The biggest value in WriteOnCon in my opinion are the Forums. They go up today! Yeah!
The Forum Guide can be found here. I won't even try to walk you through the process, just know, you can post, get feedback from agents and editors and fellow writers, and more! Even if all you do is lurk and learn, it's a great, totally FREE, opportunity.
Also, the full schedule is now posted for this excellent, inexpensive children's lit conference, and I highly suggest you mine it for gems!
The keynotes are free and live. There are six, and there's a handy-dandy filter on the right of the page where you can filter by keywords. Unfortunately, when you filter for Middle Grade, nothing comes up, but there are a few:
"Defining Young Adult vs. Middle Grade," which is something I struggle with (when the MC is 13 and there's a crush but no romance vs. when the MC is 18 and on the way to college ...).
"Roundtable: Character Agency in MG"
"Workshop: The Possibility of Poetry: Considering Verse in MG and YA Fiction"
"LIVE Blog: Telling the Truth in Middle Grade Fiction"
I'm super excited, and I'll be doing as many sessions as I can (I registered), but I'm particularly interested in hearing what the agents and editors at publishing houses say they're looking for this year.
