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Monday, August 24, 2009

Children's Authors

Children's writers are an incredible genre of people. I spent the weekend with about 30 of varying sizes, shapes, and personalities. All of us working on novels. All of us so unique, yet carrying the common burden of story for our readers.

One of the benefits of a small conference like this one is the intimacy we achieve in such a short span of time. People who were total strangers only hours before become peer mentors, critique partners, friends.

The other benefit of such a small setting is the chance to connect with the faculty. Author Marion Dane Bauer (Newberry Honor Book, On My Honor), editor Erin Clarke (Alfred Knopf) and agent Stephen Frasier (Jennifer Di Chiara Literary Agency) mingled, encouraged, shared their wisdom and conducted master class critiques of ten novel manuscripts. It was worth the trip to the west coast.

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