Post SCBWI Conference Reflections

This'll be a list, because I think all conference attendees are still digesting two full days of information. My brain is busy with ideas and goals, but here are the first little snippets and impressions:

• The agent who spent years being an editor likes lists = Michael Stearns.
• The editor who announced that she like books about dead animals later told everyone she's acquired a book about a talking pig = Connie Hsu.
• I discovered Ellen Hopkin's prose verse books = Where the hell have I been?
• Many business cards from the people that I was delighted to meet and greet = I've updated links to "Network of Writers" with new blogs and websites. Note: I expect this list to grow, so I am only listing you in this category if you define yourself as a writer or editor; I'm also adding the author of the book that most recently kept me up past midnight (E. Hopkins).
• There's a new Six Degrees of Separation experiment for those of us children's writers who live in the Pacific Northwest = instead of Kevin Bacon, switch that to Peggy King Anderson.
• Please no books about merfolk = mermaids and mermen are not the new vampires.
• BTW: vampires are over, which means that none of us will become the new Stephanie Meyer = That said, expect parodies on vampires in print soon.
• Writers who really take their time to research the agent or editor before submitting = success.
• Success comes in all shapes and sizes = it is about your readers and the impact that you have on them.
• Write from the ...even if you are science geek like me.

All in all, a great learning experience, as always. More details to follow in the coming week.