The SCBWI regional conference in Frederick, MD this past weekend was fabulous. Congratulations to Edie and Lois!  I’ve never seen such a great line-up outside of a national conference!

Had a critique session with agent Molly Jaffa which was great, too. Decided it was not a pitch session and that seemed to work well. She gave me a good critque with much needed advice on how to deal with the beginning and a thumbs up on the concept of the book, thank goodness. I’ve talked to only one other agent about my kid’s book and he was quite a disappointment. I may have been off because my mom was so sick but just didn’t seem like he knew much about what was going on. Hey, even losing her voice, Molly gave a ton of excellent advice to me personally and in her break-out and panel sessions.

Everything is so personal with a regional conference, you end up talking to editors and authors while you’re eating lunch or just hanging around. Enjoyed meeting everybody!Richard Peck was very accessible and I think the kids really missed out when he stopped teaching.  From work on beginning lines and beginning pages to the big picture, loved hearing him talk about micro editing and high concept. Take this bit, if a lead character hasn’t found his voice by page 40, he figures he has the wrong character in the lead. Never heard anyone give that advice before, but yeah, I get it. Also, was invited to a new critque group.

Lots to work on, so signing off now. Always know it’s been a good investment of time when I’m anxious to try out all the good advice!