Viva Las Vegas!
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his weekend, I had the pleasure of hanging out with thousands of English teachers at the NCTE Annual Convention.[1. The event felt very similar to ALA Annual, but with a somewhat smaller publisher presence ... which actually made it easier to connect with people.] I'm not a fan of Vegas, but I am a fan of English teachers, and it was a fun time packed with parties and luncheons and various meet-and-greets. I was able to reconnect with authors like Shannon Hale, Cecil Castellucci, and Jennifer Holm. I may or may not have teared up when I finally got to meet Jon Szieszka.
Abrams also had me at their booth signing copies of Peter Nimble, which they were selling at cost. In a convention hall awash in free ARCs, even discounted books are a tough sell -- I felt like I needed to find a way to draw passers-by, which led to this:
I had a stack of 11x17" paper and a pretty steady line of people eager to receive crappy portraits -- so much fun!
The highlight of the weekend was getting to finally meet the geniuses behind the Nerdy Book Club! Colby, Donalyn, and Cindy threw a party on Friday, and it was a blast. The NBC blog has a convention wrap-up, including a video of me doing an impromptu yo-yo show:
