"What The...?!" Wednesday #2: What is ALA, and What is the ALA Conference?

Funny you should ask, as I happen to have spent this weekend at the ALA Conference in Seattle.

There will be pictures and everything. Hold on to your hats!

(Okay but seriously feel free to jump in with your own questions anytime. This one's kind of a gimmee.) ------>

Anyway, ALA stands for the American Library Association, and the ALA Conference is a week-long event in which librarians, publishers, authors, book reviewers, book bloggers, school teachers, publicists, marketing directors, avid readers, and even library suppliers (those enormous "return" bins outside libraries have to come from somewhere) meet up at a convention to discuss the state of the industry from several angles.

Me and Mom outside our hotel in Seattle

The conference I attended was the Midwinter Meeting and Exhibition. The ALA Annual will occur June 27 - July 2 in Chicago.

Some publishers use their booth to give away advance copies of their upcoming books, plus posters, calendars, and other swag. Others host book signings and buzz panels to showcase established authors or introduce debut authors to the world.

Image Blatantly Stolen from AbramsKids Instagram

My Very First Book Signing! Photo Credit: Mom

Bonus WTW Question: Why on earth would publishers want to give away free copies of their yet-to-be released books to hundreds, nay, thousands of librarians?

Bonus WTW Answer: In the hopes that those librarians will fall in love and purchase final copies for their libraries.

Bonus, Bonus Answer: Forging personal connections with librarians isn't just good business, it's fun.

My publisher, Abrams/Amulet, very generously arranged for me (BRUISED), Cat Winters (IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS), Patrick Jennings (BAT AND RAT), Tom Angleberger (FAKE MUSTACHE, Art2 D2), Nikki McClure (HOW TO BE A CAT), and Margi Preus (SHADOW ON THE MOUTAIN) to participate in the convention.

I've never done a book signing or spoken publicly to strangers about my book, so needless to say, I was excited but nervous. Luckily, I had a secret weapon: my mom, a former librarian, traveled with me. Yay, Mom, you're the best!

We had a lovely time, and I'm grateful to the Abrams team -- Maggie Lehrman, Jason Wells, Cecily Kaiser, and Laura Milhalick -- for including me in the festivities.

Jason, Cecily, and Maggie Introduce the Spring '13 Catalog

I spoke at a book buzz panel, a librarian luncheon, and a local bookseller dinner. I also signed copies of BRUISED at the awesome Abrams booth, and flew home with a bag full of books from throughout the exhibit hall.

Want more scoop from ALA Midwinter? Check out Cat Winters' blog for her take on the weekend.

Cat Winters (IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS) and me outside the Abrams Buzz Panel

New Library Opening

I hate to brag, but my 8-month-old son was invited to the social event of the weekend last week, and he took me as his plus one. (Okay, everyone in town was invited. And he needed me to dress him, drive him, and wheel him around. But my point remains.)

I'm talking about the New Old Town Newhall* Library grand opening.

 

There was a street festival too, but we skipped it in favor of air-conditioning. The New Old Town Newhall Library has a YA section (yay!), a homework section, a meeting hall with local artists' work on the walls, two sets of bathrooms (I don't know why I'm including that, but it impressed me), a wall lined with laptops you can check out, couches, a childrens' section, old timey photographs (presumably of Old Old Town Newhall) and a screening room.

There are also books!

I KNOW!

I see many days spent here in the future.

*A close cousin of the Bob Loblaw Law Blog

What Having A Baby Has Taught me About Life, The Universe, and Everything

1. Turns out it's possible to function on 4 hours of sleep a night. Had I known this sooner, I could've written twice the number of manuscripts currently under my bed.

2. Babies appreciate every minor sensation the world has to offer because it's all new to them. As a writer, this can be invaluable to observe. (Yes, you know what, Elliot? You're right: The way light comes through the window and creates shadows along the wall IS beautiful and worth staring at.)

2a) What once seemed like minor scenarios have become highlights of my life. Like Elliot dancing, teaching himself to roll over, splashing in the bath, and blowing raspberries. Each milestone squeezes my heart. And he'll never be this small again, so each day is acutely poignant.

3. Sometimes a 2-hour commute on the 405 on a Monday morning is a welcome, restful respite from the 96 hours that preceded it.

