Normally at this time in January I am packing my suitcase to leave home for 11 days and go to Hamline University to participate in the residency for the Masters program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I always am energized by the preparation and the residency. Eleven days with other children’s book writers at all stages of their careers. I come home both exhausted and exhilarated.
This year I will be with other children’s book writers but it will be online. We will not be slipping and sliding on Minnesota snow but sitting at our own desks in our own homes, listening and participating in discussions about how to write characters that readers will care about–or in the case of non-fiction how to report on characters in a way that readers will care. We non-fiction writers can’t make it up.
So what I’m working on is preparing for manuscript critiquing workshops, finishing up the Resources List for my presentation–“Character in Non-fiction: Getting to the Heart of the Story,” locating the resource books that I may want to reference, getting my bookshelves and other background “zoom ready.” I’m looking forward to this at-home leaving. And will try to do occasional updates. Stay well out there.
