Karen Sandler

Tag: conference

  • #LA12SCBWI – The Prelude

    About an hour ago, my son and I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza for the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) big annual summer conference. The room is quite nice and very spacious. I hadn’t been here two minutes before I accidentally moved something in the mini-fridge before reading the sign that told me I would be charged for anything I moved, even if I didn’t consume it. Yikes! Called the front desk to report I really hadn’t drank a can of Red Bull.

    We’re renting an actual fridge from the hotel ($5/day) for the couple of snack/breakfast items we brought with us. I recall the breakfast scene at SCBWI being a bit of a zoo. I’m praying the organizers will have coffee on offer in the mornings like they did last year.

    Here are a few views from the hotel. The fountain on Avenue of the Stars:

     

     

     

     

    A view of Century City/Beverly Hills off to the left:

     

     

     

     

    The iconic hotel itself:

     

     

     

     

    I’ll do my best to share whatever writing wisdom I glean this week via my blog. Cheers!

  • SCBWILA11 – Day 0

    Or is that Day -1? Not much of import to report. On Twitter, I’ve seen much exclaiming over luminaries at the faculty dinner, but since I’m not faculty and not yet a luminary, I’ve only met the regular folk so far. Many delightful people and a quite swanky hotel (the Century Plaza/Hyatt Regency). Met my roommate, Meredith, and we walked over to have dinner at BJ’s (where I indulged in their triple chocolate dessert involving a melty warm chocolate cookie, a scoop of chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream and a square of dark chocolate).

    Here’s the daytime view from our room on the 17th floor:

     

     

     

     

     

    Complete with renowned L.A. smog.

     

    And here’s a shot of the fountain in the median of Avenue of the Stars, as well as a pic of the hotel lobby with many attendees confabbing:

     

     

     

     

     

    I’ll report more tomorrow when I’ve attended workshops and actually have something worthy of reporting. Very much looking forward to all the excitement!

  • Rent-a-Cat

    I’m heading down to L.A. tomorrow to attend the international summer conference of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators). Although I’ve been to three regionals since I joined the organization last October, this is my first time attending the big SCBWI conference. I’m really looking forward to it.

    As a former member of Romance Writers of America, I’ve been to several of their big annual conferences, so I have some idea of what to expect. There will be too many workshops to choose from (although this time I have a spiffy app to help with that), over-air-conditioned rooms, rubber chicken lunches, and bleary-eyed mornings spent groping for coffee.

    Although I’ve pubbed plenty of romance novels, my book Tankborn, due out in September, is my very first young adult. I still feel green-as-grass, wet-behind-the-ears about the children’s market. So I plan to do the sponge thing at SCBWI LA and soak up as much wisdom as I can.

    To save on expenses, I’ve entered into an “arranged marriage” (sounds like one of my romance novels) to share a room with a fellow SCBWI member from Kentucky. I’ve done that in the past at RWA conferences and it’s both weird and fun to spend a few days with a total stranger. (Of course, there was that one conference where I roomed with three other women and ended up going home with someone else’s panties in my laundry. Eew.) I’m thinking I’m really going to enjoy my time with Meredith in L.A..

    The hotel looks like a nice one and it’s in Century City, a very vibrant part of L.A. But like any hotel, it has one drawback–no kitties. I’m used to having three of them snoozing in bed with me, snuggled up beside me or maybe draped across my head or curled up at my feet. But I will be catless for the three days of the conference.

    Here’s what I think all hotels should provide–a rent-a-cat. They should have a collection of some nice, mellow orange tabbies, or couch potato torties. Hotel guests could reserve their kitty when they reserve their room. There could be pictures posted on the hotel website with profiles of each cat. The cat of choice would be waiting for the guest in their room when they arrive, ready for belly rubs and scritches behind the ears, more than happy to curl up in a lap.

    Yeah, yeah, I can hear your objections. Some people are allergic to cats. Won’t that be traumatic for the cat? And what about that catbox?

    Minor issues all to be worked out. Just as some hotels provide smoking rooms, they can provide “cat rooms” for the non-allergic. Kitties would be chosen for their laid-back temperament and would enjoy the attention of one and all. The hotel guest can clean the cat box since they likely have plenty of practice at home.

    Yeah, not ever gonna happen. But I still think it’s a lovely idea. My toes kept toasty by a cat. The sound of purring in my ear as the hotel cat uses my pillow as his bed. And then there’s that familiar cat hair in my morning coffee.

    Just like home.