4. Changing diapers, long feared, ended up being nothing whatsoever and the least of my worries.

5. I always knew Joe was my partner, but now he's really been in the trenches with me. And there's something sexy about a guy who knows how to rock a baby to sleep.

6. With time to read at a premium, only good books make the cut. (Sorry, bestseller that shan't be named. You've sapped my will to live. Although the extraordinarily repetitive nature of your prose does make it easy to drift off, which is sometimes helpful.)

7. My respect for other parents -- particularly my own -- has increased one million fold.

8. Just when I think my friends, loved ones and neighbors couldn't be kinder, someone does something so generous and thoughtful it blows my mind. Example: my cousin sending me a sleep mask and a bright red leather bag so I would feel pampered as a new mom. And the things my parents and in-laws have done for us are too numerous to even grasp or summarize.

RWA Conference Photo Journal, Part Two

My New York City adventure continues, wheee. Just to back track for a second, here's the hotel where the RWA conference took place:

Which is right smack in the center of Times Square:

However, that's not where I stayed, because the amazing Sarvenaz Tash (author of The Mapmaker and the Ghost, coming out April 2012) allowed me and Miranda to crash at her uber cool pad in Brooklyn. As a result, I got to experience parts of the city I'd never been to before. One of my all-time favorite books is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so I was delighted to finally check the place out.

But back to the timeline.

Wednesday Morning: Sara Megibow's clients met up at the Marriott for coffee. It was really fun hanging out with everyone and chatting business and writing.

Below, top row from left to right: Aislinn McNamara, Roni Loren, Ashley March, Tiffany Reisz.
Bottom row, from left to right: Me, Allison Rushby (who traveled to NY from Australia!), Sara Megibow, and Steve Vera, who has lived an extraordinary life.

Not pictured is Miranda Kenneally, who had left a moment earlier to pick up some ARCs of her debut YA novel, Catching Jordan. Observe the gorgeousness:

Wednesday, Noon: I had lunch with Sarv, Miranda, and the lovely Katie McGarry, another Apocalypsie. I loved hearing about her upcoming book, Pushing the Limits (yay contemporary YA!). Then it was off to a rousing matinee at the theatre.

Wednesday Night: Allison, Sara, Miranda and I attended the YARWA event, with an all-editor panel. I mingled with some writers and snarfed several plates' worth of appetizers. We called it an early night to head back to Brooklyn, where Sarv treated us to a tour of her neighborhood.

Check out the Brooklyn Public Library:

Not to mention the awesome Brooklyn Museum:

Next up was a Doctor Who-themed bar. Because it had a TARDIS.

 I used a sonic screwdriver to open it and reveal the depths -- okay, bathroom -- beyond.

Thursday Morning: At this point I figured I should, you know, attend a conference event. The two biggest YA-related events were conveniently scheduled one after the other. I checked out "The Y.A. Romance Market: Advice from the Pros" (with Kristin Nelson, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Caridad Ferrer, and Aubrey Poole) and "Writing the Y.A. Bestseller" (with authors Simone Elkeles and David Levithan).

After that I had a hilarious lunch with Kristen Callihan and Lindsay Mergens, who helped me figure out how to walk to Central Park (a mere 13 blocks away). 

I rested in the park and then got lost on the subway trying to get down to NYU. (How First Season Felicity of me.)

Thursday Night: I caught up with a college friend and saw another play (Through a Glass Darkly starring Carey Mulligan, whom I knew was brilliant from the film An Education. If you haven't seen it, go add it to your Netflix queue. Unless you've quit Netflix because of the 60% price hike announced this week.)

Friday Morning: Breakfast with Sarv at Tom's Restaurant (the inspiration for that Suzanne Vega song -- got it stuck in your head yet?). 

Then I headed back to Manhattan for lunch with Sara Megibow and my super cool editor, Maggie Lehrman, who is wicked smart and so fun to chat with. 

Here's me at the mod Abrams offices. I also swiped a copy of the Amulet Fall 2011 catalog; every cover looks like delicious candy to me. I absolutely love the artwork for the upcoming books.

