Writers Conference Review

It's been a week since I returned from the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York, but I've had little time to post, although some time to reflect. Plenty of the professional writers who spoke (among them R.L. Stine, Jules Feiffer, and Jane Yolen) mentioned the opportunity this writers conference offers to network, to meet editors and find closed houses open to you -- if only for a submission or two.

They're right, of course. SCBWI opens up opportunities to meet editors who are all but unreachable otherwise. The majority of your networking, however, will be with other writers and illustrators. Not bad, mind you. They can make you better at your craft, send tips your way (and rumors!), and open even more doors. Conferences, recommendations and writers groups are wonderful things.

Of the three workshops I attended, I found Alessandra Balzer's of B+B (hey, that first B is for Balzer!) the most helpful. It was on book marketing. Most of what she relayed I already know or am doing, but there was one gem that got my wheels spinning. Not so much the advice -- "find something the market doesn't have, something it needs but doesn't know it needs" -- but how to pitch something that falls in that vein suddenly formed in my head. Something that the kidlit market has little of, but maybe, just maybe, I can fill. Will have to talk with Scholastic Press more on this one. Later in the day, I threw Alessandra a one-line pitch, based on her suggestions of the typical Hollywood this meets that pitch: Leaping Lemmings as Naked Mole Rat meets Humpty Dumpty. She said she loved Naked Mole Rat and couldn't wait to see my manuscript. B+B already has it, but it seemed like the right pitch anyway.

I was also impressed that Ms. Balzer remembered me from the night before -- at the SCBWI VIP party. She was making the rounds with Mo Willems. Yeah, that Mo Willems. Mo and I talked about stand-up comedy for maybe ten minutes. When Alessandra and Mo approached, I was talking with Mo's agent, Marcia Wernick, who just that week started her own agency. OK, yes, I freely admit it. The best part of  SCBWI NY was the VIP party. It's where the real networking gets done. I ran into Dianne Hess from Scholastic Press again, and Nancy Castaldo and I attempted to recruit her for the Capital District SCBWI Conference Falling Leaves this November. I talked Type I diabetes with Arthur Levine, also from Scholastic. I ran into Ruta Rimas, from B+B, who has Lemmings, and I spoke briefly with Rotem Moscovich. Well, I had to. Not only did she provide a great critique of The Bossy Witch some time ago, but I received a rejection letter from Cartwheel telling me she was no longer there. Turns out she jumped to Disney/Hyperion. Good to know. I also talked at great length to the very talented Katia Wish, the winner of the Tomie de Paolo art award. Great party (um, yeah, open bar... why do you ask?), good conversation, and I am thrilled -- absolutely thrilled -- to have attended.

Now about next year...