Inspiration, the Winning Intangible of SCBWI

There are lots of reasons to join SCBWI, but we often look at the tangibles when it's the intangibles that can ultimately help us into the winner's circle. Take inspiration, for example.

When I attend a conference, I may not always get great feedback on my latest manuscript. I don't always walk away with an agent's interest, and it's been forever since my First Page has been chosen. But I know I will come away inspired.

And one of the most inspiring aspects of our conferences is the Book Launches. At this year's SpringMingle, long-time Southern Breezer, Lisa L. Stauffer, shared her story; so many people loved it--and were inspired by it--that I asked if she'd share it here. Lisa graciously sent the following:

If you tell a writer…

By Lisa Lowe Stauffer

(With apologies to Laura Joffe Numeroff)

If you tell a writer about SCBWI, she’ll want to go to a conference.

When that conference is over, she’ll want to go to another—

and another…

and another.

When there are no more conferences, she’ll want to go to all the workshops—

even if they’re about writing poetry.

(At least she could hang out with her friends. She was no poet!)

But when she goes to the workshop, she’ll find playing with words is lots of fun.

So she’ll keep playing when she goes home.

She’ll draft and edit…

draft and edit…

draft and edit,

until she’s got a weird little poem about monkeys taking over Noah’s Ark.

Then she’ll send it to the Southern Breeze SCBWI contest,

where, to her surprise, it’ll win second place!

(She’s entered lots of novels into these contests, and they never won.)

So she’ll take the judge’s feedback,

draft and edit…

draft and edit…

draft and edit,

until the weird little poem flows.

When she thinks it’s finally perfect, she’ll ask critique partners to take a look.

(sigh)

Draft and edit…

draft and edit…

draft and edit.

Finally, she’ll send it to her agent—who she met at an SCBWI conference.

And she’ll wait as the poem goes out on submission.

(waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting…)*

So when the book comes out, it’ll remind her of that poetry workshop so long ago.

And when she thinks about the workshop, it will remind her of SCBWI,

and chances are when she thinks of SCBWI,

she’ll want

to go

to another

conference.

*(Five years from first draft to sale. Two more years to publication.)

A big thank you to Lisa Lower Stauffer, and here's hoping that she's inspired you! (P.S. See you and your new book at the next Book Launch at wik'20 in Birmingham! Keep up with us here for more details coming soon!)

~ Cathy C. Hall, ARA
SCBWI Southern Breeze

Breezers in Your Neighborhood: JANUARY 2019!

Happy New Year, Breezers!

 And what could be better than starting the year off with your Southern Breeze friends? (Hint: There's nothing better! Unless a contract popped up in your Inbox. A contract might be the teensiest bit better.)


Sunday, January 13




Lisa Stauffer will be at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA at 2 PM for story time. Bring a little one or just bring yourself as Lisa uses song, improv, art, and imagination to explore the often-told Noah's Ark story and how it became something new in Stauffer's Two By Two.






Saturday, January 19

Join our Illustration Coordinator, TeMika Grooms, for a FREE Children's Illustration Critique session. Bring your sketchbooks because they'll be sharing tips to help you find inspiration in your work! And they'll be opportunities for networking and seeing the work of other artists, plus much more.

When: 12:30 to 2 PM

Where: Stonecrest Library
             3123 Klondike Road
             Lithonia, GA

RSVP please! Contact TeMika at southern-breeze-ic@scbwi.org for more details and/or RSVP. This event is sponsored by the Dekalb County Library System, Litfest, SCBWI Southern Breeze, and Muse Arts Press.


PAL member Carrie Dalby Cox will be the guest presenter at the Baldwin Writers Group. The group meets at the Daphne Public Library (AL) at 10:00 AM; the meeting is open and free to the public.

Whether you're struggling to find time to write, are in search of fresh inspiration, or trying to increase your daily word count, join Carrie Dalby as she goes through helpful reminders about carving writing space into your life. "Get Possessed with Writing" will inspire you to seek your muse everywhere and drive your project--and word count--to the next level.



Saturday, January 26

Local Liaison Melissa Miles is hosting an event in Savannah, Georgia. As always, these events are free and open to the public.

