Fall is a fantastic season for writing. Coming off the tails of the KidLit Fall Writing Frenzy and taking us to the tip of NaNoWriMo in November is the Picture Book Critique Fest #PBCritiqueFest. With 37 industry participants (literary agents, authors, and illustrators) and 35 valuable giveaway prizes (manuscript and dummy critiques), this is one writing contest you can’t afford to miss. Did I mention it’s completely free?!

Becoming a successful author or illustrator requires a life of improving our craft. Everyone is born unique but no one is born perfect. It takes continual refinement to become the class of book creator we most desire to be.

Refinement involves a few key areas that apply to every creative:

• Knowledge
• Practice
• Feedback

Knowledge

We must always grow in our understanding of the world in which we aim to interact and affect change. On our quest to appeal to readers and make a difference, we do well in spending time learning from those who have gone before us. Punctuation matters. Grammar rules. And tried and true methods of story and character structure hold true. By increasing our knowledge of great writing we improve our ability to communicate.

Practice

Knowing a thing is one thing. Doing a thing is something else entirely. You’ve heard the phrase, practice makes perfect. And the skeptics correction of the phrase, practice makes permanent. Practice is where what we know meets what we can do.

Terrible writing can become great writing through revision. No writing can become nothing at all. The same applies to art. It is by physically trying to do a thing that we discover our limitations, tendencies, and gifts. It is through practice we find where we are now in order to determine how we can get to where we want to be.

Feedback

While we begin with learning how books are made and then practice our hand at it, we can finally arrive at getting feedback on our work. Though much magic happens in practice, monumental steps can be taken with feedback. Especially feedback from those with experience in the subject.

This is where #PBCritiqueFest comes in. As an author or illustrator, you don’t know what you don’t know. The 2019 participating literary agents, authors, and illustrators bring a wealth of wisdom and experience in creating beautiful books that engage readers and sell copies. And getting their feedback on your manuscript has never been easier.

To join #PBCritiqueFest, follow these 3 steps.

1. Subscribe to PBSpotlight.com‘s email newsletter, created by the talented and prolific lover of KidLit, Brian Gehrlein. You’ll get loads of useful information on all things children’s books.
2. Register for the contest using the Google form link where you’ll provide some information about yourself and get to pick your top choice prizes from the literary agents, authors, and illustrators.
3. Log additional entries to improve the likelihood of being selected. These additional entries can be social media posts, social media interaction, or a blog post (like this one!). Each activity is described in detail on the #PBCritiqueFest website.

Will you join me in participating this year? The critique fest runs from October 3, 2019 until October 25, 2019. Leave a comment below to let us know to root for you and learn more about your work as a book creator.

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