Friday, February 6, 2015
Sometimes luck comes my way. I don't often feel as though good fortune falls from the sky, but when it does, I recognize it. Today's activities involved optional morning and afternoon writers' roundtables in which seven writers are matched with an industry professional (either an agent or editor) for two hours. Each of us brought the first 500 words of our project to be discussed among the table in fifteen-minute intervals. All table assignments were random. I was assigned to table 23 in the morning and table 2 in the afternoon. My industry pro was Tina Wexler, an agent at ICM. I was familar with Tina and certainly familiar with ICM and Amanda Urban's list of literary giants. I'd read many interviews and writing tips from Tina in the past, so I was eager to meet her in person. I was delighted with her. She was charming, positive, very smart, and very real. I couldn't have asked for a better roundtable experience. The other writers were also pleasant, insightful, and fully engaged in the morning. I was the only male at our table, which only added to my good fortune. Also, nearly half the table was left-handed. I'm not sure I'll ever forget "Brett's Chickens" in my lifetime and its quintessential 16-point font. The range of writing went from nervous newbies to potential future stars. Brittany and her mirror twin Nicole, whom I sat with during my afternoon roundtable, impressed me with their use of language in capturing the struggling breath of their protagonist. I checked out their website, which simply reinforced my suspicion that these two young writers have a great deal of talent and will have their day if they keep doing what they're doing. I sat next to Pat, a very nice picture book writer who showed me pictures of the reading dog she uses in schools to encourage kids to read. Her writing had a wonderful rhythm and even flow. The morning flew by.
Prior to the morning workshop, we listened to three agents talk about the business: John Cusick of Greenhouse Literary, Molly Ker Hawn at the Bent Agency, and Rosemary Stimola, who needs no introduction. This was a great panel. I enjoyed listening to all three agents talk about the business. Molly and John were fun together. John is naturally funny the way Kevin is funny. Very quick and witty. Molly seems very with it and passionate. She's based out of London, which is interesting. I enjoyed this panel very much.
Lunch involved grabbing something somewhere and meeting the California crowd inside the Hyatt lobby. I had an orange chicken dish which was okay. This was before I discovered the awesome Cambodian sandwich shop on 41st. It was a treat meeting new writers and illustrators from California. SCBWI is known for its welcoming personalities and that was certainly the case at lunch.
My afternoon roundtable was with Sarah Barley, a YA editor at Flatiron Books. Again, my table was full of strong voices and positive energy, though Sarah was perhaps more blunt and to-the-point with her criticisms, which is exactly what one might expect from a professional editor. Her points were exact and on the mark. She was very good. I could feel myself losing steam toward the end of the day and was having trouble focusing on the final two or three openings. During our break, I ran out and got some tea.
The day ended with an editorial panel called "How to Incorporate Revision Notes into Your Manuscript," with Jordan Hamessley at Egmont, Kristin Rens at Balzer + Bray, and Sara Sargent at Simon Pulse. I appreciated their insights and sensitivities toward their writers.
My California gang met for dinner an hour later. There were maybe eight of us and we ended up eating at Junior's at Grand Central Station.
I really enjoyed hearing Tony's war stories at Pixar, Freeman's highs and lows in the self-publishing world, and Anais's life in the NY film industry for seven years with her husband. After dinner, Anais and I had a very pleasant conversation over Blue Moons, capping a wonderful first day at the SCBWI conference.
Sometimes luck comes my way. I don't often feel as though good fortune falls from the sky, but when it does, I recognize it. Today's activities involved optional morning and afternoon writers' roundtables in which seven writers are matched with an industry professional (either an agent or editor) for two hours. Each of us brought the first 500 words of our project to be discussed among the table in fifteen-minute intervals. All table assignments were random. I was assigned to table 23 in the morning and table 2 in the afternoon. My industry pro was Tina Wexler, an agent at ICM. I was familar with Tina and certainly familiar with ICM and Amanda Urban's list of literary giants. I'd read many interviews and writing tips from Tina in the past, so I was eager to meet her in person. I was delighted with her. She was charming, positive, very smart, and very real. I couldn't have asked for a better roundtable experience. The other writers were also pleasant, insightful, and fully engaged in the morning. I was the only male at our table, which only added to my good fortune. Also, nearly half the table was left-handed. I'm not sure I'll ever forget "Brett's Chickens" in my lifetime and its quintessential 16-point font. The range of writing went from nervous newbies to potential future stars. Brittany and her mirror twin Nicole, whom I sat with during my afternoon roundtable, impressed me with their use of language in capturing the struggling breath of their protagonist. I checked out their website, which simply reinforced my suspicion that these two young writers have a great deal of talent and will have their day if they keep doing what they're doing. I sat next to Pat, a very nice picture book writer who showed me pictures of the reading dog she uses in schools to encourage kids to read. Her writing had a wonderful rhythm and even flow. The morning flew by.
Prior to the morning workshop, we listened to three agents talk about the business: John Cusick of Greenhouse Literary, Molly Ker Hawn at the Bent Agency, and Rosemary Stimola, who needs no introduction. This was a great panel. I enjoyed listening to all three agents talk about the business. Molly and John were fun together. John is naturally funny the way Kevin is funny. Very quick and witty. Molly seems very with it and passionate. She's based out of London, which is interesting. I enjoyed this panel very much.
Lunch involved grabbing something somewhere and meeting the California crowd inside the Hyatt lobby. I had an orange chicken dish which was okay. This was before I discovered the awesome Cambodian sandwich shop on 41st. It was a treat meeting new writers and illustrators from California. SCBWI is known for its welcoming personalities and that was certainly the case at lunch.
My afternoon roundtable was with Sarah Barley, a YA editor at Flatiron Books. Again, my table was full of strong voices and positive energy, though Sarah was perhaps more blunt and to-the-point with her criticisms, which is exactly what one might expect from a professional editor. Her points were exact and on the mark. She was very good. I could feel myself losing steam toward the end of the day and was having trouble focusing on the final two or three openings. During our break, I ran out and got some tea.
The day ended with an editorial panel called "How to Incorporate Revision Notes into Your Manuscript," with Jordan Hamessley at Egmont, Kristin Rens at Balzer + Bray, and Sara Sargent at Simon Pulse. I appreciated their insights and sensitivities toward their writers.
My California gang met for dinner an hour later. There were maybe eight of us and we ended up eating at Junior's at Grand Central Station.
I really enjoyed hearing Tony's war stories at Pixar, Freeman's highs and lows in the self-publishing world, and Anais's life in the NY film industry for seven years with her husband. After dinner, Anais and I had a very pleasant conversation over Blue Moons, capping a wonderful first day at the SCBWI conference.
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