Tuesday, May 6, 2014

#NESCBWI14

Usually, the moment I get back from a conference, I set to writing about it, trying to encapsulate the experience, how amazing it was, gushing. But not this year. I have waited a whole 48 hours because I’ve been busy.

Busy? I was busy before the conference, making the final tweaks on my portfolio, working with my critique partner, getting reprinting done when the first batch was a disaster, running errands, as well as my usual hectic work and life stuff. I was busy for a long time in preparation, and yesterday was my first full day off in about 4 months. So perhaps “busy” is not the right word. Since I got back, I have been flowing.

I am deep in creative flow, in fact. My mind has not stopped firing. I have not stopped working, researching, learning to use Scrivener, brainstorming, planning, writing, and I have progressed both in knowledge and inspiration. I feel as if I have been catapulted forward: by what I learned in workshops, by a nice little bit of success...

Runner-up R.Michelson Galleries Award 2014
 ...but, without any doubt, above all by the energy and warmth I experienced this weekend.

The evening before I left for the conference, I sat waiting for pick-up pizza and writing in my journal. I was so excited to be going. I was SO excited to be in that environment again, and to take the step of presenting my portfolio for the first time (gulp!), and to see all of my friends, most of all. And I wrote, “Tomorrow, I am going home.” And then I did.

And now I have to wait another year to do it again. I don’t really have the words right now—it’s a quiet, happy, very replete feeling I have—so I’ll direct you to the blog of my kid-lit buddy, Ross Cox. He’s already said what I feel most of all, and he's said it far better than I feel capable of right now…


And besides, I’m itching to go back to my manuscript. 

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