Friday, June 28, 2024

CWHV June 2024 Conference

Our June 8, 2024 CWHV Conference was a wonderful success. Our keynote speaker was Susanna Leonard Hill, who delivered an inspiring speech on persistence. She also enlightened us on where she gets her ideas, how to find new ideas, how to dig into your own past and discovering feelings and fears for emotional truth.

Alexandra Penfold, an agent at Upstart Crow Literary, explained in detail the picture book editing process and what questions one should ask when editing, and how to develop an emotional connection between the reader and the character. She also shared mentor texts with their illustrations. Attendees worked on their pitch as their hands-on exercise.

Mekisha Telfer, an editor at Roaring Brook Press, discussed the voice of your characters and how voice can set the mood, used multiply published works to demonstrate how voice can define your characters and setting, and reviewed the different stylistic tools of writing. The hands-on writing exercises focused on the voice of your characters in your novel.

Alison Weiss, an independent consultant, talked about the lows and highs of publishing, the disappointments and the joys. She discussed marketing ideas and strategy, how publishers get their sales numbers, explained the profit and loss process and what to do if your publisher closes or your editor leaves.

Everyone enjoyed a delicious Panera lunch while chatting with fellow writers or the faculty.

Many thanks to our hard working attendees, without you our conference wouldn’t exist. Also, a big thank you to our faculty Susanna Leonard Hill, Alexandra Penfold, Mekisha Telfer and Alison Weiss.

A final thank you goes to our dedicated staff Catherine Ciocchi, Della Ferreri, Tania Guarino, Valerie Marchini and Karen Orloff.






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