City of the Angels

Late Friday night (about midnight, August 12) I got home from a trip to Los Angeles. I had left two and a half days after getting home from England. After not traveling for years, the fact that I've made these two trips is amazing to me.


Amazing, but true.


I went down to LA to attend the 40th annual Summer Conference of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). It was an inspiring, intense three days of keynote speeches, workshops, socializing, networking among 1,342 writers, illustrators, agents, publishers, editors, followed by a day of "intensive" workshops -- a 3 hour workshop in the morning and another 3 hour one in the afternoon.


Highlights were keynotes by fantasy author Bruce Coville, illustrator David Small, YA (young adult novel) author Libba Bray, a workshop by Libba, and an intensive on writing fantasy novels by Bruce. Richard Peck was also incredibly inspiring in his speech at the Golden Kite awards luncheon. I could go on and on.


The networking was also fantastic. I met members of the Children's Book Hub to which I belong, and also met other writers and illustrators from many places (there were attendees from 49 states and 20 different countries). Every year there's a poolside party on the Saturday of the conference, with a different theme for costumes. This year, since it was the 40th anniversary, the theme was "A 40 winks PJ Party." Seeing hundreds of writers, illustrators and others in the children's book world dancing around the lawn by the pool at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in PAJAMAS has to be seen to be believed. Okay, here's a sample. Me, in my Very Fairy Princess "Let Your Sparkle Out" PJs, with my copy of The Very Fairy Princess. I'd never danced with a book before. I can recommend it.

I'd also never seen so many people taking photos of their dessert -- but when the dessert was served at the awards luncheon, cameras were flashing all over the place. It was an incredible dessert -- I could only eat the berries and a tiny bit of the cream inside the chocolate book, but oh my, it was good.

Do I look happy, or what? Honestly, I was amazed at how happy and relaxed I was in LA. It was my first trip there, and except for a couple of people I knew from online contact, I was in the midst of strangers, yet I felt completely comfortable. I have changed and grown so much in recent months. Sometimes I can hardly believe how much. It's such a good feeling.


After the conference was over, I stayed in LA for a few days, did a bit of research for my adult novel project (although not as much as I'd hoped, as some of my plans didn't pan out). I went on a five hour "deluxe" tour of Warner Brothers Studios, which was fascinating -- but left me wanting more. I visited an area of LA where some of the characters in my novel live, and imagined myself as one or the other of them as I went about the day. That gave me some insights into the characters and their experiences that I wouldn't have had otherwise.


In past years, any time I was away, there was always at least one time during the vacation that I just wanted to be home. That wasn't the case either in England or in LA, and I didn't want to leave Los Angeles when Friday came. I know I'll be back.