SCBWI 15th annual conference.

This past weekend was the SCBWI Carolina's 15th annual conference. For a Children's writer this event is pretty much like Christmas only there's no decorated tree's, presents, relatives, or cookies, snow, reindeer, elves, flashing lights, jingle bells, carolers, horse drawn sleighs, reruns of "A Christmas Story" or long shopping lines. OK, so maybe it's nothing like Christmas, except that I was very eager for the conference to get here.

They had chocolate cake!

This is my critique group buddy Janelle. She doesn't really have pink braids, but we suspect this has always been her dream.

Oh look! Maybe it is like Christmas. See Santa in the back row? Thats me in the middle. I never realized until this picture how much I look like my brother.

That is me between two very talented people. Author/Illustrator Karen Lee, and Illustrator Leah Palmer Price. I guess I'm standing there hoping that the talent will rub off on me.

I didn't bring my camera, so the picture credits go to my dear friend and critique group buddy Ian Sands. Thanks for the pictures Ian!

I learned a lot about writing for children, enjoyed hanging with my friends, ate chocolate cake, dressed like a gypsy, babbled incoherently during my critique with editor Caitlyn Dloughy from Simon and Schuster and I drank lots of coffee. Can life get any better?

watch the panda cub with its mommy on the Panda Cam!

This is so sweet! There's a panda cub at the Sand Diego Zoo. The cub was born Aug 3rd. You can watch them together and it is ADORABLE!!!!! You've got to check it out!

Inside the mind of Lois Lowry

I was very excited to find that two time Newberry winner, Lois Lowry has a blog! I've recently read "Gossamer", "The Giver", and I'm almost done reading "Number the Stars" (I'll probably be done today). Her work is amazing and I'm thrilled to get an opportunity to gain a glimpse into her musings via blog.

I'm looking forward to reading her other works.

Creative exercise #3 "Think like a kid"

Anyone who has spent serious time writing for children has heard "you have to think like children if you want to write for children."

Here's a list of some of the great truths that children have learned.

1) Water color paints can be used as lipstick
2) When you moon your parents, they'll laugh at home, but not anywhere else.
3) Never wash your hair with vaseline.
4) If you wash your hair with vaseline, your hair will be shiny (and sticky) for weeks.
5) Curtains make poor vines when playing Tarzan
6) You don't need snow to go sledding. A laundry basket and a flight of stairs work too.
7) Don't put helium balloons near a running ceiling fan.
8) Don't spit into a running fan.
9) It's difficult to prove that stuffed animals come alive at night.

Now, here's your choices for creativity.
A. Make up some of your own "truths that children have learned" If you come up with any, reply to this post, and I'll add it to the list.
or
B. Take one of the above truths and use it to start a short story.

Have fun!

Is it wrong to fight a five year old over office space?

My five year old HAS to set up an office wherever she goes. So, when we were at the beach a couple of weeks ago, she found the perfect place for her office complete with pencil holder, sharpener, notepad and even a calculator. Don't ask me what the calculator is for. I don't know.

She was up early in the morning writing her "story" even before she ate breakfast.

I like the view. Would it be wrong to kick the kid out of her office space so I can make it mine? ;0) The balcony is too small for the both of us. Oh . . . the sacrifices a mother makes for her children.

Check out this new FREE e-zine

This is a great new e-zine for kids 6-12. It's full of articles, crafts, jokes and educational stuff too!

I've been meme'd

I've been tagged by my friend Karen Lee with A meme. I'm supposed to tag other people, but I'm afraid that all the people I know are the same people that Karen already tagged, so I don't have anyone new to tag, but I'll play along anyway.

Here’s how it goes: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names (see below), then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


Eight possibly unique things about me:

1) when I was younger I wanted to be Indiana Jones when I grew up (and still secretly have the same dream)

2) I used to ice skate competitively

3) I used to be a gymnast

4) In high school, I spent a month traveling through France with my French teacher and some class mates.

5) I used to go to church with Clay Aiken before he was on American Idol

6) I can crochet and quilt

7) I once had a turtle named Rocky, but he dug a hole under the fence and ran away

8) when I was a kid, my best friend really really really wanted a pet, but her parents wouldn't let her have one. So, We found a pool of water in an old flower barrel in my back yard with "tadpoles" in it. We scooped up the tadpoles and put them in a plastic baggy so she would have her very own bunch of baby frogs. To make a long story short, it turns out that they weren't tadpoles. They were mosquito larva. When the mosquito's matured, they ate through the plastic baggy and infested my friends home. Oops.