If I wasn’t already involved in next spring’s Austin Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference as a panelist, I’d be knocking folks out of the way to get my registration into the mail.

Perhaps I’m biased — one of the faculty members sold one of my manuscripts to another of the faculty members — but the lineup of professionals, sessions, and activities is the best I’ve ever seen this side of the annual SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. It truly seems perfectly designed to meet the needs of children’s and YA writers at every stage on the path of publication.

They even found someone to critique nonfiction manuscripts.

***

Earlier tonight I found out what will happen to Pasta, the manuscript bought by an editor now moving to a different publishing house.

The most likely options were that the manuscript would land in the hands of a different editor at the same publisher (Dial), or that it would go with the original editor to her new employer.

Turns out, I’m staying with Dial. I’ll miss working with my original editor — she and I had put our heads together in her office last spring to come up with a vision for the book — but I also get a kick out of knowing that, in a sense, I’ve sold the manuscript twice, once to each editor.

And if the new editor and I come up with a different vision, no biggie: I haven’t done much more than think about this project since finishing the proposal.