I love attending children's writing conferences. I always leave feeling rejuvenated and ready to run home and write. That is, after a long nap first. (Conferences can also be exhausting.)
Last Saturday, I attended the Minnesota SCBWI Annual Conference. I was there with two "hats" on. First, I was a manuscript reviewer for 7 children's writers. I had already read and commented on their manuscripts. At the conference we met and talked about their stories. I put a lot of time into critiquing the manuscripts, and I hope it will help. I know from my own experience as a writer, manuscript reviews can be difficult to hear sometimes. But in the end, I always find they help me strengthen my writing.
My second "hat" for the day was as a participant, soaking up all the good writing vibes. I was only able to attend some of the sessions, but the highlight for me was hearing Donna Jo Napoli speak. She is the award-winning author of many, many books for children including the recently released ALLIGATOR BAYOU from Random House.
Donna Jo does extensive research before she begins writing her novels. If her novel will be set in the 1880's in Italy (for example), she will immerse herself in reading history of that time and place, look at pictures from then, and even listen to music from 1880's Italy. Only then does she begin to write.
At first glance, Donna Jo seems very quiet and petite, perhaps a little shy. But, then she starts to talk and you realize she is a little Italian firecracker who is very energetic and funny. I'm still cracking up about a story she told the audience. She described herself as "dramatic." She told of a time she received a rejection letter in the mail. Upon opening the letter, she fell to the floor, right there in the hall, sobbing. Her four young children gathered around her to comfort her. Then, one son about age 4 says, "Those *&%#!! jerks." (I paraphrase slightly.) Some parents might threaten the bar of soap in the mouth at this point, but not Donna Jo. She felt comforted by her son's heart-felt expression. I love this! It makes me want to be part of her family.
At the end of the day, I walked home with ideas running around in my head. And the next day, I wrote. I wrote an entire chapter of a middle-grade novel I'm working on. It wasn't very good. But as Donna Jo says, the first draft should be "#&%@!" Then you get down to the business of making it good. Like Donna Jo.
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