SCBWI Whispering Pines Retreat, 2014
I am blessed to be co-director of the annual SCBWI-New England Whispering Pines Retreat. I mean I could do a whole post on just THAT! Love the retreat. Love the venue. Love the people that attend. Love it all.
This year, our uber-talented and generous editor mentors were Regina Griffin, Executive Editor at Egmont USA, Sarah Dotts Barley, Editor at HarperCollins, and Christine Krones, Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Our fabulous author mentor was Audrey Vernick and our Marketing Extraordinaire expert was Kirsten Cappy of Curious City in Portland Maine.
Truly. These ladies were phenomenal. If only they could have heard the chatter after they’d left about how inspiring, intelligent, generous everyone thought they were. How grateful everyone was. It was a memorable year. One for the books 🙂
Since a picture is worth a 1,000 words, here are some–you guessed–pictures 🙂

L to R: Lynda, Regina Griffin, Executive Editor of Egmont, Christine Krones, Editor at Houghton Mifflin, Kirsten Cappy of Curious City, Sarah Dotts Barley of HarperCollins, Audrey Vernick, Author, and Co-director, Mary Pierce

Instead, we made s’mores in the fireplace. Which was still pretty great 🙂 As evidenced by the experts, Sarah and Jean.

The incomparable Carlyn Beccia brought this hat and got a picture of everyone in attendance wearing it.

My corny thank you. 🙂 When a Transformers kaleidoscope speaks to the transformative nature of SCBWI – adding color to our lives.

Jennifer O’Keefe puts down her paint brushes to do the hat a favor. Thank you, Jen, for the lovely art work you did for people on the fly 🙂 BEST nametags we’ve ever had!

The amazing Audrey Vernick. She spoke to picture books, but there was wisdom to be had for writers in any genre. Just wonderful.

Christine Krones of Houghton Mifflin teaches us about herself, writing, and the business. Lots of fantastic info–and her visuals were awesome!

Love this picture of Sarah Dotts Barley, Editor at HarperCollins. It’s just “so Sarah” – full of joy and affection for literature. And sweetness toward writers 🙂 She spoke to us about revision – the rest of us scribbled wildly.

Regina Griffin, Executive Editor from Egmont was our final mentor to speak–and what a way to wrap up. I wish I’d been able to record it–such phenomenal wisdom-laden points laced with clever humor.
Three cheers for your hard work, before, during, and after! Thanks for sharing these fun pics.
LikeLike
Thanks, Nancy! So happy that you came to Whispering Pines! ❤
LikeLike
An amazing weekend full of connection, friendship and endless inspiration. Thank you Lynda!
LikeLike
Great pictures–I see a few familiar faces. Looks like you all had a wonderful time.
LikeLike
Nice to see some familiar faces, Lynda. The WP I attended a few years ago still remains the best SCBWI event I’ve attended, and this year’s looks even more fabulous. Miss you! 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Big Sur on Cape Cod