After Long Silence...

...is the name of one of my favorite books by Sherri S. Tepper. It's also an appropriate name for a blog entry after a 2-month absence.

Here's the list of excuses:
The end of May/early June was weird with that diet (see last entry) which took over my entire life. Then I got sick. Very sick. I ended up having three secondary infections from a summer cold and it took about 5 weeks to recover. Not cool. And then it was birthday and vacationing madness.

Whew, okay, excuses out of the way, I am thrilled to be back at the computer. Just in time to gear up for the 2011 SCBWI Summer Conference in LA!

I'm currently studying this list of 71 faculty members in hopes of knowing a thing or two about my manuscript consultant before stepping into the 20 minute one-on-one session. There are some I am not so sure I'd want to get, to be honest. I mean, if I sit down with Lin Oliver, I'm going to be struck speechless. She's the Executive Director and co-founder of SCBWI, plus she writes with Henry Winkler regularly. I'm in awe. But then again, I could get Bruce Coville. I'm in awe of him too, but I've met him before and he's so easy to talk to.

I'm handwriting a list of all 71 faculty members with a few highlights from their bios. Writing things out by hand helps it to stick in my memory, plus I'll take the notebook with me for quick reference. I'm putting stars by the ones I would love to chat up and an exclamation point next to those that are heavy-hitters, like Ms. Oliver.

And of course, I continue to work on my WIP. I'd love to have a few more chapters complete in time for the conference. Other than packing and writing, what are you doing to get ready for the 2011 SCBWI Summer Conference?