She struggles on, despite the snow, the wind, the hilly terrain, determined to deliver the boxed dress her ailing mother sewed for the Duchess. What is one of your favorite children’s books that you'd like to recommend?Ī heartfelt reading of William Steig’s Brave Irene concludes most of my writing workshops and I personally reread my well-worn copy every four months. Local low cost or no-cost Chapter programming can also teach new authors what they need to know – about speaking in public, presenting to schools, creating effective PR, balancing life, a career and writing.Ī member’s local Chapter’s Listserv, Facebook page, newsletter and public events – each gets an author or illustrator out there, establishing an identity – easily, safely, in the comfort of colleagues. The recently-introduced Speakers Directory will soon allow website visitors from around the world to not only read about an author, his books and programs, then link to his website, but view a video of an actual presentation.Ī member’s local Chapter offers published authors valuable connections to city and state schools, libraries, bookstores and community events as well as city and state related professional organizations. What is the most valuable advice you can give to a newly published writer?Īll writers, but especially newly-published writers, need to connect with SCBWI. I count my blessings daily for the gifts my writing brings. It took my oh, so long writer’s journey to learn a similar truth.

Maybe, he thinks, he’s somebody worth finding. Though empty-handed and fog-less at story’s end, the little boy is satisfied. No surprise that my very first picture book, titled “Catch a Patch of Fog,” told the tale of a little boy (curiously named Jonathan!) who needs to catch a patch of fog, to cover that piece of him that’s always hanging out, that piece that helps friends find him whenever playing Hide-and-Seek. Rogers explain all about fog – how it suddenly arrives, like a gift from above, magically making the whole world disappear, then just as suddenly, disappears itself, magically showcasing the world in all its glory. At 2 ½, Jon sat cuddled on my lap as we watched Mr. Fast-forward lots of years, past college and teaching and journalism degrees, past years as a classroom fifth grade teacher, past years on staff of a suburban Chicago newspaper chain, to the arrival of my one-and-only son.

S Is for Story by Esther Hershenhorn