Patience, Grasshopper, I answer. As many as it takes.
Yes, I did take some cold medicine. Why do you ask?
So, Friday of NY trip. I was so thrilled to be invited to lunch with V, Agents Extraordinaire Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and Suzie Townsend, and one of Suzie's cool clients. We had mexican food at Dos Caminos, which was YUM. Even better was the conversation, which was almost all books and writing and YA. The waitress asked us at one point to please stop talking about TWILIGHT or she would be forced to buy it. O_o Such kindred spirits!
Some conferency stuff, and then Team Sparkle rested until it was time for KidLit drinks. That was so fun!! I felt so New-Yorkish all dressed up with cosmo in hand. (It was an Irish pub, but I could not resist the call of the cosmo) The place was a bit too crowded to say hi to all the people I wanted to, but I did get to meet SF Agent Jennifer Laughran (literaticat) and fab authors Shana Silver, Jen Hayley, Suzanne Young, and many more!
THEN we decided to take a midnight trip up to the top of the Empire State Building.
My favorite part of telling this story is that every single person, New Yorker or not, says "I didn't know it was open that late!"
Saturday I had complete Picture Fail, but it was a jam-packed full day, the actual SCBWI conference. Highlights:
- I cried--openly--at Libba Bray's keynote speech. It was so what I needed to hear right then.
- The Writing Fantasy breakout with Arianne Lewin, a Disney/Hyperion editor. Intriguing stuff.
- The Literary Fiction breakout with Alvina Ling, who I follow on Twitter. Extremely useful. The book I'm writing now is definitely on the literary/commercial straddle.
- Jacqueline Woodson's inspiring speech, particularly her reading aloud her beautiful writing
- Peter Sis's fascinating life story
- Jim Benton's creative and stimulating talk, illustrated (Happy Bunny!)
And look, they took video! Check it out! http://www.yahighway.com/2010/02/nyc-publishing-tips-movie.html
We finished up the evening with a group dinner with the most excellent crew from the Blueboards.
See? There is so very much to talk about it *requires* many posts. One more to come!
Make as many posts as you like -- I love hearing about your NY trip! :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a writers' conference, so it's fun to hear about it firsthand.
ReplyDeleteWhat was Libba Bray's keynote speech about?
Tawna
I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one who teared up during Libba's speech! Actually, I got misty eyed during a few of those talks and felt like I was the only one blinking away tears.
ReplyDeleteWow. You girls were crying? I and a lot of the people around me were cracking up laughing. We thought Libba was so funny - surprisingly so. I had no idea she was such a humorous person. She clearly has many talents besides writing. A stand-up comedian could count as one of them.
ReplyDeleteI did tear up when Jacqueline Woodson spoke. Her writing is really poignant.
I cracked up at most of what she was saying, too, but when she got to the inspirational parts, like telling us to write for the teenagers that we were, the waterworks would start.
ReplyDeleteSee --- if you all write brilliant and multiple posts about NYC, I can just link to them and skip writing one myself?
ReplyDeleteAnd send me pictures! I love the Empire State Building ones :)
Linder: :)
ReplyDeleteTawna: Libba's speech was funny and inspirational, but what touched a nerve in me was the theme of writing the weirdness within, no matter what it is, in spite of the possibility of failure. Just letting it go!
Here's a summary of some of it:
http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/2010/01/opening-keynote-libba-bray-part-2.html
Cathy and June: Oh, I was laughing too. But some bits of it, particularly at the end, were directly relevant to my own experience, and jerked a few tears. :)
Tiffany: You CAN, but I'd love to hear your side too!