I just got back from a super-interesting trip to Lethbridge, Alberta. The main reason I was there was for the Weaving Words conference. Here’s a link to WW:
http://people.uleth.ca/~sapdc/WW2006/ww_welcome.html
This was a fantastic conference! Very well organized and jam-packed with lots of stuff.
I was the keynote speaker. I have never been a keynote speaker before. It was fun!
One of the many highlights of the conference was getting the opportunity to meet and socialize with some fabulous Canadian authors and illustrators. Tim Wynne Jones, the winner of this year’s Rocky Mountain Book Award, was one of the presenters:
http://rmba.lethsd.ab.ca/
It was neat for me to have Tim there because I happen to have a book of his — Zoom at Sea — by my bedside. In fact, it has been by my bedside since 1983. It was the first children’s book I ever bought for myself. I brought the book with me and talked about it during my keynote.
Sarah Ellis:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/ggawards/sellis.htm
was another stellar presenter. I have admired her writing for a long time, and it was wonderful to meet her in person.
Jacqueline Guest:
http://www.jacquelineguest.com
was also a presenter, as was Anita Horrocks:
http://www.canscaip.org/bios/horrocksa.html
It was awesome having the opportunity to meet these two fabulous authors! There were also two artists extraordinare. Carolyn Fisher:
http://www.yabs.ab.ca/artists/artistinfo.asp?ID=26
and Murray Kimber:
http://www.murraykimber.com/
Carolyn very kindly gave me some drawing tips. Now to try them out …..
More later …
Hi Marsha,
That’s fabulous! Sounds energizing.
I’m glad you had such a great time.
–Rose
Hi Rose,
Energizing and exhausting. I’ll be posting more in a bit.
Lucky you! Sounds like a great conference! 🙂
P.S. I have a new car! A VW Bug! I’m thinking about your booking thing, but I applied at Chapters, so we’ll see how that goes first. 🙂
Nice car, Maggie!
Re the booking thing: don’t forget that we can concentrate on only certain geographical areas. You don’t have to be driving into Toronto and beyond.
Oh, okay, that makes a difference. I’ll get back to you next week on that. 😀
Hi Maggie,
Sure. Send me an email.
Congrats on the keynote gig, Marsha! So glad you met Tim. Isn’t he wonderful? I love it when some of my most favourite people come together 🙂 Sounds like it was a terrific conference!
Marsha:
Glad to hear you had such a great time at the conference. Nothing like a good conference to give you energy and new ideas!
Be sure to post some of your drawings if you can!
Julie
Hi Julie,
There is no way I would post my sketches. Now Carolyn’s sketches were awesome! And she did have some fabulous tips, like starting a sketch with pink pencil crayon so that you don’t have to erase.
Sounds like a wonderful conference, Marsha. I’m sure that you knocked their socks off with your keynote!
Hi Gillian,
It was a fabulous conference. Incredibly well-organized. The keynote went over well.