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“What I need is someone who will make me do what I can.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Would you like to finish a middle grade or YA novel, or complete four picture books by the end of next year, and start submitting to agents and editors?  What if you could be mentored by an award-winning children’s book author who would give you the structure, support and accountability to do just that?

Enter the Children’s Literature Fellows, a one-year certificate program launched last year by Stony Brook Southampton’s esteemed MFA in Creative Writing and Literature, and now accepting applications for 2014.  Admission to the program is highly selective; only twelve applicants are selected each year – and the application deadline for 2014 is December 1, so you’ll need to act fast if you’re interested.

My colleagues and I at Stony Brook Southampton developed this year-long course of instruction – accomplished mostly in distance learning format – to offer children’s book writers a more affordable and flexible option than matriculation in a two- or three-year MFA program.  Because not all writers who want to complete projects have the time or the funds to complete a full degree program, the Children’s Literature Fellows do their work within a framework tailored to their needs.  The program bears 16 graduate level credits, and is customized, affordable, comprehensive, and professionally useful.   

Fellows work independently with the gifted writers who make up Stony Brook Southampton’s outstanding faculty – including Patricia McCormick, Maryrose Wood, Jules Feiffer, Kate and Jim McMullan, Tor Seidler, Cindy Kane, Rachel Cohen, myself and others – in a highly individualized curriculum that is accomplished from home.  Twice a year, they come together as a cohort: once in July during the Summer Conference and a second time in January for a special Publishing and Editing Conference, during which they have the chance to meet with editors, agents and other members of the publishing industry.

Picture book author Julie Gribble, a 2013 Children’s Lit Fellow, says, “Being a Children’s Lit Fellow is like having a guided tour of a city you’d always wanted to explore – you learn so much more than you could traveling about on your own!”

“The Children’s Literature Fellowship is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself,” says middle grade novelist Janas Byrd.  “It is a one-on-one mentorship with awarding winning authors who are also brilliant teachers.   As a middle school teacher and mother of two, time is a hot commodity.  This fellowship allows me the flexibility to write when it is most convenient for me. I will finish and polish my novel in nine months, a feat that would not have been possible to accomplish on my own.”

For more information about the Stony Brook Southampton Children’s Literature Fellows program and the application process, go to http://childrenslitfellows.org or visit http://www.stonybrook.edu/mfa and click on Children’s Lit Fellows. 

But do it quickly! December 1 is just two weeks away!

“If you’re dreaming of becoming the next J. K. Rowling, we’ve got the perfect place for you—the Southampton Children’s Literature Conference!” So said School Library Journal last year after Rocco Staino paid a visit to the Stony Brook Southampton campus to observe the Conference in action.

As Director of the Conference, I am delighted to announce that applications are now being accepted for our July 2012 workshops. We have a truly stellar line-up of faculty members this year, every one of whom is an esteemed, award-winning author in his (or her) own right, including:

• #1 New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds
• New York Times bestselling/Horn Book Award-winning author Kate McMullan
• New YorkTimes bestselling authors Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith
• National Book Award finalist and ALA Best Book of the Year Award-winning YA author Patricia McCormick

Every workshop is capped at 12 students, which makes for a uniquely individualized experience and an incredible opportunity for specific and direct feedback and support. It also means they fill up quickly – so don’t delay if you’re thinking of applying!

A bit more information about the Conference… this year there will be two sessions, a five day one (July 11-15) featuring workshops in picture book, middle grade and YA with Peter H. Reynolds, Kate McMullan and Cynthia and Greg Leitich-Smith, respectively, and a 12-day session (July 18-29) in YA with Patricia McCormick.  Mornings are spent in workshop, and in the afternoons a series of electives are offered such as craft lectures, panel discussions and mini-workshops. You can also choose to spend time writing at one of the beautiful Hamptons beaches or on the gorgeous campus grounds.

