I don’t mean to scare you, but we are now HALFWAY through the conference. And that’s only because I didn’t attend the Intensive Sessions on Monday. I’ve never been to anything like this before. It’s amazing and exhausting. At this point, I’m sucking down ice tea, caffeine riddle soda and full-on regular coffee as needed. ( Read as–with an IV drip) I’m breaking off glacier size hunks of dark chocolate from the stash in my bag. So far, I haven’t missed a single keynote or workshop, but I’m openly weeping at the drop of a hat and running to the SCBWI store every break to hoard more books. I may have even high-fived Jay Asher in the lobby. He was totally cool with it though. Ah…so where were we?
Norton Juster-AN ACCIDENTAL AUTHOR TELLS ALL
Legen…wait for it…dary!
Here are your nuggets…
*The great puzzle for kids is what their parents are made of.
*Boredom is an undervalued commodity. It is a mistake to banish boredom.
*My books were motivated by “trying to avoid doing other things.” Ha!
*The hardest thing to make kids understand is how to listen to their own voices.
*Being out of context is the one great, liberating thing in our lives. Spend a lot of time out of context and help kids stay out of it as long as possible.
*Playing with words is my great disease.
I always like to watch for the little messages that the universe sends to me. *heart squish*
Next up, I had a workshop session with Gary Paulsen. I am going to save my notes for his keynote since there was a bit of overlap. I’ll combine the best of the two for you later.
And then there was shame. My shame. *sticks out hand to be slapped* I have no excuse, except the hideous crash of all that unfamiliar caffeine in my system. Oh, Mary Pope Osborne of MAGIC TREE HOUSE fame…I have done you wrong. *sobs*
Mary Pope Osbourne-A BRIDGE OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS
My brain has turned to mush. I could see Mary up at the podium…talking…but it sounded like the teacher from the Charlie Brown specials. The words would not go in. I took no notes. I fiddled with my camera…
Cute, huh?
I climbed over a row of people and went to the SCBWI store and fed the book habit–again. Came back and ate some more chocolate. It wasn’t her. It was me. *hangs head in shame*
How will I ever feel good about myself again?
I GOT TO HOLD PEEPY!!!!! And meet
Lisa Yee. *heart squish*
(My boys laughed so hard, when I squealed about holding Peepy. *snicker*)
She signed my copy of
IDENTICAL…”A banned author to be!”
I hope I don’t let her down. She is such a hero of mine.
Cynthea is a major resource and support to the Children’s Book Writing community.
I’ve learned sooo much from her. Thank you!!!!
She’s the best and loves this book!!!!!
Eastern NY SCBWI in the house!
Brought my own copy of HARRIS AND ME, a personal favorite, for Gary Paulsen to sign.
The wonderful Mary Pope Osbourne who DOES NOT sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown and is super sweet.
What time is it? It’s almost time for the 40 Winks Anniversary Poolside Gala!!!!!
Everyone hanging out and getting on line for some food.
(Kim and Jodi) Got my bunny slippers!!!!
Surprisingly is was pretty cool out.
Jodi, Kim and Laura
Can you see my PJ’s? Fiction that Rocks–The Class of 2k12
Captain Stupendous aka Mike Jung in his cape blanket with sleeves. :o)
Jeff, rocking the dance floor in his night gown night shirt. *grin* Not my fault guys are so easy to tease.
It was at this point that I ran up to the room and dumped my sweat shirt and everything that did not fit into my name tag holder. Take my word for it, dancing in bunny slippers just gives you really hot feet and a desire to throw your hands in the air and wave them all around! What a great night!!
Phew, we made it through Saturday. Now we’re almost done with the LA Conference blogs. Are you clapping? Seriously, that’s not nice. *gives you the stink-eye* I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled blather soon enough–then you’ll be sorry.
Friday’s post will kick off (Sunday at the conference) with an Agent Panel and Gary Paulsen.
Tags: Cynthea Liu, Ellen Hopkins, Gary Paulsen, Jay Asher, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI, Lisa Yee, Mike Jung, Norton Juster
OMG!!!IT’SJUDYBLUME!!!DIDYOUHEARME????IT’SJUDYFREAKINGBLUMEFOLKS!!!!
That’s pretty much all you heard in the ballroom at this point. We were all a little bit a whopping load of excited.
Lin Oliver and Judy Blume
I vacillated between trying to jot down every syllable she uttered and just wanting to just sit there and take in the moment. It was remarkable to hear Judy Blume speak. This is a tough one to convey properly, it was once in a lifetime experience. I’ll try to give you a little pice of the wonderful…
*We start the book on the day that something different happens.
*We write children’s books because it is what comes naturally to us. Right now EVERYBODY wants to write for children–we are so hot. We went from…”Judy, when are you going to write a REAL book?” To being the moneymakers for the publishers.
*In her 20’s (the early 60’s) she had two kids and a traditional husband who wanted her to be home and perfect. “The expectations for my life were very disappointing to me.”
*Her life made her physically sick and when she changed it, all her illnesses disappeared.
*Writing not only changed my life, it saved my life.
*Don’t listed to anyone else, don’t worry about who your audience is, because if it’s good–your book will find one.
*(In response to a question) I don’t think about my legacy. If I thought about all of you when I write, I would be too scared to write anything. When I die, I’d like a little stone that says…Are you there God? It’s me, Judy.
*heart squish*
Next up, a workshop. How can anyone in the world interesting after listening to Judy Blume? You find some wonderful folks to make you laugh.
Libba Bray-HELLO, MY NAME IS…GETTING PAST THE FIRST DATE WITH YOUR CHARACTERS
Libba gave excellent advice and I’ll give you a few awesome tidbits, but as I’m reading over my notes, I can’t help but be disappointed because I couldn’t capture her wit on paper. So be warned, Libba in person is unlike anyone you’ve ever met before and I mean that in the very best of ways.
*Read as far and wide as you possibly can.
*Feel free to read the mediocre and the bad–it will make you feel better and it’s instructive.
*Writing should cost you something.
*Question the assumptions, stereotypes and pop-culture.
*Revision is my only extreme sport. :o)
Now we must follow funny with more funny…
Jon Scieszka-THE MYRAID POSSIBILITES OF FORM, STYLE AND GENRE
Oh, I have not laughed this hard in a very long time. Seriously. And once again, I can not support the high level of hilarity with my notes. As I look over my scribbles, I’ve realized that after the first comment, they are practically illegible. Just funny, little tidbits that relate to a well, crafted humorous stories. I’ll prove it to you…
*I got a masters in fiction writing, which qualified my to paint apartments. Ha! (Swear, this is the only one that will make sense.)
*Writing skinny books with cool covers.
*Tipping hat to Frog and Toad. Cowboy and Octopus–two weirdest best friends ever.
*Slaughter Ball. Boys-“Yeah!” Girls-“Why would you do that?”
*Oh, sorry mom–I think we broke Greg.
*3yo-Alzheimers patients on acid. Everything is a little freaky and then it starts all over again.
*This stuff is not rocket science folks!
Trust me–just laugh. I know what I’m talking about.
If you’re back on Wednesday…Norton Juster. You don’t want to miss it. Just sayin’.
Tags: Jon Scieszka, Judy Blume, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI, Libba Bray
I wasn’t prepared for David Small. I hadn’t known I was going to find a hero.
David Small-THE VOICE OF THE EYE
This is the only way I could possibly explain…
David wrote and drew to save his life.
Then he spoke about it…
*Your biography becomes your biology.
*Through this intense experience of introspection, I always expected myself to come out of it.
*My story is a story about voicelessness. My story is a story about having your voice taken away.
*A kid with a mother that doesn’t love him or her, lives life with a hole in their heart.
*Life is a shit storm and whit is starts to rain, the only umbrella we have is art.
And then we laughed. And we sang. I even told him how I found my own voice. Then, I fell in the very best kind of love, with David Small.
Monday…Judy Blume.
Tags: David Small, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI
Imagine it’s Saturday, the second day of the SCBWI LA Conference. You are up at 7am and you’ve freaked out your roommate by Face-Timing your family on the computer while she’s in the shower. (She thought you invited a gaggle of really loud people into the room and figured she might have to dash out and say hi in her underwear.) All is forgiven when your kids see her (fully clothed) and run to grab her debut picture book, WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN. Impressively, they can put their hands on the book in less than 30 seconds, making your roommate very, very happy. *grin* You don’t even have to buy her a make-up cake-pop. You cyber kiss your kids and pray for your hubby who is road tripping to New York City with the rug rats to “do stuff”. You and your roommie head out the door when you realize that you’ve got a phone message on the room phone. Popular roommate is being sought by the goddess of the Blue Boards, Verla Kay. Off we go…
Verla and Kim <3
But the clock is ticking and its time to find your coffee (which out of desperation has changed from decaf to half reg/half decaf) and something yummy to snack on.
This is the point in the morning that you realize you just left your camera in Verla’s room. *head thunk* So you run, passing Richard Peck (blowing kisses) as you leap into an elevator and hope you’re not too late. Verla is walking down the hall and you wave your arms and she pulls your camera out of her bag. Like a lightning bolt, it all becomes very clear. There is no way in hell that you will ever be able to host a discussion board. Not gonna happen. You’ve discovered your social media limits and it feels good. You hug Verla (because she’s cool that way) and slide into the Starbucks line just in time to meet another cyber friend…
And FINALLY, coffee and bagel.
If, and only if, you can visualize this, will you be ready to have the full Saturday morning conference experience. Let’s roll!
Donna Jo Napoli-HOW WRITING ABOUT TERRIBLE THINGS MAKES YOUR READER A BETTER PERSON
For the record, next time the Wall Street Journal wants to write about YA books being too dark, I’m going to gift wrap the brilliant Donna Jo Napoli and send her to them. Donna Jo laid out a brilliant response to those people who do not understand why we must write about terrible things.
First she talked about the Unprotected Children in the world. They are…
-The children who are loved by their parents, but are abused by society.
-The children who are abused by their parents.
She said that children who are unprotected are isolated with the abuse. They do not go out and share the horrors of their life with others. They are alone. But they are able to find a like person that they can relate to in a book.
Most kids don’t have the power to change their world. They do not have control over their situation. To read about someone who survived the same things that they are going through, with dignity, can help a child to survive too.
Secondly, she spoke of the Protected Children. These children, must learn empathy for the rest of the people in the world and the safest way for them to do that is in the pages of a book.
I’m going to stop here because I think this is important. The next two speakers coming up are equally as powerful and I want you to have the time to really think about this. I’m still mulling it over a week+ later. I don’t know about you, but for me this is bigger than just writing books. It is about saving lives and changing the world we live in. As Bruce Coville said earlier, “We love our children individually, but we have a hard time showing it collectively.” So often my hands are tied and my ability to impact change is ineffective, but there are two ways that I know I can make a difference.
First, I can write books that respect and support Unprotected Children. I will not censor my heart and soul. Those kids deserve better than that. Secondly, I can choose to raise my Protected Children with empathy. At the very least, they will meet these Unprotected Children in the pages of a book. They will learn how lucky they are and how big their hearts must grow. I want them to learn that we can not live in isolation and blindness. I want them to begin to see that we are better off dealing with the struggles of growth than the hurdles of ignorance.
I urge each and every one of you to share Bruce Coville’s and Donna Jo Napoli’s message with as many people as you can. It is time to make a change.
First up on Friday–David Small.
