Sunday, October 07, 2007

Chicago '07 - First Impressions

I was talking last night with Liz and 2nd gen librarian about blogging the con quickly, or letting it digest some. I figure that I will put down some initial impressions, and then get to blogging some titles that I am really excited about and leave the details to the 70-or-so other bloggers who are here!

So, wow. Kidlit '07. Robin did an amazing job of organizing, and all of the volunteers kept things moving so well! I got to meet some authors and ask the burning questions (sorry Barry!), and I am kicking myself for not communicating more with folks that I have been online with for years. After all, people came from California, Kentucky, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Illinois (of course!), Arizona, Ontario, Virginia, and Oregon. All are passionate about youth literature. We all love books, writing, illustrating ... and some even love each other!

What I love is how everyone is willing to share the wealth. Even though we may have different goals and aspirations, we want to help the movement, as it is, along. Author to blogger, blogger to illustrator, illustrator to book buyer...it truly is a web. Interconnected, slightly codependent, and to some degree unexpected.

Are there egos here? Sure. We think enough of our own opinions/skills to blog, don't we? Does it matter? Not-so-much. I have definitely gotten some good ideas, and I am challenging myself to rethink and regroup. I do feel privileged to be a part of this on the ground floor. The thing that I love most in the world is kid's literature. Blogging has allowed unprecedented access to authors and books (although I am sure that living in NYC and having the colleagues that I do doesn't hurt), and instant connection with a world of others who share my passion.

Yay.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you, Stacy, about how great the conference was, and how fortunate we are to be in on the ground floor of all of this. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk more (it's a bit ADD-inducing, having all those people there), but I look forward to hanging out with you at next year's conference.

Jim Di Bartolo said...

Hi Stacy!

So nice to meet you this weekend, and as was the case with everyone else, I wish I'd gotten a chance to talk to you some more! I've posted a long recap on my blog here: http://jimdibartolo.blogspot.com/2007/10/kidlitosphere-conference-2007.html

Oh, and thanks for the clever linking on your post about Laini and me!

All best,
Jim

Greg Pincus said...

I figured with 65 people there, it was kinda gonna have to be like a wedding reception where you have brief moments with everyone but not enough time with anyone. Well, except Uncle Fred, but that goes without saying! Luckily, there were no Uncle Freds that I saw.

Nice meeting ya, and I look forward to the next time....

Jim Di Bartolo said...

You're a comic book fan too? Yikes Stacy! You should have been in on the wonderfully nerdy conversations I was having with Barry and Christopher! Where were you lass?! Drat. Next year's conference for SURE! :)

Oh! And SOOO glad to know my little doodle was to your liking -- thanks for passing that along!

J

Jim Di Bartolo said...

(sorry for responding through your blog post here :)

Yeah, 30 Days of Night looks awesome! We're excited about that AND about Iron Man (have you seen the trailer? Holy frakity frak!) As for 30 Days of Night, I can't say that I "know" Steve Niles, but I've met him a couple of times at the San Diego con when I'm hanging out with people he knows and he's actually a really nice guy from what I could tell. Not that that matters, but just in case you're a fan of his in general.

Anyhow, always nice to meet a fellow Fan-person (boy? girl? What's the P.C. term? :)

Jim