Now that I have fully recovered from the conference, I can begin to talk about it!
Day 1: Friday, August 5, 2011.
I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before. Or it could have been that my room at the hostel was right next to the bar. Either way, I was a bit tired, but VERY EXCITED.
Parking at the hotel was valet.
Yeah, I’m not ritzy.
I had never done that before.
I walk in and look extremely confused. Not only have I never had valet parking before, I’ve never been to a fancy hotel either. Now show me a Comfort Inn, and I can immediately point out all the vending machines, and probably even the continental breakfast area.
I immediately found another person who looked lost.
And asked her to be my friend.
Together Jessixa (aweomse illustrator) and I went to get registered.
It was at this time that Singe Singe (my sock monkey) started to hang from my name tag and experience the conference first hand.
We met another newbie at the newbie oreintation (weird, huh?) named Allen who has written a book about a flying whale that I am excited to read.
At the newbie orientation, they gave us this quote to make us feel better:
Then we actually had to write down some goals. I get it. If you write it down, you are more likely to follow them. Here are my actual goals:
And with that, we were all off to the keynote.
So how it works was there was an intro and two keynotes, and we were a bit late getting there, so we had to sit at the back for a while, on the floor. The whole ballroom was filled with chairs which were filled with writers, illustrators, agents, editors, and other people like that. It kind of felt like that scene from the Witches (Roald Dahl) only we weren’t planning on turning children into mice.
After the faculty was introduced, some chairs opened up, and we gladly got off the floor and took them, and readied for the first keynote.
And that was Bruce Coville. Man is he funny.
Some of his advice?
After Bruce was Jerry Pinkney. If you haven’t read a picture book that he’s illustrated, stop reading this post right now and go do it. He’s a great illustrator, and showed us some pictures that he used for inspiration. Some of his family, others of things he has just seen over the years that were interesting to him. Here are some words of advice from him:
Next were the breakout sessions. We were encouraged to go to whichever one we wanted. I chose one with Allyn Johnston and Marla Frazee, because I LOVE Marla’s work. I told her so after the session. They talked about why they still like picture books. I was two or three seats away from a girl with red hair who was drawing in her notebook. I remember she was really good. You’re going to want to remember her.
After that it was time for lunch! Hooray! I didn’t bring anything and was certifiable starving at this point, so bought the overpriced food from the lunch cart. Next up? A panel with publishers. AWESOME!
Followed by the HILARIOUS Libba Bray, talking about what to do when you think your writing has gone all wrong…
Next was another breakout session. I decided to go see Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler talk about humor, which I thought didn’t really apply to me, but I wanted to meet Henry Winkler! THE FONZ! Little did I know that I AM funny and he is downright hilarious!
Everyone gathered back together to listen to Emma Dryden talk about the digital age of publishing, but I was nervous. I had my critique of my manuscript at six, and really couldn’t think about anything else.
Turns out I had nothing to worry about! My editor, Diane Muldrow, was awesome! She acquires books for Golden Books, and really liked my story. She did say I could probably pare it down a bit (It was a collection of four stories) and just go with the most commercial one (party related) but she liked the wit of both characters and thought their voices were great. When she asked what else I was doing and I told her about my illustrations and reading journal project, she was impressed. She said she wished more people would read picture books like I am for the research and said that I’m doing everything right and soon I will see the results. It was really encouraging!
After that boost, I went to get some books signed. Norton Juster, Henry Winkler, Lin Oliver, and Jon Scieszka were on my list. I ran into that girl with the red hair. Her name is Lisa. Now you’re really going to want to remember her!
We hit up the PAL booksale (to see who had been published, but also, we’re not gonna lie, for the free food) and ran into Jessixa there. Soon the three of us headed to the Illustrators Social, where there were peanuts and portfolios. We found out that Lisa won a scholarship to the conference, and met many other great people through exchanging cards and walking around and talking.
Two ones to note are Jason and Jerry. They’ll come back later!
Then it was time to go home, which means finding the valet parking ticket, as well as the reduced rate voucher, and paying for the parking. When I got back to the hostel, it was so late that I had to park outside of the imposing gates and parking lot. No matter. I was so tired by the time I got to my room that I didn’t even notice that I had a new roommate. I was out and down for the count.
And that was just day 1 ! Can you IMAGINE????
And it only gets better.
It’s almost as tiring typing it up as it was living it!
And almost as exciting!
ok, more days to come soon!
until then,
KE
