Lee Wardlaw’s
Writing Workshops for Adults

Lee Wardlaw has taught workshops for writers and educators since 1986, including those sponsored by the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Oklahoma Writers’ Federation Inc., the Cat Writers’ Association, Cuesta College Writers’ Conference, California Reading Association, California School Library Association, and more. She is on staff at the internationally acclaimed Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference.  The author of 25 books for young readers, she has published in every genre of the juvenile market.  Previously, Lee wrote the “Ask the Children’s Book Author” advice column for Inklings, the award-winning online magazine, and served for many years on the advisory board of the SCBWI/Ventura-Santa Barbara Chapter.

"101 Ways to Write an Unsalable Children’s Book”
See Spot. See Spot write. Write, Spot, write! If this is your opinion of children’s books today, Lee’s workshop will huff and puff and bloooow that old house of stereotypes down!  Learn 101 (well, okay, 11) of the most common reasons an editor rejects a newbie’s manuscript, as well as the 13 elements needed to transform that didactic, lack-luster story into a dynamic, three-dimensional, salable book for young readers.  And then?  See Spot cash his royalty check!

“Happily Ever After:
Writing Picture Books for Children”
Once upon a time you dreamed of writing a picture book.  Or maybe you wrote one and submitted it for publication - - only to receive a mailbox stuffed with rejection letters.  If you’d like to turn that Once Upon a Time into a Happily Ever After, this workshop is for you.  Discover the essential elements of a picture book, including appropriate themes, structure and the ‘oneness’ of illustrations and text.  Learn how to write visually, create one-of-a-kind characters and develop proper pacing and page-turns.  You’ll also learn how to distill ideas into simple yet spellbinding stories that children will ask for again and again.  The workshop will close with an overview of the picture book market, plus tips on submissions, avoiding rejections, and the author-illustrator-editor relationship.

“Recipe for a Children's Book”
What are kids reading?  What are editors buying?  How can you create tasty manuscripts that will satisfy both?  In this one-day workshop, you'll discover the basic ingredients for successful picture books, easy-to-reads, middle grade and young adult novels.   You'll also learn how to cook-up memorable characters, fast-paced plots, and add spice to your manuscripts with authentic emotion and dialogue.  Marketing tips and up-to-date information about publishers, editors and agents will complete the baking process.  Participants should be prepared to do in-class writing, and are encouraged to bring a manuscript for evaluation.

“The Dog Ate My Homework!”:
Turning Classroom Experiences into Children’s Books
“You need not be a teacher to write effectively for children,” said Olga Litowinsky, an editor in the juvenile book market for more than thirty years.  But, she continued, teachers often make the best authors because they understand, respect, and care about children.  Working with students on a daily basis helps educators remember what it was like to be a child, and know intimately what and how kids think, feel, act and dream:  essential prerequisites to writing good juvenile literature.  And, of course, the sometimes hilarious, sometimes bittersweet, experiences of classroom life are the perfect stuff of fiction!

In this workshop, children’s book author Lee Wardlaw will share how she turned five years as an elementary school teacher into more than twenty award-winning books for young readers.  The program will also focus on:

idea-generating exercises
tips to transform real-life situations into believable fiction
ten essential elements of good children’s book
secrets to creating three-dimensional characters
developing easy plot maps and non-fiction outlines

The workshop will conclude with a brief overview of the juvenile genres, submission do’s & don’ts, and tips to avoid rejection.  Each participant will come away with an idea file, the beginnings of a character chart, and a simple outline.  Handouts will be available on topics such as the author-editor relationship, contract negotiations, manuscript formats, and marketing suggestions.

Additional workshops:

	“A Watched Mailbox Never Boils:  A Writer’s Life from Rejection Letters to Fan Letters”
	“The Big Bad Editor vs. Little Red Writing Hood:  How to Market Your Children’s Book Without Being Eaten Alive”
	“101 Ways to Bug Your Students - Creatively!” Using Lee Wardlaw’s 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher and 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents in your classroom or library
	“That Was So Funny I Forgot to Laugh! - Writing Humorous Books for Children”