Hands-On Social Media Intensive Sat. June 6 at Fort Mason in San Francisco

Wow! We got great responses on our first class so we're teaching it again--this time in San Francisco. Thanks to SCBWI for hosting us again.

SCBWI San Francisco/South presents:

Hands-On Social Media Intensive for Children's Book Writers & Illustrators:
Sat. June 6, 10:00-3:30 at Fort Mason in San Francisco

A Bring-Your-Own-Laptop Adventure into the Land of Social Media for Children's & YA Authors & Illustrators. Join Lynn E. Hazen and Susan Taylor Brown as we explore Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn, You Tube, Red Room and so much more. We'll have internet access, so bring your laptop (optional) and we'll have time for you to click along, ask questions and participate in Web. 2.0. As publishers expect more and more from authors and illustrators (before during and after you've published), come learn how to juggle your promotion efforts, social websites & online personalities and STILL HAVE TIME TO WRITE !

$50, SCBWI members (without in-class internet access)

$55. SCBWI members (with internet access--bring your own laptop & surge supressor/power cord)

$70. non-SCBWI members (without internet access)

$75. non-SCBWI members (with in-class internet access--bring your own laptop & surge supressor/power cord)

Pre-registration required. We expect this workshop to sell out quickly.

Lynn E. Hazen, M.A., M.F.A., writes books filled with humor, heart and hope. Kirkus praised her young adult novel, SHIFTY, as "a realistic story that resonates.” SHIFTY was chosen as VOYA’s Top Shelf Fiction, a CCBC Choice, and a Smithsonian Notable. Lynn’s younger books include: MERMAID MARY MARGARET (a middle grade novel), CINDER RABBIT, THE AMAZING TRAIL OF SEYMOUR SNAIL, and BUZZ BUMBLE. Lynn gives writing workshops and author talks at schools, libraries and conferences, and teaches writing classes at Stanford Continuing Studies. www.LynnHazen.com www.LynnHazenImaginaryBlog.blogspot.com

Susan Taylor Brown is the author of the middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock, which was named an ALA Notable Children's Book, an NCTE Notable Children's Book, VOYA's Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers, and a Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year Selection. Susan's other books include picture books Oliver’s Must-Do List and Can I Pray With My Eyes Open? and the non-fiction book Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom. Susan leads writing and creativity workshops for writers and readers of all ages and conducts online workshops on the use of social media for authors. More info at www.susantaylorbrown.com and susanwrites.livejournal.com

Download pdf registration form here.
Download word doc registration form here.

This June 6th class will be an in-person class in San Francisco.
If you live far away (or can't attend that day) please view Susan's online classes here.

See what previous workshop attendees said about Lynn & Susan's shorter version of an earlier Social Media class.

"I've been a web developer for 14 years and I learned so much!"
Marik Bergits

"Great information on the various tech sites told in a user friendly fashion."
Marya Ashworth

"Susan Taylor Brown and Lynn E. Hazen paint realistic website and blogging panoramas. Practically focused, their energetic presenting made a believer out of me."
Lyndsey Davis

"Blogspicational!"
Chad Cameron

"Lynn and Susan took the mystery out of Twitter for me."
Carma Dutra

"A great introduction to Web 2.0 for Kidlit mavens. Lynn and Susan make the world of social networking seem accessible no matter how busy you are."
Dashka Slater

Forecast: Laptops a-humming with hands-on Web 2.0 Exploration!

Maria van Lieshout's PEEP Launch Party!!

Just posting photos here so you can see what fun Maria van Lieshout's launch party was for her wonderful new book, PEEP! It was held at Cover to Cover Booksellers in San Francisco.

If you need a signed copy of Maria's PEEP, BLOOM, or SPLASH, just give the folks at Cover to Cover a call at 415-282-8080. They also have signed copies of SHIFTY, CINDER RABBIT, THE AMAZING TRAIL OF SEYMOUR TRAIL, MERMAID MARY MARGARET, and BUZZ BUMBLE.















