It’s Friday afternoon at the SCBWI LA 40th Anniversary Conference and we have…
Libba Bray-WRITING IT ALL WRONG: A SURVIVAL MANUAL
Seriously, I’m not great at taking notes when Libba is speaking, due to the fact that I’m laughing so hard. But here are some pearls of delightful wisdom that did manage to make it into my notebook…
*Getting it wrong is a necessary part of getting it right.
*Book 1-this is a kind of ignorance is bliss and you only get it once.
Book 2-this is fun, I already know the characters!
Book 3-yeah, I got nothing. I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make when they fly by.
*Best Survival suggestions…
-The voice is in there, buried under the one you hate.
-Close the door on external voices.
-Readers are not trends.
-The difference between the right novel and the wrong novel might just be in how you present your novel. Find out what works for your story.
-Writing is freaking scary.
-We write it wrong in the beginning to protect ourselves.
-All books carry our DNA and if we knew that going in we’d be too frightened to write.
I know I’m spoiled. I know it’s completely unfair that I get to follow a Keynote by Libbra Bray with a Workshop session with Laurie Halse Anderson. All I can say is that I have a freaking fantastic fairy god-mother. That’s the only logical explanation.
Laurie Halse Anderson-THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CRAFTING A CREATIVE LIFE: FINDING LOST TIME AND RECLAIMING CREATIVITY
Laurie is one of my personal super heroes. Many of you probably know that she was the first speaker at my very first SCBWI Conference and she has shaped my life as a writer. I never get tired of being inspired by her heart and soul and her wisdom. Again, here are some of my favorite take-aways from her talk…
*Personal problems are like whack-a-moles…they never stop popping up. You need to accept the distractions and manage the interruptions.
*24 hours is enough. God is not cruel, but she expects you to do the work. *grin*
*Discomfort won’t kill you. Staying with discomfort will pay off with strength and growth.
*You are in more control of how you spend your time and energy than you want to admit…
-Turn of the TV/internet
-Stop volunteering. There are other people who fill their creative voids through volunteering at the PTA-this is not your calling. You fuel yourself through a different kind of art.
-Family needs to see you follow your dreams.
*Be gentle with yourself. The doubt lives in all of us. Don’t be a writer, be writing. Be the verb instead of the noun.
Next up….
Emma Dryden-TRAVELING THROUGH THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE: WHERE WE’VE BEEN AND WHERE WE ARE HEADING
This was a very interesting look at a topic that we are constantly debating and trying to figure out. Here are some key pieces of info…
*Adults reeducate and retool to maneuver new landscapes. Children have nothing to unlearn about the digital world-it’s where they live.
*Story still matters the most.
*We are not moving away from print, we are moving towards a world of print AND digital.
Now its Autograph time!!!!!!
