Dan Gutman Keynote: How A Dumbass Like Me Got 100 Books Published

Dan Gutman published his 100th book this year, and starts off his keynote with an informal poll - what's funnier, "nose hair" or "ear hair."

Nose hair wins.

With that burning topic settled, he launches into his

13 Keys to a successful career in children's books.
(Better than those 12 step programs. It has a whole extra step!)

And he's giving them to us in reverse order, to build suspense.

I won't share the stories and explanations of all of them (they're funny and profound) but here's a taste:

#13. Ignore all advice, including mine.

#11. Be a boxer. You gotta be tough.
He goes to schools with 100s of his rejection letters in a big binder to share with kids - he wants them to know that not everyone is successful right off the bat. You have to be like a boxer, take punch after punch. But then when you do achieve success, you get to laugh in the faces of those who rejected you. Ha!

#9. Don't get stuck in a rut. Try a different genre, shake it up. That's how he started the My Weird School series, but trying something new (and reverse-engineering Junie B. Jones...)

#6. Never write on an empty stomach. Always use paper. (okay, that one was a joke, but it was so funny, I had to share it!)

The rest of his tips have us laughing, and thinking, and applauding!

Pre-#LA12SCBWI Interview with Dan Gutman

Jolie Stekly talks with upcoming SCBWI Summer Conference Keynoter (and funny author of more than 100 books for kids) Dan Gutman!

Dan is so funny, even his BIO cracks you up!  Proof:  Here's his conference bio...

Dan Gutman was born in a log cabin in Illinois and used to write by candlelight with a piece of chalk on a shovel. Oh, wait a minute. That was Abraham Lincoln.  Actually, he grew up in New Jersey.  Like many boys, Dan hated to read but loved sports. That’s why he writes so many sports books aimed at reluctant readers.  HE graduated from Rutgers in 1977 with a degree in psychology (which means, in Latin, "a total waste of time").  He never took a writing class in his life, which is obvious to anyone who has read his books. In 1994, Dan penned a novel about a boy who can travel through time with baseball cards.  Honus & Me was published by HarperCollins which turned it into an 11-book series. In his insatiable quest for world domination, Dan dreamed up My Weird School in 2004, a series of easy readers about a school in which all the grown-ups are insane and has written 40 of them. Dan’s goal is to keep writing My Weird School until HarperCollins rips the laptop out of his cold, dead hands. He has also written The Homework Machine,Million Dollar Shot, The Kid Who Ran For President, and a bunch of other books that didn't sell.  When he’s not writing books, Dan writes self-aggrandizing third-person bios like this one. 

Jolie and Dan talk about rejections (and how to deal with them) and we even get Dan's advice on how to find our own "sweet spot" as writers. 

It's a great glimpse into what we can look forward to with Dan giving the Friday afternoon keynote, "How a Dumbass LIke Me Got 100 Books Published" and the Saturday workshop, "Let's Write A Story Together."   

To be inspired by and learn from Dan and the rest of the amazing SCBWI Summer Conference faculty) you'll need to be there yourself.  But there's not much time left!  The #LA12SCBWI conference is August 3-6, 2012.  Register here!

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee