Weiss is an editor at Sky Pony Press, where she works on picture books through YA and everything in between. And she has awards, too. Weiss was named a 2016 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree!

What’s she looking for? Well, she loves assassins and spies and sleuths, friendships that feel like they’ll last forever, and love stories that will twist you in knots before they’re through. She’s especially eager to find a middle grade with a cozy feel, and a voice-driven, sweeping, romantic YA.

You can get to know all about Alison Weiss and how she spends her day as an editor here—OR better yet, come see for yourself! She'll be giving a session on self-revision and you can't afford to miss those tips! So join us in Decatur, March 10th-12th for Springmingle, the only conference for Southern Breeze in 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Look, Illustrators, It's Jim Hoover! - #SBreeze17

Look, Illustrators. It's Jim Hoover!

Want your illustrating to soar? Then fly to sign up for Springmingle and catch a session with one of our super artsy speakers!

Jim Hoover is an Associate Art Director at Viking Children’s Books, and he’s been publishing books for over fifteen years. He’s designed and directed the art behind hundreds of picture books and he’s illustrated for DreamWorks as well as for many novel jackets and interior art. Now, he’s coming to Springmingle for Illustrator’s Day!

Visual Story Telling in Two Spreads 

Great picture books are a harmonious marriage of words and picture. A story’s magic happens when these two components work in tandem. For this assignment, please pick a text to work up two spreads for. The story can be something you are actively working on, or an idea you have been hoping to get the time to draft into a more fleshed out story. Or you can do two spreads from a classic story or fairytale you’ve always loved. The spreads don’t need to be consecutive, but think about how to best present this portion of your picture book to your audience—which in this case, is an art director. At the end of the assignment, you will have two pieces for your portfolio which means that your audience will also be editors and agents. How can you hook your audience with two spreads from a picture book?

Sketches will be submitted to Jim via email and are due no later than February 10. Jim will then give you feed back via email for you to incorporate into your final pieces of art—which will be discussed as a group in person the day of the session.

Please note: There is limited enrollment and an additional fee for those participating in the Illustration Project. The preliminary and final work will be presented and discussed at Illustrator’s Day.

Hoover will also present two sessions on Saturday, including “Marrying Text and Pictures to Tell a Great Story” and “All About the Cover!” For his cover session, he’d like you to do a picture book cover, especially if you attend on Friday (two spreads AND a cover! You are practically there!) You can bring a few thumbnails and discuss—if you want feedback on direction, or a final piece of finished art. If you bring a finished piece of art, please do bring a few thumbnails as well—it’s like math—he wants to see your process. Show the work!

A ton of feedback for our illustrators from Jim Hoover! But you can’t get it unless you join us in Decatur, March 10th-12th at Springmingle, the only conference in Southern Breeze for 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Jacquelyn Mitchard and the YA Connection - #SBreeze17

Come Soar with Jacquelyn Mitchard

Want your writing to soar? Then fly to sign up for Springmingle and catch a session with one of our super speakers! Next up, Jacquelyn Mitchard, the number one New York Times best-selling author of novels for adults, including The Deep End of the Ocean, the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club.

Did you know that Mitchard is also the editor of a realistic Young Adult imprint, Merit Press, and the author of seven novels for Young Adults? Her work has won the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson awards, as well as the UK’s Walkabout Prize. And when she’s not writing, she’s teaching Creative Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

We’re lucky to have her for our Friday Intensive, “A Whole Day of Beginnings and Endings,” where writers will consider the elements that go into a great ending, and how those elements are so much more than tying up the loose ends.

She’ll have a breakout session, too, called “Why YA? (And How)” on what does and does not comprise YA writing, and why those elements and traditions are so important. But you’ll never know if you don’t join us in Decatur, March 10th-12th at Springmingle, the only conference in Southern Breeze for 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Soar with Patricia MacLachlan! - #SBreeze17

Soar with Patricia MacLahlan!

Want your writing to soar? Then fly to sign up for Springmingle and catch a session with one of our super speakers! Like Patricia MacLachlan!

You know Patricia Maclachlan. She’s the author of the Newbery Medal book, Sarah, Plain and Tall. But isn’t it time you learned more about her other novels? And how she manages to write so much, from picture books to poetry! Check out her newest picture books, The Iridescence of Birds, Someone Like Me, and The Moon’s Almost Here, as well as her soon-to-be-released Barkus.

She lives on a hilltop in Western Massachusetts but she’s going to come here to deliver the keynote at Springmingle. And she’ll also have a breakout session on “Writing to Find Out Who You Are.”

