What Ten Years Brings: Mid-Atlantic SCBWI 2012
This past weekend, I headed to Northern Virginia for my yearly trek to the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI conference. I wasn't speaking this year, but I was on the critique faculty. I like this; it gives me a chance to do something I think can be really useful, and it lets me meet new people.
Of course, the new people, the talks and panels, and the general atmosphere are a draw, but the biggest draw is seeing the friends I've been making over the last ten years. Yep, this was my 10 year anniversary of SCBWI-conference-going.
My first year, I sat alone the whole day. I enjoyed it, but I was definitely alone as I listened to authorities like Barry Goldblatt and Stephanie Lurie. The next year, I volunteered. And the friends started coming, in a trickle at first, but then conference after conference, year after year, I started collecting my peeps. And now, going to Mid-Atlantic SCBWI is like coming home.
Best of all, though, was a moment I didn't expect, a moment that left me teary and pulled at my chest. Karen Cushman was scheduled for the keynote, but an accident left her unable to come at the last minute and the conference organizers asked my bestie NBA-winning-author Kathryn Erskine to reprise her speech from last winter's NY SCBWI conference. Kathy was her usual charming and funny self as she flipped through her Powerpoint presentation on FOCUS. And then it happened. At the end of the presentation, she had a slideshow set up of book covers. A random person in the audience might have thought they were random book covers, or perhaps, some of Kathy's favorite books. But I knew better. Kathy was posting the covers of our friends' books, all published in, yes, the last ten years. There were books from Kristy Dempsey, Linda Urban, Loree Griffin Burns, Moira Donahue, Katy Duffield, Madelyn Rosenberg, Julie Swanson, Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren, Alma Fullerton, Sara Lewis Holmes . . . too many to list. Ten years ago, none of us were published. And now we are. You can see why I teared up.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Kathy, right before she went on for her keynote:
Linda Budzinski, Natalie Lorenzi, me, Laura Lowman Murray
Me and Madelyn Rosenberg
Agent Tina Dubois Wexler and her client, my friend Sara Lewis Holmes
Sara, me and Kathy
Of course, the new people, the talks and panels, and the general atmosphere are a draw, but the biggest draw is seeing the friends I've been making over the last ten years. Yep, this was my 10 year anniversary of SCBWI-conference-going.
My first year, I sat alone the whole day. I enjoyed it, but I was definitely alone as I listened to authorities like Barry Goldblatt and Stephanie Lurie. The next year, I volunteered. And the friends started coming, in a trickle at first, but then conference after conference, year after year, I started collecting my peeps. And now, going to Mid-Atlantic SCBWI is like coming home.
Best of all, though, was a moment I didn't expect, a moment that left me teary and pulled at my chest. Karen Cushman was scheduled for the keynote, but an accident left her unable to come at the last minute and the conference organizers asked my bestie NBA-winning-author Kathryn Erskine to reprise her speech from last winter's NY SCBWI conference. Kathy was her usual charming and funny self as she flipped through her Powerpoint presentation on FOCUS. And then it happened. At the end of the presentation, she had a slideshow set up of book covers. A random person in the audience might have thought they were random book covers, or perhaps, some of Kathy's favorite books. But I knew better. Kathy was posting the covers of our friends' books, all published in, yes, the last ten years. There were books from Kristy Dempsey, Linda Urban, Loree Griffin Burns, Moira Donahue, Katy Duffield, Madelyn Rosenberg, Julie Swanson, Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren, Alma Fullerton, Sara Lewis Holmes . . . too many to list. Ten years ago, none of us were published. And now we are. You can see why I teared up.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Kathy, right before she went on for her keynote:
Linda Budzinski, Natalie Lorenzi, me, Laura Lowman Murray
Me and Madelyn Rosenberg
Agent Tina Dubois Wexler and her client, my friend Sara Lewis Holmes
Sara, me and Kathy