I'll be on my way in a few hours to my absolute favorite writer's retreat, NE SCBWI's Whispering Pines!
Held at URI's beautiful Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich, RI, Whispering Pines is, IMHO, the perfect writer's retreat. And here are my five reasons why:
1) It's small-only about 25 weekend participants and another 20 or so day visitors.
2) The food, staff and accommodations are AMAZING!
3) The atmosphere is relaxing, fun, inspiring and reenergizing.
4) The mentors are always top notch-this year we are lucky enough to have:
Cynthia Lord's debut novel, RULES (Scholastic, 2006), has received numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor and the Schneider Family Book Award. A former elementary and middle-school teacher, Cynthia even spent a year teaching in a one-room schoolhouse on a Maine island, which is the setting for her second novel (TOUCH BLUE, Scholastic 2010). She is also the author of HOT ROD HAMSTER, a picture book illustrated by Derek Anderson. Cindy lives with her husband and her two children fifteen minutes from the ocean in Brunswick, Maine.
Carlyn Beccia is author and illustrator of Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo, The Raucous Royals and I Feel Better (due out in 2010). In 2005, Beccia was the Grand Prize Portfolio Winner in the Society of Children's Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) portfolio exhibition. In 2008, Beccia's debut book, Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo? was the Golden Kite honor recipient for picture book illustration. In 2009, The Raucous Royals was the winner of the International Reading Association's 2009 Children's and Young Adult Book Award for Intermediate-Nonfiction.
Connie Hsu is an Assistant Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, home of Stephenie Meyer, Jerry Spinelli, and Sherman Alexie. She has worked on a whole spectrum of books, from board books to Gossip Girl. She’s the editor of The Devouring (YA horror), The A-List: Hollywood Royalty (a spinoff of the bestselling The A-List series), and Moonshadow (middle grade ninja adventure). Her own books include Happyface, a fully illustrated YA novel, and Nanny Piggins, a laugh-out-loud middle grade novel about a nanny pig. She loves new approaches to traditional ideas and would love to find a morbid picture book.
Alexandra Penfold is an Associate Editor with Paula Wiseman Books at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers where she works on hardcover trade picture books, middle-grade fiction, and young adult novels. She works closely with Paula Wiseman editing the Amelia's Notebook series by Marissa Moss in addition to editing her own list of books including City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male written and illustrated by Meghan McCarthy, Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton, illustrated by Karen Hillard Good, Seabiscuit written/illustrated by Meghan McCarthy, and The Teashop Girls by Laura Schaefer among others. Prior to becoming an editor Alexandra was a children's book publicist.
Rebecca Sherman is a literary agent at Writers House, LLC where she began her career in children’s publishing eight years ago. She represents authors of middle grade and young adult novels, though her focus is on author/illustrators of graphic novels and picture books. Her client list includes Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Grace Lin, Matt Phelan, Dan Yaccarino, David Ezra Stein, and Andrea and Brian Pinkney. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
5) And best of all...the company is awe-inspiring! Here's just a partial list of friends who I will be blessed to be spending the next few days with:
Sometimes it is SO good to be me! <G> I've packed my camera and I hear there's WiFi, so look for updates!
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