ALA Recap

Holy mother of all shiny things. I went to ALA, my first big conference, and it was one of epic magnitude.

I think pictures can say it all:

The view from my hotel. 

POSSESSION in the S&S booth! What great neighbors. (And a totally surreal experience.)

After dinner by myself (boo hoo), I met up with people! Real people--like PJ Hoover!

And Shannon Messenger. NO LIE.

And my agent-mates and friends, Kirsten Hubbard and Kate Hart.

Then we went to an S&S event: a dessert reception. That's Jo-Somebody (I seriously can't remember her name! Elana FAIL), me, Shannon, and my editor, Anica Rissi.

Sunday, on the floor at ALA. 

Sunday night, socializing at the swanky W hotel. L-R: Michelle Hodkin, Jessica Martinez, me, Shannon Messenger, Carolina Valdez-Miller, Kirsten Hubbard, Kate Hart, Kari Olsen, Jessi Kirby

Monday morning Bookanista breakfast. (Jessi Kirby, Carol Miller, me, Michelle Hodkin, Shannon Messenger)

Monday: Jessi and I on the floor--by our books!

Monday, I had a signing at Octavia books. This is the display when you walk in. Corey thought I was weird because I said the store smelled like books. But it did! So many bookstores smell like coffee. Octavia was books through and through.

The group signing at Octavia. Me, Jenny Han, Jessi Kirby, Corey Whaley.

Monday night, I had a debut author event with teen librarians. Here's the panel set up. Possession is in the center.

The other debut authors: Top, Jenny Han, Corey Whaley, France O'Roarke Dowell, Michelle Hodkin. Bottom: Jessica Martinez, Jessi Kirby, me, David Hinton

Me, signing for librarians. LIBRARIANS. The nicest people on the planet, BTW.

The debut author books on the floor.

Simon Pulse people at the debut author event. That's my publisher, Mara, me, Jessica Martinez, and our editor, Anica Rissi.

Last day beignets. We stuffed our faces, what can I say?? Cristin Moor, me, Jessi Kirby, Carol Miller, and Sara McClung.

Have you ever met up with your Internet friends? Been to a big conference? Do tell.

Write What You Know

Dude, this is not your typical "write what you know" blog post. I'm going to branch out a little bit, drawing on another Printz speech I heard last week.

This time, it was A.S. King that caused the tears to flow. She won a Printz Honor Award for her novel, PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ.

She talked a bit about how she watched her mother die, and then get resuscitated right in front of her. From this, she realized that teens do need their parents.

And since then, she hasn't been afraid to write what she knows. And I don't mean that she sets her books in the town she lives in, or that she bases a character on someone she knows.

I mean, that she writes what she knows emotionally, and she's not afraid (remember to be brave!) to do it, even if it's not popular.

I think sometimes we write to a trend, instead of writing what we know. And it's those books that are written by people who know that are truly meaningful. A.S. King wrote a book that she knew. She was brave enough to do it, and she said during her speech that she was grateful she found a publisher that would "put up" with her crazy stories.

So when I heard A.S. King speak, I felt empowered to write the way I want, no matter how popularity played into it.

Are you digging deep to write what you know?

Be Brave

Okay, so I attended ALA last week (photo recap coming soon!), and I got to attend the Printz Reception. As part of that, I heard the four honor winners, and the Printz winner, speak.

Lucy Christopher not only has a wicked accent, but she said some beautiful things. Her novel, STOLEN, won a Printz Honor Award.

During her speech, she said two words that I needed to hear: "Be brave."

She was talking about her books, and how the MC's needed to be brave to survive their stories. She talked about herself as an author, and how she had to be brave during the writing.

I am such a huge baby, but it sort of made me cry. (The poor S&S people I spent the weekend with wonder if I need Prozac. Seriously.)

Braveness is something we need as authors. It is a hard world out there. A tough business, as I'm sure you've heard. There is so much noise, coming from every direction.

An author needs to be brave.

They need to don that bravery during drafting. It's okay to think outside the box, and try something you've never done before. You might be surprised at the results.

Authors need to be brave during critique sessions. Really listening takes courage.

Authors need to be brave during revisions. Don't be afraid to cut anything in your MS. They're just words, and if you're that attached to them, copy and paste to a new document. But be brave enough during revisions to truly make your book the best it can be.

Authors need to be brave during submitting. There are so many things that are out of your control at this point. Write the best book you can. Have faith that it'll get into the hands of the right agent/editor at the right time.

For me, when Lucy Christopher said "Be brave," I heard "Get writing something, you lazy hump." And so I am. I am being brave.

I am writing.

How's your bravery? What are you doing that requires you to be brave?

Remember...

Hey guys! This is me waving from hot and humid New Orleans! I'm going to be here until Tuesday, and in a rare fit of exhaustion, I've decided to take this entire week off of blogging. I will still put up my Bookanista post, mostly because it's already done.

Hope you have a relaxing ease into July and a happy Independence Day!

Catch you back here on July 5.