On October 23, Cascadia, Mountain West, Houston and North Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and all four California chapters were joined by a contingent from the new Kidlit chapter for an interview-style presentation with YA author Wendelin Van Draanen. Lynn Varon and Amy Carbo, from the Los Angeles chapter, hosted the in-depth interview, exploring what it’s like to be on the author’s side of the author-editor relationship.

Wendelin Van Draanen is an international award-winning, best-selling author of more
than 30 published novels. She is the author of the 18-book Sammy Keyes mystery
series, which won an Edgar award. Her YA novel Flipped became a Warner Brothers
feature film. Her first nonfiction book, Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing
and Life, has been described as “Bird by Bird for YA readers and writers.”

The conversation was a deep dive on Van Draanen’s best and worst experiences of working with editors; the ways editorial feedback helped shape her books and her writing career; the punitive effect of Word’s comment pane and the redeeming nature of encouraging notes; the importance of having an editor you trust and are in-sync with; and her views on the role of professional editorial services for new writers: “So valuable!”