Build Your Non-Fiction Toolbox and #TagYourTools

Building Your Nonfiction Toolbox, Michigan SCBWI Spring One-Day Event 

What? 

A one-day nonfiction writing conference

Where?

VistaTech Center at Schoolcraft College, 18600 Haggerty Rd. Livonia, Mi. (Maximum of 100 participants)

When?

March 7, 2020, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Cost?

Early bird SCBWI Members: $150
Early bird Not-Yet Members: $180 (become a member today and enjoy reduced pricing on all SCBWI events!)
Fee includes a pre-conference nonfiction webinar
* Seating is limited to 100 people *

Have you tinkered with the idea of writing or illustrating nonfiction, but don’t know where to begin? Do you have a nonfiction WIP that needs a tune up? Do you long to write narrative nonfiction that reads like fiction? Are you eager to learn more about the current “buzz” in nonfiction book creation? Join SCBWI Michigan for a day of tool gathering, project planning and practice building. Bring your laptops, nonfiction works-in-progress, nonfiction ideas, and leave with a toolbox full of things you need to craft compelling nonfiction that sells in today’s competitive marketplace.

Our featured speakers are: 

Carol Hinz is the Editorial Director of Lerner Books and was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s 2018 Star Watch Honorees. Carol joined Lerner in 2003 as editor and was promoted to Editorial Director of its Millbrook Press imprint in 2007. Ten years later, she took on overseeing picture books and nonfiction at its Carolrhoda Books imprint as well. Carol’s list includes National Book Award Longlist selection Sachiko, Sibert Honoree Sea Otter Heroes, and Orbis Pictus Honoree Dazzle Ships. Carol will guide attendees to find the nonfiction nugget that becomes the heart of their stories in her presentation, “Finding Your Nonfiction Nugget: Uncovering the Heart of Your Story.”

Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are wild about animals. Her subjects range from snake lungs to snail tongues. Heather will be filling attendees’ toolboxes with ideas on how to make nonfiction exciting in her presentation, “Don’t Do Boring: Turning a Nugget Into a Story That Sells!”

Some of Heather’s nonfiction books include:
Bugs Don’t Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids (Charlesbridge)
Little Monsters of the Ocean: Metamorphosis Under the Waves (Millbrook)
Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill (Bloomsbury), an NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a VOYA Nonfiction Honor Award Winner.
Learn more at www.HeatherLMontgomery.com

Lindsay Moore is an artist and writer with roots in Northern Michigan. She studied Marine Biology and Fine Art at Southampton College on Long Island and figure drawing at the Art Students League in New York City. Lindsay earned her Master of Science in Medical and Scientific Illustration from Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University) and has received recognition for her work from both the Association of Medical Illustrators and the Australian Institute of Medical and Biological Illustration. Sea Bear, published by Greenwillow Books, is her picture book debut. Sea Bear received starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal and Shelf Awareness!

Lindsay will give us a glimpse into how she uses notebooks to build nonfiction stories in her presentation, “The Illustrator's Notebook: From Epiphany to a Story in Pictures,” including how to draw from wonder and life and do research that informs illustrations and bring out a found story. And something just for illustrators, Lindsay will share, “The Artist’s Notebook: Drawing from Life, Research and (Yes) Imagination. This will be a practical talk about chasing good ideas, gathering information and creating interesting nonfiction art to tell a story.

Other highlights of the day include: 

• Morning and afternoon workshop time focused on finding your nonfiction nugget, writing backmatter, building a bibliography, using dialogue and primary vs. secondary sources.

• An afternoon conversation/panel discussion, “The Importance of Authenticity in Nonfiction Writing,” which will help answer the question, “Can I write my nonfiction idea?” 

• For those who’d like a nonfiction refresher or are new to nonfiction, we’ll have a free pre-conference webinar so we all come to the building site on common ground. 

• Detroit’s Pages Bookshop will be on hand with books on craft mentioned in the presentations, some mentor texts, as well as titles from our guests and Michigan writers and illustrators available for purchase throughout the day.

• Opportunities for in-person paid critiques for authors, illustrators, and author-illustrators. 

No matter where you are on your creative journey, “Building Your Nonfiction Toolbox” will help you create compelling and beautiful nonfiction for children.

Registration opens on January 31. 

Mark your calendars and join us for this amazing day!
Link to register will be available on January 31.

Until then, join us on social media for #TAGYOURTOOLS. 

The fun has already started. Writers and illustrators are sharing pictures or lists of their favorite writing tools on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram #tagyourtools! Hope you'll all play along!

Here's my #TagYour Tools:
A room with a view and hot tea, no matter the season.

Your turn! Please join us on our SCBWI-MI social media pages:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Instagram Illustrators

And...
Non-fiction mentorship competitions are coming later this spring!

Full details here:
https://michigan.scbwi.org/2019/10/23/non-fiction-mentorship-2020/

(Thanks for the reminder from mentorship coordinator Ann Finkelstein!)

Coming up on the Mitten Blog:

Please come back on Wednesday this week for a special Diversity Dialogue interview. No post this Friday because my long-delayed move to a new house is finally happening. I will miss the pretty view from my office window in the picture above (and the birds!), but my new office has a window too (with a ledge for plants!). 

Happy New Year!

Kristin Lenz