What I Learned from SCBWI New York 2013

What an inspiring and amazing experience it was to attend the SCBWI NY 2013 conference! I got to meet all the other members of my writing group, the MiG writers, who are just as wonderful in person as they are online. They are (from left to right): Kate Fall, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Carmella Van Vleet, Christina Farley, and me. Susan Laidlaw wasn't in this picture, but she was at the conference too, taking time out from her world-wide adventures to hang out with us.

 

Aside from the socializing, I also enjoyed all the content!

One of the common themes I noticed was how many of the speakers mentioned books from their childhood and the important place these books have in their lives. Books are a safe haven (Emma Walton Hamilton and Julie Andrews), with “characters that felt like friends or the friends I wish I had” (Margaret Peterson Haddix).

It reminded me of my own reasons and passion for writing children’s books – to provide that experience of immersion in another world, to create that all important book friend for someone else.

Mo Willems: “Your job is to be some child’s best friend”.

One of the interesting questions that came up from Emma Walton Hamilton and Julie Andrews was: “What was the book that made you want to read?”

Another important takeaway for me reinforced something I already strongly believe in:  the importance of ordinary, everyday experiences. Jennifer Besser (Publisher at G.P. Putnam and Sons) talked about how using your power of observation allows you include small details that keep your work “fresh”.  Artist Shaun Tan was all about looking at things you see every day “in a new way”.

The third big thing I heard over and over was to keep writing new work.  New agent at Upstart Crow, Alexandra Penfold, said you should “work on lots of projects” and try out new genres or ideas.  Jennifer Besser talked about how you should be ready to experiment. And there was Mo Willems: “Ideas are gardens. You plant every day.”

For more on the SCBWI conference and a fun video of the MiG Writers, check out Christina Farley's SCBWI NY Conference Recap.

There are so many more bits of advice I collected, I know I’ll be feeling inspired for months to come. The best thing was coming away from the conference fired up and ready to write! I even started a new picture book manuscript in the airport on the way home.

Key Conversational Questions for Writers to Answer

As part of my preparation for the SCBWI - New York conference, I'm thinking about questions that might come up in conversation with other attendees. But it occurred to me that these questions aren't so different from the questions that non-writers ask me about my writing.

For more, visit my post today over at the MiG Writers blog: Questions A Writer Should Know How to Answer. I'd love to hear some of the tricky questions people ask you.

Getting Ready for SCBWI Winter 2013

In just 23 days, I'm going to a big SCBWI conference for the first time ever! I'm so excited because this is something I've always dreamed of doing. But I'm also nervous, because it's been a long time since I've travelled anywhere by myself, let alone to huge conference like this. Luckily, I used to live in NYC many years ago, so I'm trusting that I'll still be able to figure out where I'm going.

With the clock ticking down to my departure date, I've been starting to work on getting ready for the conference. Here are some of things I'm starting to do to get ready:

1. I ordered business cards. All the advice I've read about going to a conference suggests this is a good idea, so you can easily exchange contact info with people you meet.

2. I'm trying to finish revising a novel I soon want to start subbing, because I'd love to be able to talk about this one to other writers and people I meet at the conference. I'm also working on perfecting the short "elevator" pitch and summary, just in case, even though I'm expecting mostly to be there to soak up all I can about writing and publishing.

3. I've been practicing the answer to the question, What do you write? It might seem crazy to practice this, but I can imagine myself being all tongue-tied and mumbly in the presence of other writers who are much more successful than I am.


Have you been to any writing conferences? What did you do to get ready?