SCBWI | Cathy C. Hall Writes

A little children’s writing fairy landed on my shoulder this week and whispered, “Hey, YOU! Remember that New Year’s goal about attending a children’s writing conference? Shouldn’t you be looking into that? Now? ”

So, off I flew to the shaw guides site where all things conference related are listed. And lo! There was news about SpringMingle, the SCBWI conference sponsored by Southern Breeze, which just happens to be the SCBWI chapter in my little corner of the world.

So, off I clicked to find out more and whoa! The conference is this month! The last weekend in February, to be exact! And it’s in Atlanta, which just happens to be very, very close to my little corner of the world!

So, I printed that form and filled it out. A bit of a bummer, though, if you wanted to send a manuscript for evaluation-that date has passed. But you can still send a First Page of your manuscript.

Sounds like a plan to me. If you’re in my little corner of the world, check out all the details for Southern Breeze here. And hey! Say hey if you see me at SpringMingle!

Everytime SCBWI has a new contest, I get sucked in again. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a free membership. I should probably just pay the bucks for the membership and be done with it. But that’s too easy. I’d rather win it.

So here’s what you have to do this time around: Write a scene, in 75 words or less, of your character’s excuse for not getting his/her assignment completed. It’s that old “Dog ate my homework” excuse, but with your own special twist.

And if the SCBWI folks like it, you win a year’s free membership! If they don’t like it, well, you’ve spent an hour or so obsessing over 75 words when you could have been working. But you’ve flexed those mental muscles while you were at it.

That’s my excuse for wasting an hour. (Check out the contest details here and come up with your own excuse.)