Friday Afternoon/Night: My flight from Newark got canceled and moved to JFK airport -- for the next morning with a layover (woooo!) So they had to give me hotel vouchers, roundtrip car vouchers, and meal vouchers. But the hotels at JFK were all booked, so they sent me to LaGuardia. I got to the hotel in Flushing, and on the front desk was a print-out with weather information. How's this for existential:

In case you can't see it clearly, it says, "Today will be about the same as yesterday."

Luckily, that was not the case for me in New York -- every day was uniquely wonderful and I had a blast at the conference. Thanks for flipping through the digital album with me.

Mmmm, Apocalypse-y

Hey "Hunger Games" fans, the latest New Yorker analyzes the dystopian trend in YA novels. (Yes, it's the infamous "20 Under 40" issue that lists the most promising writers of a generation. Maybe the YA version of this list should be "40 Characters Under 20." That I'd want to see.)

By the way, is it still a trend if articles are being written about it? Does it mean the trend is on its way out, or just beginning? I hope it's the latter; I love dystopian books.

Either way, there's this AMAZING poster outside my office building. It looks like a relic that will be found one day in a dystopian future. Plus it is personally horrifying to me since it involves my commute. The guy in his car at the intersection when I snapped this image totally agreed that it's scary looking.

Click the pic to better observe the garbage, weeds, detritus of an election, danger sign, and chainlink fence, and shudder along with me.

Something For Shel Silverstein Fans

Took this photo the other day and had to share.

"There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind..."

-Shel Silverstein

Is it Necessary to Have This Much Cranberry Juice?

At my local Von's, there is an aisle devoted to cranberry juice and every variation you can think of. This photo is just the tip of the iceberg. It's too big for my camera.

There's 100% juice, juice cocktail, plain cran, cran with apple, cran with pomegranate, blueberry cran, raspberry cran, diet of all of the above, "light" of all of the above, generic, brand name, six-packs, gallons.

It makes me think of Andy Warhol, and Western excess.

My mother moved to the U.S. from Zimbabwe in 1970, and the grocery stores overwhelmed her with the sheer amount and variety of what should have been basic items. I finally understand what she meant.

L.A. Times Book Festival and Another Idaho Pic

It's been quite a week! I returned from Idaho on Monday, got lotsa notes on my YA WIP (okay, a "yawip"  sounds like an exotic breed of dog, the bark the dog makes, or both) and tonight I've got a college friend visiting from out of town.

I also read two excellent books ("The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" by Heidi Durrow and "Albatross" by Josie Bloss).

If you live in L.A., be sure to check out the Festival of Books this weekend at UCLA. The line-up is amazing; guests include Meg Cabot and Dave Cullen.

And now, a random photo of Boise, taken by my husband. :)

A Trip to Idaho

I just returned from a lovely trip to Idaho, where my husband Joe is performing magic at Mystique restaurant in Boise for the month of April.

My agent-mate Natalie Bahm and her husband were kind enough to join me for a meal and show, and we got to chat reading and writing, which was really cool.

Fun fact: the Idaho state lotto features "Cheers" scratch-offs. It's almost like I designed it.

Jury Duty, Part 3

Wow, when will it end? Not for awhile, honestly. Blogging about jury duty takes longer than actual jury duty, I warn you now. So where were we?

Oh yes. 

The twists, there are several! I was pretty certain at the start of the case that I would end up siding with the plaintiff. I figured, if someone's given a Three-Day Notice to quit or pay, and they don't pay, they should probably quit. 

But what if the Three-Day notice is handed to a kid? And the mom doesn't see it for a day or two afterwards?

And what if an attempt to pay is made within the proper time-frame, but is refused? 

And what if a money-order is sent by mail to an incorrect name or address, but doesn't get sent back until 14 days later (complete with a lawsuit), before the family even knows the rent was never received? What if the envelope has three different types of handwriting on it, for unexplained reasons?

And what if the owner has supposedly been paying other tenants to leave, so that now only 4 out of 10 units are occupied in the building, because he'd rather evict everyone, renovate, and sell the place?

And what if the defendant/tenant has been paying the gas bill this whole time, when the owner's supposed to be paying it (this is particularly relevant in a rent-controlled building, where the allowed percentage of rent raised on an annual basis is contingent on payment of utilities)?

WHAT IF THE APARTMENT IS FILLED WITH COCKROACHES AND MICE?

