home sweet home

Back at home. My flight got in at 6 a.m. this morning, so pardon the incoherency that will inevitably be part of today's blatherings. The conference was WONDERFUL and I would definitely go back again if I can afford it. The children's writer community is an extremely welcoming and nurturing one, or so it seems to me. I've been told that other genres may not be similar...I'm hoping to check out some other writers' conferences as well.

I was very nervous for my consultation with Brenda Bowen, but she was great. She said I should keep sending out my mss, gave me some valuable suggestions on improving it, and also gave me some names (at Simon & Shuster and other publishing houses) to which I should send the revised version.

I found several parallels between a writers' conference and a filk con, and at times I felt as if I was at a really filk con, except that there wasn't any filking (if that makes sense at all :-)).
Also, both are inspirational. After a filk con, I usually can't wait to get back to my music and start writing. After the SCBWI convention, I can't wait to get back to my own writing, and to Inkspot/Inklings. I strongly recommend writers' conventions for anyone who needs more motivation. :-)
Having a laptop with me was great, because I could keep an eye on business stuff so I wouldn't have any nasty surprises when I got home. I even emailed with people who were AT the conference while I was there, like Bruce Balan. :-) You parents, by the way, should check out Bruce's fun CYBERKIDZ series.

I did find the four days a bit overwhelming, though...that's a LOT of information to absorb, and I met many new people. My living room looks like a disaster zone right now, since I'm trying to unpack and pack (Jeff & I are going to Calgary tomorrow) at the same time.

I'm starting to use Netscape as my main browser, by the way, even though it crashes. Internet Explorer is too slow, and Netscape also has a few other niceties I like.

To those of you going to Worldcon: have fun! Post reports!!