Forecast: Another book launch party May 16th at Cover to Cover for: THE AMAZING TRAIL OF SEYMOUR SNAIL!! Mark you calendars. 10:00 a.m. to noon. I hope you can come.

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.

Lynn Teaches Writing Workshops to 4th-8th Graders at Young Writers Festival

Last week I drove up to Willows, CA where I met 180 students at the Glen County Young Writers Festival. The early morning drive was beautiful with 180 degrees of sky, farmland, blooming lupine and roadside wildflowers, various sheep, horses and cows silhouetted in the early morning light. It was such a beautiful sunrise I had to stop and take some pics.


The festival was organized by the wonderful Anna Lane.


The students had all sent in writing samples in various categories, then chose 3 workshops to attend. My workshops were on writing fiction, especially on how to add humor and emotion to your writing. The students were great, inspiring, enthusiastic, and asked wonderful questions.


After lunch (and some great story-telling by Michael Katz), many awards were given to the student writers!

The drive back was great too, with fields and hills in all shades of green.

Again, the 180 degrees of sky was amazing. I had to stop to take some pics of the clouds.



I saw many many cool trucks zooming by and I couldn't help thinking that my truck-loving character, Charlie in Cinder Rabbit, would have enjoyed that particular truck-filled stretch of I-5.




To read more about the Young Writers Festival, check out The Willows Journal and the Chico Enterprise Record.

Forecast: More writing!

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.

More Bad Poetry Friday Coming Soon! Next Friday in Fact!

Dear Imaginary Readers,
We are in luck.
The Bad Poetry Friday bug has caught on (thanks to a little nudge from Betsy Bird) and we've received some more BPF submissions that will be posted (you guessed it!) next Friday! So come back and check it out.

We'll have some truly great bad poems by ee ehrhardt, oops--I mean Karen Ehrhardt, Julie Larios of The Drift Record, Book Aunt's Kate Coombs, and Welcome to my Tweendom's Stacy Dillon. Stacy is a school librarian and her fun poem had me running to find out what a particular number of the Dewey Decimal system was all about.

So please come back next Friday to see all of these and maybe your bad poem too. That is, if you send me one (any day of the week) at BadPoetryFriday@gmail.com.

In the meantime, Julie Larios sends this comment:

"Hiya, Lynn -
I salute Betsy Bird's poem written with heart at age 17 - nothing beats sincere poetry written by a teenager, unless it's poetry by Leonard Nimoy, which beats ALL other comers...
I love Bad Poetry Fridays. Like sherbet - it clears the palate."

Forecast: Clear your palate next Friday at the Imaginary Blog

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.

Bad Poetry Friday: Untitled & Apparently Unfinished by 17-year-old Betsy Bird

Whoo hoo! Bad Poetry Friday is Back!!

Here in San Francisco it is not quite Friday, but in NY it is...
So here we go! Just in time for National Poetry Month--it's an untitled and apparently unfinished poem by Betsy Bird of SLJ Fuse # 8, written when she was 17 years old.

Back in 1492
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
And 92 was once for us
The year we rode that great old bus
Of dusty metal, brown and old
That smelt of rotting gum with mold

Betsy comments on her contribution to Bad Poetry Friday:
"...here is a bad poem I just found from my big black high school notebook. A lot of the poems were the usual existential ennui, but there's at least one truly terrible one in here that has nothing to do with boys, body image, or self-pity...Can't imagine why I didn't cap off that bit of 17-year-old brilliance with further lines."

It's not too late Betsy. You can still add more. Personally, I do not think you have captured enough forced rhymes yet!

We'll check in with the Poetry Police shortly and see what they have to say about Betsy's 1492 poem. In the meantime, thanks Betsy for joining in the fun.
And Imaginary Readers, feel free to send in your own bad poetry any day of the week to BadPoetryFriday@gmail.com (no attachments, please)

Everyone’s invited--writers, editors, marketing folks, librarians, agents, reviewers, booksellers, and readers—cast your meter to the wind and send us your BAD POETRY please.
I’ll post the best (or the worst) every Friday.

Look here for the official rules on how to play Bad Poetry Friday!

The Rhymes, They Are A Changing
(sung to the tune of Bob Dylan’s Times They Are A Changing)
Come gather ‘round Bad Poets wherever you roam
And admit that the oddities in publishing have grown
No need to like blogging—you’ve found your new home
If your bad poem to you is worth saving…
We’d better start laughing, or we’ll feel all alone
For the rhymes, they are a changing…

Forecast: Still looking for a talented volunteer to create an inspiring logo for Bad Poetry Friday. I'm sure there is a brilliant one out there. Imaginary Logo?

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.

Lynn Interviewed at ForeWord Magazine

Dear Imaginary Readers,

ForeWord Magazine has an interview of me by Whitney Hallberg in their March/April 2009 edition.

I think the formatting is best here.

In part I talk about the dual imagination process between author and reader. Take a look:

The question no one asks, the one you’re itching to answer is…

"What intrigues me most about writing fiction?"

The creative imagination process—the magic that allows us to create characters and events that didn’t previously exist and capture them on the page for others to experience.

As a writer how do I make my imaginary characters, places and stories real and believable? What exactly happens when we travel the elusive ink-on-paper-bridge between the blank page beginnings of the author’s creativity and the readers’ imagination process on the other side? When readers decode bits of ink on paper, what makes characters, emotions, stories and books come alive? What makes a lasting connection between author and reader even as we are separated in time and space? Though we may never meet in real life, how does this dual creative imagination process between author and reader change us?

Read the rest of the interview here.

And click to see more of ForeWord Magazine.

Forecast: More questions and fewer answers?

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.

Bad Poetry Friday Returns (with the Best of Bad--Betsy Bird) just in time for National Poetry Month!

We're baaaaaaaaaack and we're baaaaaaaaaad !

That's Betsy Bird of Fuse # 8 with her rhyming hat on!

And bad bad Betsy Bird will be joining us--daring YOU to write a worse poem than her poem. Betsy has even promised to dive into her high school journals for bad inspiration!

Oh sure, there are much loftier blogs celebrating National Poetry Month with stanzas of worthwhile poems. This isn't one of them.

Bad poets need a place to gather and have fun, too, right? So please join us for Bad Poetry Friday!

The Rhymes, They Are A Changing
(sung to the tune of Bob Dylan’s Times They Are A Changing)
Come gather ‘round Bad Poets wherever you roam
And admit that the oddities in publishing have grown
No need to like blogging—you’ve found your new home
If your bad poem to you is worth saving…
We’d better start laughing, or we’ll feel all alone
For the rhymes, they are a changing…

Yes indeedy folks.
It's time once again for
Bad Poetry Friday right here on the Imaginary Blog.
Here’s how to play…

Just make up really bad rhymes poking good-natured fun at the craziness of the children’s book world. Then send in your bad rhyme (any day of the week) to BadPoetryFriday@gmail.com (no attachments, please)

Everyone’s invited--writers, editors, marketing folks, librarians, agents, reviewers, booksellers, and readers—cast your meter to the wind and send us your BAD POETRY please.

I’ll post the best (or the worst) every Friday.
Let me know if you want to be credited or anon.

8 short lines max
6 or 4 lines even better.
2 lines might be best of all.
We’re going for short here, folks--
Because if it’s gonna be bad, it better be brief!

Come creative people, please heed the call
Send us BAD POETRY, or no poetry at all…

Forecast: Bad Poems with a Chance of Laughter.

Oh, and we're cooking up some really bad poetry prizes, too. Wouldn't you love to win The Mal-de-cott?

Send your bad poems soon to see if you can beat Betsy Bird at bad.
And come back Friday to see who wins.

For a few of our previous bad poets, take a look here at Jim Averbeck, here at Marsha Morrow, here at M.T. Anderson, and here at 7 Imps' Jules and Eisha! We're sure you could do worse. That's the spirit!

Of course if you want to read some good poetry this month, go here, here, or here!

And if you are artistically inclined, I'd love to have a nifty Bad Poetry Friday logo. Any volunteers?

© 2009 by Lynn E. Hazen of Lynn E. Hazen's Imaginary Blog. All rights reserved.