Also, keep in mind that several of the witnesses for the defense don't speak English, so we're treated to an interpreter's, er, interpretation of emotions displayed on the stand. The harried interpreter was pretty deadpan, which made for some strange disconnects.

One witness, who was sort of a drama king and apparently hadn't been asked by EITHER side to testify, decided to show up anyway and asserted that his apartment, located directly above the defendant's, was filled with "chinches." 

We soon learned through the translation that "chinches" means "bedbugs." (How freaking specialized of a translator do you have to be to know the term "bedbugs" in multiple languages??)

Also, all of the above critters made it to court in plastic bags/rat traps as exhibits for evidence. It was gross.

The second day of the trial was pretty cool because MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown L.A., lets jurors in for free. Most of wandered over there during our lunch hour-and-a-half, and the deli there was terrific, too.

Here is a (cellphone) picture of the museum at lunch, followed by the Disney Concert Hall, which was where jurors parked for the day. 

Next time: Closing statements, deliberations, and a verdict...

Yet Another Pic of My Soon-to-be-ex-neighborhood

It took me a while (an embarrassingly long time, actually) to figure out these lamps were an art installation and not a drop-off holding location for the city's non-existent street lamps prior to distribution. I loved them then, and I love them now. They're especially lovely at night; glowing orbs in the distance.

Enjoy.

(click to enlarge)

Copyright Joe Skilton

More Pics of my Soon-to-be Old Neighborhood

Before I say goodbye to the "Miracle Mile" forever, I'd like to commemorate my time here by pointing out the bizarreness of the fact that my first apartment was across from the Hollywood Reporter and my second apartment was across from its blood enemy, Variety.

Both remain standing.

(click to enlarge)

Copyright Joe Skilton

These are the Elephants in my Neighborhood, In my Neighborhood, In my Neighborhoooood

It looks like we may have pulled off the townhome short sale. It was a cliffhanger up till the very end, waiting for close of escrow during a storm on Friday night. Joe and I walked around on Sunday taking photos* of our current neighborhood since it was such a beautiful day. I'll be posting some of the best ones throughout the month until we move.

I live near LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art) and the Tar Pits, site of every California child's school field trip. These elephants are about two blocks from my current apartment.

(click to enlarge)

* And by that I mean he took all the photos

Christmas in Beverly Hills

In Los Angeles, "good" neighborhoods are stacked right next to "bad" neighborhoods, sometimes even within the same block, which is how the likes of me ended up living 10 minutes from Beverly Hills. :)

No snow for Christmas of course, but on clear days after it rains, you can see snow-tops on mountains in the distance, and I've grown rather fond of the juxtaposition of holiday lights and palm trees.

Hope you enjoy my wee photos, taken last Saturday.

Romance Novels... With Babies!

Yesterday I go to the laundry room to put my clothes in the dryer and to my complete delight I see that someone from my building has left a bunch of books on the table, for anyone to take and enjoy.



They are romance novels featuring extremely wealthy babies!! The covers remind me of the ubiquitous Hot Guy With Baby posters in college. I had no idea this was a genre. I think I love it.

Quick Pic of Santa Monica

I went to the beach a few weekends ago for the first time in ages. When you move to L.A., you think you'll go every Saturday, and for awhile, you do, and you can't believe how great the skating and bike path is, stretching smooth and wide for miles along the ocean, from Malibu to Manhattan Beach. But then your brake pads wear down and you don't replace them and life kind of gets in the way and you realize it's been months since you've looked at the water, and that you only see the Santa Monica pier on television shows, even though it's only 35 minutes away.

I Don't Think This Happens in Other Cities

I came home the other night and these were taped to both entrances of my apartment building:

In case you can't read the description, here's the gist: from 12am to 7am over the next few days, my street will basically turn into Armageddon.

I may see people throwing grenades into and out of FBI cars, see cars on fire, or hear "full load gunfire activity" and witness an explosion. But! I shouldn't be alarmed. Because what would possibly be alarming about that?

Pics of The Seattle Public Library

Last week while visiting Puget Sound for a wedding, I got to spend a day sightseeing in Seattle. Luckily, Joe and I arrived at the Public Library just before it closed.

I am obsessed!

Observe the awesomeness.

*10 magnificent floors.

*Thousands of books.

*Hundreds of computers and work stations.

*Swoon.

More pics soon because I can't resist.