SCBWI Oregon Spring Conference

What a day!

Filled with fantastic inspiration from editors, writers, and agents. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Christy Webster from Random House opened up the presentations with a talk about Ten Things You Need to Know about Writing and Publishing Beginning Readers. She said that the slots are limited and the requirements are stringent. But she still encouraged writers to perfect their craft.

Kate Sullivan - from Little Brown talked about the structure of a story. We all need to remember to have a Main Conflict, a catalyst and a conclusion to our story. That might sound simple but it's easy to get sidetracked into telling the story. So, like P.J. Peterson explained in his afternoon talk about plot, we need to keep amping up the tension.

Michael Stearns from Upstart Literary talked about plot mechanics in the morning and gave a 13 point Powerpoint presentation to help guide us on each step of the way. He said one of the powerful points to remember is pacing. Give the story a clock - or timeline. He says his Powerpoint presentation will be up on his website soon.

I learned a lot and enjoyed the day. So, if you get a chance to see any of these presenters, get going to your local SCBWI conference. You'll have a wonderful time.