1. As always, I have a THOROUGHLY enjoyable time at KidlitCon. Also: I’m pretty loopy after driving 9 hours. And three days away from my bed makes me a DANGEROUS person on the highway, even when I’m highly caffeinated.
2. Kidlit Bloggers are Awesome. Seriously. They are fun, and smart, and interesting. And I want to bring them all back to Kansas and have them move in next door so I can hang out with them all of the time. I knew this already, but it’s worth reiterating.
3. And I met Holly from Book Harbinger (who’s also one of the YAcker’s with me). She was really, really cool. Also: it was nice not being the only LDS blogger at the conference. Unless there’s more out there incognito.
4. I didn’t take any pictures, but I was completely blown away by Cynthia Leitech Smith‘s keynote. I haven’t read any of her books, but then back in 2010, I hadn’t read any of Maggie Stiefvater’s and look how that turned out. Also: we both have KS and MI connections. I should have taken the time to go chat with her after her address. But I was too busy talking to other people.
5. Lee Wind gives AMAZING presentations. I learned SO much, not the least of which is that I need to label my posts MORE and BETTER, because if I don’t label things how will people find them. There was also the themes of DIVERSITY and how it’s important to read outside of your comfort zone, which is something I used to be better at, but have gotten out of the habit. Also: he’s a great person to sit next to at dinner.
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| Photo courtesy (ie stolen from) Rosemund |
6. One of the reasons the Kidlit Community is so tight-knit is because of the Cybils. I’m not sure I realized this before now, but I’ve served on panels for the last 6 years, and through that I’ve met a LOT of bloggers. And meeting them in person is great. Also: we tend to swap Cybils horror stories, which is hilarious.
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| Maureen, me, Charlotte, Sherry, Jennifer. |
7. You can take notes at your own panel, but they may not make sense. Also: if you bring up the idea of covers and gender and the fact that people really do judge books by their covers and ask a (slightly incoherent) question about how to get people to stop looking at the covers, you will probably make people uncomfortable/offend them. Oops.
8. Lists. Lists. Lists. I’m going to start doing lists. Once a month. Hopefully. Because all reviews all the time are boring. (And HEY, look: I’m starting today!)
9. The food committee this year did AMAZING. It was yummy.
10. And, of course, when bookish bloggers get together, where do they go afterward?
The bookstore, of course. It was fun hanging out there with other like-minded people (the most common phrase heard: “Have you read….?”). I totally envy their shelf space (so many face outs! So much ROOM!), and they do clever things with their staff recommendations. Yes, I was totally snooping to get ideas.
As always, it was WONDERFUL seeing people I enjoy hanging with, and meeting new people. I loved that it was small enough that I had a chance (I think) to talk to pretty much everyone there. And, as always, waiting for next year is too long.
The Book Nut 
Just general loveliness it seems, Melissa. I had to laugh over your cover question offense. Seems like a legit topic to me. 🙂
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Yeah, well, Angie, I could have phrased it better as to not offend. But in my defense, I'm usually not coherent when in front of a group of people.
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I didn't think it was offensive. I thought it was a good question. I'm just not sure anyone had any good answers. “Just make them read it whether they want to or not” is not a good answer.
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I don't remember an offensive cover question – I thought that discussion was good!
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Excellent points, Melissa. Especially #6. And I don't know that people were offended – you just got discussion going, which is a good thing 🙂 Always a pleasure to see you. Looking forward to next year.
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Well, maybe it's just me being hyper sensitive. At the very least there's a post that could come out of it. I just have to write it.
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So great to see you in person and not just on Facebook. Which I'm totally quitting, btw. 🙂
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I'm so jealous. This looks like so much fun! And that's awesome about getting to hang with Holly! And all your tweets were awesome. It sounded like some very fabulous panels. It sure seems like we can make something like this event happen in Utah!
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Some year I'll make it, too!
Isn't Heidi at http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com/ LDS, too? And could you please tell me more about the logic behind lists? I'd been trying to do monthly as well, and have fallen off since I've been feeling so far behind on my reviews.
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Suey: maybe. Utah sure has the bloggers/authors to support it!
I didn't know Heidi was LDS. Cool. And as for lists, I think the logic is that it draws people in and gets them to comment, whereas the reviews don't. So, if you want traffic, you need to branch out and do things other than reviews. But also: you need to blog what you're interested in. Which means I need to figure out what, other than recording the books I've read, I'm interested in.
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I thought the cover question was a perfectly legit issue too, and if it stirred up lively emotions, why not. We didn't promise answers, just questions…(and thinking about it again now makes me want to have a KidLitPeep right here on hand to talk more about it!)
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So lovely to meet you!
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Love this pictures. I hadn't seen us at dinner (or wherever that was). Love that one.
The people are awesome. Here's what I've been thinking of for the last week: in general I feel as if I am intelligent and well-read. In that crowd, I feel totally average. That's not a bad self-deprecating thing. I'm just saying it's so cool to be with people who challenge you!
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Great photos! I don't remember any offending cover-related questions, either–I was just overall fascinated by the Middle Grade discussion. 🙂
It was great seeing you again this year! I totally agree with you on #2. I wish we could all hang out more than once a year or so.
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