Greetings,

It’s been a while since I blogged. That is not cool! I shall try to do better in the future. As the Regional Director, I’ve been very busy planning the year 2020 for our SCBWI Southwest Texas chapter. We have lined up author presentations, workshops, sketch days, and webinars. Even if you are a published author or illustrator, there’s always room for learning. Attend as many of these as you can; it helps. Plus, you make a group of new friends!

I’ve also been submitting picture book manuscripts and a novel in verse. Let’s see what happens. I was just reading the 2020 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market book. I browsed through the entire book, jotting down names of publishers that might be interested in what I write. There’s an interesting section on Rejections. We all get them whether we’ve been published or not. The message by Jeff Somers: Rejections are a reality of the writing trade, but even a pass can provide valuable insight to carry forward your career.

Which by the way, reminds me of a “good rejection” I received the other day. The editor “loved” my story, but already had other books lined up. However, she referred me to another publisher who might be interested and commented that I could use her name as reference. Nice, right?

Keep writing and illustrating and your dream will happen. Stay focused. Best of luck!

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela