It’s Day 2 of #LA15SCBWI and I can’t imagine a more inspirational start then hearing Dan Santat speak. Dan was this year’s Caldecott winner with BEEKLE, but what really makes it this keynote special is that Dan “grew up” in the SCBWI. Like many of the speakers I’ve heard over the years, he got his start in this tribe and he made that very clear…ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE TASTE: STORIES OF HOW THE SCBWI HELPED ME AND HOW I GREW AS AN AUTHRO WHEN I WASN’T AT THE CONFERENCE

 

Over the course of Dan’s keynote, he made us laugh and he imparted tons of wisdom and inspiration. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place at the end of his speech. Here was my best take aways from Dan…

*Understand why YOU like–don’t be censored.

*If you have a closed mind, you’re going to miss out on the beauty of things.

*Comic books are soap operas for nerds.

*Learn from others. Ex. BREAKING BAD is a study in character development.

*Read Goodreads reviews with some common sense. You know when someone is giving you useful information that can help you grow. Also read the bad reviews of the classics to gain some perspective.

*Study the fundamentals–when you understand them, you then have the freedom to move around.

*Learn by imitation–don’t become a clone, use it to ADD to your fundamentals.

*If you do something hard once, you know you have it in you to do it again.

*Find your voice–stop imitating and start INNOVATING.

*Do what you love when the work will find you.

*Do it because you are passionate about what you do.

*If you put money in the equation, you’re never going to find it. It’s like chasing a shadow.

*Live and die by your own sword. If you put your faith in yourself you will tread water and survive.

*You don’t want to live with regrets. If I had quit I never would have had the Caldecott Medal. *cue sobs*

 

Next up was the AGENT’S PANEL: INSIDE THE CHILDREN’S BOOK MARKET

JR—Jodi Reamer (Writer’s House)

AP—Alexandra Penfold (Upstart Crow Literary)

KN—Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary Agency)

BG—Barry Goldblatt (Barry Goldblatt Literary)

BB—Brenda Bowen (Greenberg Associates)

JB—Jenny Bent (The Bent Agency)

MODERATOR–LO—Lin Oliver

Here’s the advice and information that I took note of…

AP–You’re not acquiring a book, you’re taking on a life.

BG–Competition to get manuscripts read by editors is immense, so your MS needs to be in the best shape.

BG–9 to 5? WHAT IS THAT?

BG–You are the one in the driver’s seat. You get to choose.

JB–I don’t care who you are–there will be downtime in your career.

JB–Respect and honesty on both sides are key.

AP–Write the book that can get you above the noise.

BG–Editors should have the ability to take a flyer because a great smaller book can become a huge best seller. Ex–WONDER

JR–Social media should be natural. It should be you.

BG–We are colleagues. We’re not out to undercut each other. You’re not competing with anyone in this room.

AP–You never know where the connections are going to come from.

AP–If it makes me feel–I’ll follow you anywhere.

BG–We get jaded, but then we see something that knocks us off our seats and want to sell it!

AP–If you have a rich reading life, you will have a rich writing life.

BB–Best promo for a book is the next one. Keep writing.

JB–Be a mensch–Be kind. Be helpful. Be generous.

JB–I see social media as an opportunity to be kind to people and share.

 

Next up was my first Workshop of the Day. BONNIE BADER–CHAPTER BOOKS: WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S NOT

Some things that make a book–a chapter book…

-a milestone event

-a protagonist around the age of the reader (7-10 year olds)

-Roughly 80-120 pages

-size of type, density of illustrations

-expand the details of your character to make them unique.

-use a universal theme with a twist

 

What kinds of chapter books that are successful…

–Magic Tree House

–Junie B Jones

–Princess in Black

–George Brown, Class Clown

–The Dory Books (Dory Fantasmagory)

–Captain Awesome

 

LUNCH TIME!!!!

The next keynote of the day was Jane O’Connor–BORROWING FROM LIFE: CREATING A CHARACTER

Here were some Fancy Nancy style tips to remember…

*Leave out all the stuff that’s boring.

*Eavesdropping is crucial to writing.

*Middles are a bitch.

Jane was followed by Varian Johnson–IF IT WERE EASY, EVERYONE WOULD DO IT

Varian was open and honest and so touching with his ability to share his hard publishing moments with the audience. He had so much inspiration to share…

*The hard is what makes it great.

*We make the time.

*We all deserve to be part of the conversation, but we have to do the work.

*My job is to put words on paper. If the muse shows up that day–BONUS.

*Writing is a job that deserves to be treated as such. Set up a schedule.

*Don’t talk about it. Be about it.

*And while I’m not looking forward to my next failure…I know it’s coming.

