Whispering Pines 2011

Whispering Pines is my favorite SCBWI event. It's not just the incredible speakers such as Newbury Honor author Cynthia Lord, senior editor at Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), Cheryl Klein, agent/author Ammi-Joan Paquette of EMLA, and Mary Lee Donovan of Candlewick Press, and author/illustrator Jennifer Thermes:

Ammi-Joan Paquette, Mary Lee Donovan, 
Cheryl Klein, and Cindy Lord ponder magic wands

Nor is it just the bountiful spread put on by WP's chef (yes, everyone who goes to WP feels compelled to mention the food!), or the setting, which is as peaceful as it is beautiful:

It's not just the catching up with like-minded friends who understand this fun, maddening, necessarily obsessive path we're all on, and the making of new ones.


There's a spirit about the place and the people who go to WP...I imagine it's a fairly rare thing to put forty or so published and aspiring writers in a room together and feel a complete lack of competition, to feel only support and warmth and a genuine desire to see others succeed. But that's just what you'll find here. 


While some attended peer group critiques on Saturday afternoon, I took a little time to write: 

Raffle baskets! 

And of course, Kids' Book Jeopardy!

Thank you to WP director, organizer extraordinaire, and author Lynda Mullally Hunt for a truly fab weekend! Only 51 weeks to go until WP 2012...

The Pines, They Be Whisperin'...

The 'Wordy Bird's Favorite Things' Raffle Basket.
You know you want it!

Early tomorrow, I'm off to New England SCBWI's Whispering Pines Writers' Retreat. 


I'm excited to catch up with some writerly friends, talk books and writing among the pines, and hang out with Newbery Honor winning author, Cynthia Lord; Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic) Senior Editor, Cheryl Klein; Charlesbridge Editorial Director, Yolanda Scott; and Ammi-Joan Paquette, agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency... Maybe one of them will win Wordy Bird's Favorite Things!


Have I mentioned that SCBWI and its events are so very worthwhile?