Who: SCBWI PAL member and author, Susan Montanari

What: Susan will discuss her path to publication, including querying agents and the editing process.

Where: Southwest Chatham Library, Savannah, GA

When:  1:00 PM

Breezers in Your Neighborhood: November!

It's starting to get a little nippy in the Southern Breeze region, so pull out the sweaters and pull on the boots. We've got plenty of fun events you don't want to miss!


Saturday, November 3

Heather L. Montgomery's visiting in Georgia, stopping in at two different locations to sign her latest books, Something Rotten: A Fresk Look at Roadkill and Bugs Don't Hug:

When: 11:30 - 1:30
Where: Horton's Books and Gifts
             410 Adamson Square
             Carrollton, GA


When: 3:45*
Where: Foxtale Book Shoppe
             105 East Main Street, #138
            Woodstock, GA

*Breezers are encouraged to gather afterwards for dinner at a local restaurant in Woodstock!



Sunday, November 4

Join Lisa Lowe Stauffer and her monkey friends for storytime and book-signing!

When:  1:00 - 1:45
Where: Books-A-Million
             3372 North Cobb Parkway, Ste 100
            Acworth, GA


Wednesday, November 7

Lisa and Two by Two are together again for a storytime and book-signing!

When: 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Where: Liberty Books
             176 West Crogan St.
             Lawrenceville, GA


Saturday, November 10

Nancy Day, along with her newest picture book, Pirate Jack Gets Dressed, will be signing and selling!

When: 1 - 3 PM
Where: G. J. Ford Bookshop
             600 Sea Island Road
             St. Simon's Island, GA

And don't forget about our Southern Breezers collecting books in the Florida Panhandle in the Books for the Panhandle effort going on now. Please see the website here for more details on how you can help get books back in the hands of our Florida kids!


If you have an event in the Southern Breeze region that's open to the public--a book-signing, a storytime, a book festival, an art or illustration event--let us know! Send details by the first of the month to southern-breeze-ara2@scbwi.org and we'll spread the word.

Breezers In Your Neighborhood: OCTOBER!

Take the first weekend of October off and get ready, y'all, because the rest of the month is a whirlwind of Breezer events! 


Saturday, October 13

Breezer Nancy Raines Day  and Pirate Jack will be at the Pat Conroy Children's Book Fair In Beaufort, South Carolina. Nancy says it's not exactly in the Southern Breeze region but we have lots of members who'd probably love a visit to the low country.  Find more information at the Pat Conroy Children's Book Fair website.




Local Liaison Melissa Miles is hosting an event in Savannah, Georgia. SCBWI member and author, Kimberly Thornton, will be speaking on several topics, including setting up a vision board, developing a blog, and discovering ways to market books.

When: 11:00 AM to 1 PM

Where: Southwest Chatham Library (Children's Activity Room, first floor)
              14097 Abercorn Street
              Savannah, GA 31419

The event is free and open to the public so bring a friend! Contact Melissa at melissajmiles1@gmail.com for more information.

Also on Saturday, Breezer Vanessa Fortenberry will be participating in a collaborative author/book signing featuring works in a variety of genres at the Conyers-Rockdale Library Local Author Expo.

When: 1 PM to 3 PM

Where: Nancy Guinn Memorial Library
              864 Green Street
              Conyers, GA 30012

Heather L. Montgomery will be touring Birmingham with her newest books, SOMETHING ROTTEN: A FRESH LOOK AT ROADKILL and BUGS DON'T HUG: SIX-LEGGED PARENTS AND THEIR KIDS, on the last weekend of October.

Friday, October 26


When: 2 PM to 4 PM

Where: Books-A-Million
              757 Brookwood Village
              Birmingham, AL 35209


       
Saturday, October 27     

When: 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Where: Discovery United Methodist Church
              5487 Stadium Trace Pkwy
             Hoover, AL 35244

Heather will be joining other SCBWI creators at Dog Days in Hoover, and then she'll be zipping over to the Oak Mountain State Park where she'll do a reading at Owl-o-Ween at 12:45 at the Alabama Wildlife Center in the park.

