Summer approaches, stretching out before us, promising time to time to revise, rethink, and polish our current stories and crafting new ones. Without the immediate pressure of getting manuscripts ready to submit to editors and agents, or to present at conferences and workshops, it's a time for us to practice our craft and strengthen our skills. We've set up our "summer school" to help you do just that -- and of course to get ready for those fall conferences and submissions!KBR Summer School: Three Self-Guided Classes
June through August 2019
At Kid's Book Revisions we offer three different classes as online webinars, on revising and re-imagining picture books, on revising and re-imagining novels, and on line-editing. The summer school provides all three of them in self-guided form, meaning we provide all of the materials and homework from the live classes, including video recordings, carefully organized on Dropbox, and give you a guide to working through each of them.
We suggest taking either the picture book or novel course, and diverting into line-editing at the appropriate point, and we've set up the guides to reflect that--but you are free to do as you like. You could take just one class, take all three, or mix and match as you choose. It's up to you and your schedule, and since we've made the price equivalent to taking one live class, you can afford to do that. And Eileen or Harold will be assigned to every student as a teacher for questions and homework comments, so you won't be on your own.
Scholarships: We are also offering scholarships. There are two different ones offered. One id available based on need; for this one, we need you to tell us both why you can't afford the course and how it will benefit you at this point in your writing career. The other is offered to someone from a traditionally under-represented group or someone entering the field late in life. For this one, we need you to explain how you qualify and again how you would benefit from the course--we are calling this an "Opening the Door" scholarship.The Basics
Time frame: All course materials will be available for you to work with at your convenience from June 21 through August 23. Short live webinar sessions--also available as recordings if you miss them--will introduce and wrap up the class and give you a mid-course check-in (scheduled for June 24, July 23, and August 20). Students will regularly receive email updates and news from us, and can ask questions at any time, either in our live sessions or by email. As we do in our live classes, we will offer manuscript consultations as an add-on.Scroll past the registration and scholarship information for details of how the classes will work, or first read comments from students. You might also want to get a chance to take the class for free or win other prizes in our promotion giveaway.
Price: The summer school fee is $245. Alumni of our webinars, one-day workshops, or retreats may pay a discounted fee of $145. The manuscript consultation option is $125.
Workshop registration: Registration continues, but by hand. You can no longer register via our link. Please contact us and ask to be signed up.
We don't use an application form. Someone interested in either scholarship should write to us at webinar@kidsbookrevisions.com with "Scholarship" in the subject line, and explain their need for a scholarship. We are not setting a number of scholarships we will grant, though we may offer both partial and full, and anticipate granting at least one full scholarship of each type. Applications are due by June 18. We will contact recipients before the class begins.
Materials include:
- A guide to the class, including how to access the materials and suggestions for working with them.
- Complete video recordings from the all of the sessions each class.
- The text of the chat room discussion from that class.
- A text transcription of the audio from that class (not available for the line-editing class.)
- Handouts for every session, with resources, templates, etc.
- Optional "homework" for each session, for which your assigned teacher, Eileen or Harold, will provide feedback.
Preliminary Schedule:
Like the live classes we offer, this summer session will be a protected space in which you can feel free to make mistakes, ask questions you worry are stupid, and try out new directions; there will be no agents sitting in, no pitch sessions, no "opportunities to submit a manuscript" to win, because we want you to be able to focus on your writing and revising and on what you are learning in the class without feeling self-conscious and anxious to get a manuscript "ready" for someone. This will be two solid months of digging deep into your writing, and we want you to enjoy it and be challenged by it in a good way. Questions and homework feedback: You will be assigned a teacher who will answer questions you have and give you feedback on homework. Note that if you have questions about the classes included in the Summer School, there is more information about them on their individual pages, and each has a FAQ page or section. If those don't answer your questions, contact us.
Manuscript consultation: Students who want focused guidance with a particular manuscript can get a consultation with one of us. For $125, students can submit up to 20 pages of a manuscript, plus a synopsis and cover letter. One of us will discuss your manuscript in a 15-minute phone meeting, offering key feedback and helping you plan next steps in revising it. We will provide more information about this and details of how to sign up for one in our first live session.
Workshop registration: Registration continues, but by hand. You can no longer register via our link. Please contact us and ask to be signed up.
Harold Underdown and Eileen Robinson have worked together since 2008 to bring something different to aspiring authors. They have created online classes and tutorials and in-person workshops, presenting and working with writers at SCBWI conferences, recent workshops in western Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh, and an annual 4-day retreat at the Highlights Foundation. More information on our backgrounds.