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It's that time of year again. Time to work on my costume for the SCBWI National conference in August. This is the one performance art piece that I do a year. Red just happens to be my favorite color and this costume just happens to be my favorite "FUN" art. Which is always a bonus. These are the ingredients and by August my masterpiece will be fully cooked!
When carving Mount Rushmore one of the problems Gutzon dealt with was how to get a model of the presidents to the top of the mountain. Using his eye to determine if a face was correct, Gutzon made a plaster cast of one of the president's faces and brought it up to the top to help him judge. During the course of construction Gutzon changed the design of Mount Rushmore nine times!
I met Rene Colato Lainez years ago in a chlidren's writing class. Sweet and kind, we all cheered when Rene sold his first book and then the next two. It is my great pleasure to interview my buddy Rene Colato Lainez.
When and why did you start writing for children?
I loved to read and write books as a child. When I was eight years, I decided that I wanted to write a book. Since then, I wrote poems and short stories.
The Inside passage has it share of glaciers.
The ship sailed back into these small inlets to view these massive mountains of ice. Of course it was freezing cold as I stood on my deck to quick sketch in the drizzle. It paid off with a drawing and a sighting of a pod of killer whales.
When I was in Australia, I ended up sketching this amazing building three times. The Sydney Opera House is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. 
It was said that the architect came up with the design by playing with orange slices. Inside was remarkable with curved wooden paneling that followed the shape of the ceilings. We were lucky enough to hear opera at the Opera House. One of the three tenors, Jose Carreras, with the Australian Philharmonic, gave an astonishing performance that included five encores.
Over the years that I have been involved with the SCBWI I have attended countless novel retreats, promotion retreats, workshops, smoozes and so on. I met Anne Broyles at one of the novel retreats years ago. She was talented, kind and funny. I am so happy that Anne Broyles agreed to be interviewed.
When and why did you start writing for children?
I still have the first “book” I wrote (second grade) and I’ve always thought of myself as a writer even when I had another career. I published many nonfiction books in the religious/devotional field before I thought about writing for children.
My first BEA was a blast this week. The Master of Ceremonies, Jon Scieszka, set the tone and the speakers at the children's authors breakfast, Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume, Neil Gaiman and Eoin Colfer were hilarious. The two days I attended were full of books, fun, old SCBWI friends and lifetime heroes. I felt like a groupie and could barely talk when I met Jan Brett, Lawrence Yep and Rick Riordan. Also I ached like a mule as I lugged around free books that nearly broke my back. I plan to YouTube a slide show of this BEA soon.
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