Oklahoma's SCBWI Conference

On Saturday, I'm attending my first SCBWI conference. For those not in the know, SCBWI is the acronym of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. In Oklahoma they hold a conference every year, splitting each year between OKC and Tulsa. Yay! This year it's in Tulsa. I only have to go downtown for an all day seminar.

I also spent some extra bucks for a writing critique by one of the agents or editors. I sent in my first picture book story, Peter's Messy Room. Since then I've written a total of 8 Peter stories and I'm working on another PB along with a MG book.

To tell you the truth, I've been in a blue writing funk. I can't seem to write on ANY story, not even my adult UF. Ever since I entered Demon Within in a couple of writing contests, I'm stumped. What if I actually get some feedback that will help me figure it all out?

I think part of my problem is mental. Isn't it always? I know I'm going to get feedback on my pb, so why write something if I might actually get some constructive critsism? But I can tell you right now, I can almost guess exactly what the crit will be: Nice writing, but nothing special.

The story of my life. I've never excelled at anything. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've tried. I've tried all sorts of things, but I'm just not gifted at any one thing. And it's frustrating. I've trained horses, writing romance, teaching MT's and aerobics, and even my old career as a MT bench tech. I was good, efficient even if all my evaluations were true, but I didn't excel.

I'm just sick and tired of sucking at things. Hell, I can't even lose weight though I'm exercising my wazoo off at the moment. Damn plateaus.

Sorry, didn't mean for this to turn into a gritch session.

I am excited about meeting other writers and learning the secret handshake of children's book publishing, but I'm not holding my breath.
--that way I won't get disappointed.

I'll let you know how it went on Monday's blog.