Today's Mail

I wasn't going to blog today because I...am...sick. I deserve a break. But I just heard that a writer I sort of know at Readerville has two new books coming out. I am not feeling envious. I am feeling lazy and inept. Thus I'd better do something.

So a flier for Perspectives in Children's Literature a conference at the University of Massachusetts, arrived today. I went a couple of years ago and had a decent enough time. I'm going to skip it this year even though my on-line mentor/guru, Jane Yolen will be running a workshop. But she'll be talking about fairy tales, which I'm not that crazy about. And I've heard her speak twice before. Robert Sabuda, who is a big, big noise in pop-up books will also be there. But I heard him speak a few years back, too. Plus, while I like pop-up books as much as the next person, it doesn't take me that long to look at one. There will also be illustrators there, but I'm not an illustrator. And a non-fiction writer, but I'm afraid to write nonfiction because very serious historians (and that's what I'd probably try to write) have taken some big hits over there research errors. I am not a very serious historian. Jacqueline Woodson is going to talk about how her life affects her work, and how writers' lives affect their work is one of my favorite subjects. But I'm not familiar with Woodson's work.

There's just not enough going on that day that grabs me. Does that mean that in addition to being lazy and inept I am also a crummy children's writer?

Ah, yeah, well, maybe.

Now I think I'll spend some time planning my fantasy kidlit conference.