If she can come all the way to Georgia, then you can surely come to Decatur, March 10th-12th for Springmingle, the only conference in Southern Breeze for 2017!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Get InTeNsE! with our Writer's Intensive - #SBreeze17

Get InTeNsE! with our Writer's Intensive

We haven't forgot about our writers! This year we are please to offer an all-day writer's intensive with none other than Jacquelyn Mitchard!

Do you find yourself struggling with the opening of your story? Or maybe you need to improve on wrapping up your endings to make sure your readers are left satisfied. Well, this is the intensive for you...

Writing Intensive: A Whole Day of Endings and Beginnings

You Had Me at Goodbye: The Importance of Last Impressions/ Jacquelyn Mitchard considers the critical importance of narrative conclusions, and how to write great ones. It’s true that so many stories start out like a house on fire, but then simply stop, instead of truly concluding. Last impressions, however, are lasting, the poignant goodnight kiss in narrative terms. Writers will consider the elements that go into a great ending, and how those elements about to so much more than tying up the loose ends.

Jacquelyn Mitchard is the number one New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels for adults, including The Deep End of the Ocean, which was the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club and also made into a major feature film. The editor of a realistic Young Adult imprint, Merit Press, Mitchard also is the author of seven novels for Young Adults. 

Her work has won the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson awards, as well as the UK’s Walkabout Prize and was short-listed for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. She is a professor of Creative Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts and a contributing editor for More magazine. 

Mitchard grew up in Chicago, and now lives on Cape Cod with her family.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle - Illustrator's Day - #SBreeze17

Illustrator's Day

SCBWI Illustrators and Writers across the Southern Breeze region will gather in Decatur, Georgia for the love of children’s literature on March 10-12, 2017.  Our region boasts of many talented and awarded illustrators and authors.  Join us for Illustrator’s Day and Spring Mingle weekend to learn new skills and network with art directors, editors and agents. 

In case you haven’t heard, Illustrator’s Day is a day geared towards the craft and professional development of visual storytellers of all levels.  The day always includes valuable interactions through informative sessions, critiques and industry connections.  This year has special opportunities you will not want to miss!

Michael Joosten, Editor for Random House, will present a session titled,Lovers of Covers:  All You Need to Know About Creating a Memorable Book Cover.  Because we do often make our book choices because of their covers, attendees will learn about what publishers, art directors, editors, sellers and buyers are looking for in a stellar cover. 

Jim Hoover, Associate Art Director at Viking Children’s Books, will also challenge us to make magic with pictures and words through the Illustration Project: Visual Story Telling in Two Spreads.  Figure out how to hook your audience and present dynamic visual storytelling in only two spreads.  Who is your audience?  The Art director, editors and agents who will provide valuable feedback during the unveiling at Illustrators Day 2017.  What a way to be seen! For more information on the project please visit: http://southern-breeze.scbwi.org/jim-hoover . A limited number of participants will be accepted. Register Early!

And the icing on the cake is that this year, Loraine Joyner, retired Art Director of Peachtree Publishers, will be judging our annual Liz Conrad Scholarship.  The scholarship opened on December 1^st  and will be awarded to one budding illustrator in the children's book field to attend our Illustrators' Day and Springmingle Annual Conference in Atlanta. Loraine has also graciously decided to offer a free mentorship to the winner! Don’t miss this opportunity.  Details can be found at http://southernbreezewriters.blogspot.com/p/scholarship.html.  Deadline is January 15, 2017.

Many Illustrator Day attendees choose to extend the weekend by joining in on Spring Mingle.  The weekend will feature keynotes, breakout sessions, many critique opportunities to encourage skill development and a Saturday night gala to let your hair down.  (Who said book nerds weren’t cool, right?).  Tell a librarian, a teacher and your friends. We’ll see you soon for the big Spring Mingle in Decatur!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN for SCBWI Members! 

Click  :::HERE::: to log in and register.

~See you in March~

#SpringMingle... The Time is NOW! Registration Opens TODAY! #SBreeze17

The Time Has Come, The Time is NOW!!!

Registration is now open for SCBWI MEMBERS for SpringMingle '17 and Illustrators' Day in Decatur, Georgia March 10-12, 2017.

Click here to login and register now!

This year there is an early-bird discount of $25.00 on registration for SpringMingle if you register before January 1, 2017.  

Registration for nonmembers opens in just one week, on December 22.

