This is it!  I’m ready to finish this up and move on.  Fasten your seat belts and get ready for your final SCBWI LA Conference installment!

This is not John Green.  Not a single one.

This is when that big lunch and dessert became a problem.  Navigating the halls in a chocolate coma, I didn’t get to Bruce Coville’s workshop in time to get a seat or a piece of rug.  This picture was taken from the door with my hands up over my head.  The good news was that I could hear him just fine.

Tags: Bruce Coville, Jon Scieszka, K.L Going, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI, laurie halse anderson, Linda Sue Park, Mike Jung

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It’s Sunday!  I’m diving in…

4 AGENTS VIEW THE CURRENT STATE OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Moderator-Brenda Bowen

BG-Barry Goldblatt
TW-Tina Wexler
WM- Marcia Wernick
TA-Tracey Adams

BG-Great voice is different for every agent, but every agent knows it when they see it.

BG-Nothing more satisfying to an agent then to sell a debut author’s work.

ALL-Publishers Marketplace can be deceptive and cause more heartache. Not a complete snap shot.

If you had a magic wand and could fix one thing about publishing what would it be?

TA-Publishing by committee, trust your editor.

TW-Higher royalties for ebooks.

BG-The end of semi-annual royalties.

Gary Paulsen-A WRITER’S UPSIDE-DOWN LIFE

I found this clip, which comes pretty close to giving you a taste of the best of Gary Paulsen.  He’s a true story teller.  Hearing him talk about his life is better than my retelling could ever be.

Tags: Gary Paulsen, Kimberly Sabatini, LA11SCBWI, Librarians

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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?

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

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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.

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

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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

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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…

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

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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!!!!!!

Tags: Bruce Coville, LA11SCBWI, laurie halse anderson, Libba Bray

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Yes, I didn’t get far. It’s still Friday morning. But I’m liking how the awesomeness of Bruce Coville is followed by the amazingness of Jerry Pinkney.

Jerry Pinkney-A SENSE OF PLACE: REAL AND IMAGINED

What I loved about Jerry Pinkney was learning that he took special care to find the smaller stories, hidden in his own illustrations.  I wish I could show you the art work.  The example he used, that really allowed me to understand what he was saying, was a red wagon.  In the first picture, the wagon, a prized possession of a child, was amongst the things needed to be packed when a family had to leave their home behind.  In a later picture of the house, now vacant, the wagon was left in the yard.  There was no room for it to be taken.  This one little detail, told so much about what was happening in the lives of the characters in the story, yet it was not the story itself.  It was hauntingly sad and beautiful at the same time.  His artistry had amazing depth.

Additionally, I was encouraged to discover that Jerry was dyslexic and a very reluctant reader growing up. As many of you know, my oldest (10) is dyslexic and I love to find positive role models that he can look too. <3  We spent time talking and he was a very gracious and kind person.  I was so proud to bring a signed book home for my son.

I know you’ve been sitting for awhile so it’s time to get up and switch rooms for the first Workshop of the Conference.  I decided to do something I’ve never done  before and attend an illustrators session.  Why?  Well…*squee* My cover is being worked on at this very moment and I’m finding it hard to think about anything else. LOL!!!  Also, this next speaker just happens to be Art Director for Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers AND he was a puppet designer in Jim Henson’s Muppet Workshop.  That is just cool!  It was too tempting of an opportunity to pass up.

*Moderator-Lin Oliver

Here are the best and most interesting comments that I took from the panel discussion…

BH-Don’t be too tough on the electronic future, it has potential.  It is bringing in new readers.

JSG-There is no one right way to sell a book.  Every path is different.

JH-Kids are always at the forefront of innovation and technology.

JH-No matter what the format, content is key.  Great writing is key.

BH-Sometimes you can be “before” the trend.  A strong back list-repackaging.  Need to be nimble and think in a new way.

JSG-The only time social media works is when it’s genuine to the author.  When it feels natural to the author, they capture their writing voice in their social media voice.

JH-While there is an upside to social media, it can cause a lot of stress and take up writing time.

JSG-I firmly agree in voices finding their way, when publishing doesn’t serve, but at the risk of being unpopular, I firmly believe in publishing.

DD-Adults are buying YA

BH-The teen market has only about 4% of the ebook market.

