Literary News in and Around Austin

There's so much happening in and around the Greater Austin area and I'm looking forward to filling you in on all things literary!

Screened-in porch at The Writing Barn

This past Wednesday, I spent the day at Bethany Hegedus' The Writing Barn with writing buddies Donna Bowman Bratton, Samantha Clark, Nikki Loftin and Vanessa Lee who joined us later in the day. Bethany rents out the space at The Writing Barn for all kinds of events, workshops, retreats. It's the ideal place to write, relax, celebrate or study. Check out this Saturday's event Yoga for Fertility with Liz Belile HERE. Bethany, thanks for a fun-filled day of camaraderie and writing!

Gene Brenek and Donna Bowman Bratton at a  Carol Lynch William's workshop

This weekend I'm hopping in the car with author and good friend Donna Bowman Bratton for a writing weekend at her beautiful lake house in the Texas Hill Country. Not only will be working and writing, we'll be celebrating and toasting Donna's recent successes; she was a Letter of Merit honoree for SCBWI 2012 Amazon.com Work-In-Progress Grant and her article "The Do's and Don't's of Conference Etiquette" appeared in this year's SCBWI Summer Conference (LA) materials. Go Donna! So proud of you!

Catch up on what you've missed this week by reading Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog post "Cynsational News & Giveaways" HERE. A great round-up post of what is happening in and around the children's literary world. Plus a heartfelt congrats on Cynthia's release of Diabolical in the U.K. Hip. Hip. Hooray!

So much good news to share coming from my agency Hen & ink Literary. Click HERE to celebrate with me.

EVENTS

Next Saturday, August 11th, I hope you'll join us (Austin SCBWI) to hear Meridith Taylor, one of the founders of Great Hills Publishing, speak about Digital Complexities at BookPeople. It will get you fired up for our second Austin SCBWI Digital Symposium.

It's approaching quickly and filling up. Don't miss out on your opportunity to sharpen your techie skills whether it be blogging or tweeting or building book trailers or a website. This is an event for anyone who needs a little help acquiring technical skills to market themselves or their business. It's not just for writers or illustrators. You can register online HERE or in person at the 10am Saturday, August 11th Austin SCBWI meeting.

I'm looking forward to my presentation "Blogging 101: If You Blog, They Will Come." We'll talk about blog basics, content on your blog, how to blog, why you blog and so much more! And there's way more exciting people to hear than me.

The Girllustrators will be talking about Photoshop basics and Erik Kuntz, owner of Square Bear Studio will lead an advanced Photoshop class. Kirsten Cappy, owner of Curious City (Children's Book Marketing Firm), and writer and editor Samantha Clark will show you how easy it is to build a website with WordPress and well, you'll just have to come and see for yourself the plethora of talent that will be under the Fleck Hall roof at St. Edward's University on Saturday, October 6, 2012.

On Sunday, August 12th join author and Texas Sweethearts & Scoundrels Jo Whittemore at her D is for Drama release party at 4pm at BookPeople. And then on Saturday, August 18th study from her as she leads a workshop on "Finding the Story" with the SCBWI Brazos Valley chapter. Click HERE to register.

On Saturday, August 25 join author Nikki Loftin for her Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy release party at 4pm at BookPeople. There'll be sweets and books and treats. Oh my!

CONTESTS


Fellow agency sister Sarah Towles' Time Traveler Tours app is in the World Youth and Student 2012 App Yap Contest. Click HERE to vote. Good Luck, Sarah! Everyone at Hen & ink Literary is pulling for you!

Good friend Marika Flatt, owner of PR by the Book, has launched a contest to celebrate its 10th Anniversary. One literary lover will win a trip to the home of storytellers O. Henry and Willie Nelson: Austin Texas, VIP passes to the Texas Book Festival in 2012, two night accomodation, round-trip airfare and so much more!


To enter "Escape to Austin," contest hopefuls must simply "like" PR by the Book on Facebook and fill out the entry form. The contest runs August 1 – August 31, 2012, and a winner will be selected by September 7 (open to U.S. residents only.)

Happy writing everyone!