2010 SCBWI-LA Takeaways: Jon Scieszka
I've always appreciated those who post "takeaways" after they attend conventions: nuggets of wisdom that they took away from the event. Everyone's takeaways are different because everyone has different levels of experience and goals.
I'm going to be sharing mine over the next little while, as well as linking to any others that I can find. If you have takeaways or convention reports of your own to add, feel free to post in the comments section!
Jon Scieszka: Tales Of A Picture Book Writer: Do's, Don'ts, Maybes
- Look up the top 100 books listed by School Library Journal and read them.
- Don't do what someone else does. Do what YOU connect with.
- Read bad books, which can be educational.
- Read children's trade publications and kidlit blogs.
- Most picture book manuscripts by new writers can be improved by cutting length by half.
- Don't try to follow the market.
- Read everything in your field that you possible can: library, bookstore.
- Learn and read in prep but once you start to actually WRITE, then forget about trying to follow every rule and industry blog, and just focus on WRITING.
- In retrospect, Jon is glad that his early submissions got rejected.
Other reports on this event:
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Reader Comments (5)
I love these tidbits - all stuff that people can easily do, as long as they're willing to invest the time.
I was so excited when they called your name for the mentorship. Congratulations on that!!
I posted my notes today from Rachel Vail's workshop. She had some great advice and in person, she was almost as funny as Jon!
Love JS--thanks so much for posting!
Thanks for the post! Enjoyed reading your takeaways! Will post in my blog post Wrapping Up 2010 LA SCBWI Conference http://carmenoliver.livejournal.com/
Wasn't Jon Scieszka hilarious? I loved M.T. Anderson's and Loren Long's humor, too.
Oh, wish I could have heard him, but so glad you posted!