We don’t have a lot of author/illustrator events for readers this month, but for writers, it’s a windfall! In case you haven’t heard, we have a new writers’ workshop venue in town Write Space, and they are launching their events this summer with a lineup of workshops for writers of children’s and young adult books.
Also, I want to pass on the news that the Houston Writers Guild Fall Contest is open for submissions July 1 – September 1, 2014. The contest is open to all writers (regardless of publishing status) with original, unpublished work. First place in each category wins $75. Winners will be announced at the 2014 Houston Writers Guild Winter Conference (November 8; details TBA). Everyone will receive score sheets with feedback via email after the winners are announced.
Please note that the first workshop listed is for children; all others are for adults writing for children.
July 12, Saturday, 10:00–3:00 p.m. 
Houston Children’s Museum
Melissa Williams, PB Author
Workshop For Kids Ages 8-14
Cost: $135.00
Exercise Your Imagination at the Houston Children’s Museum with Melissa Williams, author of the picture book series, IGGY THE IGUANA, TURTLE TOWN and LITTLE MISS MOLLY! Workshop Includes: Take Home Brainstorming Notebook; 16×20 Painted Canvas; Lunch; Goodie Bag. Register online here.
July 12, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 
Write Space
Jen Mathieu, YA Author
Workshop: How to Find Your Character’s Voice
Cost: $45.00
Jen Mathieu, author of the runaway hit, THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, will lead this writers’ workshop. Heart-stopping plots and detailed settings are important to any memorable story, but a character who becomes real in the heart and mind of the reader leaves a permanent mark. In this three-hour workshop, we’ll spend some time reading and dissecting examples of terrific character voice and complete several writing exercises intended to help develop a character whose story demands to be told. All levels of experience are welcome. Students will leave with a handout of exercises for uncovering a character’s personality, motivations, fears, and dreams as well as a list of suggested readings. Please bring a laptop or notepad and pen/pencil, depending on which instrument you feel most comfortable using for quick writing exercises.
July 19, 10:00-4:30 p.m. 
Write Space
Kathy Duval, PB Author
Workshop: Make It Shine! Polish Your Picture Book
Cost: $85.00
Five hundred words— no problem, right? Wrong!
A successful picture book is an art form combining lyrical language and dynamic images, each dependent on the other. To compete, your work must shine, as well as follow the conventions of today’s crowded market.
This hands-on revision workshop led by Kathy Duval, author of TAKE ME TO YOUR BBQ (Hyperion/Disney) and THE THREE BEARS’ CHRISTMAS and THE THREE BEARS’ HALLOWEEN (Holiday House), will take a fresh look at your characters, setting, plot, and picture book language. Participants will complete exercises to polish their prose, as well as create a dummy to see how your text fits into a picture book format. Feedback in small groups will help you take your picture book to the next level. Participants will be asked to bring three copies of the same completed picture book manuscript. You will be notified closer to the workshop date about the other supplies you will need for making a dummy.
July 19, Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
Houston YA/MG Regular Meeting
Community Room at the H.E.B. at 9710 Katy Freeway
Emily Evans, YA Author
Workshop: Tips, Tricks, & Secrets of the Millionaire Author
Free!
Pre-published? Traditionally published? Indie Published?
Employ millionaire-author strategies now so your future is more “party at the Capital” and less “welcome to the Hunger Games.” Houston YA/MG’s own Emily Evans will lead the discussion. Emily has made $150 K indie-publishing her YA novels. Where’d she go wrong? What’s she doing right? Emily will brush off her psych degree and analyze marketing trends, best-seller habits, and pretty much anything else you want to throw out there. So change out of those writing pajamas and join us…
Saturday, July 26, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Write Space
Workshop: The Power of Point of View
Joy Preble, YA Author
Cost: $45.00
Joy Preble, author of the Dreaming Anastasia series (Sourcebooks) and the Sweet Dead Life series (Soho Press), will lead this workshop. Point of view is one of the most important choices an author can make because it impacts how readers see and respond to the story. Through whose eyes is the story being told? Through the eyes of a character as he experiences the story’s events (1st person present), through an unnamed narrator (3rd person omniscient), or through a narrator who shares the thoughts of just one character (3rd person limited)?
If a story doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, often the problem lies in point of view. For instance, perhaps we aren’t telling the right character’s story. Or, we are telling the right character’s story, but we aren’t telling her story in the right point of view. When the story is told (before or after events), why it is told, and who does the telling are all powerful decisions each writer must make. It’s easy to give attention to the more glamorous aspects of craft such as character arcs, plot, and tension, but profound discoveries await those willing to explore point of view.
All levels of experience are welcome in this hands-on workshop. To help free up our stories, we will read and analyze examples of point of view in successful novels, and then apply our newfound knowledge to our own writing.
Come prepared to write, revise, and experiment. Please bring the first three to five pages of a novel or short story you’re working on, as well as a laptop or a notepad and pen or pencil.
Book Release Day!
Sometimes a lucky ritual becomes a curse.
Seventh-grader Martin Cruz hates his rotten new town, Lower Brynwood, but with his mom fighting a war in Afghanistan, he has no choice but to live with his crazy aunt. Then he gets a message from a tree telling him it’s cursed—and so is he.
