Tinkering with the Vignette Droid app in the airport. The filter that highlights my hair is called "Paris." Cool!(August? How on EARTH did it get to be AUGUST?)
I just arrived home from a wonderful week in California. Before I say anything else, I want to thank the person who made my trip possible: Kiersten White. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to attend the summer conference for SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). Thank you, Kiersten, for being one of the most charming, hilarious, kind, trustworthy, beautiful, generous people in my life.
Also, it was insanely good timing on my behalf to be there when this happened:
I just arrived home from a wonderful week in California. Before I say anything else, I want to thank the person who made my trip possible: Kiersten White. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to attend the summer conference for SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). Thank you, Kiersten, for being one of the most charming, hilarious, kind, trustworthy, beautiful, generous people in my life.
Also, it was insanely good timing on my behalf to be there when this happened:
Her first HARDCOVER copy of Paranormacly!How thrilling it was to knock on it and hear its heavy, thick book-y sound! The sound that announces:
I am real.
I'm looking forward to blogging about the conference, but I'll wait until more attendees have uploaded their pictures. My own camera is being repaired, so I was stuck with my camera phone! It takes great pictures with the above Vignette app, but it's a pain when it comes to regular pictures.
There are only two things I'll say about the conference for now:
(1) I met so many fantastic authors, illustrators, and bloggers! I say it frequently, but it's always incredible when internet friends become real-life friends. Thank you to everyone who introduced yourself to me. I'm grateful to be in CHILDREN'S WRITING, a career packed with such sweet, funny, supportive people.
(2) M.T. Anderson. Hello, you. Please allow me to bathe your feet in liquid gold and feed you grapes plumped by Italian sunshine.
I am real.
I'm looking forward to blogging about the conference, but I'll wait until more attendees have uploaded their pictures. My own camera is being repaired, so I was stuck with my camera phone! It takes great pictures with the above Vignette app, but it's a pain when it comes to regular pictures.
There are only two things I'll say about the conference for now:
(1) I met so many fantastic authors, illustrators, and bloggers! I say it frequently, but it's always incredible when internet friends become real-life friends. Thank you to everyone who introduced yourself to me. I'm grateful to be in CHILDREN'S WRITING, a career packed with such sweet, funny, supportive people.
(2) M.T. Anderson. Hello, you. Please allow me to bathe your feet in liquid gold and feed you grapes plumped by Italian sunshine.
Mr. Anderson. I did not take this picture, nor did I attend this party. Unfortunately.Okay, fine. I'll explain that last one.
For the unfamiliar, Anderson is a two-time Printz Honor and National Book Award-winning author of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1: The Pox Party (best title ever) as well as Feed (often cited for its memorable first sentence: "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck") and several more YA novels, middle grade novels, and picture books (including one not often discussed, though it should be: Me, All Alone, at the End of the World).
His work is sophisticated—sometimes challenging (Octavian), sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious (The Game of Sunken Places)—and always interesting.
I'd been looking forward to his keynote, because I knew it would be good. I didn't realize it would be GREAT. It was on the use of geography in literature, with examples from a wide variety of writers and sources, including his own Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware. In it, Anderson reimagines Delaware as a mystical land (Amazon description): "Long cut off from civilization by exorbitant toll-road charges, it is a dangerous region of lofty mountains, impenetrable jungles, and exotic cities, ruled by a crazed military dictator."
I know, right? Brilliant.
He had us, his entire audience, wrapped around his finger as new perspectives and ideas exploded throughout our minds, but then—as if he hadn't done enough—he burst into his own Delaware state anthem:
For the unfamiliar, Anderson is a two-time Printz Honor and National Book Award-winning author of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume 1: The Pox Party (best title ever) as well as Feed (often cited for its memorable first sentence: "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck") and several more YA novels, middle grade novels, and picture books (including one not often discussed, though it should be: Me, All Alone, at the End of the World).
His work is sophisticated—sometimes challenging (Octavian), sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious (The Game of Sunken Places)—and always interesting.
I'd been looking forward to his keynote, because I knew it would be good. I didn't realize it would be GREAT. It was on the use of geography in literature, with examples from a wide variety of writers and sources, including his own Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware. In it, Anderson reimagines Delaware as a mystical land (Amazon description): "Long cut off from civilization by exorbitant toll-road charges, it is a dangerous region of lofty mountains, impenetrable jungles, and exotic cities, ruled by a crazed military dictator."
I know, right? Brilliant.
He had us, his entire audience, wrapped around his finger as new perspectives and ideas exploded throughout our minds, but then—as if he hadn't done enough—he burst into his own Delaware state anthem:
(Not my recording. So if you're interested, watch him sing it now before it's snatched away!)
For the rest of the conference, he was surrounded by throngs of single women. Ha ha! I was bummed to miss his workshop two days later, which I heard was "better and harder than any college lecture," but a friend was kind enough to take notes for me, because I had somewhere else to be . . .
DISNEYLAND.
Oh, yeah. I ditched work for Disney.
In a weird coincidence, my husband just-so-happened to be in Los Angeles! So I spent Sunday with Jarrod and our friends Alex (The Remus Lupins, for you wizard rockers) and Sarah. They made awesome companions, because they're from the area and know the park's secrets! We hardly waited in line all day.
The following pictures are courtesy of Sarah, who also has red hair with blue stripes:
For the rest of the conference, he was surrounded by throngs of single women. Ha ha! I was bummed to miss his workshop two days later, which I heard was "better and harder than any college lecture," but a friend was kind enough to take notes for me, because I had somewhere else to be . . .
DISNEYLAND.
Oh, yeah. I ditched work for Disney.
In a weird coincidence, my husband just-so-happened to be in Los Angeles! So I spent Sunday with Jarrod and our friends Alex (The Remus Lupins, for you wizard rockers) and Sarah. They made awesome companions, because they're from the area and know the park's secrets! We hardly waited in line all day.
The following pictures are courtesy of Sarah, who also has red hair with blue stripes:
And beautiful eyes. She has really, really beautiful eyes.
Alex, Sarah, Jarrod, Moi. And a riverboat.
HAM (Hot American Man), HAD (Hot American Dude), or HAG (Hot American Guy). Sorry I can't find a sexy acronym, honey. But you are!
EAT THE CHURROS.
The lady behind us does NOT want in our picture!
"Ooo."
"AHH!"
I'm pretty proud of how dorky we are.
Alex's hat celebrates our ninth anniversary.
Toontown phone. I'm concerned. About . . . something.
Official and stuff.Thanks to Jarrod, Alex, and Sarah for a perfect Sunday! And before I go, something from my blog comments. Mary Clare said:
"Me thinks you should do BEDA with Maureen Johnson. She's doing it in August, if you don't recall. :) I know you're busy and I understand if you cannot, but that would be AWESOME! You are one of my favorite bloggers and it is nice to here from you again."
Props for saying "me thinks." I'm a fan.
And thank you! It takes a loooooong time to write each post (even the short ones), so blog compliments always make me happy. I would love to do Maureen's BEDA (Blog Every Day April/August) but I'm wrestling with a VERY PRESSING DEADLINE this week, so perhaps I can try BEDITSHOA?
That, of course, stands for: Blog Every Day in the Second Half of August.
Maybe? Perchance? No promises—because I've broken more promises this year than I care to admit—but I'd love to do this. Thank you for asking!
Happy August, everyone.
(SERIOUSLY. HOW IS IT ALREADY AUGUST?)
