Reading & work… reading & work…

It's been a pretty hectic week… I'm working on several rather large illustrated map projects – which I love, but they seem to be all-time-consuming, leaving with very little energy to check in here and often as I'd like. That and I've been going through an "I-hate-everything-I-draw period" which is always frustrating.

But in the meantime, I've still been reading plenty of picture books, more than 10 this past week.

• DANNY AND THE DINOSAUR – Syd Hoff  *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• THE PHILHARMONIC GETS DRESSED – Karla Kuskin / Marc Simont *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• THE SNOWMAN – Raymond Briggs Classic, what more can be said? *from Steven Malk's list.
• CHRYSANTHEMUM – Kevin Henkes *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• I'LL FIX ANTHONY – Judith Viorst / Arnold Lobel *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• MISS NELSON IS MISSING – Harry G. Allard Jr. / James Marshall *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• TED – Tony DiTerlizzi 
• WILD ABOUT BOOKS – Judy Sierra / Marc Brown 
• BADGER'S FANCY MEAL – Kieko Kasza 
• THE DOG THAT CRIED WOLF – Kieko Kasza 
• SCAREDY SQUIRREL – Melanie Watt 
• TOOT & PUDDLE, A PRESENT FOR TOOT – Holly Hobbie *from Steven Malk's list (LASCBWI12)
• WHAT NEWT COULD DO FOR TUTLE – Jonathan London / Louise Voce 

• GERALDINE, THE MUSIC MOUSE – Leo Lionni
• IN THE RABBIT GARDEN – Leo Lionni 
• THEODORE AND THE TALKING MUSHROOM – Leo Lionni 
• THE ALPHABET TREE – Leo Lionni 
• INCH BY INCH – Leo Lionni 
• LITTLE BLUE AND LITTLE YELLOW – Leo Lionni 
• CYRUS THE UNSINKABLE SEA SERPENT - Bill Peet *I am a long time, huge, Bill Peet fan from childhood. Every time we went to a book store I looked for a new Bill Peet book. *from Steven Malk's list.
• CHESTER'S MASTERPIECE – Melanie Watt 
• AUGUSTINE – Melanie Watt 

*I'm in the middle of one of my first official responsibilities as SCBWI-NM's Illustrator Coordinator: organizing a 2013 Illustrator's Day event for our region. Patti Ann Harris, from Little Brown and Company Books for Young Readers, has graciously agreed to come visit us in NM next year and we're currently planning the event together. As part of this process, I've been reading up on some of Patti Ann's other SCBWI appearances – including the big SCBWI Winter conference in New York, beautifully recapped by my friend Leeza Hernandez here, and SCBWI-Austin, as well as some of the books she's worked on:

• SUBSTITUTE CREACHER – Chris Gall 
• SHARK VS. TRAIN – Chris Barton / TomLichtenheld 
• DAVE THE POTTER – Laban Carrick Hill / Bryan Collier 
• WHEN BOB MET WOODY – Gary Golio / Marc Burckhardt 

*Books I already own/have read, that are also part of Patti Ann's list:
ME… JANE – Patrick
DINOTRUX – Chris Gall

Conference Experience: SCBWI-LA 2012

Peace, Love and Children's Books… what a wild whirlwind ride it was. It started out with a couple amazing coincidences, like meeting one of my online critique group partners for the first time in-persion, Alice Rattarree, on my flight. The plane was packed, but we managed to get a whole row to ourselves as we poured over each others portfolios and giddily discussed our plans for the conference. Then we ended up on a shuttle with Deborah Underwood, author of The Quiet Book and The Loud Book… I mean come on, what a way to start!?

Fabulous Peeps: Alice Rattarree, Deborah Underwood,
Leeza Hernandez, Diandra Mae, and Amy Farrier

The moment I got the the hotel though, I was already late for the big RA meeting… oh, I don't think I ever got around to mentioning that here. I officially became the SCBWI-NM Illustrator Coordinator this spring. So, in addition to attending the conference, I was also volunteering and helping out – it's the best way to experiences these events, IMHO. ;) At the meeting there was a secret practice for our upcoming hippie-hop flash-mob… it really says something about these SCBWI people that just being around them totally motivated me to participate. ;)

Even more fabulous peeps: Kelly Light, Brian Bowes,
Bonnie Adamson, and Jennifer L. Meyer

Then came three fully packed/overwhelming/inspiring/motivating/exhausting days that I can barely begin to describe. It's taken a month and a half just to process enough to post about it!

I met two other Melindas, both writers. Melindas Unite!

The Hippie-Hop extravaganza, including (but not limited to)
fabulous peeps: Priscilla Burris, Sue Rankin,
and Debbie Ridpath Ohi

There was awesome Portfolio Showcase where amazing illustrator, Juana Martinez-Neal, took home the top honor. There were also amazing faculty members like, Tony DiTerlizzi, Arthur Levine, Dan Gutman, Antoinette Portis, Jon Klassen, Steven Malk, Laura Godwin, and Melissa Sweet and those are just the ones I got to see – there were so, so many more! About the only negative thing I have to say is that it wasn't possible to see and participate in ALL the wonderful events that happened at SCBWI-LA 2012.

From Tony DiTerlizzi's presentation