Time flies…and sometimes that’s a good thing

I had spent a good chunk of time in the past couple of years fretting about the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Marvelous Midwest conference that ran this past weekend (April 12-14). When it finally arrived, the weekend flew by.

To the utter surprise of my introverted self, I actually enjoyed the event a lot! First of all, my dear long-time friend (our kids were in the same playgroup when they were tots) and critique partner, Tanya Konerman, is the best travel buddy one can ask for. We talked almost non-stop on the whole 5.5 hour drive there and the same amount of time back home. So, even traveling was a hoot!

Here are some of my fellow volunteers for Indiana SCBWI. We dined that first night at an Ethiopian restaurant a short walk from the hotel. We truly have the best team of volunteers!

At the conference itself, I met up with a ton of people I either only knew from online writing groups or hadn’t seen in several years due to there not being in-person conferences for a while.

This is the planning committee at the costume party. The theme of the conference was “work-in-progress.”

I had a great time being on my very first panel which was likely due to fabulous author-illustrator Zeke Peña and agent-extraordinaire Saritza Hernandez who were super fun and such pros at doing this.

Strangely enough, I even enjoyed giving my presentations on writing graphic novels and writing lyrical nonfiction. Not that I like to teach usually, but I thought I’d prefer doing it via Zoom than in person–nope, I really liked teaching in person. Go figure. Who is this stranger who’s taken over my body??

And then it was time to bid Davenport, Iowa, a fond farewell. Now I can say that I’ve sailed in the footsteps of Mark Twain on the Mississippi River.

Have you ever been to Davenport? What’s your impression of it?