Saturday, February 07, 2009

Breakfast with the (Literary) Stars

Hello everyone - Erin Downing here. (*Waving at Jenn Echols* - "I'm back!")

Like Micol, I'm full of excuses, but I swear I have been feeling ever-so-guilty about my lack of blogging here on our very fine blog...BUT I have a (sorta) good excuse. I have been in the middle of a major house renovation, which includes creating an amazing writing office in my this-old-house's third-floor attic. It will be done in a few weeks, and I'll be back to post some pics of my inspiring new (bright GREEN) space!

While I get my desk space in order, I've been spending the last few months tinkering and thinking a lot about what my next project will be, and this morning, I went to the perfect place to get my creative juices flowing...the Children's Literature Network's Book Breakfast. There were more than 35 Minnesota/Wisconsin authors/illustrators and hundreds of educators, teachers, and book fans to cheer us on. It was so inspiring to realize just how many talented and award-winning authors and illustrators live around me in Minneapolis. To prove it, get this - these were just some of my breakfast pals:

Derek Anderson, Stephanie Watson, Susan Marie Swanson (2009 Caldecott winner!!), John Coy, David LaRochelle, Rick Chrustowski, Debra Frasier, Lauren Stringer, Marion Dane Bauer, Lynne Jonell, Mike Wohnoutka, and on and on and on....

I feel so lucky to have moved from New York, which is chock full of publishing people, to another amazing book hub: Freezing Cold Minnesota (where we all have funny accents and everyone is overly polite, but we love it anyway).

Later,
E.

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