A "First" Conference

I've been to some conferences over the years, and I'm always amazed by the great people I meet. I just got returned home today from NCTE/ALAN in Orlando, where I had a fabulous time. At NCTE I got to listen to some great speakers like Gary Paulsen, Jack Gantos, and David Weisner. I did a signing at the Macmillan booth and was pleasantly surprised that we had to run over the time because of all the people. Kirby Larson even stopped in, which was so fun, because I hadn't seen her since my Whidbey Island MFA days.


ALAN started on Monday and I spoke on Tuesday to this audience:

I was so fortunate that Macmillan had me at a luncheon where I "hosted" a table of educators and they each got a copy of The Gardener. I also did a dinner this way with authors Alyson Noel and George O'Connor, and we switched tables after each course so we got to spend time with everyone. Here are George, Alyson, and myself with our fabulous Macmillan crew, after watching the Disney fireworks show from the 15th floor catwalk of the Contemporary Resort Hotel.

This was my first trip to NCTE/ALAN and I truly hope it won't be my last.