I know that this was a bit of a mash-up of thoughts from the publishers, but those were the things that jumped out at me.  Before I sign off (until the next installment) I thought you might like a peek at the hotel…

This was the Hyatt Regency and I’m just going to put it out there and say that they had one of the nicest hotel staffs I’ve ever met.  They were really, really sweet and friendly and I LOVED riding the elevator and chatting with them.  My favorite person was the adorable lady helping me get into my room when the key didn’t work.  She didn’t even laugh, when she pointed out that I was trying to break and enter into room 1656, when all of my own personal belongings were clearly in room 1652.  *head thunk*

This was the line of people at Starbucks in the lobby.  Each morning, our eyes propped open with tooth picks, we all descended upon the coffee people.  We picked their barista bones clean, leaving empty shelves and discarded coffee sleeves in our wake.  The whole scene made me want to write.

THE DAY THE WRITERS CAME…

When the morning sun wakes up,
We writers come to get a cup.
We come from almost all the states
So Starbucks gives us discount rates.
I check my watch, I need to go,
Why is the freaking line so slow?
The staff is nice, they really are,
But god, I wish I had my car.
Should I get a cake pop? NO!
I settle for a cup of Joe.
And perhaps a bagel.  :o)

First up on Monday…Libba Bray!!!!

Tags: Jerry Pinkney, LA11SCBWI, publishers

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In the past, I’ve always tried to get at least half, if not a full day of conference recap into each of my blog posts.  I’m going to be doing something a little bit different this time.  I’m going to keep each entry a little bit shorter.  This means that I’ll be writing about the conference slower than most people, but for me, this needs to be savored and relived without rushing–it was special.

Of course, no conference can start without a warm welcome from the official mom and dad of SCBWI–Stephen Mooser and Lin Oliver.

We also must begin with some of Lin’s stats for the conference.

There were…
*1,342 people in attendance.  (A record number.)
*The men broke the 150 mark. (But we still commandeered their bathroom.)
*42% of those attending were published. (Woot!)
*49 out of 50 states were in attendance. (South Dakota needs to get their act together.)
*There were representatives from 20 countries. (70 people from outside the United States.)
*The Children’s Book Market is doing better than the Real Estate Market. (Fist pump!!)

I also would like to show you what the California Ballroom looked like.  I loved the tiers in this room and how they allowed so many more people to have a wonderful view of the podium.

On Friday morning we were introduced to the faculty which had the effect of blowing on an ember.  I couldn’t wait to get started after this spark was lit. (Sorry, the picture is a little blurry.)  Each person on the faculty was tasked with giving a sentence with “40” in it, to celebrate 40 years of SCBWI.  The responses ranged from hilarious to inspirational.  So much fun.

I took tons of pictures of everyone (because that’s what I do) but I’ll pick one to highlight.  As we all know, we’ve arrived not only at the end of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, but also the movies. *sniff*  The least we can do is send a cyber hug to the man who was instrumental in our happiness.  He is perhaps best known as the American editor for for the Harry Potter Books, Arthur A. Levine, the Vice President of Scholastic and the Publisher of his own imprint, Arthur A. Levine Books.  I really wanted to meet him, but this was the closest I got, without falling over and melting into fan-girl gushy puddles.  

As if being JK Rowling’s go-to guy isn’t enough, he is also the editor for the wonderful, fantastic, debut author Mike Jung.  His middle grade novel Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities, comes out in the fall of 2012.  I can’t wait to mug Mike and run away with an ARC of this book.

Hmmm…I told you I was going to keep this short.  Lets get moving!

The first Keynote Speaker was someone I have been dying to meet and listen to.  I was not disappointed.

*Don’t start with a message, start with your own heart…You can not know the effect of your words.

*I can’t help but think that we reach a very special, lasting place in a kid’s soul.

*Leave an unfinished chord…

Tags: Bruce Coville, LA11SCBWI

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 My ability to function–take pictures, remember names (my own included) has deteriorated as the night has gone on.  Thanks goodness most people are named Jeff…hmmmm that doesn’t seem right.  Bear with me– I’ll be on my game tomorrow.  Brought the good camera.  But in the meantime, some phone shots to get you in the mood…

I’m getting closer!!!  And BTW, it was a -55 degrees up there at 37,000 feet.  Much warmer in the cabin though.  :o)

Props to the folks at Virgin America, they did a very nice job and I liked the little American flag on the wing.

My first view of the Pacific ocean evah!!!!!  I’m pretty pumped about that.  California, here I come!

Loving this hotel already.  Look at that beautiful sun.  Even better when it’s 73 degrees, breezy and not  humid. *sigh of contentment*

Behind curtain #1…Lovin’ it!

Part of the view.  I think this (below) is the site of the 40 Winks Gala (Giant Pajama Dance Party)

Tags: LA11SCBWI

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