SCBWI Member of the Year 2010, Christopher Cheng, shares Australian gifts with Illinois writers!


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I was on an airplane bound for home-catching up on sleep-when I woke to the in-flight movie, a silent scene from Oceans. Thousands of crabs were marching like underwater soldiers, separated in two groups, inching toward each other. I couldn’t hear the narrator and didn’t know if it was a crab war, or perhaps a massive crab orgy. Did I want to watch ( Read more... )

My first morning in LA, and I received a wake-up call from my 6-year-old.
"Mom," he said. "There were these huge ants outside yesterday by the park. Huuuuge. Like Jurassic Park--"
"Buddy," I spoke over him, "It's, um, 4:45 here." He argued something like, Nuh-uh, it's 6:45. And we went on like that for five minutes, talking about the time change and ( Read more... )

I like to re-gift-rewrap and give others a present I might not need. And that’s what I intend to do with my birthday gift from my parents.


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After sleeping, and lots of toilet scrubbing in a house that was inhabited by three males and two pets, I am getting back to the controlled chaos that I missed so dearly while away in LA.  As promised, I am sharing my notes, focusing on break-out sessions.  The first of which was given by Rachel Cohn.

I had a hard time controlling myself, fighting ( Read more... )