Get Ready. Get Set. The 2011 SCBWI Winter Conference Registration...

Opens Tomorrow!!! (Wednesday Oct 6, 2010 at 10am pacific standard time.) It's going to be sooo cool!

And if this blog headline sounds like the start of a race, well, it kind of is... The pre-conference intensives always sell out. And they are an amazing opportunity for writers and illustrators of kid lit. For writers, you get to sit at a table with an Editor or an Agent, read them the first 500 words of your work in progress, and get their feedback. Sometimes it sparks something in them, and they want to read the rest. Careers have been made in those moments. Sometimes, their feedback sparks something in you, and you realize what you need to do to revise your manuscript and make it better. And always, listening to the feedback you get and other people give (and get), you learn. 'Cause you're sitting at a table with eight other authors and a kid lit professional! And you get to do it twice, with two different kid lit professionals - once in the morning, once in the afternoon. It's a great opportunity to turbo-charge your journey.

And then the conference itself, all day Saturday and the first half of Sunday. There's going to be lots of info shared on the business of writing and illustrating, and lots of inspiration shared on the journey of being a writer (and yes, an illustrator!)

Once more, I'll be hosting (with some exciting soon-to-be-announced co-hosts) a GLBTQ and Allied Mixer on Saturday night.

And once again, I'm honored to be part of SCBWI Team Blog, lead by Alice Pope,



and we'll be giving you exclusive pre-conference interviews with faculty and live-blogging from the conference floor.

It will be January in New York, and it'll be cold outside, but inside... we'll be experiencing creative fusion!

Oh, did I mention the pigeon and knuffle-bunny master himself, Mo Willems, will be on faculty?

And National Book Award Finalist Sara Zarr (for "Story of a Girl"), Newbery Award Winning Author Lois Lowry (She won for "The Giver" and has written 36 other books!), Jules Feiffer (memoirist, illustrator and author, who illustrated Lois Lowry's latest book, "Birthday Ball"), author R.L. Stine (who's so scary good he'll give you goosebumps - get it?), and more!!!

WOW!!!

I hope you can join us.

Set your clocks, alarms, and put it in your calendar:

Tomorrow, 10am, registration opens.

Be in New York City for the magic, January 28-30, 2011.

And

#ny11scbwi

will be the twitter hashtag to follow! And bookmark (or subscribe to) The Official SCBWI Conference Blog for links and updates from everyone on Team Blog. (And you can check out the incredible archive we've created of material from previous conferences, too!)





Namaste,
Lee