Springmingle'19 in Atlanta: Two Reasons Why

Hi, this is Randall Bonser, Conference Cooordinator of Springmingle 2019 in Atlanta. I’ve been to so many SCBWI Southern Breeze conferences in Georgia and Alabama, it is easy to take for granted how much you can learn at our conferences, and what great opportunities they present for making connections. Let me remind you (or let you know for the first time) of the two best reasons for attending Springmingle in Atlanta on March 15-16, 2019:

Reason One: Spring

Reason Two: Mingle



Spring 

The theme for our 2019 conference is Spring to Success with Springmingle'19, meaning, whether you are a seasoned pro or just starting out, we want to help you MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR CRAFT. We’re offering several valuable intensives and workshops to help you improve your writing. We normally offer only one writing intensive on the Friday of the conference; this year we’re offering THREE writing intensives:

 • Picture Book
 • Middle Grade/Young Adult
• Pro Track (for our PALs)

In addition, we will be offering our Illustrators' Day at the same time. These intensives are deep dives into improving your writing and illustrating skills, with discussions on plot, character, setting, and other essentials for writing a good book. The instructors are a mix of seasoned veteran writers/illustrators, editors, and agents.

On Saturday, a variety of workshops will not only help you improve your craft, but also delve into the business side of writing with successful writers and artists, as well as the agents and editors to whom you will have the opportunity to submit something after the conference. In Springmingles past, we didn’t have the variety of workshops we will be making available this year, because we didn’t have space. This year, we will also be using several classrooms at Decatur Presbyterian Church next door to our usual library location, which allows us to expand our workshops.

Mingle

At last year’s WIK conference in Birmingham, I celebrated ten years of being a part of my critique group, which we lovingly call Decatur Chill. That’s because ten years ago at Springmingle 2008, I met several aspiring individuals who seemed like quality people and serious writers, so we decided to start meeting to critique each other’s work and hold each other accountable. Ten years later, our core is still around, and we have added to it as people moved away from the community.

Long story short: writing conferences, especially local ones, are great places to meet like-minded people, as well as agents and editors who are looking for talented authors. Springmingle 2019 is a unique chance to connect with your tribe and form valuable relationships. Discussions in intensives, workshops, lunches, breaktimes, after-conference beverages, and walks to and from the hotel can often lead to fruitful contacts. Our end-of-conference Gala, once again hosted by the dynamic group called Middle Grade Mafia, will be a fun way to meet folks and corner unsuspecting editors (don’t tell them I said that).

So there you go – two great reasons to attend Springmingle 2019 in Decatur/Atlanta, Georgia, on March 15 and 16th. We also have an exciting event planned for Friday night, March 15, which we can’t publicize, because we won’t be able to confirm the speaker until closer to the event. So save the date and make plans to join us on March 15 for an intensive, and on March 16 for a day of workshops, pitch sessions (oh, did I forget to tell you we will have a pitch session for the attending editors and agents – oops, my bad), first pages review, motivational messages, good food, Kidlit fun, and great new connections.

Come back to the blog or check out the Southern Breeze website on January 5th when registration opens for Springmingle'19!