Here I Am and a Conference

I did not mean for three weeks to pass without contributing to this blog. I wish I could say that I have been on vacation somewhere exotic. But I have been here, busy with school and working on Entry Four (National Boards), and a conference.

My husband and I took a red eye to Chicago for the First Annual Kidlitosphere Conference (for authors, book industry, bloggers who love children's literature, elementary, middle, and young adult). We explored Chicago. Went to the Field Museum, saw the Darwin exhibit and Sue, the T-Rex. Then the heat, humidity, and traveling overnight caught up to us and we returned to our hotel. After a brief nap, we joined a group of twenty for some great Chicago pizza.

Saturday was a dizzying day. Our group grew to sixty. We spend our time together talking about blogging for children's books, the CYBILS award (I am one of the judges for the poetry nominations). I learned about pod casting, promoting my library blog, and ways to improve book reviews. It had to be one of the best conferences I ever attended.

It was also an opportunity to meet some great children's authors. Esme Raj Codell hosted a "Meet the Authors" time in the afternoon. Local author and illustrators were there as well as the ones attending the conference. You should check out some of these authors:

Sara Lewis Holmes

Robin Brande

Esme Raji Codell

Ellen Klages

PJ Haarsma

Amy Timberlake

Laini Taylor

Jim Di Bartolo

If you love children and young adult books then head to Jacketflap. It is a fabulous web resource to get the latest information.

We had a grand finale dinner. The location of the next conference was announced: Seattle. For some unknown reason, my hand shot up and these words came out of my mouth," If you have it in Portland, I will organize it."

So the conference will be in Portland next year. Laini Taylor and Jim Di Bartolo volunteered to assist. Meanwhile, my husband is thinking of all the sites in Portland that participants should visit.

Sunday, the day of the Chicago marathon, we were up at 4:30 AM to catch an early morning flight. It was a whirlwind weekend. I should have taken Monday as a sick day as I spent the week trying to catch up.

I will try not to let three weeks go by without writing on this blog. I didn't mean to not write. Most of my writing has been very technical of late.