It’s not just any tree either, it’s the Spirit Tree, an ancient beech the football team carves for good luck before the season opener. But every year they lose. Now the Spirit Tree is dying, and the other trees in the park are toppling around it like dominoes. The town is plagued with unexplainable accidents and people begin to fade, drained of life.
Martin must team up with a know-it-all soccer star, Hannah Vaughan, if he has any chance of breaking the curse. If they fail to save the Spirit Tree, it could mean the destruction of Lower Brynwood and a permanent case of bad luck.
June 26, Thursday, 10:00 a.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Dee Leone, PB Author
Join author Dee Leone for a special story time/book launch for BIZZ AND BUZZ MAKE HONEY BUNS! Bizz and Buzz are two bees who want to make honey buns. So, they ask their friend Bear for his recipe. Although the directions seem simple, Bizz and Buzz make mistake after mistake, like finding a little “flower “instead of adding a little “flour.” What will “bee”-come of the honey buns?
I’m sorry i didn’t get this post up yesterday. I was having trouble staying connected to my website. The past few days here have been so much fun. Friday night, I got to go to a book launch for a local author’s debut novel. And talk about launching, this author is going to skyrocket!
Write down this name:
I predict you’ll be seeing it on all kinds of literary lists soon, including the New York Times Bestsellers list. Her debut YA novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, was pitched as “Easy A” meets “Friday Night Lights,” about small town teens who spread rumors 
about a former friend that may or may not be true.
Jen’s launch at Blue Willow Bookshop was a huge event. Jen teaches at a high school in this area, and formerly taught at a Houston middle school, so many of her friends and coworkers showed up to help her celebrate. A lot of her students and 
former students showed up, too. The bookstore was packed to the walls.
We got to hear a bit about Jen’s journey to publication. Nineteen agents turned her down before she signed with Sarah LaPolla. Like most writers, Jennifer didn’t hit success with her first book, or her second. At one point she talked with her husband about giving up, but he told her that if she got pleasure from writing, she should keep 
doing it. She did keep writing, and her third book, THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, sold at auction to a brilliant editor named Nancy Mercado, with Roaring Brook Press.
Follow Jen on twitter, and enjoy her blog tour for THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, starting with this interview on Ex Libris.
Another cool event I got to attend was our monthly Houston SCBWI meeting where one of our traditionally published children’s authors talked about her adventures in self publishing young adult books under the name Dax Varley. I think the cat may be out of the bag as to this author’s true identity, but in case I’m mistaken, I won’t spill it here. Dax shared a wealth of information about all the technical aspects of SP, including the unexpectedly tricky aspects of designing book covers, proofing, formatting, reviews and the importance of choosing the right title. And her final caution: Hire a professional copyeditor! To keep up with Dax, follow her on twitter or catch up with her news on her blog, I Bleed Ink.
Now for this week’s events!
June 8, Sunday, 3:00 p.m.
River Oaks Bookstore
Russell Sanders, YA Author
Russell Sanders will be signing and discussing his new novel SPECIAL EFFECT. Graduating Senior Nick Fortunati works as a lighting tech in a creepy old theater. Out of the shadows steps mysterious Steve Stripling. Nick must decide if he wants to help Steve solve the mystery surrounding him and perhaps lose his newfound friend forever.
June 10, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Non Pratt, YA Author
Non Pratt will discuss and sign TROUBLE, her debut novel for young adults. From Publishers Weekly: Friendship, betrayal, lust, and love are recurring themes in U.K. editor/publisher Pratt’s first novel exploring the trials of a British teen after she finds out she is pregnant. Reluctant to reveal the identity of the baby’s father, 15-year-old Hannah is surprised and relieved when her new friend, Aaron, offers to pretend he is responsible. But Aaron’s motives run deeper than wanting to help Hannah: part of him hopes that acting nobly might make up for previous actions that ended in tragedy…
I’m in a rush today, but here’s what’s going on this week:
May 27, Tuesday, 6:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble, The Woodlands
3 YA Authors: Joy Preble, Varsha Bajaj, Christina Mandelski
Join three teen authors as they sign and discuss their newest books. Joy Preble, Varsha Bajaj and Christina Mandelski will all be in-store in the seating area. Don’t miss out on this chance to meet three fantastic YA authors!
May 30, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Jennifer Mathieu, YA Author
Blue Willow Bookshop is thrilled to help Jennifer Mathieu launch THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, her debut novel for young adults! This stunning debut is told in unique, multiple voices with flawless structure, intense pace, and fabulous writing. Though this story is set in the right-here-and-now, the overall message, and especially the end of the book insights from Alice, will make this a timeless read.
May 30, Friday, 3:00 p.m. 
French Cuff Boutique
Quinn Holladay, PB Author
French Cuff Boutique presents MACGYVER—THE BEST BIG BLACK DOG by Quinn Holladay.
May 31, Saturday, 4:00 p.m. 
River Oaks Bookstore
Sheri Kiss
Join us for a fun and entertaining puppet show based on Sheri Kiss’s children’s book, DREAM WRITE. An engaging book signing (with puppets!) will follow.
June 1, Sunday, 2:00 p.m. 
Katy Budget Books
Two YA Authors: CC Hunter and Joy Preble
Join three of KBB’s favorite local authors as they sign and discuss their latest releases: CC Hunter with REBORN, and Joy Preble with THE A WORD, plus Sophie Jordan with her NA novel.