As always, space is limited for many of the optional items, including free items such as our First 8 Lines, Book Launches, and Quickfire Portfolio Reviews, and our always popular Friday Writers Intensive and One-on-One sessions with the agents - which will sell out. Don't wait until it is too late. You don't want to miss the chance to meet Patricia MacLachlan, Jacquelyn Mitchard and the rest of our great faculty! 

Patty MacLachlan hanging out with Southern Breezers at SCBWI Summer Conference in LA

And a Holiday note: if you would like to give all or part of the conference as a holiday present for your favorite writer or illustrator, contact me at Southern-Breeze@scbwi.org  and I will make arrangements for you to send the recipient a code that they can use for registration.
We hope that you will join us to celebrate SpringMingle '17 and Illustrators' Day, the only regional conference we will hold in 2017!

A Season of Change

Changes are afoot, not just in our nation and the world, but in our region as well. For many years we have held two conferences a year, one in Febuary-March in the Atlanta area and one in October in the Birmingham area. But the number of children's literature and writing conferences has grown significantly and we are confronted with numerous conflicts which make it increasingly difficult to pick a date to hold a conference in October 2017 in the Birmingham area.  Not only are there other children's book events, but we are competing with football weekends when hotel rooms are not available for less than $200 a night.

There simply is not a weekend available for our conference in October 2017.

SCBWI has also recommended that the regions only hold one conference a year, recognizing that regional teams are 100% volunteer powered from the RA all the way down to the first time conference attendee helping out with the bookstore. Putting on a major conference is a huge effort requiring many hours of advance preparation. They want to make sure we don't overwhelm our wonderful volunteers and ensure that each conference offered is the absolute best it can be.

So with a savory-sweet blend of sorrow and excitement, we announce that Southern Breeze will only offer one conference in 2017, our traditional SpringMingle and Illustrators' Day. Instead of a second conference, we hope to offer some smaller workshops featuring our regional talent and visiting professionals. We are looking for a date in 2018 when it will work to hold wik, but have not yet established what time of year it might be.

By the way, if you haven't heard yet, the faculty for SpringMingle '17 and Illustrators Day is stellar!!! Registration opens in only one week, and you won't want to miss it.

Jacquelyn Mitchard, not only a New York Times Best Selling and multiple award winning author, but an acquiring editor at Merit Press and a talented and inspiring faculty member of the Vermont College Children's Literature program, will not only be one of our keynote speakers, but will offer a power packed writers' intensive. Space will be limited, and you won't want to miss it, so plan to register early. Jacqui also specifically asked that we mention she has acquired manuscripts at conferences she has attended!

Patricia MacLachlan, Newbery Award winning author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, is also on the faculty. She is one of my favorite people (just ask me about her costume for the Saturday night fete in LA the year she was there!) and she also writes for multiple audiences, not just award winning historical middle grade fiction.

Louise May,  Vice President and Editorial Director at Lee and Low, the publishing house that sponsors the annual New Voices Award and publisher of numerous award winning multicultural books for young readers, will be there for both Illustrators Day and SpringMingle along with editor Michael Joosten of Random House Children's and Jim Hoover, Art Director at Viking Children's Books. And Illustrators, take note: Jim is offering two opportunities to get feedback on your work, once addressing a double spread and the other cover art! Space for these will be limited, and work will need to be sent to him well in advance of the conference weekend, so don't wait to register until it is too late to participate.

In addition to some of our favorite agents who live in our region, we will welcome Adriana Dominguez of Full Circle Literary. A few of our members got the chance to meet her at an event in Tuscaloosa when she was there for the Latino Children's Books Conference, and we have been trying to get her to one of our conferences ever since. 

Registration opens December 15 for members and December 22 for nonmembers. There is also an early-bird discount of $25.00 on registration for the conference if you register before January 1, 2017.  

Holiday note: if you would like to give all or part of the conference as a holiday present for your favorite writer or illustrator, contact me and I will make arrangements for you to send the recipient a code that they can use for registration.

We hope that you will join us to celebrate SpringMingle '17, the only regional conference we will hold in 2017!

Breezers In Your Neighborhood...11/12/16

Breezers In Your Neighborhood

Today's Event! 11/12/16

Looking for a great opportunity to learn something new. Wanting to be with other kidlit-ers? Southern Breeze is offering a Writer's Workshop TODAY!

Writers Workshop

Narrative Picture Books: The Hero's Journey in 32 Pages

This workshop explores how to use the classical storytelling structure to write a compelling picture book. Those in attendance are invited to bring the first page of a work in progress for feedback.

