This cute little reading robot was host to a couple hundred SCBWI members from Pennsylvania, and three from Ohio. Two of my critique partners and I drove almost five hours to be a part of this conference in Pittsburg on the second weekend of November. It was a beautiful weekend, crisp, sunny, and full of hope.
The faculty for the weekend included Heather Alexander (former agent from Pippin Properties and now freelance editor), Mary Colgan (senior editor at Boyds Mills Press), Brett Duquette (senior editor at Sterling Publishing), Karen Grenick (founding agent at Red Fox Literary), Jasmin Rubero (editor at Dial, Random House), Jennifer Soloway (agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency), Jennifer Ung (editor at Simon Pulse), and Rebecca Weston (former editor at Delecort Press and now freelance editor).
As always, SCBWI conferences are chock full of information and opportunities to meet new people. With eight faculty members and only four workshop sessions, I had to choose my sessions strategically. This weekend I chose to learn more about queries, leaving room for the illustrations, reasons for rejections, and acquisitions. But the best thing I did, was submit a story for a critique. Not only, did I receive a thorough and thoughtful critique, I also received an encouraging invitation to submit.
And surprise, surprise… I was chosen as one of the six most promising authors in attendance! Each agent and editor who critiqued work chose one person to receive this honor. It is indeed both humbling and exhilarating !
As a critique group we are quite pleased with our efforts. At the end of the day, we each had something to celebrate!
Juliana Lee 