What a conference! My awesome roomies, Shawn McGuire and Tammi Sauer, were so much fun! Thanks, ladies!!

I hadn’t been to LA for the conference since 2007 so it felt great to return. I was awarded a full International Conference Scholarship back in 2003 (they weren’t officially announced back then) and retruned several years in a row.

Once I arrived at the Hyatt on Thursday, I slid right back into Writer’s Camp mode, because being surrounded with 1,000 other publishing industry people makes me feel right at home. Ahhhh!

Shawn and I were exhausted from only getting 2 to 3 hours sleep, so we hit the pool and lounged. Thursday night was dinner in Beverly Hills with a group of amazing and fun authors.

After Friday’s opening talks and keynotes, I went to my critique. The editor who was given my middle grade novel was amazing. She gave me two pages of comments and said my character is super-likeable, the family dynamics are realistic and terrific, and compared it to 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass – a great thing!! I came away feeling very inspired and grateful.

I attended the afternoon workshop Know Your Rights: Making the Most of Your Subsidiary Rights with Tracey and Josh Adams . This was very interesting and informative and I came away with deeper knowledge and a better understanding of this part of the business. I wasn’t exactly sure what World English Rights or North American Rights meant going into the workshop and their explanation cleared up a lot for me. Basically, World English Rights covers anything printed in English, regardless of the territory. Foreign Rights for printing in another language, such as German or Italian, goes beyond that and is Translation Rights. I was lumping World English and Translation Rights all together so now I understand the why and how they are separate. Flux holds World English Rights to my novel, Mercy Lily, and I’ve heard they do a great job exploiting those rights. I’ll cross my fingers and whisper my motto, high hopes – little expectations. J

Friday night I participated in the PAL Member Cocktail Party and Book sale and had a great time. It was my first official event with Mercy Lily and even though I didn’t have copies to sell, I gave away bookmarks and chatted with a lot of people who came to my table. Super fun!! After that, the Wisconsin SCBWI members got together and had pizza and drinks and then we went to the X Bar. Lots of fun and shenanigans!!

Saturday was whirlwind of keynotes and workshops and it was go-go-go until the big 40 Winks Poolside Gala. The day was packed with informative and inspiring talks! The evening was gobs of fun. I danced until my feet hurt and got up on stage and sang a bit of “Brick House.” Believe me when I tell you I was sober but intoxicated from the energy of 1,000 attendees.

I had a chance to catch up with writer pals on Sunday before the Golden Kite luncheon and then was treated to the amazing line-up of speeches by the winners and the always charming and inspiring Richard Peck. I adore him!

Ellen Hopkins was at my table and even though it’s hard to talk across a table for twelve, it was great to spend a little time with her and my writer friends. After the meal, a few seats opened up and Sonya Sones and Judy Blume sat with us! I’m a huge fan of both and have had the pleasure of meeting Sonya before (she’s super nice and even sent me photos she’d taken of me – some of which I use online.) Going over to say “Hi” to Sonya, I said a quick hello to Judy Blume a