Highlights (and some choice photos) from #LA18SCBWI

Photos:

My pal Tomie DePaola (a.k.a. Laurent Linn)

Margaret Atwood makes an impression on Jim Averbeck (or was Jim doing the impression?)

I've always wanted to meet Chimamanda Adichie (nice to meet you, Nadia Hohn!)

Seeing double - Lin Oliver as Picasso's cubist period, Lin Oliver, and Henry Winkler

Inspiration:

One thing you write, one piece of art you create, can enter a young person's heart and change it forever. And then they'll go forth... and change the world, in ways that are impossible for us to imagine. -@brucecoville keynote finale to #LA18SCBWI #Inspiration


"Word of mouth works. So please talk up the books you love." -@brandycolbert at #LA18SCBWI


"Reading is the best and safest place to practice life." -@LindaSuePark at #LA18SCBWI


Best career advice ever: "Write the best, most honest book you can. A book you're proud of. Repeat." -@libbabray at #LA18SBWI #writingtips


"We are facing the sorts of monsters we read about in fiction. So now we have to be the kinds of heroes we read about in books." - @libbabray at #LA18SCBWI


"Votes will help. But stories—it's what will save us." - @djolder opening keynote at #la18scbwi


"The stuff that we are ashamed of can make for very good storytelling..." And learning our vulnerability can help children makes it worth it. -Linda Mullaly Hunt at #LA18SCBWI


"Kids need us to care more about them then about our careers or ourselves." - Linda Mullaly Hunt at #LA18SCBWI


Great suggestion from @LynMullalyHunt Don't call it a "rejection" letter. Call it a "not yet" letter. Yes! #LA18SCBWI


"Whiteness is not a culture. Whiteness is a power structure." -@ArthurALevine1 at #LA18SCBWI


"Miscommunication is a big story tool" that we can use as writers. - Deborah Halverson at #LA18SCBWI


"Write the thing that scares you. The thing that makes you uncomfortable." - @ElanaKArnold at #LA18SCBWI


"Focus on the writing." There's so much noise, but focus on the writing. -@brandycolbert at #LA18SCBWI


Writing nonfiction: how do you know if your idea is going to be a PB, MG, or YA? "We'll figure it out. Just do you." -@AndreaDavisPink at #LA18SCBWI


"Every book is its own universe." -@imaroxburygirl at #LA18SCBWI Wisdom, and such beautiful art!


"Write the story that you were meant to write... the story of your heart." -Erin Entrada Kelly at #LA18SCBWI


Team Blog:

Giant thanks to my fellow SCBWI Team Bloggers for #LA18SCBWI! (from left, me, Jaime Temairik, Jolie Stekly, Martha Brockenbrough, Adria Quiñones, and Don Tate

And overall,

I leave the SCBWI 2018 Summer Conference so grateful to be part of this Children's and Teen literature Community!