I should have started this last week instead of today because last week I actually had something interesting to write about. But I’ll just go ahead and write about last week anyway, since that’s probably the highlight of my last few weeks.
I attended the Children’s Literature Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri. I should mention this isn’t just any old children’s literature festival — this festival is INCREDIBLE! There were 5800 kids, 1200 teachers/parents and 41 children’s book authors (most of whom are much more established than I am). I felt honored just to be there. On Sunday I took a five mile walk with several of the other authors in the morning. Then we attended a banquet at noon and had a book signing all afternoon. On Monday and Tuesday each author did four presentations. I had well over 200 kids in each of my sessions! And I sold a ton of books! Of course, I am under no illusions that I’ll do this well next time…they tend to invite the same authors back year after year (I HOPE I get invited back!!!), so I was new this year. All those teachers and librarians hadn’t heard me before. Plus my Sliding Into Home is on the Mark Twain Award list. I’m guessing that’s how I got invited in the first place.
Several of the authors who have been coming for years and years had sweatshirts that said “I Survived Warrensburg!” I’m not sure “survived” is the right word – I had a blast! And I wish I had a sweatshirt to remember the event.
That sounds like a great time! They must do a good job of promoting this among educators. I hadn’t heard of it until everyone started blogging about it!