Betty Birney’s Blog

Me at the Faculty Party

I may have only been staying 20 minutes from home, but for my five days at the SCBWI Conference in Century City, I might as well have been on another planet – all populated by people who are passionate about children’s books! It’s a lovely place to live, at least for a little while.

Thursday night’s faculty party got things rolling and it was fun to hang out with Marietta Zacker, from the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency (Nancy is my wonderful agent), Michael Reisman and April Halprin Wayland, also clients. And there were new people to meet and a chance to rub elbows with the likes of Linda Sue Park and Richard Peck.

There were too many highlights to mention them all. Sherman Alexie (The Absolutely True Confessions of a Part-Time Indian), started the conference with a hilarious and heart-rending speech. Now that’s hard to pull off. Knowing I was giving the closing keynote of the day, I was about ready to turn tail and go home. But first, I had to present a workshop on School Visits – a difficult subject and I had a lot of information to cram into an hour.

Humphrey and Me on the big stage

Late that afternoon, with great trepidation, I stepped onto the giant stage in a humonguous ballroom with an audience of hundreds and hundreds and one of those 20 foot screens behind me. SCBWI President and co-founder, Lin Oliver, gave me just the kind of introduction I needed to present a lighthearted look at creating a humorous series. Once I started talking, all fears melted because (as any speaker at this conference will tell you), the conference attendees make the most generous and responsive audience a person could dream of. With their support, we all had fun, I think – and I could relax a little for the first time in many days!

There was a wine and cheese reception where published authors and illustrated displayed their work (and I stood in two different lines for cheese but somehow never got any) and then Marietta, Michael, April and Scott Bly -whose first book comes out in 2010 – walked over to the nearby food court for sustenance and fun.

More highlights to come (including the amazing Blue Moon Ball)  ….. but let me just say if you want to write children’s books, are trying to write children’s books or already write children’s books, come to an SCBWI Conference. Your creative spirit will thank you!

I’m leaving home for five days and going to the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) annual conference! I’m going all the way from my house in Studio City to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City – it should take me about 20-25 minutes to get there! It seems odd to be packing my bags when I’ll be so close to home but these conferences are jammed pack with events and it will be nice to have a place to put up my feet, work on my presentations … and I can have a glass of wine at the parties and dinners because I’m not driving!

I’ll be giving the School Visit workshop tomorrow at 11:45 … then a keynote on Committing Serial Fiction with a Smile at 4:30.

Tonight – it’s party time for the faculty which includes, agents, editors, all kinds of experts and, in no particular order, Richard Peck, Sherman Alexie, Linda Sue Park, Ingrid Law, Holly Black, Dan Yaccarino, Karen Cushman,  Kathleen Duey, Ellen Hopkins, Marla Frazee to name a few…. the mind reels!

I’m going to try really hard to blog every day (emphasis on try).

Last night, Amy Goldman Koss (The Girls) hosted an awesome farewell party for Kerry Madden (Harper Lee) who is leaving L.A. to teach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Kerry, who is a born teacher as well as writer, and a great boon for Birmingham,  but we’ll definitely miss her smiling face at our LAYA events. (She’ll come back to L.A. as her family is temporarily divided.)

Kerry and me at Mrs. Nelson's

Lisa Yee and Kerry Madden at Kerry's signing at Skylight Books earlier this year.

I took my camera and then proceeded to have such a good time, I didn’t take any pictures of the folks my husband Frank and I hung out with: Kerry’s husband, Kiffen,  Lisa Yee (Absolutely Maybe) and her husband Scott, Michael Reisman (Simon Bloom, Gravity Keeper), computer guy Scott Bly (YA book coming out soon), Sally Nemeth (The Heights, The Depths and Everything in Between), or fellow “starter LAYA”  and future bride, Eileen Rosenbloom (Stuck Down).

Above is a picture of Kerry and me at a signing about 4 or 5 years ago. Goodness, we both look so much better now! Funny how that happens. We’ve signed together a couple of times and in fact , we met at a disastrous event (in terms of turnout) where we got to spend the entire day talking (due to lack of turnout), and had a fun time kibitzing away the day with Alan Zweibel of Saturday Night Live fame and many, many other stellar accomplishments. (Maybe he’ll become a senator one day.)

LAYA stands for Los Angeles Young Adult writers and Kerry and I were at the first informal meeting, hosted by our guiding light, Cecil Castellucci, who also attended Amy’s party last night. (But of course, I didn’t take pictures.)

There was the obligatory tour of Amy’s amazing bomb shelter – a book in itself. Amy hates it, but liked the house so much she and Mitch bought it in spite of the shelter.

So, bye-bye Kerry and don’t forget to write (more books)!!!
Weather alert: it’s HOT in L.A. – even in the shade of our patio.

Another year, another birthday, another Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

My signings were on Saturday … my birthday on Sunday … my postponed birthday dinner was last night. This year’s FOB was special because my sister-in-law Jane is visiting from Massachusetts and is a devoted bookophile and former bookstore owner.  It was also special because my granddaughter and fellow booklover Remy (almost 4) came for the very first time!

I started off signing at the Whale of a Tale bookstore booth, which hosted the Penguin authors. I was paired with Ingrid Law, (above) author of one of this year’s Newbery Honor Book, Savvy, which I can’t wait to read. I don’t like the photo but I like Ingrid … and she’ll be on the faculty of this summer’s SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) as will I!!

Remy and me

Judy Shachner and Remy (Remy loves Skippyjon Jones ... just not the camera!)

Due to a wonderful serendipity, following our signing was Judy Schachner (Skippyjon Jones – yea!!!!), whom I met in late 2007 and with whom I shared a mind-bending and memorable flight from Yakima, WA to Seattle.  I think we are bonded for life thanks to that flight and it was great to see her again. I had a second signing with Ed Decter, screenplay writer extraordinaire and middle grade and YA author fantastico.

I also got to schmooze with writer friends Lisa Yee, Julia DeVillers, Michael Reisman and got to meet the awesome illustrator Jarrett Krocosczka and family who, it turns out, live fairly close to sister-in-law Jane.

Julia DeVillers, caught mid-Twitter

The family (husband Frank, sister-in-law Jane, daughter Rebecca, granddaughter Remy) segued to Kate Mantilini’s in Bev Hills for dinner, minus son-in-law Gary who was ailing with the flu but NOT the swine flu. We missed him but soldiered on without him.

However, my birthday took a sad turn when our next door neighbor, Donald Specht, passed away early Sunday morning. Don was a jazz musician and composer as well as a writer and he will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to his wife, Mary, our dear, dear friend. In addition to writing a kabillion arrangements and commercial jingles, Don once penned The Betty Song, for which I am eternally grateful. And there was also Tropical Nights at the Birneys (a tango).   I will share soon.

I have been so very quiet lately … and that means I’m writing on an undisclosed manuscript. I don’t have any idea how it will turn out but I’ve made some progress.

I am a social person who loves to get together with friends, loves to talk BUT I need lots of space and lots of quiet to write. You can’t write and talk at the same time – a point I tried to make recently to a group of rowdy kids in a writer’s workshop.

I leave Sunday – Easter – for Omaha for a full week and then on to DePere, WI. The trip was booked so long ago, I didn’t realize I was leaving on Easter. (Last year, the same thing happened with Mother’s Day.) Hopefully, I’ll have some quiet time on the road.

Check out my schedule under School Visits on my website for book signings in Omaha and DePere.

And now … back to work!