Volunteering for SCBWI Ireland

One of the small irritations in life is not knowing the milk has gone sour until you've poured it into your cup of black tea and watched it all curdle in a most unappetizing way. Luckily, I have some herbal tea in the cupboard, so I can start fresh.

Blogs are a bit like that. You're meant to post regularly or else the blog goes sour. But, here I am, starting fresh - again.

I was trying to decide on a topic and started writing about my volunteering activities with SCBWI Ireland. Sure, why not? I've done a lot more than I realized, and I've learned a lot along the way.

SCBWI Ireland banner design by Sarah Bowie
(I put a white border around it because the greens clash)

In case you don't know, SCBWI stands for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, which is a great resource and support network for new and established writers and illustrators. Valerie Peterson provides a detailed post about SCBWI on her about.com site. It's really cool to have many well-known and successful writers in the membership, including Jane Yolen (who's published over 300 books), Donna Jo Napoli, Shaun Tan, and Meg Rosoff.

Here in Ireland, our chapter has existed for a number of years, but is still quite small. I mean REALLY small. Award-winning author Jane Mitchell has been the volunteer Regional Advisor since the beginning of 2012, and I've been the Uber Volunteer. The Uber Volunteer title came out of a comment in an email, but I liked it, so I even put it on my new business cards. It's a bit cheeky, to be sure, but it might generate a question or two.

So, you've been wondering what SCBWI Ireland volunteers do. Okay, maybe you haven't. Well, tough, here's a few things anyway:

• Worked with Jessica C. to develop a new website for SCBWI Ireland. 
• Designed and printed SCBWI Ireland business cards that we can hand out to interested people at meet-ups, workshops, and conferences. 
• Promoted and helped organize our one-day writing workshop facilitated by Jane M. in Dublin.

• Maintaining and updating the SCBWI Ireland website including the blog.
• Working with Jane M. to keep the SCBWI Ireland Facebook page filled with news and information relevant to Irish writers and illustrators. 
• Organizing and running the monthly Scribblers Online Critique Group.
• Organizing and running informal meet-ups in Cork with Fiona G. for local children's book writers and illustrators every two months.

Geez, I could use this as a CV! This is in addition to my full-time day job, Sacred Harp singing, swing dancing, traveling, and occasional actual writing of stories! Phew! I need a nap.

Oh yeah, I was going to talk about what I've learned. Well, promotion for one thing. You have to start early and use the right media and locations. We tried printing posters and sticking them up all over town (thanks to Fiona G. and John S. for doing that little chore with such enthusiasm), but that didn't really work. Business cards with contact details are handy and compact for handing out. Flyers are good at events for new attendees. Electronic media on websites, blogs, Facebook, boards, and forums seems to work the best, along with the most important promotional tool: word of mouth. The trick is not to do it so much that you annoy people.

The other thing I learned is that while there's lots happening in Dublin, contrary to rumours, it's not the centre of the universe! (Shock! Dismay! Actually, I quite like Dublin.) We've managed to find at least 25 writers and illustrators in and around Cork and nearby counties, who are keen to get together and talk shop. There's creatives scattered throughout all the counties. It's very exciting to be able to help people connect.

Volunteering is a bloody lot of work, but it's worth it to see and hear positive feedback from people who've found kindred spirits and who are learning from and supporting each other as they navigate the tricky waters of creation and publication.

Now, time for a bath.

Meeting a Legend: Jane Yolen (Part 2) – BIC HOP

Jane’s day out

On September 10th, I had the pleasure and honour of escorting Jane Yolen around Dublin city centre. We went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, avoided a heavy rain shower and bought an umbrella in the gift shop. From there, we walked to Dublin Castle and wandered through the lovely garden of the Chester Beatty Library. After a tasty lunch in the café, we went upstairs to the see an exhibition of Persian illustrated texts called Muraqqa': Imperial Mughal Albums. It was amazing to compare and contrast these early 17th-century manuscripts with the 10th-century Irish manuscripts. Both were beautiful and compelling but completely different in style and subject matter. 

Declaring ourselves saturated by all we had seen, we stopped at Queen of Tarts, where I shamelessly waded through a mile-high lemon meringue tart while Jane virtuously enjoyed a cup of decaf tea. During that day, we talked of many things, including what she was working on, what I was working on, writing in general, the publishing market in Europe, who the other speakers were at the conference, and more personal topics dealing with aches and pains, family, friends, death, and grief.