*We’re writers…IT’S OUR JOB TO MAKE FICTION COME TRUE. <3

My second Workshop of the day was with the lovely Wendy Loggia–FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Ia addition to hearing Wendy rave about my fabulous agent Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary and my Wolf Pack Sistah Kiersten White…

…I loved learning a little bit more about Delacorte Press. Did you know…

*Delacorte plans their books out way in advance to give them the best marketing attention they can give. If you were to sell a book to Delacorte today (8/15) It would not be slotted for publication until Spring of 2017.

*Delacorte does not have a acquisitions board. Editors can acquire what they choose.

*Delacorte does not compete with other imprints at Random House

*Wendy does all her own editorial reading.

*Why Wendy purchases a manuscript?

-emotional connection

-loves the voice

-thinks it deserves to be published

 

Our next keynote was Molly Idle–YES, AND: SETTING THE STAGE FOR CRAZY CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Sorry–was having an afternoon brain fart or a caffeine low and missed getting a picture of Molly. Just imagine a highly energetic creative teaching us how to use theater to create stronger writing and illustration on the page.

Ummm no pictures here either. I swear I wasn’t sleeping LOL! This was a great panel on DIVERSITY IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

MODERATOR–MP—Miranda Paul

NY—Nicola Yoon

VJ—Varian Johnson

BC—Brandy Colbert

JC—Joe Cepeda

IWG—IW Gregorio (didn’t attend due to illness)

This may have been my favorite diversity panel I’ve heard yet. Here are some bits from my notes…

VJ–You don’t need permission to write diversely, but you do need to do your due diligence. And remember you aren’t trying to write the experience of ALL the people–just the one that’s your character. Your research is not different than any other research for a character.

JC–I try not to overthink the issue too much.

VJ–I’m not a fan of the term, CASUAL DIVERSITY, but it’s when the characters featured are diverse, but the diversity isn’t the issue. Ex-Lando in Star Wars

NY–I’ve never been sassy a day in my life! (on sassy diverse sidekicks)

JC–Write and illustrate without fear and if you have fear, pretend you don’t.

 

 

And then it was time for the Saturday Gala! This year’s theme was Sparkle and Shine. And FYI the sugar cookies were amazing–I ate them before I could get a picture LOL!

 

 

I hope all this fabulous information is helping your writing to sparkle and shine. You can catch me first conference blog installment here…LA SCBWI 2015 Part 1 At the end of that blog, you’ll see that I’m still running a contest to win a signed copy of…

 

WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN AGAIN by Jodi Moore

So don’t forget to head over there and take advantage of the opportunity. I’ll be back on Thursday with LA SCBWI 2015 Part 3!!!

 

Tags: #LA15SCBWI, Alexandra Penfold, Barry Goldblatt, Beekle, Bonnie Bader, Brandy Colbert, Brenda Bowen, Caldecott, Captain Awesome, Chapter books, Class Clown, Contest, Dan Santat, Delacorte Press, Dory Fantasmagory, Fancy Nancy, George Brown, Greenberg Associates, IW Gregorio, Jane O'Connor, Jenny Bent, Jodi Moore, Jodi Reamer, Joe Cepeda, Junie B Jones, Kiersten White, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Kristin Nelson, Lin Oliver, Magic Tree House, Michelle Wolfson, Miranda Paul, Molly Idle, Nelson Literary Agency, Nicola Yoon, Princess in Black, Random House, SCBWI, The Bent Agency, Upstart Crow Literary, Varian Johnson, Wendy Loggia, When A Dragon Moves In Again, Wolf Pack, Wolfson Literary, Writer's House

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I’m back with the second half of the 2015 NY SCBWI Conference recap. You can find Part 1 HERE. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I am extra tired because I stayed up too late talking to my fabulous roommate Jodi Moore talking about her newest dragon book!!!

An unexpected perk of the conference was a chance to get a sneak peek at Jodi’s new Dragon Baby–WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN AGAIN

Illustration courtesy of Flashlight Press

It’s bad enough that the new baby takes up Mom’s lap and Dad’s time. But
when this tiny, drooly, stinky, crying newborn somehow charms the dragon, the
boy decides he’s had enough of this baby business. Is there room in the castle
for three? Find out When a Dragon Moves In Again.

Sequel to the award-winning When a Dragon Moves In

Can’t wait for the Fall to bring this Dragon home <3

Jodi and her Dragon weren’t the only people we were celebrating on Sunday morning. The day kicked off with the Awards Presentations…

Congrats to all the illustrators who won awards. Your work is gorgeous.

And Sana accepts the Mid-List Author award from Jane Yolen who credits her with being a force in bringing diversity to our children’s books.