Tags: Bruce Coville, Donna Jo Napoli, LA11SCBWI, WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN by Jodi Moore
It’s Friday afternoon at the SCBWI LA 40th Anniversary Conference and we have…
Libba Bray-WRITING IT ALL WRONG: A SURVIVAL MANUAL
Seriously, I’m not great at taking notes when Libba is speaking, due to the fact that I’m laughing so hard. But here are some pearls of delightful wisdom that did manage to make it into my notebook…
*Getting it wrong is a necessary part of getting it right.
*Book 1-this is a kind of ignorance is bliss and you only get it once.
Book 2-this is fun, I already know the characters!
Book 3-yeah, I got nothing. I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make when they fly by.
*Best Survival suggestions…
-The voice is in there, buried under the one you hate.
-Close the door on external voices.
-Readers are not trends.
-The difference between the right novel and the wrong novel might just be in how you present your novel. Find out what works for your story.
-Writing is freaking scary.
-We write it wrong in the beginning to protect ourselves.
-All books carry our DNA and if we knew that going in we’d be too frightened to write.
I know I’m spoiled. I know it’s completely unfair that I get to follow a Keynote by Libbra Bray with a Workshop session with Laurie Halse Anderson. All I can say is that I have a freaking fantastic fairy god-mother. That’s the only logical explanation.
Laurie Halse Anderson-THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CRAFTING A CREATIVE LIFE: FINDING LOST TIME AND RECLAIMING CREATIVITY
Laurie is one of my personal super heroes. Many of you probably know that she was the first speaker at my very first SCBWI Conference and she has shaped my life as a writer. I never get tired of being inspired by her heart and soul and her wisdom. Again, here are some of my favorite take-aways from her talk…
*Personal problems are like whack-a-moles…they never stop popping up. You need to accept the distractions and manage the interruptions.
*24 hours is enough. God is not cruel, but she expects you to do the work. *grin*
*Discomfort won’t kill you. Staying with discomfort will pay off with strength and growth.
*You are in more control of how you spend your time and energy than you want to admit…
-Turn of the TV/internet
-Stop volunteering. There are other people who fill their creative voids through volunteering at the PTA-this is not your calling. You fuel yourself through a different kind of art.
-Family needs to see you follow your dreams.
*Be gentle with yourself. The doubt lives in all of us. Don’t be a writer, be writing. Be the verb instead of the noun.
Next up….
Emma Dryden-TRAVELING THROUGH THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE: WHERE WE’VE BEEN AND WHERE WE ARE HEADING
This was a very interesting look at a topic that we are constantly debating and trying to figure out. Here are some key pieces of info…
*Adults reeducate and retool to maneuver new landscapes. Children have nothing to unlearn about the digital world-it’s where they live.
*Story still matters the most.
*We are not moving away from print, we are moving towards a world of print AND digital.
Now its Autograph time!!!!!!
Talking about dyslexia and how my boys love to play Unicorn Chronicles.
Bruce Coville and Kim.
Norton Juster signing the Phantom Tollbooth and laughing because Jules Feiffer didn’t leave him any room when he signed it at the NY Conference. LOL!
Laurie Halse Anderson and Kim *heart squish*
Finally got to meet some awesome online friends in person.
Mike Jung, debut author of GEEKS, GIRLS AND SECRET IDENTITIES out in the fall off 2012 and
Nova Ren Suma, author of IMAGINARY GIRLS. I love these guys!
While I didn’t get a picture, I also snagged a copy of BROOKLYN BURNING by
Steve Brezenoff. I am so excited to read this!!!!!
We’ve finally made it through the first day of the conference, unless you’ve decided to do Peer Group Critiques, Yoga, the Illustrator Social, International Member Social or the Nonfiction Writers Social. I opted to just be social and EAT!!!! I’ll be back on Wednesday, kicking off Saturday’s recap with the amazing Donna Jo Napoli. If you want the conference effect to feel real, you should probably stay up till the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, jump around in excitement and grab a coffee and some starch at a Starbucks near you before settling down to check out the blog. *yawn*
See you Wednesday.
Tags: Bruce Coville, LA11SCBWI, laurie halse anderson, Libba Bray
