Oklahoma SCBWI Fall Conference 2009

It's been two weeks since the Oklahoma SCBWI Fall Conference. Better a late report than no report?

Two of my favorite writers, Susan and Darlina, greeted everyone.

Three of the usual suspects, Terry, Ruth, and Dana, arrived full of energy and enthusiasm.

SCBWI is all about connecting with people who share your passion for children's books. It's full of wonderful folks like Pati and Terry.

My friend Gwen and I presented a workshop about using the internet to advance your writing career. I wore my new shirt that says "I'm blogging this."

In the afternoon, two energetic and exciting presenters, Tammy Sauer and Cynthea Liu, led a wonderful workshop. Unfortunately, the photos I took of them were not nearly as good as their presentation, so I'm not sharing them here. Instead, you'll be able to see a few of the people who enjoyed their words of wisdom. (Next time I'll sit where I can photograph the speakers without getting other people's heads in the way.)

Here are two of our newest Oklahoma SCBWI members, Joshua and Jerry.

We had the opportunity to examine our manuscripts and "make them shine" using the guidelines Tammy and Cynthea offered.

Getting those manuscripts from merely "good" to "YEAH, BABY!" takes a lot of revision.

These two published authors, Darlene Bailey Beard and Larry Mike Garmon, understand what it takes.


It's good to have friends along for the journey.

Is it just my photography, or does this picture show what we looked like by the end of the day? Kim is still focused, but Susan, Darlina, and Patti seem to be fading out.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this yet another great SCBWI conference.