Because I have, you know. Oh, you didn't? Allow me to enlighten!
Two weekends ago I had the privilege and honor of presenting at the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Convention in Orlando, FL with fellow Texas Sweethearts Jessica Anderson and Tricia Hoover (posing here during our pre-presentation reception for Sara Lewis Holmes's Wall of Thanks to show support for military families) :
To lure people to our presentation, we created this pretty poster (click to enlarge): 
See the line about devouring wee beasties? That's me and the crickets! 
I only ate one and it wasn't bad. Just tasted like a really dry sesame cracker. (Not saying I'd eat another, though!)
After our presentation I had a signing over at the Simon & Schuster booth: 
And then went on to Downtown Disney for the Simon & Schuster family dinner at Bongos Cuban restaurant:
If you could smell this picture, you might drool a little.
I was in very distinguished company (from l-r: Brandon Mull, me, Alex Sanchez, Robin Wasserman, Holly Black) 
And had a delightful time laughing at the antics of this paranormal author (Lisa McMann):
There was also a slew of great Simon & Schuster publishing people, but for their own safety (ie., so nobody stalks them) I won't include their pictures.
The wonderful thing about any convention is getting to meet new people (as above) and getting to run into familiar faces (of which there were plenty) or putting faces with familiar names (cutie Jaclyn Dolamore!):
All in all, a great experience, thanks to my Sweethearts, my publisher and a fine crowd at NCTE.
It was, in a word, magical.
new posts in all blogs