The Lost Notebook

I'd lost part of my conference notes. That's the only reasonable explanation I could come up with. Because I knew I'd written down the address for Beach Lane Books (the new S&S imprint being run by Allyn Johntson and Andrea Welch). In my mind's eye, I could see Allyn at the podium giving the address--see myself writing it down--checking with the person next to me to make sure I'd spelled the street correctly--AND YET, it was no where to be found in my legal notepad.

Granted, my notepad was falling apart.

Barely held together with two staples, and missing the cardboard backing, it was highly possible that I'd lost a few, if not several sheets of paper, during all of the moving and shuffling of August. As it was, some sheets were already not part of the whole.

But then, I took a day to clean my office. Go through the tote bags that were left on the floor, sort through the piles piling on my desk, and I found it. The OTHER CONFERENCE NOTEBOOK. The one I'd taken to other conferences earlier in the year and had taken to SCBWI-LA to completely fill up, lest I waste paper if I left the end papers empty. I'd forgotten about it.

Hallelujah!

There was the address for Beach Lane Books, along with notes from other speakers (some of which I posted about last time from memory).

So, here are a few more tidbits from the conference.

Diane Muldrow of Golden Books said she is actively looking for manuscripts that fit the Golden Book style (age 2-5, light on text, depicting lively stories that convey the wonder of everyday experiences that are new to a child.) Golden Books is now a part of Random House. She mentioned the Little Boy with a Big Horn, The Pokey Little Puppy, The Seven Sneezes, Cowlick, The Donut Chef, and Lucky New Year.

Two other books mentioned by Allyn Johnston were Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. She mentioned writers Deb Fraiser and Cynthia Rylant. Andrea Welch mentioned Officer Buckle and Gloria, Black Beauty, and Because of Winn Dixie.

Regarding the sometimes tortuous path to publication, writer Paula Yoo said, "Do you want to be published or do you want to write? Do you want to get married, or do you want to be in love?" which I thought was really cool.

Abigail Samoun from Tricycle Press didn't really see her imprint as a small press. They are growing. She said her list of PB to YA titles has grown to 18 books/year, which has tripled since 2000. They are an editorial-driven house, and encourage 1st time authors. Books she mentioned are G is for Googal, Hey, Little Ant, Yesterday I Had the Blues, and Urban Babies Wear Black.

So there it is. If you saw the state of my conference notes, you'd understand why it's a good thing I'm not a secretary to the president.