SCBWI Conference Oakland, CA 2009

I attended my first writers conference yesterday in Oakland, CA. It was hosted by SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.) It was an amazing day.

The President of SCBWI was the keynote speaker. His name is Stephen Mooser. He was quite an inspiring and funny man. The ideas he comes up with for children's books amaze me.

There were several books to look for mentioned at this conference and each idea hit me with a - wow, could I have ever thought of that? Man, I have to get my creative cap on to come up with something really unique to catch people's attention.

The people attending the conference, my fellow writers, were also wonderful. So many are full of their own stories to tell, it is no wonder there are such a variety of books available.

When I listen to music I am dumbfounded that there are so many thousands of sounds and just so many notes, how can people still come up with beautiful new music? I think the same goes with books. And yet, people create "new" everyday.

I sat in front of my book at each break, eager to share my story of getting published as well as my books message. I gave the conference bookstore three copies to sell, as suggested last week, and they ran out. So, I ran to my car to get another three and those sold too. I was so happy and grateful that people liked it.

I got home last night after reviewing all that I heard, including my YA novel critique and have decided to make some major changes to my YA. I am so excited to see what happens to the book as I rework it with all my new information.

I can't wait to go to another conference.

I also know that I am a writer and an illustrator, for real! I have ideas and art poring into my head. I just need to pull myself out of the clouds and focus on the projects at hand and table ideas. I am eager to get the draft of "Through Desert Eyes," to my publisher and see if he wants to move forward with it. The flow of that book, I think is even better than my first:)