Category: Annual Virginia Book Events

Wintertime Virtual Bookish Events for You!

12/6/2020

Want to scratch your KidLit itch while staying safe? Here are some winter bookish events happening virtually this season that just may do the trick!

Leave a comment about what you loved about attending or participating in one of the above events, please. We'd love to hear from you! For additions or corrections, drop me a line via Contact Me.

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Kidlit C'Ville Blog Party-A Festival of Fun!!

3/15/2016

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Celebrating the Virginia Festival of the Book

Twenty- one years ago, I was elated to hear of Charlottesville's inauguration of the Virginia Festival of the Book. I decided to attend a daytime event, a luncheon with Judith Viorst, author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. How I enjoyed myself, even though I had to hurry back to a baby sitter that was charging by the hour. Every year since, I've looked forward to March with its promise of spring and the arrival of the VABook.
Over the years, I've collected some truly interesting VABook experiences, like the time I was telling an agent how much I enjoyed her presentation. (It was a very small Society of Book Writers and Illustrators event in a coffee shop and no one else was around, so I had her undivided attention.) She asked me what I wrote and I couldn't remember. Or the time I sat crisscross on the floor, squeezed next to a (now award-winning) author and we whispered to each other the entire time. (We should have been paying better attention to the presentation!)
Then there was the time my first page was being read aloud to a packed room, and both the audience and panelists responded so favorably that afterward I spun the page into an entire middle-grade yarn (and just last year got an agent with it, too!) But one of my most memorable VABook experiences was when I heard Rita Dove reading her poem about biracial violinist George Bridgetower. And when Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band played his violin--WHAT MAGNIFICENCE THAT!
I've laughed. I've listened. I've learned A LOT about writing and the world of publishing from the wide variety of presenters that the VABook brings to this part of Central Virginia.
To celebrate this year's VABook, I decided to host a KidLit C'Ville Blog Party, in which during the duration of the VABook, March 16-20, I will be interviewing ten published children's book writers and illustrators who call Charlottesville home. They are KidLit pros across the genres, creators of children literature from picture books to young adult tomes of the highest caliber. It's no wonder they've been VABook presenters over the years.
I hope you will stop by each day and say "Hey!" to these lovely ladies and gents who ooze joy and enthusiasm for all things KidLit!

Illustrative sketches of Downtown Charlottesville featured during this KidLit C'Ville Blog Party are used with permission of Scott DuBar, graphic designer and illustrator, of Scott DuBar Illustration. Accompanying author-photos with a photo credit of Jen Fariello are used with permission of award-winning Jen Fariello Photography.

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Virginia Festival of the Book 2014

3/30/2014

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What the panelists liked:

Upbeat and positive tone

Active verbs

Touches all senses

Creates mood

Establishes setting

Opens with action

Voice that drew the reader in

Great humor

Charming

Opens with an emotional center

Sentences have cadence

Rich images

Beautifully written

Engaging

Succinct

Unique phrases

Supercharged

Suspenseful

Connected to character

Want to find out more about the character

Clever opening

Ominous opening

Great first lines

What the panelists disliked:

Nothing unique

Typos

Redundant language

Too dense with description

Does not open with a
character doing something

Opens with a prologue

No orientation--don't know where we are, where we're going, or what is happening, confusing

Too much telling

The main character is not named, though his horse is

Begins with back-story without "earning" the "right" for it

Uses three words in a sentence when only one is needed

Reads like an essay

Stock opening, with the character waking up

Unneeded information about setting, not enough about the character

Too many unneeded words--it, the, at, an…

Too cryptic

Too many names

Passive construction

Passive voice

Paragraphs too long

Sentences need punch

Over the top emotion--"My heart began bravely beating."

Clichés--phrases with no energy, nothing new

Every year, since it began in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia, I have attended the Virginia Festival of the Book--a five-day literary event that gathers authors, agents, publishers, and other professionals from across all genres. Most of the events are free and open to the public. Each one has proven to be a great learning experience, a reason to laugh my socks off, and motivation to keep on writing!
This year, I enjoyed three events: The Agents Roundtable, A First Pages Panel, and a literary conversation with Lois Lowry. (WOW!)
Thought I'd share my notes from the first pages' panel.

EVENT NAME: Off to a Good Start: How to Hook an Editor on the First Page

WHEN: Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

WHO PARTICIPATED: Writers Jennifer Elvgren, Deborah Prum, Fran Slayton, and Andy Straka.

WHAT: After Fran Slayton read aloud the first 100-words from manuscripts submitted by the public, either via email before the event or by hand during the event, panelists discussed what did and did not work for them.

FROM MY NOTES:

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Wintertime Virtual Bookish Events for You!

Want to scratch your KidLit itch while staying safe? Here are some winter bookish events happening virtually this season that just may do the trick!

Kidlit C'Ville Blog Party-A Festival of Fun!!

Celebrating the Virginia Festival of the Book

Virginia Festival of the Book 2014

About Me

Archives

Categories

Wintertime Virtual Bookish Events for You!

​Want to scratch your KidLit itch while staying safe? Here are some winter bookish events happening virtually this season that just may do the trick!

Kidlit C'Ville Blog Party-A Festival of Fun!!

Celebrating the Virginia Festival of the Book

Virginia Festival of the Book 2014

About Me

Archives

Categories

Want to scratch your KidLit itch while staying safe? Here are some winter bookish events happening virtually this season that just may do the trick!