Sunday, February 13, 2011

Bruce Hale: A Man of Many Hats


Bruce Hale, author of SNORING BEAUTY and the Chet Gecko mystery series, delivered the kickoff speech at our Miami SCBWI Conference. To say he was phenomenal is an understatement.

I read on Bruce Hale's blog that prior to writing children's books, he worked as an actor and a deejay. He still loves to perform and has appeared on stage and television. None of that experience has gone to waste. Bruce Hale is first and foremost an entertainer.

Bruce's talk centered on the following six principles:

  1. Start a good habit - cut time blogging, facebooking, tweeting etc.
  2. Write like your hair is on fire - driven by passion.
  3. Think it through, and take the big view - ask questions like a three-year-old. Keep asking why.
  4. Teamwork makes the dream work - critique groups, conferences.
  5. Face the iron tiger - FEAR. Fear never stops.
  6. Beat resistance with persistence - what would happen if I pushed a little harder?
For Bruce's grand finale, he sang "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree. He was so infectious, that all of us rose to our feet and sang along with him.

If you'd like to be inspired by Bruce Hale, he has a free electronic newsletter full of tips for writers. You can sign up here: Bruce Hale's Writing Tips.

I recently submitted a question to Bruce and he published it in his newsletter. The question was "What happens after a writer receives a contract?" For participating, I received an ARC, (advanced reading copy), of one of the Chet Gecko mysteries.

So what happens after a writer receives a contract? You'll have to subscribe to Bruce's newsletter to find out!

2 comments:

  1. Write like your hair is on fire!?

    Wow - I love that one.

    Good for your for sending your question to Bruce. I will definitely check out the newsletter.

    ReplyDelete