SCBWI Conference '08 - The Buzz

All cameras were out at the SCBWI Annual Conference, except mine - I haven't worked out how to take good photos indoors at a distance with or without a flash. I took this one the night before at the Friday Critiquers' meal.

Ah, the wonders of facebook - I virtually met the group of illustrators in my critique group which helped us spot each other in the crowded foyer. Funny how just a few words exchanged online can help you focus on the purpose of the event - to discuss each others' work and go away feeling that you know the next step in your book proposal. I think this set the tone of the whole weekend. From the moment we entered the room, there was a buzz about it. Many of the critque groups had already read and made notes on each others work and were keen to talk about it. I thought we'd have had difficulty hearing each other but the moment the circles closed in, heads were down and the serious business of discussing the art and craft of story, began.

Natascha Biebow opened the conference reminding us that the Professional Series was in its 5th year and plans are already under way for the next in 2009. There will be a new UNDISCOVERED VOICES Anthology in 2010 with a launch in March 2009 and to get our competitive juices flowing at the conference 2008 - there was the last chance to pin up comics for the extravaganza and time to fine-tune the 2-line pitch before the deadline the next morning. I skipped to my first chosen breakout session - Lee Weatherly and her talk on Series Fiction. I'll be back with the details in my next post!

My fellow critters:
Jo Loring-Fisher
Mary Harris
Paul Morton
Jamie Stevenson