The ALA post
What can I say about this weekend, except that for a writer, ALA is the best place in the world to be. It's basically heaven.
Never mind it took me 14 hours to get there (thank you, flight delays), and about the same to get back (thank you again, flight delays). But in between, I really soaked it all in, what it means to be an author.
Here are just a few pictures from my trip. I wish I had more, but it's so hard to remember to click the camera when you are in the middle of it. I wish I had taken a picture of Kathy McCullough (Don't Expect Magic), a fellow Elevensie, who I had dinner with Sat evening. I wish I had also taken a picture of Melodye Shore, aka newport2newport, an LJ friend of many years who had lunch with me the next day, and who roamed the convention aisles with me, and was the only reason I snagged any books at all. (She has an eye for detail, I do not!). I also saw Lisa Schroeder, Lindsey Leavitt, and Jessi Kirby, all wonderful YA authors, Lisa being an LJ favorite of mine for years.
And I have yet to remember to take a picture of Steve Malk, my agent, despite the fact that I've seen him a number of times already. And the list goes on.
But here is what I do have and will share:
I found this waiting for me in my room after dinner at the Grand Californian, a Disney hotel where I was staying. The cookies were yummy, and so was the chilled milk! Compliments of the hotel.
A poster as well as the books of all the winners of the Asian/Pacific-American Library Association awards.
Holly Thompson (Orchards) winner of the YA APALA award. She traveled all the way from Japan to attend the ceremony and conference!
me with duo Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham, author and illustrator of Level Up, YA honor APALA award winners.
Wendy Shang (The Great Wall of Lucy Wu) and me. She won the children's literautre APALA award, and I won the honor. Notice our shiny seals. Wendy is also a fellow Mixed-Up Files member with me, and has been lovely to get to know her over the past year.
Fellow Elevensie, Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray), and me. I have been dying to meet Ruta for over a year now. Here she is taking a break from her long signing line to say hi to me.
In my next post, I'll talk about some of the books I saw (and/or snagged at the convention).
That's all for now!