We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Jane. <3

And celebrate with Caldecott winner Dan Santat even if he wasn’t in the room.

We’ll catch him in person in LA. But until then, here’s how proud we are of Dan…

http://instagram.com/p/y18lmqthuR/

And we can’t forget to thank the SCBWI staff that makes these conferences happen…

They are the BEST!

The first Keynote of the day was by another amazing author/illustrator…The Making of a Picture Book by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

I was blown away by her, her process and her books. Laura talked about having a notebook to capture your stream of consciousness. And she shared her notebooks with us. I loved this beginning…

Laura also reminded us that when making a concept book, there is always story–there is depth. She kick started so many ideas for me and she opened my eyes to how to see picture book writing in a completely different way. Take a look at her award winning book Green…

 

The next Keynote was James Dashner–Writing Commercial Fiction.

James was a funny guy. He started off his speech like Letterman with a top 10 List.

 

But between the jokes he had some serious and helpful stuff to share. He reminded us that even though he’s the author of The Maze Runner, which was recently made into a movie, it wasn’t so long ago that he was sitting where we were. He went to college to become an accountant and hated it. He struggled as a new author with a small press and a kinda weird cover. But you should never give up because…

*The Maze Runner was rejected the first time it went out.

*Sometimes it is about lucky breaks, but if you quit you won’t get the chance to enjoy them.

He also told us…

*He never takes his success for granted because he could have been stuck in a job he hated.

*And it might be helpful to use a title that guarantees success–like Harry Potter and the Divergent Games of Hunger. ROTFL!

 

And there is nothing else I can say that’s better than that. *grin* But what I can tell you about next is the Keynote Agent’s Panel: Charting Charting Your Career Path.

BG–Barry Goldblatt (Barry Goldblatt Literary)

JL–Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency)

TW–Tina Wexler (International Creative Management)

Moderated by BB–Brenda Bowen

Here’s some golden nuggets from the agents:

BG–On career: This is not a speed race. If everything goes right I get to be your agent for 30, 40, 50 years.

JL–Illustrators need to have a centrally located online portfolio.

BG–There is no call I fear more than the one when a client says they’ve quit their job. This is not a job you get into with the intention of supporting your family.

TW–If you are writing with your heart you are writing with your passion. You are not writing to pay the bills.

BG–Don’t query with a rhetorical question or in your characters voice.

BG–If you find yourself tracking your Amazon ranking more than five times a day, you have a problem.

 

The last Keynote of the conference was Kwame Alexander talking about Dancing Naked on the Floor: How to say Yes to the Writerly Life

Just this week Kwame won the Newbery!!!! After hearing him speak and then reading his work on the train home I know exactly why he won. He is amazing! Here is some of what he inspired us with…

*I didn’t have money, but what I did have was poetry.

*Children’s authors make our living on school visits. We don’t get paid too much by publishers.

*I wanted to write words that elevated, inspired, informed, and uplifted people.

*This writing life is not about sitting in a room with your pencil and paper. You’ve got to get out into the world.

*Need a community around you of truthtellers to keep you on track.

*CROSSOVER was rejected more than 20 times by publishers. Kwame Alexander almost self-published it. It just won the Newbery award.

*When the NO’s come they’re getting out of the way for the Yes’. You can’t let other people’s NO’s define your Yes’.

*You can’t have a dream come true if you don’t have a dream and you can’t write a book if you’re not writing.

*Sit on it.  WAIT–Kwame Alexander didn’t say that. The Fonz did!!!

WE got a surprise visit from the one and only Henry Winkler. He was adorable because he was as blown away as the rest of us by Kwame. But he did tell us that we must teach our children where they are great, not where we think they should go. And he also said he has a new mantra which is…I’m going to try. And I think everyone ended the conference inspired and with that very same mantra.

But before we left, we got to get our books signed…

 

This year’s Newbery winner, Kwame Alexander.

Anthony Horowitz

Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Herve Tullet

And James Dashner

And then it’s back home in time for a bit more snow…

Thanks so much for reliving the 2015 NY SCBWI Conference with me. If you attended, who was your favorite speaker and if you didn’t, who would you have most loved to meet? Hope to see you in NY next year–the Lobby Rats are looking for new friends.

Tags: #NY15SCBWI, Barry Goldblatt, Brenda Bowen, Crossover, Dan Santat, Flashlight Press, Green, Henry Winkler, James Dashner, Jane Yolen, Jennifer Laughran, Jodi Moore, Kim Sabatini, Kimberly Sabatini, Kwame Alexander, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Newbery Winner, SCBWI, The Maze Runner, Tina Wexler, When A Dragon Moves In Again

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