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I did it! This big chicken spoke in front of over 150 people at the Ventura/SantaBarbara SCBWI Writers' Day, including Meredith Mundy Wasinger, Senior Editor at Sterling Publishing, Patrick Collins, Creative Director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and Jamie Weiss Chilton, Associate Agent for the Andrea Brown Literary Agency — cluck-cluck-gulp!
Up to the week before the event, my hands shook, practicing in front of two of my three writer's groups (would have in front of the third, too, except it's online). They're wonderful people who usually make me feel totally at ease, so I was wondering what the heck would happen when I perched in front of the podium. But thanks to their help in sharpening the focus of the talk, to PowerPoint, for being easy to learn and providing visual prompts, and to a most forgiving audience (which overlooked the fact that I accidentally unplugged the laptop and had to get help starting everything up again), all went well and I actually had fun!
The talk, in an eggshell, was about side-stepping fear to get where you'd like to go. If you're too chicken to cross the road and get there directly, then taking detours in the general neighborhood gets you there by steps. If you're a stubborn chicken, you'll end up where you want, and have a great support team and a wider range of skills to back you up.
I'm a freelancer, illustrating lots of books for the classroom, and designing for Ann Remen-Willis, my wonderful illustration rep, Susan Malloy, the owner of Rosie Lee Imports (a British Import shop in Ventura), and a bunch of growly and brilliant computer experts at Entré.
Whenever possible, I write and illustrate my own work. I call it Sneak-Writing. It's a slow process, but, since I've been a huge big chicken for quite a while, I have several picture books written and dummied, one easy reader (with others on the way), 5/6ths of a YA novel — all writer-grouped and ready to start submitting.
Thanks to SCBWI Writers' Day, five little picture book dummies are visiting Henry Holt at this very moment. To top that off, my portfolio was elected the People's Choice Winner by the largest ever group of attendees at Los Angeles SCBWI Illustrator's Day's Portfolio Competition.
I know the timing for "crossing the road" is rotten, state-of-the-union-economy-wise, but it's taken me too long to get here to let that stop me right at the front stoop.
Anyway, my writer's groups aren't going to let me get away with detours now. So I'm just going to have to peck away at the last of my chickenhood, and start sneak-writing query letters. Who knows? Maybe I can hatch a plan that makes a publisher want to cock-a-doodle-DO!
WRITING CREDITS:
"Butterfly," Ladybug Magazine, March 1998
"Ice Cube Soup," Ladybug Magazine, May 1999, plus cover
ILLUSTRATION CLIENTS
AGENCIES: Aptara, Bill Smith Studio, Dinardo Design, FDG Creative, GGS Design (formerly Design 5 Creative), JDI Apollo, Mazer, Morgan-Cain, Quarasan!
MAGAZINES: Boston Magazine, Cricket, Highlights for Children, Highlights High Five, Ladybug, Southern Living, Ventura County Life & Style
PUBLISHERS: Addison Wesley, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Benzinger, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Group Publishing, Hampton-Brown Books, Harcourt School Publishers, Houghton Mifflin, Northwestern Publishing House, PCI Educational Publishing, Pearson Education, Picture Window Books, Pro Lingua Associates, Rigby, Sadlier, Saxton, SRA/McGraw-Hill, Star Publish, Steck-Vaughn, Techbooks, TCI, Wright Group/McGraw-Hill
DESIGN CLIENTS
Adventures for Kids (books/toys), Anacapa Bread (bakery/restaurant), Dark Tuesday (restaurant event), Dearinger Graphics, Elizabeth Grady Skin Care Salons/Boston, Entre Computers, Good Cup (coffee shop), Las Margaritas (charity group), Lincoln Elementary School, Los Olivos (office property group), Online Store (computers), Pacific Grove Public Library, Pueblo Water Resources (consulting engineers & geologists), Remen-Willis Design Group/Ann Remen-Willis (art manager/artists' representative), SG&D (consulting engineers & geologists), Ventura/Santa Barbara SCBWI
STATS
Member, SCBWI since 1992
People's Choice Winner, 2008 Los Angeles SCBWI Illustrator's Day Portfolio Competition
Spotlight Presenter, 2008 Ventura/Santa Barbara SCBWI Writers' Day
BFA Graphic Design, University of Connecticut
Independent Study, Illustration

I did it! This big chicken spoke in front of over 150 people at the Ventura/SantaBarbara SCBWI Writers' Day, including Meredith Mundy Wasinger, Senior Editor at Sterling Publishing, Patrick Collins, Creative Director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and Jamie Weiss Chilton, Associate Agent for the Andrea Brown Literary Agency — cluck-cluck-gulp! Up to the week before the event, my hand... More