Back from the SCBWI Iowa Conference…

And I traveled REALLY far to get there, too…all the way to Iowa City (all of about 7 miles from my house to the hotel where the conference was held). I don’t go to a lot of SCBWI conferences anymore, but since this one was here, and the R.A. brought in some really amazing speakers, I decided to go. It IS fun to spend the weekend with other children’s book authors.

There are drawbacks to having the conference in your town, though: 1) since one glass of wine tends to put me under the table, I don’t dare have any in the bar before I head home; 2) I do actually have to drive home at the end of the day/night; 3) I have to get up earlier than everyone who’s staying over since I have to drive back in the morning.

But there are benefits to having the conference in your town, too…the main one being my twelve-year-old was able to attend last night’s banquet and get his picture taken with lisayee and Bruce Coville (thanks to my friend l_skeers who was kind enough to use her camera when my son forgot to brings ours!) He did remember to bring his EIGHTEEN books for Bruce Coville to sign, though (and Bruce was very gracious about doing it…he even wrote a different inscription on each one!). And Lisa asked HIM if she could shake HIS hand. My son, who is the only extrovert in a family of introverts, was absolutely speechless! He actually had questions he wanted to ask each of them, but when the opportunity presented itself, all he could do was stare wide-eyed at them (not that I can blame him!). He had plenty to say AFTERWARDS, though…he chattered all the way home…and boy was he wired when we got there! I don’t even know how late he kept going (the second dessert from my friend, Terri, may have contributed to this)…I gave up and went to bed around 11:30.

It was a fun conference, and I’ll post my notes over the next couple of days…