Amanda Hubbard

I got a great gift for Mother's day. New tires for my quad. I was WAY excited.

Until I go and try them out and don't realize what a difference they make and I roll my freaking quad. Right over top of me, all 400 pounds, like three minutes into riding it. Today my ribs are sore. OOops. But here is a less sucky version of my weekend:

35,000 / 45,000 (77.8%)

Meg Cabot is in rare form today. From her blog:

(Because as everyone knows, by the time the zombie apocalypse occurs, Florida will be underwater, and my barnhouse is far out in the country, off the grid, and has it’s own septic tank—and of course my friends and I all assume we’re going to live, and not be turned into zombies…although my recent idea, to buy a grenade launcher with which to shoot the zombies from the barn’s hay loft windows, has not been met with as much as enthusiasm as I expected, especially from He Who Shall Not Be Named In This Blog, who says he would feel uncomfortable having a grenade launcher in his basement, even if it is solely for use in the event of a zombie apocalypse)

I lie in pieces on the floor. My things surround me, broken and ugly, and I think my insides must look like they do, all churned up and cracked and unrecognizable. My cheek throbs where he hit it. My lip bleeds. My chest is hollow and empty, as if he ripped out my heart and took it with him when he left, the door slamming so hard the picture frames crashed to the floor.

It is dark now. How long have I been lying here? The blackness reaches the corners of the room and fills everything. Once that darkness was a cocoon, enveloping us and protecting us from the outside world.

Nothing can protect me now. No one can protect me now. I pushed them all away. I lost everything. I gave it to him, and he gave me this.

The conference was totally crazy, and no doubt I’ll have more information/posts trickle in as I remember things I had wanted to share.

There were lots of great writers there (Chris Crutcher, author of DEADLINE, Mo Willems, author of KNUFFLE BUNNY and DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, Cynthia Lord, author of RULES, Kirby Larson, author of HATTIE BIG SKY, and more…..)a few editors I was interested in meeting (Liesa Abrams of Aladdin Mix, Jessica Garrison of Dial/Penguin), and several agents (Stephen Barbara, Kate Schafer of KT literary, Rosemary Stimola, and Marcia Werner).

I talked to Stephen Barbara, ate lunch with Kate Schafer, chatted several times with Liesa Abrams, socialized with Rosemary Stimola during the wine & cheese reception, and watched Jessica Garrison’s session all about Penguin.

There were several things I heard throughout the weekend, and this is them, in no particular order:

*VOICE. Yes, you’ve heard it a thousand times, and it’s still the thing that will set you apart. And while some people said “you either have it or you don’t”, others said you can absolutely learn voice, if you try hard enough. An example was MT ANDERSON, who is said to have hung out in malls, eavesdropping on teens.

*READ. Mo Willems, NYT bestseller, said there’s a name for people who read. Its READERS. He said writers WRITE, and that you shouldn’t worry about reading because that’s like watching a lot of baseball and thinking you’ll be a great player that way. However, every one else kept saying, “I love Mo, but seriously, READ.” It was kind of amusing to see him contradict what everyone else says, and its proof that everyone has their own way of doing things—and of finding success.

*Revisions: During Liesa Abram’s session (editor of Aladdin Mix/Simon And Schuster), she revealed that R.A Nelson’s book TEACH ME, was not originally about a student teacher relationship at all! Nelson wanted to write a book about a girl who stalked her boyfriend when he broke up with her. It was only later when a friend suggested he make it a teacher that TEACH ME was truly born. This little tidbit was infinitely inspiring to someone who goes through a zillion drafts—it really proves that even best sellers are not perfect in first drafts…they become that way through revisions.

*TENSION/ACTION: During the first pages sessions, it was heard over and over that your opening scene needs to have some tension and action. There needs to be something compelling. Try not to put any back story in until your readers care about the story.

The whole weekend was fun, and I have no doubt I’ll be adding more entries later as I remember things I wanted to share. I’m definitely doing an entire entry on Liesa Abram’s tips for coming up with high-concept ideas!!

~Mandy

So, tomorrow I'll be getting up bright and early and heading up to Bellevue for the Western Washington SCBWI conference! yay!! Lots of LJ and blue boarders will be there, along with a few editors (Jessica Garrison from Dial, Liesa Abrams from Aladdin Mix) and agents (Stephen Barbara, the supposed hottest guy in publishing)... and I signed up for lots of great sessions..... I'll try to remember the camera, and I'll post a full recap on Monday!