Roma Natalia Goldberg takes a deep dive into finding and using mentor texts to improve your writing process
Mentor texts can play an essential role in helping us go from blank page to submission ready picture book manuscript. During this session we will do a deep dive into how to find and use mentor texts to improve your picture book manuscripts and hone your writing process. Romy will provide a behind the curtains look at how mentor texts were used in the development of her upcoming picture book THE GOODNIGHT SHIFT. We will also share and compare reading resources for staying up-to-date on mentor texts without breaking your book bank.
Romy is a Paraguayan-American author with a love for stories about culture and communication. She spent her childhood moving from country to country with the Foreign Service. She holds a B.A. in Media Studies and worked in PR/advertising before turning to writing. Her guidebook, OTHER PLACES TRAVEL GUIDE TO PARAGUAY (2012 & 2017) lead to work with “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” The Guardian and KCRW’S “Good Food.” She is the RA for SCBWI Brazos Valley, and the co-founder of the Kidlit Latinx support group and was SCBWI’s 2022 member of the year.
Her PB debut, THE GOOD NIGHT SHIFT, illustrated by Isabel Roxas, was acquired by Clarissa Wong & will be published by Scholastic in 2025.
Our meetings are free and open to the public. We encourage you to invite members of the Brazos Valley writing community to join us!
Our regional meetings feature guest speakers sharing writing and illustration tips as well as industry news and social time for members to meet and network. Meetings are preceded by a gentle critique (see below). Meetings are streamed via Zoom and available for replay. Login details and replay links are available on each meeting's event page.
Meeting times:
Last Wednesday of each month (minus July, Nov & Dec)
11am - 11:30am Gentle manuscript critique
11:30am - 12:30pm Guest speaker/featured activity
12:30pm - on social time followed by lunch at a local restaurant (meal not covered by SCBWI)
Location:
Zoom and in person at Brazos Valley Arts Council, 4180 Hwy 6 South, College Station, TX 77845
Gentle Critique info:
If you’d like to share your work in progress with others and receive or provide feedback, please bring printed copies of up to 5 pages of a manuscript to share. Zoom participants will be allowed to screen share in order to receive feedback. Please see this handy guide on critique etiquette if this will be your first time participating in a critique: https://www.scbwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/2014_LA_Dos-and-Donts.pdf
Passionate about a specific kid-lit related topic? Want to practice your upcoming school visit presentation? We’re always looking for guest speakers for our monthly meetings. Our meetings are cozy and supportive - a great place to get your feet wet as a presenter and get to know your local children's literature creators. Feel free to pitch us! Guests can present in person or via Zoom and receive $50 compensation as well as lunch after our meeting. Presentations take place on the last Wednesday of the month from 11am-12pm and can be in the format of workshops, interviews, slideshows… you name it! Pitch us your ideas at brazosvalley-ra@scbwi.org