But the homesick bug has been biting me hard and no matter how much fun I have while traveling, I love returning home. I haven't stayed an extra day in a long time.
When my plane began its descent into Minnesota, I immediately knew it would've been nice to stay an extra day. Trees here do something they don't do a lot of in California. In the fall...they change colors! And I can't tell if the trees are surrounded by lakes or the lakes are surrounded by trees, but it's absolutely beautiful. I'll never forgot those last several minutes on my flight here.
And the people? They're so nice! And their accents? Adorable.
But I was here to work. I gave two presentations at their regional SCBWI conference. Here's my view during my speech on how to turn any book into a page-turner.
One of the best parts about any writing conference is meeting, or catching up with, other writers.
Steve Brezenoff and Loretta Ellsworth.
Anne Ursu.
This is Ms. Ursu's second photowith a New York Times bestselling author.
The first author? Barack Obama.
Susan Marie Swanson.
Ms. Swanson wrote The House in the Night, which won the 2009 Caldecott Medal. And that became my future son's second autographed book.
That boy's going to have quite a collection!
You liked us. You really liked us! Thanks for an inspiring presentation. My portfolio review was a little lackluster that day. But thinking of your 10 year path to publication helped to keep things in perspective.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the lackluster review, but to put things in a more accurate perspective, my journey was twelve years. (You can't forget those last two years.)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to return to Minnesota!
Hey, i read "13 reasons why" for my English teacher , Mrs. Ward aka Wendie Ward, for a book project and she told me she had met and that you were really cool. So asked her for your email to interview and she directed me here. But i just wanted to say that you are a fantastic author and i really loved the book, its the kind I'm gonna wanna read over randomly a year from now.
ReplyDeleteSincerely, Student.