Monthly Meeting: February 2026 – Anna Alsup, Tiffany Shih, Nataly Allimonos

The 2026 SCBWI National Conference in New York City was February’s Monthly Meeting topic. Our Austin chapter leadership (Anna Alsup, Tiffany Shih, and Nataly Allimonos) had a great time attending the conference and shared their takeaways with us. At the conference, one of our Austin members, Illustrator Keiko Hayner, won a Bronze Award in the Portfolio Showcase competition! She also won The (Maurice) Sendak Fellowship, a four week residency. Congratulations!

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:

“How Not to Feel Sucked Dry by Social Media”

• Focus on community: keep social media posts genuine and thoughtful; give back and celebrate others; build relationships
• Find an agent who cares about you as an author and person
• Create your own website and SCBWI profile, so agents can find you (or pick the one platform your are most comfortable with)
• Be careful/selective what you post online, since agents and publishers will look you up online

“Revision, Critique and Feedback”

• Stay open to feedback and critiques

“How to Build Tension in Novels”

• In novels, antagonists must be more capable than protagonists in order to establish a worthy opponent
• Strong stories often embrace characters telling lies (to the reader, to each other, to themselves)
• Complex characters are most interesting
• Remember to provide reprieves from tension

“Picture Perfect Pacing” for Illustrators

• Use page turns intentionally
• Use white space/wordless spreads to slow the reader
• Map your manuscript and mark where the emotional peaks and pauses should fall
• Record yourself reading your manuscript aloud and note where pacing feels rushed or flat
• Use repetition to show change

“The Comedic Picture Book Duo,”

• Use comedy to create contrast
• Humor emerges through interactions (such as misunderstandings/contained situations/power shifts)

More Tips:

• Organize: create your own system to keep track of your ideas so you can access/reference them later (for example, a binder with tabs)
• Study child development and today’s kids (what they deal with now, as well as timeless issues kids deal with)
• Study how kids interpret the world they live in, at any given age
• Consider how to make a story memorable in a culture of overstimulation
• Important topics to weave into your stories: Art, Creative Thinking, Nature, Peace, Character and Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Bookmarks as giveaways can be more fruitful than business cards
• Consider the global market and bilingual stories
• Conference sessions also included: “Maintaining Career Momentum in a Slow-Paced Industry,” Pitching Your Portfolio-What Art Directors’ Really Want,” “Using Book Packaging Strategies to Develop Your Next Project and Beyond,” “Flip and Flaps-Exploring Physical Structure in Picture Book Storytelling”