Creative Mindset Virtual Series 2025
Mar 15, 2025 - Jun 14, 2025
Online event
A motivational series presented by the SCBWI-MT Region. Do you occasionally feel like an imposter? Or has that inner critic convinced you that you have no talent? Is perfectionism leading to procrastination? Or do you feel creatively overwhelmed, or lost? Fear not! SCBWI Montana is here to help. Join us for this monthly four-part series during which we will explore ways to find your artistic voice, battle perfectionism and procrastination, define your creative vision or just overcome the blahs and set you up for book-creating success. Panelists from Session 4 will also be open to submissions from session attendees. PLEASE MAKE SELECTION(S) FROM THE AVAILABLE OPTIONS TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION! If you are not (yet) a premium member, that's OK. But you'll need to create a free SCBWI preview account in order to register.
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Creative Mindset: A motivational series presented by the SCBWI-MT Region. Bundle and Save. Attend all four sessions in the Creative Mindset Series by purchasing the Session Bundle at a discounted price.
Individual Sessions Are Available for Purchase!
Save on individual session costs as an SCBWI Member. Can’t attend all four sessions? We’ve got your back. Purchase individual sessions for the dates that work best with your schedule.
Session 1: Awakening Your Creative Mindset
Saturday, March 15th | 2:00pm - 3:30pm MST
You’re sitting in front of your computer or an open notebook with pencil in hand. Now what? How do you get yourself into a creative mindset so you can actually create?? Whether you’re a writer or an artist, or both, it’s the same problem, and the same techniques to break through that block can work for both. In this webinar, long-time author of nonfiction science and nature books for young readers Dorothy Hinshaw Patent provides useful techniques to get past creative blocks. She’ll show you how to negotiate with your internal critic and how to set aside your anxieties about your abilities so you can create freely.
Meet the Instructor: Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent has written 140 books at age levels from new reader to adult and received many awards including the Eva Gordon Award from the American Nature Study Society; and the Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. Her books appear on many “best books” lists including the Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the year; and the NAST-CBC Outstanding Science Trades Books for Students K-12. Dorothy has taught writing classes in the University of Montana MOLLI program, the Yellowstone NP summer education program, and at a variety of retreats.
Session 2: How to Deal with Perfectionism
Saturday, April 19th | 2:00pm - 3:30pm MST
When your creative energy is bursting to make something amazing but you can't seem to get started, it can be so demoralizing. Perfectionism, one of the main causes of procrastination, can hinder your dreams of becoming a creative professional. In this webinar, perfectionist Jeanne Bowman will share the resources and knowledge she has learned through therapy, self-help resources, and personal experience to deal with perfectionism when it arises and how to get the work done anyway (even if it isn't always pretty). This webinar will not teach you how to cure perfectionism (Jeanne isn't convinced that is even possible), but it will give you the tools to recognize when it is happening, what causes it, how to ride the wave through it, and how to make progress toward your goals.
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Meet the Instructor: Jeanne Bowman
Jeanne Bowman is an award-winning illustrator and person who deals with perfectionism on a daily basis. She has illustrated The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde; Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bull Head Lodge by Emily Crawford Wilson which won the Western Writers Spur Award in 2022; Bob Marshall:Defender of the Wilderness by Linda Elovitz Marshall, winner of a Moonbeam award in 2024; and Georgia Jipp: Blizzard Pilot by Laura Beth Dean, 2024 Moonbeam award winner. Jeanne lives in Savage, Montana where she serves as the Illustrator Coordinator for SCBWI Montana.
Session 3: Why are you here? A Workshop to Define Your Creative Mission
Saturday, May 17th | 2:00pm - 3:30pm MST
Are you lost and without focus? Does your creative life feel stifled or unfulfilling? In this third session of our Creative Mindset series, award-winning journalist Jodi Hausen will lead you through a series of writing/drawing exercises to guide you toward your creative mission. Whether your intent is to educate, to change a paradigm, or to share beauty through your work, you will leave the session feeling clearer about what drives you to create and what it is you want to say with your craft.
Meet the Instructor: Jodi Hausen
Jodi Hausen has been writing and photographing for newspapers and magazines for more years than she cares to admit. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, where she volunteers with several disability nonprofits and serves as the SCBWI Montana regional advisor.
Session 4: Wisdom From the Pros | A Panel Discussion with Published Industry Professionals
Saturday, June 14th | 2:00pm - 3:30pm MST
For the finale of the Creative Mindset series, we will speak with four industry professionals who are also published about their creative processes. These published authors will talk about their rituals, inspirations, challenges, and more. The panel will include:
- Author illustrator Shadra Strickland, agent at Painted Words
- Young adult and picture book author Marie Lamba, agent at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency
- Author of novels, nonfiction, picture, and board books Ammi-Joan (Joan) Paquette, agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency,
Panelists will also be open to submissions from session attendees.
Meet Our Panelists
Author Illustrator + Agent | Shadra Strickland
Shadra Strickland studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University, and completed her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her work in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. She currently teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
Author + Agent | Marie Lamba
Marie Lamba is author of the young adult novels What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head and Drawn, and of the picture books Green Green: A Community Gardening Story (Farrar Straus Giroux), and A Day So Gray (Clarion). Marie has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, a book publicist, has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion, and is a Senior Literary Agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
Illustrator + Senior Designer | Mariam Quraishi
Mariam (Mur-yum) is an illustrator, designer and art director from Karachi, Pakistan. She received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently a Senior Designer at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She was previously at Penguin Random House (Viking Children’s Books) and Chronicle Books. Mariam has designed and art directed multiple titles that have been recognised by the New York Times, Society of Illustrators, and the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, as well as appeared on Kirkus end of year lists and Amazon best selling lists. Including My Name is Malala by Malala Yousafzai.
Author + Agent | Ammi-Joan (Joan) Paquette
Ammi-Joan Paquette is the author of eighteen books for young readers, including the PW starred picture book All from a Walnut, and the middle-grade novel The Train of Lost Things, which was a 2019 Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch Award nominee, a 2020 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award nominee, and is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. Joan is a Senior Literary Agent with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, where she represents a list of New York Times Bestselling and award-winning authors and illustrators.