Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators ... and more

Dear Reader,

I'm so glad to be in touch with you again.

My family just returned from a wonderful trip to England. Our daughters were on a Choir Tour and my husband and I were chaperones. We are still a little jet-lagged but things are returning to normal.

As a parent, an avid reader, a singer, and a history buff I can't tell you how overwhelmingly wonderful the trip was. And how creatively inspiring it was, too -- a new story idea popped into my head while another story idea was solidified. (Plus, it was great fun to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince once we got home and recognize all of the famous sites and locations in the movie that we had just seen the week before during the trip.)

Ironically, as a chaperone, I can't begin to tell you how overwhelmingly awful the trip was -- but that's not a topic for here -- you can check out The Good Manners Mom Blog if you're at all interested in how awful middle school girls can be! I'll be posting there later today!

But I digress.

I am still working through revisions with Kecia (my artist) so I don't have any new updates on the book progress. Fingers crossed I'll have some progress to report on my next blog post.

In the meantime, I registered for the Fall Philly Conference of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). Just got my confirmation emailed to me. It's being held on Saturday, October 10th. I love this conference! In years past, I've picked up some great contacts, met a lot of nice people, and received some good advice and positive encouragement. What's not to love!?!

As part of the conference, I can submit up to 10 pages of a manuscript for review by an agent, editor or author from the panel of presenters. I need to get my manuscript out asap -- slots fill up fast. I hope to drop it in the mail this weekend. (Just as an FYI, this story is different than the two books that Good Manners Kids Stuff Press will be publishing soon.)

If any of you are aspiring authors/illustrators of childrens books, I highly recommend joining SCBWI. There are 2 national conferences (in CA in August and NY in February) along with local chapters and conferences. I've been to the NY one, too -- although I prefer the local one because the panel members are much more approachable due to the smaller size of the crowd.

One last item to tell you about: I (or, more accurately, Good Manners Kids Stuff Press) received an invitation to be part of the Frankfort Book Fair! Sadly, with no actual books published just yet, my attendance would be a little premature. And hard to explain. Here's hoping that next year I'll be there (and at other fairs and trade shows) with our line of books.

Until my next post, I wish you Happy Reading and Writing!

Leslie