Barnes and Noble Event Recap

Me, Todd Mitchell, and Amy Ryan

Hey guys,

Just got back from Aspen... but before I write about that, I want to post these pics of the Barnes and Noble event from last week with my friends and co-finalists in the Colorado Book Award, Todd Mitchell (who is the winner in the YA category for The Secret to Lying-- yay, Todd-- well-deserved! (I LOVE that book!) and Amy Kathleen Ryan (another super-talented writer-- I just devoured the review copy of her upcoming sci-fi book Glow (Sept 2011 release). I'll do a longer post about Aspen and the awards ceremony and everything, but since I just have a few minutes now, I thought I'd let you take a peek at these pics.

Amy, Todd, and I did a panel on writing YA novels-- there was a really nice turn-out-- writers of all ages. Great questions, interesting conversation. The fun thing about being on panels is hearing about other writers' processes and philosophies and journeys... and since Amy and Todd are some of the smartest and funniest writers I know, it was a blast being on a panel with them.

All three of us finalists in the YA category are from Fort Collins-- there's an incredibly supportive writing community here. Here I am with Marianne Mitchell, fabulous children's and YA author (who used to live in Ft Collins and is here visiting). Her book Joe Cinders-- a Wild West version of Cinderella-- is one of Lil Dude's all-time favorite books!

And here I am with Sheralyn, who is always a friendly face at local writers' events.

Here I am with Jordan, who was one of the writers in the young writers camp Todd taught at last week. He had great questions, and we spoke a bit after the event. His questions (about how I keep track of my story ideas) made me remember the time in my life where I felt compelled to write down all my thoughts and musings on life and existence, but I couldn't write them down fast enough and I felt like I was going crazy. (This was in my late teens/early twenties). At some point, I began to feel less crazy, but I think that was a useful stage for me to go through on my writing journey...

Here we are with Teresa Funke, who organizes the local SCBWI "schmooze group" in town. She and I were also involved in the Imaginantes workshops the week before last... she had interesting things to say about her Mexican ancestry and the relatives who inspired her book, V for Victory.