So as you may have heard, this week-end will consist primarily of me tearing out my hair in preparation for the three SCBWI speeches I'm giving in Seattle. I have my Powerpoints. I have my handouts. I have my notes. I have very little hair, but everyone's telling me that the clumpy look is in this year anyway. Hair is overrated anyway.
I am also, as it turns out, going to be reviewing the manuscripts of six (count 'em) six lucky people. All children's librarians do this on a certain level. You'll get a self-published person come up to you at your desk and ask if you might consider adding the book to the collection. Sometimes it's really good, as it was once with a woman who created this magnificent little clay images involving cows and dreams. Sometimes it is not so hot. The problem with my critiquing something isn't that I don't know how to critique. It's that A) The person's sitting right there and B) I'm a librarian. Not an editor or an agent or much of anything aside from a reviewer. So hopefully these people won't feel they got entirely shafted by the experience of seeing me. In my darkest dreams I'm worried that I might do this anyway:
Now tonight I'll be toasting the town with all y'all, and if you want to stop by my Kidlit Drink Night, please do so. I'm not in Seattle very often and I'd love to see you. You will note that we couldn't reserve a space (when I am rich and bored I shall reserve spaces all zee time, dahlinks) so we'll just be crashing the nice bar. Awesome. And I will wear a wear saffron/coral/red colored dress to catch the eye.
Here are the details again:
What: Kidlit Drink Night in conjunction with the regional SCBWI Conference in Bellevue, Washington
Where: The Parlor,
THIRD FLOOR OF LINCOLN SQUARE
700 Bellevue Way NE. Suite 300,
Bellevue WA 98004
No, Really, Where?: Somewhere in the bar. We do not have a reserved space.
When: Friday, April 25th at 8:30 p.m.
Excellent. Oh! How could I forget? I am also conducted a panel with . . . are you ready? . . . . wait for it . . . ALL my Newbery winners from the year I served on the Newbery committee. All of 'em. Sure, Jenni Holm had a conflict and won't be able to make it, but she'll be with us in spirit/via a useful telephone that will allow us to hear her lilting dulcet tones. I am very excited about this. If you're attending the conference and you want to check it out, come on by. It will be on Sunday at 9:15 in rooms 404-406.
In the meantime, I've set up the blog to do cute little posts in my absence. I suggest that if you've ever wanted to cuss me out on a post, now is the time. I'll be gone and unable to monitor anything. Go wild, poppins!
