Highlights Foundation

I’m so excited for whoever wins the opportunity to go to Highlights Foundation this year. I was the very lucky recipient of this challenge last year and I attended the Non-fiction Writing workshop last summer. It’s no exaggeration when Melanie says that it is…. life changing.

During that workshop, I met writers from New York, Florida and all over the country attending this workshop to improve their craft. I was worried that I chose a workshop that was much too advanced for me. It really was! But I grew leaps and bounds in the week and quickly felt at ease as I realized that everyone starts somewhere.

For this workshop, we had to turn in samples of our work and subsequently, assigned a mentor author. I had time each day for individual mentoring and advice on my project. The mentors were also our presenters and… let me just say….I felt so privileged to be surrounded by and brushing shoulders with these great authors. It was a bounty of diversity and I absorbed as much as my spirit, body and mind could handle.

Among the presenters were Carol Weatherford, Sandra Neil and Rich Wallace and Larry Dane Brimmer. These authors were patient in answering questions and sharing their failures as well as their successes. We shared meals with them in a most intimate setting with some jaw dropping conversations. It’s an experience that I cherish forever and never forget.

I’ve included a picture of one of the writers that I met and was attending the workshop that same week, Rob Sanders. He has since published and won awards for his nonfiction picture books. It was such a treat to meet him and be immersed with writers, nature and writing.

If you win the challenge or just go on your own, I want to hear all about it!

Rob Sanders with his book about Harvey Milk
(twitter @randomhousekids)