Things I Saw

at SCBWI MD/DE/WV!

Before I get to the pictures--I have to say I got to hang out with some of the MOST FUN PEOPLE EVER at the conference last weekend!

Cristin Terrill
Ricki Schultz
Cambria Dillon
Alison Miller

Go to their blogs. Check them out. Get to know them because they are SO funny and sweet and they are all going to be ridiculously successful in the writing world :)

And now, the photographs!

Cristin had this awesome idea to make book cookies to give to people at the conference!
I helped! But she was the real creative genius :) 

Instead of little handheld baskets, the local grocery store had ROLLER baskets! FTW!

We tried to convince the waiter at Macaroni Grill it was Ricki's birthday.
Clearly she wasn't having it.

But our waiter had a bit of a crush and brought her a piece of cake anyway!

After all the cake :)

Room 212... Where the party was at allll weekend.
Moscato Crew 2011
I swear, I'm more than a floating head with stripes of wisdom in all the blonde. 

Missing Cambria...

Found her!

QOTD: Are you wearing anything green right now?

No?

*pinches you*

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Things I Overheard

at SCBWI MD/DE/WV!

After I attend conferences I like to bring back some of the fabulous droplets of wisdom I glean from the speakers to share with you guys. Here are a few of the ones I picked up last weekend!

"Changing one word can change an entire sentence." Editor Marilyn Bingham (Marshall Cavendish)

"The voice in your query should reflect the voice in your manuscript--it should not be cold or mechanical." Rosemary Stimola, Agent with Stimola Literary Studio

"Passion makes you want to write the story. Perseverance MAKES you write the story." Laura Bowers, Author of Beauty Shop for Rent:...fully equiped, require within

"Look for the seeds that are planted within your own life stories." Kathi Appelt, Author of The Underneath

"Cliches are the pet peeves for all editors--find a new way to send things." Editor Marilyn BIngham

"Do not use humor through self-deprecation. And don't leave an editor wondering who the audience is." Heather Alexander, Assistant Editor with Dial Books for Young Readers, (regarding submissions to publishing houses)

Laura Bowers: Layer richness through editing: pick a favorite setting and employ all the senses for that setting. For example, a campground" 

          Sight: campers, tents, people

          Scent: chlorine, fire

          Feel: grass under feet

          Hear: children's laughter, splashing

          Taste: Marshmallows, hotdogs 

"If you're writing in trend, or similar to something else, you need to be quick to point out what makes your story different (in your query)." Rosemary Stimola

"Too many adjectives leads to purple prose--and there's a fine line between descriptive prose and purple prose." Editor Marilyn Bingham

"Almost every single title changes. Don't get too attached to your title." Assistant Editor Heather Alexander

**********************************************
More on the conference tomorrow--coming up: THE FRAKKING AWESOME PEOPLE I HUNG OUT WITH!

QOTD: Have you ever been to a conference? If so, did you love it? If not, do you ever plan to?

Thank You

From the bottom of my heart. Seriously.

The comments, the emails, the cards... the everything. Thank you all so much for your kind, kind words and support last month. They meant more to me than you'll ever know.

They kept me afloat during a rough period of time.

I lost my grandmother on January 27th, three days after my last post. To say that it was sad--shattering, even--for my family and I would be an understatement.

I've had some hurtful things thrown my way. Things that kept me up at night, tossing and turning, miserable from the heartburn that always seems to accompany heartbreak.

I hit a rut in my writing. Losing someone you love, no matter how you lose them, can snuff your creativity the way a tornado can blow out a tea light candle.

I... could go on and on. But I won't, because the point here isn't to complain. The point is that time gives us the grace to move forward, and after a month of taking baby steps toward that grace, my strides have lengthened into a sprint--and I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm finally back :)

Forever altered, for sure, but ready to resume life. Ready to catch up with you all, because I've missed you so. Tell me what you've been up to in the comments, I'm dying to know! Catch me up with everything! 

Before I go, though, I wanted to share something kind of cool.

When my aunt submitting my grandmother's obituary to the Washington Post, a reporter decided to look into Nana's life--and ended up writing a half-page article about her.

The picture in the article is of my grandparents in a NY restaurant, in the 1940s
(The full article is found online here, if you're interested: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/19/AR2011021904486.html) 

The article itself is pretty amazing. I hang from every word, each time I read it. But toward the end of the column, I read something I never knew: 

"Her memberships included the Society of Children's Book Writers, Mystery Writers of America and the American Association of University Women."

And I think: Hmmm... Society of Children's Book Writers? As in... Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators? As in SCBWI? The same organization that I'm a part of?

And then I smile.

Seen!!

Last week, I shared some of the things I overheard at SCBWI LA. Today, I'm sharing pictures!!

Roommates! New fave writer friend, Casey McCormick, and CP extraordinaire, Carolina Valdez Miller, were my roomies and--let me tell ya--we had the best time!  I haven't laughed as hard as we did late night like that in a long time! (Long gray hair, or curly, or poetry... hehehe, you just had to be there. Trust me.)

The view from our room!

I finally got to meet my other awesome CP Shannon Messenger! We hung out the whole time and I heart her! She rocks the exact same personality in real life as she does online and I'm still sad we live on opposite sides of the country.

The roomies and I went to breakfast with fellow writers Sherrie Petersen (Write About Now) and Shelli Johannes Wells (Market My Words). Lovely time and lovely eggs benedict!!

