After a Week Back from Pocono SCBWI

I’ve been back from Pocono SCBWI for a week, with little time to blog. More on why in a moment.

The weather in the Poconos was fit for football, even if we were talking baseball. And writing. Lots and lots of writing. Which is good. Pocono is a well-run and impressive workshop for children’s book writers. Located a little less than an hour from where I grew up, ten minutes from a place where I’ve performed, and 20 minutes from where my parents took their honeymoon, Shawnee on Delaware, PA, feels like home to me. That helps. Always good to feel at home.

The 2011 faculty was impressive, with two of my favorite editors in attendance: Dianne Hess (Scholastic) and Ruta Rimas (Balzer + Bray). Agents Jennifer Rofé (Andrea Brown) and John Rudolph (Dystel), plus editors Robert Agis (Sterling ) and Liesa Abrams (Aladdin), joined them. In between speeches and presentations, I had a lengthy conversation with Eastern PA Resident Adviser Francesca Amedolia on writing, conferences, and her writing theories (which are both entertaining and accurate!). I also had a great time talking with writers like Laura Weller, Kevin Sheridan and Wendy Latty, all of whom impressed me with a wide variety of talent (YA, non-fiction, and art). I also ran into fellow Eastern NY SCBWI members Karen Orloff and Ruth Roberts (we get everywhere!).

Pocono also does a great job at diversion, with repeated parties, auctions, and other events to network. More importantly, this year's auction proceeds were split with the Japanese chapter of SCBWI to help with earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.

Pocono SCBWI Highlights (for me):

1. I attended Dianne Hess' presentation on what she's looking for at Scholastic. OK, so she didn't specifically say my book, but that's what I heard. Actually, Dianne did say she'd get to Spaghettisburg and The Bossy Witch (both of which she requested earlier this year) soon. I also found out Dianne's a vegetarian. I share this nonwriting tidbit because I always like meeting fellow vegetarians and promoting the cause.
2. I attended two sessions with Jennifer Rofé, back to back. The one on book marketing was the most helpful for me (I will write up some of what I learned in a future post. No, really. I promise). The presentations had an informal feel to them, and she has great energy. Really dynamic, that way. Her 5 years as a school teacher showed. Her session on Editing With an Agent was a bit less helpful to me, but only because I'm in the middle of doing that now. That said, it was great to get another perspective on it.
3. Sid Fleischman Humor Award Winner Donna Gephart (How to Survive Middle School) gave an interactive workshop on writing quirky and humorous characters. Largely aimed at YA and middle-grade authors, I thought it wouldn't help me much. I mean, I did stand-up for 20 years and can write a joke, and I don't write YA or MG. Yeah, I thought that right up until...
4. I met with Ruta Rimas Saturday night. She paid my writing a great many compliments, but for the moment is passing on Leaping Lemmings (at least until I can get an agent to submit it for me). I won't go into great detail, but at least the story is still on the table (thankfully!). Ruta then wondered if I ever considered middle grade. No, no I haven't Well, not until the drive home. Four hours is a long time to kill in a car, so I began crafting a middle grade story. Title, main character, beginning and ending. Working on the rest now. And one of the big reasons I haven't blogged. Only so much time, and stories take precedence. Particularly if there's an opening for it.

What I like most about Pocono is that it is workshop heavy; a chance for writers to learn, or at least sharpen, their craft. I may go back next year. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm considering their November event in Gettysburg (a town I love, by the way. Hey, I have Spaghettisburg ready to go!).

And I'm ready to go, too. I'll leave you with these positive words from Ruta.

Ruta: “Children's publishing is a small community.”

Me: “I know. And I want to get in.”

Ruta. “You will. You definitely will.”

I hope she's right, whether that be with my first love – picture books – or perhaps a new love, middle grade. There's no timeline, I guess, just a goal line. I'm still inside the one, inching ever closer. I just don't want to fumble...

A Visit to the Scholastic Store

On Friday, I rolled into Penn Station at 12:35 pm and made 557 Broadway my very first stop. I hit The Scholastic Store by 1:30. I've seen so much of New York City over the years, but this was something new. Something I had to do. What an impressive sight. Props everywhere, with a wide range of books for every taste, from pre-readers and easy readers to mid-grade and young adult, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic Schoolbus, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Captain Underpants, you name it. If you love children's books, try to go someday. It screams kidlit.

Enjoy the pictures! 

Welcome!

What does a dragon read? Anything it wants!

 

I have no idea why he's not slaying the dragon.

Harry Potter soaring over Hogwarts. Not surprisingly, Hermione busy reading.

Only one other place has a flying elephant, but this one dresses better. 

WordGirl and me. Or is it I? Oh, WordGirl will know. She's very smart. But then she has a very big head...

A Pair of Picture Books on an Editor's Desk

A few days ago, an editor at Scholastic Press requested I submit a picture book she and I discussed in passing back in June. I am amazed at her memory and her notes.

 

But I’m even more amazed that just two weeks before that, she requested an entirely different manuscript that she had expressed strong interest in at the same June conference.The one she was paid to critique.

So two weeks, two picture book requests from the same editor. 

 

I don’t know what to make of this new request, but I’m taking it as a good thing. In my experience, and say that of a few thousand other writers, if editors aren’t interested in your work, they don’t request a second manuscript. They simply say “Thanks, not for us. You have talent, but we can’t use it.” (Rejection letters let you down easy; critiques are a slap in the face).

I rewrote this second story, too, just a bit, to make sure it was right to send to her. I didn't quite agonize over it the way I did The Spaghettisburg Address because an editor at Cartwheel (an imprint of Scholastic) had once expressed interest in it and had taken to offering her thoughts on revision. Between her notes and an agent's thoughts on the project, I felt relatively comfortable sending it out. Now I'm in the waiting and hoping game, hoping not only that it gets signed, but that I don't have to wait too long to find out.

And then I'm hoping that one other thing she said in passing also comes true -- that she could see me doing an entire series of these books. Now that's worth waiting for!