Books, books, books, books, books...

Just back from ALA mid-winter... and was that a trip! Books, books, books, books, books.... and editors, editors, editors, editors.

Believe me, here in Seattle it's only once every blue moon that they hold a national book event, so I wasn't about to pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity.

I got to meet tons of editors from most all the places I've been sending in work. So it was flattering to have them recognize me and have a face to go with my drawings and stories. There's nothing quite like a face to face meeting, instead of just letters and emails. I even discovered that the editor of my new book for Penguin was there! So we got to meet and go over some of the basics of my new book.



It was very cool to see all the books by all the illustrators and authors I know from online, in just about every booth I visited. It's a small world of bookmakers. I also met some authors and artists from my online groups. I even met a local artist one who lives right in my neighborhood. That makes it even a smaller world.



I got to chat up all kinds of famous publishing folks... Cooper Edens, who is republishing classic picture book illustrators, Alexi Sherman the star of native american writing.. and I even met Grover from Sesame Street! I used to do tons of work for Children's Television Workshop.

I kept wandering down new aisles and discovering new publishers that I'd scarcely heard of before. From the looks of it, there are hundreds of publishers churning out children's books by the thousands.



Anyhow, it was fun... even if I did start feeling like a homeless person lugging 45 pounds of book catalogues by the end of the day. Note to self... next time bring a rolling wheeled suitcase. I now have dozens of catalogues, half a dozen freebie booklights, bags, card decks, water bottles, pins and generally about all the 21st century trinkets that they traded the island of Manhattan for.