A Garden Party with Writers and Illustrators

This Saturday, I joined writers Adam Gidwitz, Rob Buyea, Ann Haywood Leal, and Michaela MacColl in speaking at the 13^th Annual Shoreline SCBWI Conference in Doe Boyle’s garden in southern Connecticut, and what a relaxed, gracious, inspiring event it was.  I’m still mulling over the wisdom of my fellow presenters, and marveling at how at home I felt among sixty other writers and illustrators, even though I’d met only a handful of them before.  As I witnessed the camaraderie and heard about the support they give each other, I couldn’t help envying them, and it made me question my own isolationist mode of writing.

Writers Rob Buyea, Ann Haywood Leal, Doe Boyle, Adam Gidwitz, Caragh O'Brien, and Michaela MacColl, June 4, 2011.

When Doe invited me a few weeks ago, she promised an intimate, salon-like exchange of ideas, and I sensed immediately that this was going to be special.  People came with their own folding chairs, and we spread out on the grassy lawn behind her family’s blue Colonial.  Each person brought a potluck dish to share when we broke first for lunch and again later for desserts.  A few very cute, well-behaved kids climbed around and cuddled on laps.  A variety of hats angled in the bright sunlight, and the shade from the big trees moved around as the afternoon progressed.  Doe had posted inspirational quotes on yellow cards around the garden and through the house, even on the steps leading up to the second bath, so that anywhere you went, you’d come across another encouraging, thought-provoking idea.

It was really cool.

I enjoyed how Doe opened with highlights from a recent article on what defines a MG or YA novel, and how many of the points invited disagreement and differing opinions.  I liked when Adam reminded listeners that there was no single right way to do anything, and explained that he watched 2^nd graders react to his stories to learn what fascinated and terrified them.  In an incredibly modest way, Rob told of how John Irving kindly championed his story, and how his focus and perseverance as a wrestler carried over to his writing.  Ann explained how she claimed her inner 12-year-old voice, complete with a pre-computer childhood and a Tiger Beat pin-up of David Cassidy.  Michaela talked about starting her historical novels with an overabundance of researched facts, and weeding them out as the story emerged.  I explored how an authentic young adult voice is not merely in the way teen characters talk, but in the mindset of the protagonist and the drive of the prose.

The overlap between the talks intrigued me, and the listening writers offered so many thoughtful follow-up questions.

We lingered until the mosquitoes began to reclaim “their yard,” as Doe put it, and as I left, she gave me some local honey and a little gift, as if I needed any thanks.  Mine was the soul that was nourished in the exchange of creative ideas.  What a sweet way to join the Shorelawn family.