Because the Childrens Literature Conference is part of the Southampton Arts Summer, it runs concurrently with workshops in playwriting and screenwriting, as well as with adult workshops in poetry, memoir, novel, creative non-fiction, and even acting and visual arts. Evening events feature well-known authors, playwrights, and filmmakers. The schedule of formal and informal social gatherings is rich—from author receptions to an open-mic night—with a few surprises, too. And because Southampton Arts sponsors an esteemed and long-standing MFA in Creative Writing and Literature at Stony Brook Southampton, as well as new MFA’s in Theatre, Film and Visual Arts, the workshops may be taken for credit. There are even a few partial scholarships available.

To find out more, or to download an application, visit http://www.southamptonchildrenslit.com

Last week I started teaching the spring course in Childrens Literature for grad students in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature at Stony Brook Southampton. We spent the first class discussing the many formats of children’s lit, and began our picture book study (we’ll move on to chapter books, middle grade and YA fiction later in the term) by reading aloud and discussing some classic and contemporary books in the genre. In the former category, we read Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeline, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and Ezra Jack Keats’ Whistle for Willie. In the latter, we read Ian Falconer’s Olivia and Mo Willem’s Knuffle Bunny, by way of introduction.

Each book turned out to be a unique lesson in showing versus telling, meaning letting the art reveal as much, if not more, than the text does. We discussed at length how we knew that Madeline and her friends attended a Catholic boarding school as opposed to an orphanage, how clear it was that Max’s mother had forgiven him, where Peter and Willie lived, and how much we knew about Olivia’s and Trixie’s families without being directly told… simply by way of their actions in the story, and most of all, through the illustrations.

That night, with showing versus telling on my mind, I watched “The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius‘ valentine to silent films that is a contender for this year’s Best Picture Oscar. Since the story takes place in Hollywood during the time when silent cinema was replaced by the talkies, 90% of the film is silent. (It is also shot in balck and white.) The result is not only a wonderful, uplifting film and a terrific evening’s entertainment, but an invaluable lesson in showing versus telling.

With so little dialogue – which, when it occurs, is told through title cards – the story is almost entirely conveyed through action, behavior and expression.  It is a truly inspiring lesson for picture book authors, in terms of how little text is necessary to tell a story… as long as you know how to think visually, and show rather than tell. It also left me wondering how many other great silent movies might offer the same lesson.

The summer before last, I became a student in the Southampton MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program where I am also a faculty member. (I know, it’s a little crazy, but it’s actually great.) Since then I’ve had the good fortune to take courses with such gifted writers and teachers and Billy Collins, Jules Feiffer, Julie Sheehan, and Roger Rosenblatt, among others. I have also been challenged by weekly writing assignments, something that I am often hard-pressed to find the time (or the space in my brain) to do.

Another one of our faculty members, the biographer Neil Gabler, refers to what he calls “Gabler’s Law”:  First, you just sit there.

I love this, since I can come up with a thousand excuses as to why I can’t yet sit down to write – my favorites being, “I’m not ready,” “I don’t have an idea yet,” and “I’m still stewing.”

Recently I’ve been experimenting with a law of my own:  Just start.

Since I’ve incorporated this law, an amazing pattern has begun to emerge with respect to these writing assignments. It generally goes like this:

Day 1 – “OK, I’ve got the assignment for this week. It seems do-able.”

Day 2 – “What was I thinking? This assignment is the hardest yet! Ack. I’ll think about it tomorrow.”

Day 3: “I might have an idea. I’ll let it stew a bit.”

Day 4: “It’s a terrible idea. Never mind. Help!”

Day 4: “This is impossible. It’s actually out of the question. I don’t have a single idea!”

Day 5: “This may be the week where I have to call in sick. Is there any valid excuse I can come up with for not doing the assignment this week?

Day 6: “God, class is tomorrow. Just sit there and begin – something, anything!”

Day 7: “What time is class?”

What this has taught me is that I can afford to be patient while all those little gremlins in my head cycle through their strange but apparently necessary routine. But then, if I just sit there and START – just put my fingers to the keyboard and begin, something, anything – stuff begins to happen.  It doesn’t matter where I start, just that I do. And of course it’s all about editing – but the miracle is, once I start, I have something to edit, and once I edit, I (usually) have something to present.