Nov. 12, 2016, 1- 3 p.m.

Gwinnett County Public Library, Five Forks Branch

2780 Five Forks Trickum Road
Lawrenceville, GA 30044

The workshop is free to members and non-members. Advance registration is appreciated. To sign up, e-mail Local Liaison Cathy Hall at cathyhall55@hotmail.com.

http://www.gwinnettpl.org/calendar/fall-writers-workshop-with-author-dori-kleber/

2016 #SBreeze Writing & Illustrating Contest Winners...

2016 #SBreeze16
Writing & Illustration
Contest Winners

Illustrated Texts (fiction and nonfiction)

1^st Place Last Pick, by Colleen Bennett

2^nd Place Duck, Duck, Goose, by Sheri Dillard

3^rd Place This is a Book to Read with a Worm, by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

Middle Grade Novels

1^st Place (tie) Miss Black Gold, by Jessica Vitalis, and Harvey the Bedazzler, by Dana Edwards

2^nd Place Trailer Park Unicorn, by Mark McClintock

3^rd Place Freedom Feet, by Joan Broerman

Young Adult Novels

1^st Place: The Veritas Project, by Catherine Black

2^nd Place: Desert Secrets, by Connie Fleming

3rd Place (tie): Between Never & Always, by Tosha Sumner

The Symbiotes, by Tim Carroll

Illustrations: A Day in the Life of a (Animal)

1^st Place: Honeybees by Narges Jafari

2^nd Place: Garden Kittens by Melissa Schultz-Jones

3rd Place: George the Giraffe by Blythe Russo

Be sure to sign up for our blog's email notifications! We will be announcing next year's contest. Not to mention our monthly Breezers In Your Neighborhood will be starting back and we're getting ready for SpringMingle. So many things and you don't want to miss one post! 
SIGN UP TODAY!  --->

Author Meet & Greet for #SBreeze16

Author Meet & Greet for #SBreeze16

~OPEN TO THE PUBLIC~

The fun doesn't stop when the conference does.
A select group of authors will be at the Homewood Public Library Sunday, October 9, 2016 from 2 pm to 4 pm. This is your chance to meet the authors, buy their books, and have them autographed.

PARTICIPATING AUTHORS: 

Bruce Coville

Don Tate 

Heather L. Montgomery 

Jo S. Kittinger 

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen 

Delia Blackstone  

Lucyann Wagner 

Kami Kinard

 

Come out and have a great time. See you there!

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK with the PAL Connection!

As the PAL Coordinator for Southern Breeze, I get to hobnob with a lot of VIPs!

Oh, wait. You’re thinking “Very Important People” and I’m thinking “Very Interesting PALs.” That’s why I love our conferences. At WIK’16, I’ll catch up with the latest news from that author whose book has just released or the writer whose poem landed in Baby Bug or the illustrator whose work is highlighted in…well, Highlights!

But perhaps more importantly for our PALs is the opportunity WIK’16 provides for them. We’ll get together and discuss concerns and issues in the industry at the PAL breakfast on Sunday morning at the Hampton Inn, 9:00 AM. If you’re a PAL, I sure hope you’ll join us for coffee, tea, and input!

And if you’re not sure whether you are a PAL member, look for me or any PAL member. We’re the ones wearing a blue button and we’ll try to answer any questions you have. Because in SCBWI, everyone is a Very Important Person!

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Click here to be directed to our registration page!


~Cathy C. Hall

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK with Informal Critiques!

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK
with Informal Critiques! 

Manuscripts in hand, you sit down with a group of your peers. They all write the same genre. They all are as eager as you to improve your manuscript.

WIK15 offers the opportunity for you to do that!

After the conference, you'll have the opportunity to sit with other writers / illustrators and chat about your story (and theirs), where it needs improving, where it is strong, suggestions on the tone.

These informal critique sessions are a great way to meet others in your field. Maybe make a lasting friendship. To learn about your craft and to improve yourself on your way to publication.

Not sure how to critique? 

Here are is one way to look at it. Think of critiquing someone's work like a sandwich. You have bread, filler, and bread.

• Bread - Start off with something nice and squishy. What you really like about the story or the writing in general.
• Filler - Get to the meat of what you think. Are there places that can be taken out? Do you see pov shifts? Are there rabbit trails that need to be fixed? Does their work zip and zag in all the right places? How is the plot? Character development?
• Bread - Finish off by saying something nice again. Let them know you appreciate their hard work and give some encouragement.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

 CLICK HERE to be directed to our registration page! 

~See you in October~