Thursday, February 18, 2010

I'm back from the NY SCBWI Conference

My computer died 2 days before the NY SCBWI conference, I guess all the preparing was too much for her. I didn't get to tweek and print out everything I wanted to for the conference, but I still had 10 things to show in my portfolio. I have felt so disconnected from the world! I know it's a good thing and a bad thing - when my new computer arrived, I spent hours trying to catch up on everything! I AM addicted!

The conference - I couldn't believe how many people were there! They said over 1,000 were in attendance - the biggest ever! It was so inspiring! And I met several people I had only cyber-met before. I hung out with two other illustrators and had a lot of fun! I couldn't help sketching, it really does make me listen better! I sketched the keynote speakers as they spoke - here are some of them:

Lin Oliver, the Executive Director of the SCBWI


Jacqueline Woodson

If you ever get a chance to here Jacqueline read, do it - she is AMAZING! I learned so much! Something she said makes so much sense: she said she writes in an emotionally autobiographical way, and we should write for ourselves as children, not for our kids, grandchildren, etc.



Jane Yolen

Jane was the last speaker of the whole conference, and unfortunately, I had to leave before she was done :-(

For more about the conference, check out the official conference blog.

4 comments:

kah said...

Hey! I was there too. Too bad I didn't discover your blog beforehand. We could have met in person. Love those drawings. :)

Lynn Alpert said...

Thanks Karen! Maybe we'll meet next year!

Debbie Meyer said...

Gosh, it was fun hanging out with you at the conference. We'll have to do it again next year! :) Love the sketches. You really captured their style. Glad to hear you got a new computer. That must be a relief.

Tara Lazar said...

Love the sketches from the conference--they're great! And your blog header illustration is adorable. Thanks for stopping by my blog, too.