As ARA of SCBWI Eastern NY region I plan a master class retreat each November at beautiful Silver Bay, on Lake George, NY. Last year was the first and focused on novels. This year the focus was on picturebooks and we had a group of 40 authors and editors. The weekend is set up to include one-on-one critiques with one of the five editors, group crit groups, hands-on workshops in the evenings and white space. Since the group is small it has a great atmosphere.

This year our editors were Alexandra Cooper from S&S, Ruta Rimas from Balzar and Bray, Erica Zappy from HM, Rotem Moscovich from Cartwheel/Scholastic, and Liz Waniewski from Dial. They were a terrific group - smart, insightful, and inspiring. Alexandra spoke Friday night after our wine and cheese reception (Yes, you read that right - we added that on this year) about what makes a picture book. It was a great way to open our retreat. Ruta followed with exercises on what makes a pb great. Both started off the weekend with a bang. Our juices were flowing and many folks went back to their rooms and wrote late into the night.

We worked in groups on Saturday morning without the editors. As this was a master class, the comments were insightful and helpful. After our lunch (basic food, no frills), we each met with one of the editors who had reviewed our manuscripts ahead of time. It was rainy all day, but much warmer than last year and the fire in the fireplace kept us cozy all day!

After dinner Rotem and Erica gave a presentation on picture book aesthetics and Liz gave us an exercise on the business side of things. We stayed in Watson for cookies and cocoa - too rainy for our bonfire. It was tough to believe the weekend was almost over.

We met Sunday morning in our crit groups again, but this time the editors rotated between groups for a Q&A session. This was the time to ask final questions, talk about submissions and just touch base one last time.

The sun came out to see us off and after lunch we all parted - filled up from a great writing weekend. I will admit, we were blessed with this group of editors. They made the weekend simply wonderful.

Next year the focus is back on novels. I'm already thinking of editors!