Kimberly Derting, one of my favorite authors (seriously, if you haven't read The Body Finder yet, what is wrong with you?),  and I rode the same shuttle to the hotel. Little did she know I'd be stalking her the entire conference! JK (kinda). Turns out, Kim's super sweet and I had an absolute blast with her!

Next up--one of my newest favorite authors: Kiersten White. She. Is. Awesome. (JUST like her book, Paranormalcy... just sayin') So kind in person and extremely sociable. I tried not to go too fangirl, but I'm not quite sure I succeeded... She was there with Stephanie Perkins who's just as fun, but I forgot to take a picture with her, sigh. Oh wait--you can see her freaking awesome hair in the background over my shoulder! Does that count? No? Hm. Okay fine.

At the Golden Kite Luncheon!

We missed Karen Amanda Hooper like whoa! She ditched us for RWA, but of course we had to snap a picture with her anyway =)

We hit up the Heart and Soul party (uh, guess what the color scheme was... here's a hint.)

Where we met up with the ever fabulous Heather Trese and Jessica Love! Seriously wish I'd been able to hang out with these chicks more. Oh and in case you're wondering why there are sweaters in a California summer picture--it was freaking COLD!!

The conference ended WAY too soon and I just had to get one last shot with Casey in the elevator.

And again with Shannon.

To make ourselves feel better after our other friends left, Carol and I did a little faux shopping on Rodeo Drive!

But Rodeo Drive=wowza hard on credit cards. We grabbed lunch though, which was great. And played around in Louis for a bit. I thought about grabbing keychains for my sisters, um but not for $350-$500 thank you very much.

So we snuck over to The Roosevelt and hung by the pool instead!

Jennifer Aniston (my fantasy bff) and Brad's old house!!








Okay, so I have a ton more photos, but this would turn into the never-ending post of all posts if I put them all here! Instead, they're on Facebook, so come visit and check them out if you want!

♥ me

Overheard

@ SCBWI LA! 

"Don't believe everything you hear." - Author Jon Scieszka, in regards to the industry and writing for children.

"The books that take us away from what we expect are what show us the world anew." - Author MT Anderson

"A pitch should include the page/word count, the first 15-20% of the plot, comparison to other writers, genre, and industry questions." - Agent Ginger Clark (Curtis Brown)

Senior Editor (Katherine Tegen Books, imprint of HarperCollins Childrens) Claudia Gabel looks for story inspiration all over (music, TV, movies, magazines, etc) and believes writers should too!

Agent Josh Adams (Adams Literary) explained the difference between preempts and auctions. (Preempts are meant to take a book--or books--off the table, an editor makes a bid high enough to keep others from bidding. At auctions, agents allow multiple editors to make bids on the book.)

"The best time of year to submit to an agent, is the time of year your book is ready." - Agent Lisa Grubka (Foundry Literary & Media)

"You want an agent who will aggressively market for subsidiary rights. If a publisher gets them, they take a cut on top of the agent's cut." - Agent Josh Adams (Adams Literary)

According to Author Gail Carson Levine, some of the best ways to create suspense are: time (pressure), distance (looming destination), thought (character worries turn into reader worries), action, separation, MC flaw, secondary character flaw, isolation, expectation (too high or too low), a test, a disaster, something lost...

"Learning to be a character physically changes the way the character thinks." - Author Rachel Vail

"Everything you do online should be friendly and professional." Agent Ginger Clark (Curtis Brown)

"Don't be careful what you wish for. Be proud of what you wish for!" - Author Carolyn Mackler

"You must know the rules before you can break them, but the rules are beginning to wiggle." - Publisher Francesco Sedita (Penguin Young Readers)

"I'll never tell an editor no if they truly love a book." - Publisher Justin Chanda (Simon & Schuster)

"Great story telling has been around for ages and will continue for ages." - Publisher Jennifer Hunt (Little Brown)

"Most successful authors develop after several books." - Publisher Stephanie Owens Lurie (Disney Hyperion)

"Write what you think is cool and release your inner child." - Publisher Stephanie Owens Lurie (Disney Hyperion)

"Timeless (writing) will always be timely." Agent Josh Adams (Adams Literary)

"Writing is a BITCH. But In The CHair!" - Author Rachel Vail

"Agents have short attention spans. Grab them early, both in your query and in writing." - Agent Josh Adams (Adams Literary)



Okay. Any questions??

♥ me

SCBWI LA

Roll Call Boom Shaboom!

Roll Call Boom Shaboom!

Yesterday, Derek Molata posted a roll call on his blog for writers attending WisCon. (Which includes me, yay!!)

Um, so today I'm copying him--but for SCBWI LA!

I'm really excited because I'm registered and hoteled and flighted--and I want to know who else is coming!

So I thought I'd leave this post open like a forum! In the comments, let me (and everyone else) know:

• Are you going?
• When are you arriving?
• When are you leaving?
• Have you been before? And, if so, is there anything you want to share about past experiences?
• Are you looking for other people to meet up with while there? (The comments section could be a great place to find people!)
• A link to your blog, so other people can find you.
• Any questions you have. (Not that I can answer them or anything, but maybe someone else can!)
• Anything else you want to share =)

As for me: I'm flying in on the 29th and staying til the 4th. Even though the conference ends on the 2nd, Alexandra, Carol, and I are staying a couple extra days to have fun in LA. (Like getting tattoos and piercings and stuff!)

Oh! Oh! Oh! Also, today--I'm guest posting on Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe! My post is about the joys of being Shannon's CP and it's served with a nice helping of Shannon Shame, so definitely go check it out =)

♥ me