So What's Going on with Me and CWIM (in case you were wondering)...

It's been a bit of time since my last post--and since then the 2009 CWIM has gone to the printer! And I must say, it's a really good one. (I know I say that every year, but it's true.) It will be available in early August, hopefully in time to go on sale at the SCBWI LA Conference August 1-4.

Below you can see the new CWIM cover. (It's still a nice shade of light purple, but the fish has swum away.) While we're waiting for the book to be off the presses, I'll be posting some excerpts from the new edition, which will hopefully get you interested in reading more when the book hits stores.


Speaking of the LA Conference--I will be going, I will be presenting, and I will certainly be blogging. I so love this event. It's good. It's fun. It's information-packed. It's a schmooze-apalooza!

Before I worry about putting my presentations together, I've been worried about finding a plane ticket that will not bankrupt SCBWI. I live in Cincinnati, and we are supposedly the most expensive airport to fly out of in the country. (Sometimes the Westchester County airport in New York is higher. I've flown there. It's tiny.)

It costs $200 less to fly from LGA (New York) to LAX than to fly from CVG (in the Nati) to LAX. Does that make sense to you? Sure, I could fly out of Dayton or Columbus or Louisville, but that would involve driving longish distances and long-term parking and layovers and changing planes. I'm not getting any younger--just contemplating 16 hours of travel zaps the life out of me. To quote Carrie Bradshaw as she headed off to Paris, "I want to arrive stunning and impossibly fresh looking." You never know who you'll run into in the lobby. (I'm a tad excited about the Sex & the City movie that opens tomorrow. My company just announced Friday "summer hours"--it's like we work in New York--and I'm seeing a late afternoon matinée with six of my co-workers at the mall across from our office. I will be wearing heels.)

After a couple more market books go out the door in early June (I'm here working on them while a number of my co-workers are in LA at the BookExpo--but I had to pick one LA trip over the other, and SCBWI won), I'm taking a little vacation to New York. It's not publishing-related except that I will be hanging out with a number of my editor friends (who left the Nati to move to New York, both for the publishing jobs and, I'm sure, the cheaper flights). I'll pretty much be eating and shopping and meandering.

Then I'll get back to work and start thinking about my plan for the 2010 CWIM. I'm alway open to queries, so feel free to email me (alice.pope@fwpubs.com) after June 16th. Then I'll start assigning articles in full swing when I get back from the LA SCBWI event.