the gathering of like-minded folks

It's almost here, tomorrow is the Regional SCBWI Fall Conference for California Bay Area writers, and yes, I'm attending. The last conference I went to in NYC this past January, was also the first SCBWI conference I'd ever attended, and so, I was pretty nervous with not knowing what to expect. But when I got there I saw over 800 women, and just around 100 men, gathered together in a huge room at the mid-town Hyatt with notebooks in hand, smiles on faces and ready to learn. I didn't meet one person who wasn't supportive and positive about either their possible, future writing career, or the perfect stranger's sitting next to them possible, future writing career. Maybe all of us children's book writers are just a goofy set of optimistic, dreamers who believe we can overcome the odds and make it in this overpopulated, competitive industry, or maybe we're just how everyone else should be...following our dreams and offering a pillar of support to others in the same frame of mind.

I'll report back here on Monday with all of my conference highlights, and let you know how it goes. And, oh!....speaking of the power of support amongst children's book writers, check out this hilarious blog post from literary agent, Brenda Bowen, on why SCBWI is like the changing room at Forever 21...well said!