ALA and Chicago and 2k9 and other stuff

Susan Fine, Bev Patt, Ellen Jensen Abbott, Albert Borris, Me, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, Fran Cannon Slayton
Me at Sourcebooks booth. See the Dreaming Anastasia cover propped up behind me?

That's publicist Paul Samuelson under that Horrid Henry costume.

Whoa! Catching up from being gone always takes awhile. But I'm back from Chicago and ALA and our 2k9 author event at the delightful Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville and even some time with the extended family which is always fun and only occasionally dysfunctional and if Istay at Sara's always always included stellar pastries!
Some brief highlighted moments:

• Meeting Authors Now creator and all around dynamo and fellow ABLAer Cynthea Liu.
• Getting very lost in downtown Chicago with Bev Patt (Haven) driving the group and the bossy British GPS lady telling us we were in the river. Multiple times.
• Lunch with Kathryn Fitzmaurice (The Year the Swallows Came Early). Dessert with Kathryn. Getting in the wrong lane on the tollroad with Kathryn.
• Standing in line to get a copy of Catalyst signed by Laurie Halse Anderson. "Are you a librarian?" she asked me. "No," I smiled shyly. "A debut author. With Sourcebooks." And so in my book she wrote "Welcome to the tribe." My heart pinged!
• Listening to Albert Borris (Crash into Me ) laugh and laugh as he hung out with all of us crazy girls. Albert has written an amazing book and has been dealt a very difficult hand with his stroke, but Albert is still Albert. And he put up with all the girl talk. Especially after certain girls had certain amounts of ouzo at Greek Islands...
• Seeing Judy Blume - twice - in my hotel. Judy. Blume.
• Repeat above when I saw Holly Black. Neil Gaman. Neil! Gaman! Newbery! Richard Peck! And pretty much every other author I saw.
• Getting to finally meet with the very talented Tiger Beat guy otherwise known as my editor Dan Ehrenhaft and also with my very very hardworking Sbooks publicist, Paul Samuelson, who spent Saturday afternoon in a Horrid Henry costume. Gotta love a guy who would do that. (okay, it's probably on his job description...)

Lots more, but I'll end here. A hearty and grateful thank you to friends and family who came to events, gave me a place to stay for part of the time, fed me, and generally cheered me on as I move forward on this crazy journey to September 1st. Even if I couldn't spend as much time with you as I'd have liked, my heart is swollen with happiness at your support.

Til next time...