If you’ve never attended the Montrose writers’ conference, you’re missing out on something delightful. Montrose is a small conference in northeast PA. This year, the 35th annual Montrose Christian Writers Conference was held from July 15th to July 19th.
It has a family feel and excellent workshops and faculty. The grounds are beautiful, and the food is DELICIOUS.
I had the pleasure and honor to be on faculty this year. This was the 3rd time I’ve been on faculty, and I’ve also attended once as a conferee.
The Picture Book Mentoring Clinic
My bestie, illustrator Kim Sponaugle, and I led the Picture Book Mentoring Clinic. These were mentoring classes, so each participant sent us their manuscript a month before the conference for Kim and me to develop the classes based on the needs of the manuscripts. Participants had to sign up at least a month beforehand.
The participants met one-on-one with each of us two times during the week for paid critiques. In the first 15-minute meeting, we gave critiques and homework. In the second meeting, we went over the homework, answered any questions, and talked about the next step for their story.
We did some teaching based on each manuscript: me for the story elements and Kim for illustration potential and style.
Kim & I developed Picture Book Mentoring several years ago and have taught it twice at the Greater Philly conference and twice at Montrose. We now offer it outside of conferences. If anyone is interested, you can check out the details here.
The Teen Track
I also led the Teen Track on writing YA fantasy. I had 7 teens in the class, and let me tell you how much fun that was! I love working with kids on writing ~ they’re so creative! This class was no different. I did some basic teaching, gave them writing exercises, writing time, and Q&A. We also looked at lots of pictures I’ve taken while walking to show them how things in nature can be potential fantasy story elements.
They shared their writing, and each teen was super supportive to the others.
We talked about their stories and what they want to do with them.
They asked me to be in their skit for Skit Night. “Can you be a really mean critiquer?†they asked.
“Burn this and never write again!†I bellowed, then said, “Like that?â€
“YES!!!†they exclaimed.
It. Was. So. Much. Fun.
Gosh, I miss those kids. I hope I get to do it again someday!
Interested?
Montrose offers Major Morning Classes (continuing classes) in the mornings and regular workshops in the afternoons. The evening activities included skit night, faculty panel, and writers’ theater.
The workshops were varied: fiction, nonfiction, marketing, songwriting, Canva, and more.
Click here to see everything from this year.
Pam Halter is a former home-schooling mom, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy, and the Willoughby and Friends picture book series (available on her website.) Pam has also published short stories in Ye Olde Dragon Books , the Whitstead Anthologies and Renewed Christmas Blessings. Her first short story won Readers Choice in Realmscapes.
Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys spending time with her grands, reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.