Greetings from SCBWI Mid-Winter: P's Perspective

With the scent of Halal kababs and Gyros in the air, literally since there are at least four carts right near the hotel, the children's writers have converged on New York with a quiet buzz.

The first day of the Mid-Winter was info-heavy, fast-paced and very well organized. I haven't hooked up with anyone from Verla's or the Yahoo Chick Lit groups (bummer) because I'm finding it tough to show my girls around NYC and juggle conference attendance. It's been a full day.

I've been taking notes all day long and have much to share. Hope you find the information helpful. I've broken it down into different posts to make reading easier. Also, you might find you're more interested in one aspect of the conference over the other.

So here it goes....

Keynote David Almond

I found David Almond's opening keynote inspiring. He hit the writing process on the nose - the insecurity, frustration, joy - all of it.

The highlights of Almond's talk this a.m.:

- Reminded us why we write - because it's our ability to imagine no matter what the situation; to envision a world the way we want it to be.

- He boiled writing down to taking a mes of "stuff" and being able to turn it into nice, neat little stories of lined sentences.

- Asked writers to embrace the "Messiness" of our imaginations

- Almond's perspective (one, which I agree) is that you can't really plan a story. He pulled out a notebook with pages covered from top to bottom in incoherent scribbling to prove his point. He said that's his only process.

- When discussing what it takes to be a writer, he pointed out that we must be "daft" to think we can do it - it's why we're writers. Because we ask ourselves "How do I dare think I can do this?" yet we still pursue the profession.

- To be a successful writer you must "dare to be stupid."

- Said our objectives as writers is to stir up our reader because children read with their bodies and senses vs. their minds.

- He touched on feeling envy and bitterness towards published authors after many years of being rejected (his first book took 5 years to write and was rejected by 33 publishers)

- He retreated from that bitterness and came back with a new perspective on writing and things took a turn soon after

Almond Advice On...
- Rejection "No is just no - nothing more."
- Plotting "Take an an object, any object and ask what can I do with that?" then go from there

His final message: TRUST YOUR IMAGINATION

My fave quote: "The more you use your imagination themore it gives you."

More to follow...