WOWZERS!!!I attended a great conference this past weekend put on by the New England chapter of SCBWI. Friday was a Nuts & Bolts day for more advanced workshops. I presented a workshop on Copyright Registration for Illustrators. It seemed to go well. I definitely had more material than my 45 minutes allowed for. I'm also so proud that I figured out the whole PowerPoint thing (though I really need to get over my plug phobia!) Saturday was also a fun-filled day of workshops. I especially enjoyed the talk by Jacqueline Davies, et al. entitled "The Whole Shebang". Jacqueline, editor Ann Rider from Houghton Mifflin, illustrator Melissa Sweet, art director Sheila Smallwood and the marketing manager all talked about Jackie's book The Boy Who Drew Birds. Jackie is a wonderful speaker and her book is a delight. In fact I may need to buy another copy.

Melissa Sweet is one of my new favorite illustrators. I also picked up her new book Carmine. Think Red Riding Hood with a twist. You'll love it.

Sunday was a wonderful picture book retreat with the fantastic Eric Rohmann as the keynote speaker. Later, he gave me his thoughts on my dummy for Sir Draws-A-Lot, which I really appreciated. I also met a Kim Jacobs, a superb illustrator. Keep an eye out for her as I'm sure some publisher will snap her up quickly!

But my favorite part of the weekend was meeting up with my critique group. There were 10 of us there in person and two in spirit! They are a bright, funny talented group of women and I'm proud to be a part of THE HAMPSTERS!!!!! You can see their writing BLOGS on the right hand side of this page!