Three SCBWI Regions and Various Ventures: Catching up with Author/Editor Diane Telgen

Diane Telgen lived in Canton, Michigan, for many years and volunteered for SCBWI-MI in numerous capacities, including webmistress. After spending a few years in Chicago, she now lives in Nashville and has ventured in several exciting new directions. We invited her back on our Mitten blog to fill us in. Let’s catch up!

You’ve been away from Michigan for how many years now? Are you involved with your new regional SCBWI chapter?

My husband and I moved to Chicago in 2013, and within a year I took over as listserv coordinator for the Illinois chapter of SCBWI. I also contributed several articles to their newsletter, the Prairie Wind. When his job took us to Nashville in 2018, I quickly made contact with the MidSouth regional advisor and she invited me to join their conference planning committee. I’ve been so lucky to land in regions with very active and welcoming SCBWI chapters!

You graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2017. How has your degree guided and shaped your writing career?

Before VCFA I was confident in my skills as a writer, but working with the faculty helped me become a better storyteller—I learned so much about structure, character building, and revision that it ramped up my ability to fully develop an idea into a complete story. My critique partners noticed a big difference! Plus, all the writer friends I made there have become a lifeline.

Tell us about your work with Angelella Editorial.

Former Simon & Schuster editor Kate Angelella is one of those good writer friends I made at VCFA. When she decided to expand her freelance editing business, she invited me to join the staff. Through AE I’ve done everything from helping polish verse in picture books to developing chapter books and novels to copy editing adult works for indie publication. I love working with clients to make their writing shine!

I recently read Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA. Tell us about your involvement in this project and how it came about.

I served as slush queen, then managing editor, of the Foreshadow online serial anthology. I’d met Nova Ren Suma in a VCFA workshop, and when she and coeditor-in-chief Emily X. R. Pan announced plans for a new outlet for YA short stories, I wanted to help out. I coordinated the reading of some 1000 submissions to find the 20 or so that we published along with stories we solicited from more established writers. As managing editor, I kept our editorial process on schedule so we could release three stories each month. I loved seeing those 13 New Voices stories published in the print anthology, along with Emily and Nova’s wise words about craft. It’s both a lovely collection to read and a useful resource for writers.

Congrats on your recent and upcoming books! Tell us about them.

Nova Ren Suma knew the editor of the new Arcadia Children’s Books imprint, and she thought I might be a good match for their first series, “Spooky America.” She put me in touch, and my background—MFA in writing for kids plus experience writing historical nonfiction—proved just right. For The Ghostly Tales of Michigan’s West Coast and The Ghostly Tales of Pittsburgh (both 2020), I took a collection Arcadia had previously published for adults and chose the best stories for a young audience. Then I completely rewrote them to suit a kid’s sensibility. I had so much fun that I took on another volume in the series. It’s tentatively titled The Ghostly Tales of Michigan’s Haunted Lighthouses and will come out later this year. I loved sneaking fun facts about my home state into the ghost stories!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I’ve been a member of SCBWI for more than twenty years, and only recently made it to PAL status. It took a combination of hard work, persistence, and being open to trying new things. SCBWI always has something to offer, whether it’s a business webinar or just the simple gift of connection. You never know who might have something to teach you, so don’t be afraid to participate!

You can order autographed copies of Diane’s Ghostly Tales books from her website; find out more about her editorial services here. 

Coming up on the Mitten Blog:

A new kidlit podcast, a Writer Spotlight with a behind the scenes look at virtual conference planning, SCBWI Winter Conference takeaways, children's books in the classroom, writing action scenes, and another round of Hugs and Hurrahs! 

Coming up this spring:

Registration is now open for the SCBWI-MI spring conference! An all virtual weekend event for you to attend when it suits YOU. Intensives, workshops, socials, plus a limited number of manuscript critiques and portfolio reviews. Don't delay, register today! Discounted fee for SCBWI members and scholarships available.

https://michigan.scbwi.org/2020/05/01/spring-conference-2021/