Alice Has Left the Nati--Follow Me Online...



As soon as I post this, I'm leaving the office and heading to the airport to got to New York for Digital Book World and the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference.

But, never fear--you don't have to miss me...

Watch my Twitter feed on Tuesday and Wednesday for tweets from DBW (#dbw) and check the DBW blog for daily reports on the event. You can also follow DBW on Twitter.

For as-it-happens conference action, stay glued to the Official SCBWI Conference Blog where I and the rest of SCBWI TEAM BLOG will cover the event live. (If you can't join the fun, we'll bring it right to your computer screen!)

Here's a rundown of our exclusive pre-conference interviews with SCBWI Winter Conference speakers (as swiped from Jaime's blog):

• Jolie Stekly featured blogger Jenn Bailey
• Lee Wind featured Art Director Laurent Linn and agent Eddie Gamarra and author Jacqueline Woodson
• Suzanne Young featured publisher Ben Schrank
• Jaime Temairik featured publisher Allyn Johnston and illustrator Peter Sis
• I interviewed agent Tina Wexler and conference tips from conference-goer Jane Makuch

SCBWI TEAM BLOG Reunites for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference in New York...

I'm very excited to announce that I will once again serve as captain of SCBWI TEAM BLOG as we offer exhaustive coverage of the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference in New York City which takes place January 29th-31st at the Hyatt Grand Central.

Conference info (faculty, schedule) is now up on the SCBWI website, and online registration will open Wednesday, October 28th at 10 a.m. PST. But whether you attend or not, TEAM BLOG will keep you posted on every session and keynote on the Official SCBWI Conference Blog.

Here are the Winter Conference TEAM BLOG bloggers and links to their blogs and Twitter pages. (Look for exclusive pre-conference content on our blogs between now and conference time):

• Lee Wind. Click here to visit I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Click here to follow Lee on Twitter.
  
• Suzanne Young. Click here to visit Suzanne's blog. Click here to follow Suzanne on Twitter.
  
• Jaime Temairik. Click here to visit CocoaStomp. Click here to follow Jaime on Twitter.
  
• Jolie Stekly. Click here to visit Cuppa Jolie. Click here to follow Jolie on Twitter.

SCBWI Summer Conference: Fantastic...

I'm back in the Nati, the humid humid Nati, and still coming down from the from the fantastic SCBWI Summer Conference in LA. If you weren't there I hope you followed the event on our equally fantastic Official SCBWI Conference Blog.

I'd like to thank the super-extra-fantastic members of SCBWI TEAM BLOG--Jamie Temairik, Jolie Stekly, Lee Wind, Paula Yoo, and Suzanne Young--for their hard work and dedication to covering the conference.

Here we are at our first SCBWI TEAM BLOG meeting.

TEAM BLOG's posts, photos and video were terrific (not to mention fast and furious) and I think we offered a good taste of the conference and shared some useful information for those who weren't there as well as for attendees who could only attend one session at a time. (We could attend 6, and a few times we attended 9 or 10.) If you haven't visited the Conference Blog, click here to check it out.

And below are a few more of my photos from the Blue Moon Ball on Saturday night. (I posted some on the conference blog after the event.) There were drink tickets. There were quesadillas. There was dancing. And, of course, there were outfits.

This year they're blue butterflies;
last year they were literary lady bugs.

This conference-goer's cow stopped jumping
over the moon to pose for a picture.

These Royals fans were happy about the party theme.

This conference-goer got wiggy with it and
enjoyed the Mexican food buffet.

Jay Asher is without mermaids but still ready to
disco as he poses with Linda Sue Park.

I'm not sure if she's a superhero or a cheerleader who mistook
her pom-pom for head gear. Either way I like this outfit.

This wizard is concerned about wrinkles.

Links to SCBWI TEAM BLOG Keynote Interviews...

Today blogger Lee Wind offers a great interview with Holly Black, one of the terrific keynote speakers for the upcoming SCBWI Annual Summer Conference. (She is also featured in the 2010 CWIM!) Lee has recently joined Twitter so add him to your follow list--he'll be blogging and tweeting along with the rest of us from the L.A. event August 7-10.

If you haven't, also check out Paul Yoo's interviews with keynoters Ingrid Law and Betty Birney. There will be more interviews with SCBWI conference keynote speakers from TEAM BLOG between now and the event which I'll link you to when they are posted.

(And for those of you who still may be thinking about registering for the event but haven't yet, read Suzanne Young's post featuring feedback from three first-time conference goers.)

Blogger of the Week:
Suzanne Young

YA Author Suzanne Young started blogging at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com a little over a year. She didn't have a publishing contract and began blogging, she says, mostly just for fun. "Over the next several months, I tried to find my niche. One of the things that really worked for me was my ongoing story blog, Going Green. It was a YA story that I was writing every few days strictly for my blog. I seemed to gather some readers from it and loved doing it!"

When it was time to send her work to publishers, Suzanne began by submitting her manuscript directly to editors. "It was a scary time for me, but I gathered interest and was feeling great," she says. "Then I got an email from Melissa Sarver with Elizabeth Kaplan Agency. She had been reading my blog and wondered if I was currently represented. After a few weeks of emailing and talking with her, I knew she was perfect and ended up signing with her! Soon after, I sold two books to Razorbill. And my blog played a huge part in finding Melissa, proving that blogs can be important for up-and-coming authors."

Her debut novel Smitten Kittens, featuring Tessa Crimson and her squad of cheerleaders who investigate cheaters (as in cheating boyfriends) will be released from Razorbill in 2010.


Suzanne also participates in a group vlog called Lip Gloss Lit. "This one for me is a blast. I got together with a critique partner of mine, author Amanda K. Morgan and we started a vlogging site where we blogged via video. It's a great way to show our personalities and be able to chat with people on a more personal level. We’re always looking for guest vloggers, so keep us in mind!"

For bloggers just starting out, Suzanne advises "let your personality shine through. Sure, my blog might not always be about writing (like when I talk about my daughter’s desire to trap squirrels in jars) but I try to always make it fun. That’s my style. So let your blog reflect your style and people will get to know and care about your journey!" And indeed her ebullient personality comes across in her blog.

Visit www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com today and wish Suzanne...

Happy Birthday!