It's been a while...

  I haven't posted in a while and I feel so guilty! Especially because a lot has been happening! The other weekend I attended my very first writer's conference. For two full days at the SCBWI Western WA 20th Annual writing conference I attended breakout sessions, listened to keynote speakers, mingled with fellow writers and illustrators, and even met a published author or two.  It was an awesome experience and I am so glad that I went and did it on my own. 
  Here are some of my favorite pieces of advice/ helpful reminders that I took away:

Story comes from what you know, what you feel and from what you can imagine

Ignore any prohibitive thing

Let kids embrace their weirdness

Your work should melt the editor's face off they love it so much

Write from your heart, not to a trend

Take the time to make your work Great

Work harder

Enter contests! Win awards! Get your work out there

Revise, make your work better, always be evolving and learning and improving

Write because you love it, surround yourself with what you love and draw inspiration from it

Make your work meaningful

Leave your mark on the world

  I can't wait to one day attend the national SCBWI conferences in NY and LA. The inspiration and motivation I drew from this one conference makes it all worth while.

Now, I gotta get to work!

Me with the awesome author/illustrator Jesse Joshua Watson and his inspring book Hope for Haiti

Me and the wonderful Peggy King Anderson, SCBWI WWA's first ever recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.  I have taken her class, The Magic of Writing for Children three times and hope to enroll again soon.