Reflections and Takeaways from the Marvelous Midwest Conference

The Marvelous Midwest took place April 12-14, 2024 in Davenport Iowa. Below, some Michigan attendees share some of their thoughts and key takeaways.

Writers from Michigan at the Marvelous Midwest Conference

Dave Stricklen's Takeaways

It was a bit of an undertaking to drive to Davenport, Iowa, but I hadn’t seen any of my writer buddies for years (except on a small screen).  I remember feeling inspired after conferences and thought it would be nice to get back to that. I drove with Suzette Garvey.  As writers, we have a lot to talk about and when we tell a story… we tell a story! No joke we told life stories back and forth for five straight hours without as much as a 30 second break. Before we knew it, we were pulling up at the hotel. 

The hotel reminded me of “The Shining” (in a creepy but cool way) the place had atmosphere. My conference high point was Gary Schmidt’s keynote. I told him face to face that it was the best keynote that I had ever heard. I then realized that he wasn’t one of the speakers we flew in from either coast. He lived a just few miles south of my home address. Yes, we do have talent right in our back yard if we take a closer look.

After getting home and looking at my takeaways, I had eight great things to follow up on. I came to the realization that these great ideas came predominately from other writers while simply chatting over lunch or in the hotel lobby.

For me, it stressed the importance of in person meetings. I truly got more from my casual writer chats and connections than in the break outs. It stresses the importance of getting to the in-person shoptalks or seminars more than ever. Sitting across from someone with a cup of coffee is a different experience. You can find a YouTube video on basically any subject, but true connection and inspiration is built on in person meetings.

More than one writer expressed to me that they would be leaving the conference with their passion for writing fully recharged.

Interviews with BookSmitten

Heather and Kelly

The children’s book podcast BookSmitten was recording on-site at the SCBWI Marvelous Midwest 2024 Conference in Davenport, Iowa. Follow along with Kelly J. Baptist and Heather Shumaker as they gather wisdom from keynotes and attendees, and even glean insight from soup.

Mentioned in this episode:

SCBWI Marvelous Midwest 2024
Gary D. Schmidt
Sherri L. Smith
James Solheim
 

Interviewees:

Aaron Fox (MO)
Debbie Gonzales (MI)
Kat Higgs-Coulthard (MI)
Leslie Helakowski  (MI)
Danielle Defoe (MI)
Kathy Halsey (OH)
Amy Flynn (OH)
Sheila Willobee (MI)
Kathy Groth (WI) -  Sunken Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan, Ocean Party (Illustrated by Becca Hart)
Joyce Uglow (WI) - Stuck: The Story of the La Brea Tar Pits (Illustrated by Valerya Milovanova )