Wow! Fourteen hours of speakers and sessions, good food and friend-making is…just wow!
Big Picture Book Industry Tip: Your story must be started by page 10. If you are still writing details and your MC isn’t on his/her journey, then consider a rewrite. More from Candace Fleming at a later date.
Editor Allie Brydon speaks on sloshing out of the slush pile. Her big tip on writing for kids? “Write simpler, not simplistic.”
Editor Molly O’Neill presented the business side of the industry. Her mantra, “Write your own story, not someone else’s.” And no, she doesn’t mean churn out memoirs. She simply means that writers need to be original in their own works. We need to find our own stories and storytelling from within us.
Diane Muldrow, Editorial Director of Golden Books/Random House and author, recapped the amazing history of children’s literature in America. If you don’t know it, study it. You’ll have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of what it means to write for kids.
I can’t say enough about Lin Oliver. I sat by her at lunch and she’s sweet and charming and concerned and caring and supportive and amazing and…well, you get the picture. Did I mention she’s also the co-founder of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators? Yeah, that was totally cool!
I’ve learned oodles today and can’t wait to digest it all.
It’s also ten thirty and I have another five hours of conference tomorrow followed by a seven hour drive home.
Time for bed!
PS. I’d love to totally dish on my agent cuz he rocks my socks off. We had several delightful, insightful and just plain fun conversations today. Can’t wait to listen to him present tomorrow.
PPS. Can I just say wow?!?!?!
Words from the Woods 