Fun with the Children's Book Writers!

Every year, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators holds their summer conference at the Hyatt Regency in Century City, and for the third time in five years, I was lucky enough to attend.

It was an amazing conference, with highlights including a mind-boggling speeches by
Sherman Alexie and
Richard Peck, listening to Frank Portman sing his classic, “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend” in a break-out session, and the Blue Moon Party out by the pool where we danced the night away...

Here are a couple workshop photos:

Simon & Shuster editor Anica Rissi and my Random House editor, Krista Marino, in their informative session, “Two Editors Look at the Teen Movement.” (Their conclusion being that while there’s always a market for quality material, fantasy-edged stories are what teens are currently reaching for.)


And take note that Krista is holding Rosemary Clement-Moore’s September ’09 release, The Splendor Falls, which by all accounts is going to FLY off of shelves.

And Holly Black, giving a session on critique partners, in which I spoke up to rave about how successful and fun it is for me to work with Kelly:


Now, moving on to the Blue Moon Party, here’s a link to a wave hello video from a group of Los Angeles Young Adult Authors meeting up beforehand. Look hard and you might see...Michael Reisman, Cherry Cheva, me, Marlene Perez, Dan Yaccarino, Lisa Yee, Ben Esch, Betty Birney, Paddy Lock, Debra Garfinkel, Paula Yoo...and others!

Here’s our YA FRESH friend, Cindy Pon, dressed as a video game character (and she told me the name, but it must have danced out of my brain because I can no longer remember):


And here I am with debut author (and fabulous Facebook Scrabble player) Christy Raedeke whose Flux books release in 2010 and 2011.


And last but not least, this is author Sydney Salter , me, Jon Fine, Director of Author & Public Relations of Amazon.com (who enthralled me with information of what I can do to improve my rankings!), and YA Fresh friends, Janie Emaus and Paddy Lock.


A great time was had by all...but someone please explain to me why I came home with jet-lag even though I only traveled about 45 minutes by car?

Greetings from the SCBWI, Part 2

Last Friday I gave you some of the social highlights from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s conference in Century City, California. And now, following a short vacation, I’m back with more...

Each year, there is an outdoor party with a pre-determined theme, and this year, it was to wear red. Here I am with my good friend and sci-fi/non-fiction writer friend, Paddy Lock, painting the town...


A short-time later, we were joined by MySpace reviewer, Melissa , who I sure enjoyed chatting with and getting to know in real-life!


Later, during the thick of the dancing (luckily no You Tube videos have surfaced of me disco dancing--YET), I got the chance to meet Cindy Pon , whose debut novel, SPIRIT BOUND, will be released by HarperCollins in 2009. Posing with her here is the aforementioned Jay Asher, who I am sure was wearing red suede shoes...


Jumping now to the next--and last night--here’s The Conference Weary, Yet Ready To Get Back to Work Gang, Lisa Smilan, Pam Smallcomb, Janie Emaus, me, and Paddy. These terrific ladies are much of the reason I had so much fun...serious authors who know how to laugh!


I had a fantastic few days with all the writers featured in these two blogs, and with quality time spent with my editor, Krista Marino, and the Firebrand Literary Agency partner, Michael Stearns. Can’t wait for next year!