My washer has gone on the fritz. Just got off the phone with the repair man. The soonest they can get out here is tomorrow afternoon. Sometime between noon and 4. *sigh* What else can go south?

The SCBWI-MO Confluence was wonderful on Saturday. The college moved us into a new building with much bigger rooms which was nice. We had plenty of space to spread out. The only complaint I could make was that we had to eat our lunch in the lounge area instead of sitting comfortably at dining tables. However, the food was spectacular.

I got confused on the schedule and the one class I really, really wanted to attend, I missed. It was on marketing to schools and libraries, which is something I would very much like to get better at. The other sessions I attended were well taught and informative, but I get very little new out of either of the breakout sessions I attended.

The day was not a total loss, I connected with the visiting illustrator, Floyd Cooper, and he has graciously agreed to be the January interviewee. He is so funny. He kept repeating how he can’t really draw. Several of the more experienced illustrators in the room gave him grief for that. People aspire to not be able to draw as well as he can’t. LOL.

His technique is one of subtraction. He covers illustration board with a thin layer of 0il paint and lets it dry to the touch, then he takes a kneaded eraser and puts in the highlights in forms of shapes. He created a Native American face in front of us as he gave his keynote address. Truly amazing.

There was an agent and an editor there as well. The house the editor is from isn’t interested in the kind of projects I currently have on my plate, but the agent sounds perfect. I approached her after her address and asked her about author/illustrator submissions. She is interested in completed manuscripts with one or two pieces of finished art to show style. I will definitely whip my current PB into shape to submit to her.

It was nice seeing old friends again and everybody was very pleased to see how well I was doing. The last time anyone form this group saw me, I had only just gotten out of the hospital a few weeks before.

I topped the 10,000 word count mark in NaNoWriMo last night. I am only a few thousand words behind but if I have another few days like the one I had yesterday, I should be caught up by the end of the week. 15,000 is the word count suggested for today. I am just too busy with other projects to type out a total of 5,000 words in one day.

PiBoIdMo is moving along as well. My ideas are becoming more strange, but the practice of thinking about new book plots everyday is good for me.

I still have a bunch of phone calls to make and then I can settle in for a good afternoon’s drawing session. With luck, I’ll catch up on the back log of work I have there as well. I think the issue is I have so many projects with similar deadlines, I am having trouble prioritizing. Probably have to do as the Nike slogan says and just do it. Stop spinning my wheels moving from fire to fire, so to speak.

Ta!