It was a good day for enjoying the company of a down-to-earth, kind, intelligent, funny, prolific, and straight-shooting woman. Jane’s not afraid to say if she doesn’t like a book and why. With her keen eye and probing questions, she helped me to look at some stories in a different way, including one of my own ideas of having a young girl stow away in a bi-plane as part of an adventure.

I walked Jane back to her hotel via the Ha’Penny Bridge over the Liffey River. That evening, she joined me, Jane Mitchell of SCBWI and award-winning author of Chalkline, and Jennifer Jensen, another writer and SCBWI volunteer, for dinner. We had a wonderful evening chatting, sharing stories, and eating delightful and delicious food.

CBI/SCBWI Conference

Jane wasn’t scheduled to speak until Saturday afternoon at the CBI/SCBWI conference, Between the Lines, but she wanted to attend the other  workshops, so Jane M. and I met Jane at her hotel in the morning and walked down to the Luas, which took us to the venue in Tallaght. The train journey was full of teasing and talking. We were joined quite by coincidence by Judi Curtin, who was the first speaker of the day. I was basking in the reflected glory of these three talented authors all sitting around me. Sigh.

The conference was great, and it was nice to see so many familiar faces. There was a good selection of speakers including Keith Gray, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, and Adrienne Geoghegan, three editors, and two agents. The conference had the added attraction of individual critique sessions. I was quite pleased with the feedback I received from Síne Quinn on my story and spurred on to revise and send it out again. 

BIC HOP

Now, you’re still wondering what the heck “BIC HOP” is. Jane gave two talks in the afternoon, the first session was for writers, while illustrators attended a session with Adrienne. 

Jane’s second talk was the closing speech of the day. In it, Jane focused on openings and endings. She said a good opening has to be planned well. She also said: “A good ending is inevitable and surprising.” 

When asked for advice on writing (or illustrating), Jane, who has published 300 books, said two things:

• B.I.C. for Butt in Chair
• H.O.P. for Heart on Page

She said a lot more than that and said it very well. She made us laugh, cry, think, and sigh, and left us inspired and filled with the joy of crafting and publishing books for children of all ages.

Thank you, Jane Yolen!

Meeting a Legend: Jane Yolen

Okay, I haven’t actually met her yet, but I will meet her in a couple of weeks when I give her a guided tour of a few select places in Dublin. I’m so excited!

Jane Yolen

Jane Yolen has been called the “American Hans Christian Andersen” and yet, I get blank looks when I mention her name in Ireland.

Jane’s first book, Pirates in Petticoats, was published when she was 24, and she has been writing books ever since. With over 300 books published, many of which have received awards and accolades, Jane is a busy writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, for both children and adults. She is also an editor, teacher, and song collector/writer. Wow! Three-hundred books, people! How is it possible she is not a household name?

I read Briar Rose in 1999, which is part of the Fairy Tale Series created by Terri Windling for Tor. I still talk about that book and remember it. I was deeply moved by Jane’s reworking of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale into a story set partly during the second world war. The sleeping beauty is a survivor of a gas chamber, rescued and brought back to life by a freedom fighter with the “kiss of life” (AR/CPR). It is a brilliant reworking and very thought-provoking.

Jane's How Do Dinosaurs… series for younger children is widely available and a lot of fun. (I just had to pick this cover!) I even found a boxed board-book edition online, which I think I will get for my niece.

I recently read her Writing Books for Children, which was revised in 1983. Many of the references are out of date in 2010, but with the quality and quantity of work Jane has produced, I thought it was worth listening to what she had to say. I look forward to reading Take Joy: A Writer's Guide to Loving the Craft, published in 2006 by Writer's Digest Books. I think most writing reference books focus on technique, getting published, and how hard it all is. I like the idea of a book that reminds us to ENJOY writing, enjoy the process, enjoy exploring the limitless bounds of our imaginations!

Jane’s Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World will be published in November 2010. She seems to like pirates an awful lot!

Jane is presenting at the annual joint Children’s Books Ireland/SCBWI Ireland seminar, Between the Lines, on writing and illustrating books for children, which takes place on Saturday, September 11, 2010 in Dublin. For more information, visit CBI’s web site. I can hardly wait!


For more info about Jane Yolen and her work, visit http://janeyolen.com/.