As some may remember, last year I received a travel grant to attend the New York Winter SCBWI conference, as well as meet my publisher and US agent. Over a week ago, after boarding a plane, travelling backwards through time and flying over oceans and ice, Squish Rabbit and I landed in the frosty Big Apple.
Unprepared for the freezing conditions (I’m no snow bunny), the first thing I did was head out shopping. Ok, so it wasn’t just because I was unprepared … there were some incredible winter sales with awesome hats and boots and coats luring me into stores. Needless to say it was a successful shopping trip.
The SCBWI conference was incredible, with many inspiring talks and presentations on everything from digital publishing and picture books, to crossover novels and writing humour (Mo Willems!). Lots to take away, and I’ve left with a growing urge to dive back into my stories.
While over here I’ve been lucky enough to have the company of a number of lovely Aussie authors and illustrators. I spent the most time with Serena Geddes, Tina Burke and James Foley – all incredibly talented and whose books you should check out. After the conference we got up to all sorts of shenanigans, including: iceskating, pizza and gelato in times square, snow fights, Irish pubbery, late night hot chocolates (and maybe some cocktails), Chinese New Year (year of the rabbit!) and plenty of random meandering.
I’ve been keeping a visual diary while here, filled with ticket stubs and a muddle of found objects with scratchings and scribbles over the top. I’ll put some up over the next few days, but for now I’m going to go take another big bite out of that apple…
