By Rondi Sokoloff Frieder

“Poetry inspires all other writing!” Joseph Coelho

“Go snoop in your protagonist’s bedroom.” Kate Messner

“Throw rocks at your characters!” Phil Bildner

“There’s always more to learn!” James Ransome

 I recently had the pleasure of attending the SCBWI WINTER CONFERENCE in New York with my RMC-SCBWI buddies, Susan Wroble and Stan Yan. Susan and Stan are the dynamic co-regional advisors for the Rocky Mountain Chapter and spending time with them made the weekend extra-special. We went to a Broadway play, strolled through Central Park, ate in charming restaurants, and regularly checked-in to discuss our sessions.

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I’ve attended this conference before, but not in many years. I remembered being wowed by the inspirational keynote speakers, and blown-away by the impressive portfolio showcase. This year did not disappoint. Our opening speaker was the Children’s Poet Laureate from the United Kingdom, Joseph Coelho –  www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com. Joseph was extremely entertaining and drew us in with zany poetry prompts, rap writing, and tales of riding his bike through the countryside, collecting library cards (he has 213). His mission – to engage children in literacy. Here’s author/illustrator Stan Yan’s visual documentation of this presentation:

Our closing keynote was the award-winning illustrator (and sometimes author), James Ransome. James has published over 70 books for children, many with his wife, Lisa Cline Ransom. http://jamesransome.com. James’s vibrant use of color and innovative composition evokes an emotional response in the reader every time. His illustrations linger in your mind, long after you’ve turned the page. James’s passion for being a lifelong learner was infectious. He encouraged us to always take classes to hone our craft and told us to never stop creating.

But the highlight of the conference for me, were the “Creative Labs.” We all signed up for two, three-hour intensives in our genre – one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  In my case, these workshops focused on revising middle grade novels. My incredible teachers were Kate Messner, https://katemessner.com and Phil Bildner  https://philbildner.com.

In Kate’s REVISION HALF-MARATHON, she told us that “Revision is magical. You are shaping your manuscript into something TRUE!” She asked us to spend some time thinking about THEME. And once we figured out what that was, she suggested we post this in our workspace to remind us that theme must show up in every scene. She also set the timer and had us write about two things: “My novel is about… But underneath that, it’s really about…” I’ve done this exercise before and it is always enlightening.

Kate also talked about loglines and pitches and reminded us that we must write these in order to really know what our book is about. But the second part of the intensive, the heart of the workshop, involved snooping around in our main character’s bedroom! And man-oh- man, was this eye-opening. I thought I knew almost everything about my main character. But oooooh, there was so much more to discover, right in the most obvious place!

Coincidentally, the opening scene of my novel takes place in my protagonist’s bedroom. But after starting this exercise, I realized I didn’t have a detailed enough picture of what this room actually looked like. Kate asked us to consider the following: Does your MC have her own space or does she share? What’s in her closet and dresser? Are there books on a shelf? What are the titles? Stuffed animals? Collections of rocks, shells, baseball cards? Is she neat or messy? What kind of technology does she use? And my favorite… What is ON and UNDER her bed? Kate also had us make character circles, with inner circle friends vs. outer circle friends. Then she asked us how these circles changed throughout the course of the book – a very important component of most MG stories. Brilliant!

Kate loves charts and gave us a zillion ideas on how to make them. She suggested a chart to track important characters and themes in each chapter. A chart that monitors emotions and image systems. And finally, a chart that looked for the frequency of short sentences vs. long. She also suggested making a calendar and map of our setting. She even gave us chart paper to take home so we could start the work! This was a master class. I can’t wait to use some of these “magical tools to make something true!”

My second Creative Lab was with the dynamic writer and teacher, Phil Bildner. It was entitled “Breathing Life Back into Your Manuscript.” I had taken a class with Phil at another conference and I knew we were in for a treat. Phil’s session was extremely interactive. First, he had us working alone, then with one partner, and eventually three of us spent time creating a completely new story together! In the partner-exercise, we were asked to clean out our pockets; either in our clothing or from our purse or backpack. He asked us to use three of the found objects in a new scene in our novel. That’s when I literally struck gold. I found a gold candy wrapper that sparked an idea. Gold is now an image system that pops up throughout my novel.

Phil also had us reimagine an abandoned manuscript as a different genre. I scribbled down a variety of picture book ideas from a MG novel that has not sold. Phil also gave us a list of mentor texts to read and, more importantly, provided us with resources to combat the banned books movement: Authors Against Book Bans, Unite Against Book Bans, Book Riot, PEN America, We Need Diverse Books, and many more. He is passionate about this cause and inspired us all with his activism. Because if books didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be banned.

I also had the opportunity to have dinner “off-site” with the amazing Jewish Kidlit Mavens. I am in the Maven’s Facebook group, but hadn’t met these people in-person. Most of the authors/illustrators who attended were from the NY/NJ area. And what an impressive group – Liza Wiemer, Chana Stiefel, Ann Koffsky, Josh Levy, Kimberly Marcus, and Yevgenia Nayberg, to name a few. It was such a treat to spend the evening with these inspirational creators of books for children with Jewish content.

But the biggest takeaway for me was the strong sense of community we all felt by being together, in-person, with a common goal – to create the highest quality books possible for children. Oh, and one more thing… I had a very promising critique with an agent. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!