Please visit the SCBWI website and discover the many advantages to joining this organization. If you are serious about writing for children (or illustrating) this is money well-invested in your writing career.
Sue also is a writing instructor for The Scribe and Quill an Online Writing Workshop Center. Please visit the website to discover how you can be a better writer by taking these writing classes all presented by published authors. They are very reasonably priced and great for beginners.
1.SR: How and when did you develop your interest in writing?
SBE: Long before I started writing, I was a voracious reader. As a kid, reading allowed me to explore other cultures, times, and so much more. As a college student I translated this into a love of research. I didn't want to be a tuition paying student forever, but I wasn't about to quit researching and writing about what I found.
2.SR: Was there an adult from your childhood who encouraged your interests?
SBE: Several. My father is a teacher by instinct and profession. He encouraged my interest in National Geographic when I was a pre-reader and took me to a huge variety of museums. He even taught me to do native american bead work. Add to this his interest in photography, my mother's work as a seamstress, my great-aunt's water color paintings and another aunt's ceramics and I grew up around a host of creative people. My passions were encouraged by so many.
3.SR: You are a regional advisor for SCBWI. Can you explain what you do? Also please discuss the advantages of belonging to SCBWI. How is joining SCBWI a benefit to an unpublished writer?
SBE: The Society is such a marvelous organization! We RAs (regional advisors) are all volunteers so the job attracts only those who are deeply passionate about creating great children's literature. As an RA, I encourage the members in my region, Missouri, to approach publishers as educated
