Big Sur of the Rockies

On Halloween evening instead of donning a costume and giving out candy, I attended the Big Sur of the Rockies Children’s Writing Workshop. Although I missed out on candy treats, I filled my writer’s bag with lots of goodies over a weekend of intensive critique groups and writing. I workshoped by middle grade novel in progress, Jennifer Jacobson Private Eyeball, and received great feedback on things to do to improve the manuscript. Since children’s writing is new for me, I learned a great deal about the different forms: picture books, chapter books, middle grade and young adult. Over the weekend I participated in four critique group sessions where I read sections of my novel and received oral and written critique as well as giving feedback to other writers. On Saturday afternoon we had time to revise our manuscripts, and I pounded away on my laptop for two hours. Another key benefit was the opportunity to speak with agents, editors and other writers in a relaxed session. When we broke on Sunday afternoon, I was exhausted but went home with pages of notes to fuel the rewriting I will do over the next several weeks. Jennifer will be much more beautiful as a result of this workshop.