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I'll never forget my cave-writing years. I learned everything I could through SCBWI materials and every writing book I could get my hands on. Then, I heard about the NY Winter Conference and thought it sounded great. But scary. At the time, I only wrote picture books, and felt like I needed to have more than the five I had been working on. I needed months. Maybe a year. And then Hubby looked at me and said I should go. Thanks Hubby! It was the absolute best thing I ever could have done for myself and my writing career. I was so inspired that in the weeks before attending the conference, I wrote the first draft of a chapter book and started to write a second as well (both of them are now middle grade novels). I never even considered writing a novel before the conference...and came home so inspired that I started typing away, and realized when I hit 10,000 words that I was actually writing my first novel. Now, I've written at least a first draft of six middle grade novels and two young adult novels...and I can't even count how many picture books I've written--I'm guessing in the thirty range.

I love going to my local conferences--our RA, Linda Bernfeld, always does an amazing job. And I've been to the Poconos Retreat four times, Rutgers One-on-One Plus twice, and Chautauqua. The faculty for the Orlando Workshop is amazing--I hope you'll be able to join me there! Here's the link to our website: http://www.scbwiflorida.com/details.htm. The hotel is on Disney property, so it's the perfect excuse for a family vacation. :)

I had such a hard time choosing, but decided to take the Novel Intensive with the incredible Kathleen Duey (who gave me so many helpful gems at the Novel Intensive in Miami), and editors Alvina Ling and Stephanie Owens Lurie. I can't wait to take the Picture Book Track with Tammi Sauer, Dan Santat, and their editor, Frances Gilbert. I'd love to take the marketing track with Cynthia Leitich Smith--her blog and website are filled with a wealth of information and I really hope I'll be able to take a workshop with her once I have books to promote. I also love Danielle Joseph's novels, and know she'll do an amazing job with the YA track. Wow--what a hard choice!

Here's a peek at the amazing line up.

Picture Book Track
with author Tammi Sauer, illustrator Dan Santat and Frances Gilbert, Vice President and Editorial Director of children’s publishing at Sterling Publishing.

Middle Grade Track
with author Kathleen Duey and Alvina Ling, Senior Editor, Little Brown.

Young Adult Track
with author Danielle Joseph and
Brian Farrey, Editor, Flux.

Series Track
with author Terri Farley and
Stephanie Owens Lurie, Editorial Director, Disney – Hyperion.

Marketing Track
with author/blogger Cynthia Leitich Smith, author/social media consultant Greg Pincus and Ed Masessa, author and Senior Manager Product Development, Scholastic Book Fairs.

I hope to see you there!