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On Saturday, poet/author Lindsay Lee Johnson and I helped man the Children's Literature Network Wheel of Poetry tent at a literature event that took place at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota. Along with CLN founders Vicki and Steve Palmquist, we spent the afternoon guiding kids and adults through the process of choosing a poem, getting costumed up (optional), reading the poem aloud, and spinning the Wheel of Poetry to determine their prize.

It was very cool to see so many people (200+) reading poems out loud. Especially when many of them were poems written by me! My pix aren't uploading to FB properly, but if you click on the CLN link above, you'll see the event on the homepage with a photo scroller. The first few pix show you the tent setup and Lindsay and me, and then it gets into all the readers. I have a couple of fun videos I'll share tomorrow. If I can upload them.

Last week, I blogged about an upcoming event and how I was struggling with what to say and how to try to stand out among the crowd of wonderful authors and illustrators.

Well, the CLN Books and Breakfast happened Saturday morning, and it was a great event. About 200 school librarians and teachers came to hear from 30 or 40 area authors and illustrators what was new. We each had 2 minutes (supposedly--I learned some writers apparently have some problems telling time) to share something about our recent published work to make them want to buy that book, use that book, and share that book with all their students. Yikes.

First, I'll tell you that Carol-Ann Hoyt suggested I wear a hat or a striking blouse. My first reaction was "Right. Maybe next millenium." I don't like to call attention to myself, and the idea of wearing anything that would make every look at me--eek! But after giving it some hard thought, I decided to wear a safari guide hat plus a khaki jacket, so that I, as a safari guide, could lead everyone on the hunt for the elusive Stampede. It worked! Elementary people are the kind to appreciate a dorky costume, and I got lots of compliments and plenty of, "Excuse me, what's your safari outfit for?" Which then gave me a chance to mention my book. I felt really conspicuous at times, but it made me easy to find for autographs and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'll confess that as I packed for the hotel the night before, I didn't bring anything else but my safari guide outfit, so that I couldn't chicken out. That was probably a good thing. I was committed. (Or maybe I just should have been committed!) I'll have pictures to share eventually...

Second, the three books they had for me sold out! They had Stampede plus paperback versions of two other poetry books, and they were gone by halfway through the event. Now they only stock about 10-15 copies of each book (unless it's already got a huge audience of buyers), so that may not seem like much. But with my storytime sales history...let's just say I was thrilled!

Third, my two-minute talk went fine. My voice shook a little because of that nervous adrenaline about speaking in front of a huge roomful of adults, but people were nice and lied that they couldn't even tell. I explained why I was in a safari getup, did a little callback joke tied into other presenters' comments, slipped in how honored I was that Stampede was just chosen as a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, shared the inspiration for the book and tied that into a very cute thank you note I got last week from a 2nd-grader after my school visit, and then closed with a poem from Stampede.

So it was a nerve-wracking but successful event. I'm (slowly) learning to embrace my inner marketer. It was really fun to hear what other people are up to, and it's amazing to see the creative ways that writers and artists can come up with to share their work.

Last Thursday, I took my sister and her son to the airport (hated to see them go, but I'll be visiting them in a month) and then headed to a Children's Literature Network event.



At the gorgeous home of writer Catherine Thimmesh, writers, illustrators, librarians, educators, and children's literature lovers gathered to chat with Eric Rohmann and Candy Fleming. They were both fun and funny, as they spoke about their different working styles (she's a burrower, he's a circler) and the challenges of two creative types living and working in the same house. They answered questions about research, their artistic processes, and how they met and ended up together (hey, they said they would answer anything, so people did ask!).

I especially loved hearing Candy talk so passionately about the challenges and joys of writing biographies (The Lincolns, The Great and Only Barnum, Our Eleanor, etc.). I have written a few biographies for educational publishers, and I don't really like it, and I walked away from Thursday night understanding why I'm so uncomfortable with it. I think a person deserves to have his or her story told by someone who's so intrigued and dedicated she's willing to spend an inordinate amount of time on it. And by someone who has the time and dedication to hunt down primary sources and form her own theory/opinion of the subject's life. With educational publishers, that's just not the timeline you have to work within. I don't think biographies are the thing for me, anyway, but it was a treat to hear someone else who does love them talk about them.

And Eric talked a bit about the in-between part. After the "how do you get your ideas" stage but before the "how do you put the pictures together" stage. About the trial and error, the experimentation, the multiple wrong (but not really wrong) attempts as he creates art and/or writes and discovers/develops the story. I'd love to hear more about that, actually. It's a part that often gets left out of presentations about how a particular work was created.

All in all, it was a great night with super speakers, fabulous food, and terrific conversation. You can see a few more photos here.

Saturday morning, I attended the CLN Books & Breakfast. What a cool event! Below are a few pix...I was seated up close but way off to the side, so I'm afraid there are a lot of profile shots. Sorry!

And Lisa Bullard, author of You Can Write a Story, graciously used a bit of her three-minute time slot to introduce me and my forthcoming book, Stampede! She even read a poem (very expressively) from it. Thank you, Lisa! I really wanted to get a picture of her holding up my book, but I thought that would be just too conceited to be taking pictures of!

I can't link authors' name and book titles in the captions, but what a treat it was to hear from about 25 Minnesota writers and illustrators who are busy making great books from kids. And Vicki and Steve Palmquist (founders of CLN) plus three others share their five favorite books from 2008. And there were door prizes, to boot. A lovely morning.

CLN Books & Breakfast 2009 Here in Minneapolis, the Children's Literature Network hosts the CLN Books & Breakfast event, where 200+ school librarians and teachers turn out to hear scads of local authors and illustrators talk about their latest and forthcoming projects. That line of folks is all picking books to buy (and it snakes around like a Disney World line!)

Everyone chats before the official event begins.

We move into the breakfast area. Each table has an author or illustrator host.

Vicki Palmquist opens the morning.

John Coy chats about Top of the Order. John is building a sports empire in kids' books, and even I like them (and I'm not a typical sports book fan)!

Susan Marie Swanson chats. Susan Marie's book The House in the Night just won the Caldecott Medal, so there was a lotta love going around the room!

Marion Dane Bauer shows one of her million books! She is so prolific! I think this is the cover for her forthcoming The Christmas Baby.

Lynne Jonell talks about her newest book. Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls is the sequel to Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat. It's on my to-read list!

Catherine Urdahl celebrates her brand new book. Her book, Emma's Question, is a lovely new picture book from Charlesbridge.

Mike Wohnoutka shares a secret. It wasn't Jack who built the house that Jack built. It was his dog, Max. I'm going to have to read Jack's House to get the whole story.

Joyce Sidman has a new book coming soon! Joyce is one of my all-time favorite poets. And she read a tiny excerpt from Red Sings from Treetops. Everyone sighed in delight. She's the author of This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness, one of the best poetry collections ever.