NANCY SONDEL, Founding Director

The Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop (PCCWW)
and TeenSpeak Novel Workshop

THE WORKSHOP: WHAT AND WHY?

After attending various children’s writers events, Nancy Sondel envisioned the hands-on, seminar format for PCCWW, launching it in 2003. Her intention was—and is—to encourage writers to learn from each other’s work, observing “one-on-one” faculty critiques that traditionally take place behind closed doors. To make the most of this opportunity, enrollees review selected peer manuscripts in advance—rather than cold critiquing pages at the workshop.

Since its inception, the one-day PCCWW with 15 central coast California writers has evolved to a full weekend, with faculty and 30 enrollees (the max) hailing from across the USA and Canada. In 2009, PCCWW “gave birth” to the TeenSpeak Novel Workshop, which dovetails with PCCWW to provide mutual, intergenerational benefits.

DIRECTOR’S BRIEF BIO

Nancy’s graduate work included studies in English Literature at the University of Iowa. In 2002, she taught in a national writing seminar at an Iowa community college, then one of the top five in the United States. Her courses included “Chapter One: From Power Plot to Polished Prose” and a dramatized, character-archetypes session team-taught with Laura Backes, publisher of Children’s Book Insider (PCCWW 2010 Faculty Author-Consultant).

Nancy has published 50 adult nonfiction articles in local and international periodicals. One of Nancy’s animal-world essays appears in an adult book published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster. Since 1995, she has been a contributing editor at Children’s Book Insider (CBI) www.CBIClubhouse.com.

A teacher for 35 years, Nancy has published an international home-and-school periodical that explored birds in literature, science, and history. She now leads kids’ story- and skit-writing workshops. Like many PCCWW attendees, Nancy is writing a YA novel; one excerpt received an Honorable Mention in the national Writer’s Digest contest. Nancy enjoys gathering materials (and talented faculty!) to enrich the PCCWW experience for all levels of writers. She delights in meeting new and returning enrollees every year. To read a full-length media interview with Nancy, click here.

Nancy’s words to live by: “We are all learners; all teachers.” Nowhere is this more apparent than at the Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop.

WE WELCOME YOU!