OLA magic and my banned-books bracelet!

The magic of OLA Superconference never fades! This was my fourth year attending and I felt as exhilirated as ever meandering up and down the aisles of publishers displaying their new lines. I joined many a signing cue and walked away with a number of treasured autographed books. But I have to say the highlight for me was buying my I Read Banned Books bracelet--I bought three!

I adore To Kill a Mockingbird! Can't even imagine it ever having been banned!!! Is this not the GREATEST bracelet ever???

Other highlights included hanging with Helene Boudreau (who signed Acadian Star), Marsha Skrypuch (who signed Daughter of War), Natalie Hyde (who held her non-fics in her hands for the first time).

Hi Mahtab and Marsha!

Yay Helene!

Go Nat, go Nat, go Nat!!!

And what better way to wrap up a great day than with a great evening with good food, good friends and great conversation! Only 364 days until the next OLA Superconference!

I wish I could write like this...

I’m drinking in a novel as deliciously decadent and satisfying as a warm cup of cocoa.

Awake and Dreaming, by Kit Pearson, was a spontaneous purchase at the last Packaging Your Imagination workshop series. It sat in my enormous pile of books desperate to be read until a few days ago, when I picked it up, read the prologue and was whisked into a world so vivid and real, so rich in language and image—a novel so brilliantly crafted that I couldn’t put it down (sorry kids, Mommy wasn’t ignoring you, she was temporarily sucked into another world!) Awake and Dreaming is a definite must-read, not only for its intended audience of eager young readers, but also for any aspiring fiction writer. A word of caution to the latter though—this novel was so darned good it made me want to throw down and retire my pen forever!