Whew! I spent an hour in the garden this morning (harvested some sugar snap peas, weeded, weeded, weeded, and admired my just-about-to-bloom hollyhocks), then started the post-conference paperwork and email,…
….and then I wrote – for an hour. ‘Twas heavenly.
There were a number of Random Author Sightings, people I saw from a distance, but didn’t get a chance to chat with or terrify.
Bruce Coville
Stephen Chbosky, who wrote Perks of Being a Wallflower
Mo Willems (Knufflebunny) and Jackie Woodson (Feathers) who were in the receiving line because he received a Caldecott Honor and she a Newbery Honor for their awesome books.
John Green, whose newest book Paper Towns (comes out in Sept.) is haunting me, because it’s that good.
Ambassador Jon Scieszka
I did not see David Lubar, but his books had ginormous posters.
The brooding genius of Peter Sis, who also was awarded a Caldecott Honor.
More pictures tomorrow of the folks I played with, and my fangrrl drooling over an author who has been a huge influence on my work.
I’m diving back into my story. Have you done your 15 minutes yet?
Great pictures! I’m always shocked when I go to these conferences because of the high probability of running into amazingly talented folks. It surprises me that you’d be terrified to talk to other authors, because I was terrified to talk to you! I guess it’s chain of… terror? That came out wrong.
I was the shy one that was hiding behind my husband (Amulet author) at the Scholastic booth. We both met you very briefly at a high school event in Rochester, but I was too shy to say much beyond “I loved Speak!!” (and I also loved Twisted). Your blog was one of the tiny voices in my head that told me I need to try my hand at novel-writing, so thank you for keeping this blog!
Speaking of which, off to do my fifteen minutes…
ALA
Love the photos! Can’t wait to see more.
my momma planted some hollyhocks from seed and they are beautiful, tall and bright pink! good luck with the garden 🙂
I did my 15 minutes, and then some. Tomorrow will be a more difficult day, though, because today I finished the draft of my garden gnome book, in progress in fits & starts these past 2 years or so. Tra la!
I saw you at ALA–but you were signing with an adoring crowd around you, so I didn’t want to disrupt.
Great pictures! I’m sorry I missed your signing.
Great photos–you’re making _Paper Towns_ even more tantalizing.
But most tantalizing–you have peas!!!! Mine are just in blossom. I can’t wait. (Well, I can. Summer in these parts is too short.)
ooooo. i wish i could have been there! I was at ALA midwinter in philly this year and it was just wonderful. one of these days I’ll have to graduate to the big leagues. 🙂 lovely photos!
i met you for a brief second at the feiwel and friends reception. i was a bit of a fangirl myself. sorry i wasn’t very coherent.
TWISTED
I wrote today. Finished my revision, in fact. Yesterday I read TWISTED and got all verklempt during the scene of reconciliation — especially when (my paraphrase) “he wiped the tears off my face and I wiped the tears off his.”
You meet so many cool people.
Bruce Coville is the shit. I heard him speak when I was 8 and a parent stood up and said that his child was a fan, but he had not let him or her (I forget which) come, because he (the parent) thought Bruce Coville’s books were satanic. Bruce handled it very well.
“Perks of Being a Wallflower” is in my next 5 books to start reading list.
I read “Hush” and “The House You Pass” along the way 2 years ago. Loved both.
I should start reading more…
OMG Stephen Chbosky!!! *flailheadspinmelt*
I can’t wait until I’m either published or high enough in the publishing world to attend these sorts of conferences. They always look like heaven to me.
ALA
Thanks for sharing the pictures!
I’m a distance education student in an ALA-accredited program. One of my profs was at Anaheim (he stayed a day later than most for a conference), so we students got to hear him from California last night. What he mentioned about class-related ALA conference proceedings was interesting…
But not nearly as COOL as what you did (nor, I suspect, as much fun).