Report from the Stuttgart Group

by Catherine Friess

Writers and illustrators living in the Stuttgart area have started meeting on a regular basis. It's not easy to find a meeting point that suits everybody but we have finally found one, the new library in Stuttgart.

SCBWI members from left: Linda, Suzanne, Dan, Jenny, and Catherine

The library is very easy to get to from the main station, it's a short walk or one stop on the U Bahn. We also saw free bicycle carriages that take you from the station to the shopping centre next door to the library. If coming by car there is plenty of parking.

On Saturday we headed to the children's section where we worked on our own individual projects as well as critiquing and reading each others' work, browsing the stacks and discussing all things writing. Discussions included #PitMad and #MSWL on Twitter, where we can find information about writing contests and submitting to children's magazines such as Highlights. Time to concentrate on our own work and sharing information was useful as was the feedback that we received on our work. It really was up to each person to choose what they wanted to get out of the session. The library did get busier and noisier as the morning wore on but there are quiet rooms where you can also work away from any disturbance.

After a couple of hours work we had lunch at a fantastic Asian restaurant, GinYuu, which is in the new shopping centre next door to the library. Then several of us went shopping!

I personally enjoyed the opportunity to write in a different location and found feedback from others on my work really helpful and useful. On this occasion we were all writers, mostly picture book, but it would be lovely to be joined by some illustrators next time. If you would prefer to just join us for lunch at 12.30pm that would be fine too. Our next meeting will be on May 16^th at 10.30 am.

Stuttgart Library - http://www1.stuttgart.de/stadtbibliothek/

GinYuu restaurant -  http://de.ginyuu.de/GinYuu.html

Mianeo shopping centre - http://www.milaneo.com