Nonfiction Dinner Recap

It was great to catch up with other children's nonfiction writers at dinner on Friday and discuss the state of the nation, so to speak.

What did I learn?

- That nonfiction writers are very smart! Wow! What an amazingly literate and articulate group of people to sit around the table with.

- That the internet has dramatically changed the publishing market. What we write these days has to appeal to the trade market, and be clever or have a twist. The "straight-ahead" style isn't selling because everyone thinks (possibly mistakenly) that they can get all of their information simply by checking the internet.

- That the market is increasingly tough, but there will always be a need for books, especially well-written and well-researched ones.

- All of us are regularly asked, "When are you going to write fiction?" Ouch! We adore nonfiction; that's why we write it. 

- We may be closer to journalists than to fiction writers.

- Many of us have degrees in subjects other than English. There were people with science degrees, history degrees, education degrees, business degrees and even a psychology degree (me!).

- Many of us came to writing as a second career.

- All of us have a sense of humour!

- We work very hard.

- We are dedicated to getting great information into the hands of kids.

- We love what we do! 

To be continued... (following our next meeting).

Cheers!