There was a super lineup of keynote speakers - here they are (in order of appearance): Jon Scieszka, M.T. Anderson, Loren Long, Gordon Korman, Marion Dane Bauer, E.B. Lewis, Gail Carson Levine, Carolyn Mackler, Gennifer Choldenko, Rubin Pfeffer, Rachel Vail, Paul Fleischman and Ashley Bryan.
There were also a zillion workshops throughout the four days. I'd go into detail, but why reinvent the wheel? There was a team of bloggers who covered the sessions. You can read it here: The official SCBWI Conference Blog.
I met so many talented and fun people, many of whom I'd talked to online but never in person. I had two roommates I'd found online - E. Samantha Cheng, a mini-documentary producer and Shelby Mahan, a middle-grade nonfiction writer. I was worried that we might not hit it off and it would be uncomfortable for us. Well, there was no need to worry - we had the greatest time together! As a matter of fact, we've vowed to be roommates for all future conferences!
I also met my agent, Jamie Weiss Chilton, for the first time in person! On Saturday night, she and her fellow agent, Kelly Sonnack, hosted a little wine and cheese gathering in the park for their clients. It was so nice meeting them all. On Sunday morning, she took me out to breakfast at a really cool restaurant - can't remember the name of it though. It was nice getting to know her better.
I hope I'll be able to attend next year - it'll be their 40th year so it's bound to be loads of fun! If I do go, I'll know better than to lug 20 books with me. At Friday night's book sale, I only sold five books - and three of them were bought by my roommates! Obviously, this picture was taken before I counted how many books were left!
Anyone out there have a good conference you'd recommend?
Anything SCBWI rocks my socks off.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a blast. Keep the excitement going and enjoy another great year!
Fun pics, Lori! I'll be attending the online WriteOnCon this week and hopefully Prairie Writers Day in November!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cat - SCBWI always has fantastic events!
ReplyDeleteKelly, I'm doing the WriteOnCon and Prairie Writers Day too! I'll see you there - if not before!
I thought of going to the SCBWI conference, but it was a bit too pricey for me. Instead, I attended the Midwest Writer's Workshop at Ball State University.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME conference! Great speakers/instructors! Everyone was very friendly. Since it was a smaller conference, there were many opportunities to get to know people and chat with authors and agents.
Since you (like me) are in the Chicago area, I would definitely recommend the Midwest Writer's Workshop in Muncie, IN. I think they hold it the last weekend in July each year.
A.J., I wasn't going to go either but then my husband got free airline tickets and hotel vouchers from his work so I decided to go.
ReplyDeleteThe Midwest Writer's Workshop sounds great - I'll check it out!
How cool to meet your agent in person for the first time! My roomie did the same thing!
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It was great meeting her! Who was your roommate and who is her agent?
ReplyDeleteMy roomie was Heather Zenzen (she’s awesome), and her agent was the (very popular) Steven Malk. :)
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