Saturday, August 29, 2009

A-Conferencing We Go


I'm headed to the Writing for Charity event today with Deb and Donna. I'm looking forward to hearing from some of the great authors they have assembled. I'm not so excited to have to read a draft of my picture book aloud, but I did sign up for it. Hopefully some constructive feedback will make it worth the stress. I have not read a story aloud to a group since I was an elementary school teacher, and I've never publicly read anything I've written myself.

Anyway, since the authors of the two most recent books I've read will be at this event, I'm glad that I loved both books. First, is Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George. I loved the story, the main characters, and her pacing and word choice. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series, Dragon Flight after I finish... Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. Yeah, that's right, I'm apparently the last person on the planet to read Goose Girl. I'm almost finished with it and am loving it as well. She does such a great job getting you to emotionally connect with the main character and describing the world she lives in. I can't wait to see how it ends. In my defense, I have read two other books by Hale, Princess Academy and Austenland, both of which I also enjoyed.

What I love most about these two books is they both have good, strong, young female main characters. Girls today need good role models!
I'm sure Deb or Donna will blog about our experience next week, so stay tuned for the full report.

3 comments:

  1. I, too, loved Dragon Slippers. You, however, are not the last person to read Goose Girl. I haven't read it yet either. I read Austenland and Princess Academy, but no Goose Girl. sigh.

    I can't wait to hear all about it. . . I didn't know you were a teacher!! Wow, you never cease to amaze me, Linda.

    Tell us how your story critique goes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why wait until next week? The Writing for Charity event was fantastic!!! There were a ton of raffle give aways. I'm still jealous of Sara 376-0636 who won like a million things including an ARC of The Dark Divine by Bree Despain. (Don't panic if you don't know Bree because this is her debut novel and it will not be out until December so there is still time to catch up and act like you knew she was fabulous all along.)
    We discussed the conference at length on the long drive home and I must say that meeting the fantastic Wendy Tolliver and Bree Despain as well as visiting with Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, Ann Bowen, James Dashner, J Scott Savage (who was a fantastic critique group leader) and all of the other wonderful authors made for a delightful day.
    Jen Johanson, always a pleasure to see you. To our new friend Ryan H., can't wait to see where the story takes you. To the lovely ladies who were in Savage's carpool and didn't know he was one of the authors. It was a pleasure to meet you too.
    The Treehouse Museum ROCKS!! Everyone take your families there asap.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sad sad tears. That's what I have because I couldn't be there. I need notes, People!

    ReplyDelete