Also on Saturday, Local Liaison Cathy Hall is hosting Southern Breezer, Lisa Lowe Stauffer (and her two mischievous monkeys)! Lisa's recently released board book, TWO BY TWO is a rhyming picture book and so she will be bringing a wordplay program that's sure to be fun for writers of any length manuscript. Bring the first and last pages of your picture book (or novel), up to 400 words, for an afternoon of wordplay workshopping.

When:  1 PM to 3:30 PM

Where: Five Forks Branch Library
              2780 Five Forks Trickum Rd.
              Lawrenceville, GA 30044

Decatur Book Festival Roundup!

The skies stayed clear, and the sun stayed hot this year at the Decatur Book Festival. The Southern Breeze SCBWI booth, in the children’s zone on Sycamore Street, was staffed by a baker’s dozen of brave and cheerful authors and illustrators including Kim Sullivan, Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, Jill Dubin, Janie Watts, Vickie McEntire, Andy Klein, Alayne Smith, Linda Hodge-McLoud, Susan Allen, Lucyann Wagner, Laura Freeman, Morgan Young, and me.

While we didn’t sell as many books as we would have liked, we talked with dozens of families, teachers, librarians, and grandparents. We handed out fliers about SCBWI to aspiring authors/illustrators, and made some contacts that hopefully will result in school visits and other opportunities.

Plus, the Festival itself was fantastic! There were booths featuring everything from yummy foods to MFA programs. And well-known authors gave talks and signed books in about a dozen venues throughout the weekend. There was no charge for festival visitors, including attending any and all of the speakers’ programs. (I think this festival is Atlanta’s best-kept secret!)

This year marked the first time in a number of years that Southern Breeze had a booth presence at the festival, so it was a bit of a learning experience. I hope we’ll have a booth again in 2019, and make some changes so we can reach even more people (and sell more books).

So whether you’d like to be involved in planning, staffing the booth, or simply as an attendee, pencil in Labor Day weekend. I know I’ll be looking forward to this festival each year from now on.

A big thanks to the Breezers who staffed the booth, the Breezers who stopped by to say hello, and to Ivan Pegram (Sharon’s husband) for shooting photos.

~Lisa Lowe Stauffer

About Lisa Lowe Stauffer

Lisa Lowe Stauffer’s debut book is TWO BY TWO (Zonderkidz), a playful, rhyming story about animals rocking the boat on Noah’s Ark. Her twenty-year journey to publication was helped by the encouragement of many, many critique partners, including lots of fellow Breezers. LisaLoweStauffer.com

Breezers in Your Neighborhood: August!

We had a bit of a vacation for Breezers last month, but it's August now, and we're baaaaaaack...


Saturday, August 4:

Shelli R. Johannes will be launching her new book, CECE LOVES SCIENCE, at Little Shop of Stories from 3:00 until 4:30. Little Shop is located at 133 East Court Square in Decatur, Georgia, and you can find out more information here!

AND

Because CECE LOVES SCIENCE was chosen as the National Storytime Book at B & N on the same day, Shelli will be at the Mansell Road Barnes & Noble at 11:00 AM, also on Saturday!






Lisa Stauffer will be at FoxTale Book Shoppe for the launch of her debut board book, TWO BY TWO! Come see her at 105 East Main Street in Woodstock, Georgia at 11:00 AM.







Saturday, August 11:


Lisa Stauffer and TWO BY TWO will have a second book signing and storytime! You'll find Lisa and her mischievous monkeys at 11:00 AM at Starline Books in Chattanooga, Georgia.

Author Avery Elizabeth Hurt will be at the Local Authors Expo and Book Fair for book signing and writing talk! The Expo takes place from 9 AM until 1 PM at the Birmingham Public Library, Central Branch, located at 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, Alabama. It's free and open to the public.







Tracey M. Cox will be at the Harmony Jubilee, kissing hands, signing babies, and shaking books! The Harmony Jubilee takes place at Paulk Park Campground in Fitzgerald, Georgia.



That's Breezers in Your Neighborhood for August, y'all! If YOU are going to be at an event in your neighborhood that's open to the public, let us know. Send details to Cathy Hall at southern-breeze-ara2@scbwi.org.