I spent the weekend at the awesome New England SCBWI conference. Mostly fielding reactions like, “You drove ALL the way from OHIO? Don’t they have conferences in Ohio?” (Typical East Coast attitude.)
It was rather rash. You see, eleven hours in the car didn’t sound so bad three months ago, at registration time. It looked kind of misty and romantic, like a far-away, blurry photograph of yourself. I thought, “Road trip! I’ll be driving through the Berkshires in May; how lovely!” And it IS lovely. But still a long way. Even with the Rent soundtrack blasting through the speakers.
I ran into Paula Kay McLaughlin at the luncheon buffet. She lives in Connecticut, but I first met her at the Central Ohio SCBWI conference, where she was busy explaining why she’d driven all the way from Connecticut to Ohio for a conference. “Don’t they have conferences in Connecticut?”
This is Kindling Words East territory, so of course I saw lot of my writing buds from there, including Kathleen Blasi, Sibby Falk, and Toni Buzzeo. Some of us still smell like woodsmoke. Kathleen and Sibby and I celebrated by getting lost in the twisting roads surrounding the Fitchburg Courtyard by Marriott. As Sibby said, “Lock the doors! I think I hear the banjos starting up.”
Here are Carolyn Scoppettone, Libby, and Kathleen in happier times.
I finally met online friends Jo Knowles and Stacy DeKeyser in person—yay! They were both on faculty for the conference.
Made lots of new friends at dinner Friday night
and rubbed shoulders with
Cindy Lord at dinner Saturday night. Maybe some of her Newbury-worthiness will rub off on me.
Lest you think I spent my entire time eating,
Cynthia Leitich-Smith’s keynote was incredible. That girl has the Native-American equivalent of chutzpah. She told the story of her journey into print. She was living in Chicago and working as a lawyer when an epiphany hit—she wanted to be a children’s writer. At this point she had absolutely nothing on the page. So she and her husband both quit their jobs and moved to Austin. Two years later, Cynthia published her first book.
Cynthia and I put our heads together after her interview on Sunday. Actually, I was hoping some of her chutzpah would rub off on me.
In Liza Ketcham’
I've been tagged by NYCTeacher for the Personal Policies meme. Like Vivian, I have to admit that this was not an easy one for me. I really had to think about whether or not I even have policies. Here's what I've come up with:
1) I always read before going to bed. Always have, always will. When my eyes go, I'll listen.
2) Like Vivian, I like a good morning with the kids before school. Even though it's always a rush, I treasure this time with them. I always take them to school, even though my eldest takes the bus home a few days a week.
3) I have to have mineral water in the house or I go crazy. I'll go out in the middle of the night if we're out.
4) The second I walk in the door, I change into pajama pants. Home=pajama pants=the good life.
5) To edit my own writing, I have to use a certain Pentel pencil, .9 mm, 2B lead. It's the only writing instrument to which I'm loyal and true.
I tag you all!
I've been tagged for another meme today. This one is the 8 Things Meme and it comes to me from Christine M. at The Simple and the Ordinary. Here are the rules:
Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Okay, I think I'm going to go for the trivial today. Here are 8 facts/habits about myself:
1. I really don't like feet. Especially, and apologies to half the world's population, men's feet.
2. I have trouble sitting in one place for longer than about an hour. This makes going to the movies difficult for me. When reading or writing, I get up, take a short walk, and then keep working.
3. My "stage" fright is so extreme, I have trouble going to the theater at all. I spend the whole time horrified for the actors--that they'll mess up, or faint, or something. (Strangely enough, I have no problems with public speaking.)
4. I love celery. Cooked and raw.
5. I'd take a good Indian meal over ice cream and chocolate any day.
6. My favorite living writers are Kate Atkinson, Ian McEwan, and Philip Pullman. My three favorite dead writers are Henry James, Tolstoy, and Nabokov.
7. I really want to visit Ukraine.
8. My school instrument was oboe. Now it's my daughter's instrument.
On to tagging (Christine already tagged a few I would have!):
Jen
Michele (sorry!)
Mary Lee/Franki
MotherReader
Little Willow
Camille
Susan
Jules/Eisha
What a profound comparison. I can only hope I will have a glass of wine in hand when I draw my last breath : )
I love how you explain the romanticism of the road trip. It's never as awesome as it sounds.
-Holly
堅決的信心，能使平凡的人，成就不平凡的事。......................................................