Last week I returned to Hollins for the Children's Literature Association conference. It's a wonderful conference anyway, but the chance to combine that conference with a Hollins trip and reunion was just amazing ( Read more... )

Not because I WANT to be there (not for this reason, no not at all), but because I should be there and want to grieve with my Hollins community. A wonderful professor and human being has left this plane. JD Stahl is one of the teachers at Hollins and one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He ran an online class in Myth and Folktale that I ( Read more... )

By now almost everyone who was at ALA has posted. I, however, have not. Had another week-long conference in Arkansas the week before, plus a very long drive too and from, in addition to bringing home a new baby Android (no, Wyrmling didn't arrive early, I got an Android phone and am still trying to convert 10 years of records from Palm to Android ( Read more... )

So, I've been absent from LJ for a while because things have been nutty with finishing up the book and all the fall conferences. Two weekends ago I went to SCBWI Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. My mom and I stayed in the hotel overnight and had a wonderful time. Also got to see lizjonesbooks briefly, as well as Pat Easton, my very first writing teacher ( Read more... )

My former professor now friend, Alexandria LaFaye ( recently interviewed by kathleenfoucart is trying to get funding to aid publishing her book on writing, "The Primed Mind." I've read it and it really is an amazing book, not just on the craft of writing but also creative thinking. It's funny too and has lots of good writing exercises ( Read more... )

So, does anyone ever play something like the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game with things in their own life? I'm constantly amazed at how things intersect and double back; such as my husband working on trails in the area my family lives in West Virginia, or meeting my high school English teacher at ICFA. I had a fun mental game yesterday where I ( Read more... )

This summer is the first since 2001 that I have not been on campus or abroad with the Hollins program. While I'm sad that chapter of my life has ended, it's been so nuts the past couple months that I didn't have time to miss it, oddly. I also knew I would be visiting, so that helped ween me away from this amazing place. I just got back from a ( Read more... )

Just had an amazing time at ChLA with a lot of Hollins folk and other friends from the Children's Lit world. I presented my paper on Anne Lindbergh's "Three Lives to Live" (more specifically, the use of food and eating and dining as a reflection of the plot and character issues). I think this could grow into a larger work on the work of Anne ( Read more... )

Probably not. I'm sure the skills one learns in an MFA program do make it easier to get published. However it is rather timely that I get another contract 2 days after graduating, and get a full MS request from an agent 4 days after. Said agent, btw, gets a prize for quickest request ever: sent query at 12:50, received reply at 1:08. Now I ( Read more... )

And so my career as a student at Hollins is now ended. I sat through graduation during the rain and cold with kathleenfoucart and a few other fellow students. Manged to walk without slipping and get diploma home without water marks (now...anyone make dual diploma frames?). Had a very wonderful weekend at the Hotel Roanoke with Brian, and Dawn and Dan stayed ( Read more... )