Book Camp for Grown-Ups!
I recently attended my very first SCBWI-RMC conference! Then a week later I had knee surgery and have been put on strict orders not to bear weight (aka walk or drive) for the next four weeks. While this is obviously very convenient and easy with two toddler-nados, I do want to use the mandatory down time to do what I always whine about not having enough time to do: WRITE!
The Letters and Lines conference was amazing. I felt like it was a nerdy book camp for grown-ups. Like the scholastic book club flyer in real life. I met so many inspiring people - writers, illustrators, agents, editors. My daughter’s preschool teacher was even there, too! Everyone was friendly, literally everyone. There wasn’t an air of competition. People were there to root for themselves and each other, and understood that it doesn’t have to be an either/or. The acknowledgement that this can be a hard business is clear, but that didn’t negate the positivity and support in the packed rooms.
The keynote speakers, Arthur Levine, Andrea Wang, and Miranda Paul, were nothing short of incredible. They have all come into the book world with such unique backstories and approaches, fighting through rejection and discrimination, to get the stories that they believe in told. I cried no less than four times.
I loved the breakout sessions, particularly learning about writing early readers with my “I want to be her when I grow up” favorite, Kaz Windness. Rather than staying on a “track”, I bounced around a lot for my breakout sessions and learned about everything from the need for diversity in children’s literature, to wooing agents, and accepting, and working through, rejection. I also participated in an extra intensive on using analytics to crack the querying code. I love me a spreadsheet so this filled my nerdy heart with glee - and lit a fire under me to finally just start hitting send on my queries. May the odds be ever in your favor, Caitlin.
Sometimes I worry that my stories aren’t unique or diverse enough. I am a white, straight, suburban mom. I am not BIPOC or LGBTQIA+. I like pumpkin spice lattes and cats. I’m kind of basic. I am widely represented, both as an author and a character in popular literature. But, I had a conversation with author Andrea Wang (who if you don’t know, won the Newberry for her book Watercress…) and she told me that we still need whimsical picture books. I can’t begin to express how much that filled me up.
Because it’s true. We need diverse books. We need books that teach our children, and ourselves, about hard things. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a place for whimsy, imagination, and joy. And it doesn’t mean that books full of whimsy, imagination, and joy can’t also teach us things.
The conference recharged my desire to write children’s books and connected me with likeminded people. It gave me two peaceful nights in a hotel, alone. And above all, it gave me the courage to keep going and just hit send. It only takes one yes.
