Of This and Other Worlds

First, a little random Threadless love:

lizbee, I found you a new shirt.

Also, am I the only one who thinks this design is very New Who S1-ish? If the Eccleston-era fen aren't all over it yet, they should be.

***

And now, the report I promised on my trip to New York City a couple of weekends ago.

Erm... it was good?

( More details, including flying frogs, the Queen of Narnia, and Claudia Gray )

Oh, and did I mention that my kids were horribly ill all weekend while I was gone, and well into the week when I came back? And that now two out of the three are feverish and queasy again? I feel like I'm just barely fighting off the same virus myself (thus my rather dismal Valentine's Day post -- I spent nearly that whole day drugged up on Gravol and lying in bed). I can only hope we all get better soon.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG THIS WEEKEND.

First, I have a cold and feel kind of achy and tired and stuffy-headed and generally crappy. But wait! That is as NOTHING compared to what I have just found out.

The flight to New York I booked through Air Miles last week, with the nice helpful lady on the phone? The return flight is booked FOR THE WRONG DAY. Instead of returning on the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 10th as I requested, she has me returning on the MONDAY afternoon, the 11th. What's really scary is that I just assumed she had it right -- I wouldn't even have noticed the mistake if I hadn't been sorting out plans to meet my roommate and decided to look at my flight schedule.

MA TIKKET

I've put in a panicked e-mail to Air Miles, and will call them tomorrow, but I am woefully non-optimistic about the whole thing, what with my tickets being non-refundable and all. In which case, what on earth am I going to do? I can't afford to stay at the same hotel another night (it's expensive enough even with a roommate). And I don't know my way around New York AT ALL.

*meebles in a panicked fashion*

Then my husband brought in some very soggy mail from our overstuffed mailbox, and in the midst of it I found a note from the courier who had visited our house on Friday, bringing with him a large parcel CONTAINING MY REVISIONS, which I have been DYING to look at, but apparently this courier either didn't ring the doorbell or decided to ring my parents' bell (which doesn't work) instead of ours, so I never heard him and he went away again.

MA REVISIONS

I know, I know, I'm overreacting. At least with the package, I know they will try again tomorrow, and if I can get the notice to stick to our ice-covered front door, they will even leave the package without me signing for it. But still. Wah!

And now I will take my tired, overwrought, sickly self to bed.

ETA: I just got this response from the Air Miles folks:

"Thanks for your e-mail. A personalized reply will be on its way within 7-8 business days. Have a nice day!"

7-8 DAYS?!

Oh, I am SO calling them tomorrow.

For some reason, I feel completely brain-dead today. Tired, gloomy, unable to concentrate. I've done a few things, but they don't seem to add up to much. And, of course, this was going to be my Really Productive Day.

My big thrill of today will be when registration for the SCBWI Winter Conference opens at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. I'm looking forward to seeing what speakers and sessions will be offered this year (or at least, I hope they'll have that information up) and starting to think seriously about setting aside that weekend in February to go to New York. I have all these Air Miles sitting around, and I went to all the trouble of getting a passport -- might as well put them both to good use.

Meanwhile, I have a Very Thinky Post on my laptop about the age of protagonists in MG and YA literature, but it's taking me a remarkably long time to distill it into a form that makes any sense. Still, I hope to get it up within the next few days.

Wow, that was a pointless post, wasn't it?

*skulks away*

I'm off to SCBWI-MI for the weekend, to listen to halseanderson speak (ha ha!*) and hang out with fellow children's lit crazies. Have a good one, everybody! And I'll try to write up a full report when I get back.

--
* A little joke for my fellow YA geeks.

Last weekend I attended the SCBWI Canada East conference, a one-day event featuring agent Stephen Barbara of the Donald Maass Literary Agency and authors Alma Fullerton and Jo Ellen Bogart. Unfortunately my pen died early in the afternoon, so Jo Ellen's talk has been lost to posterity. But I took detailed notes in the morning sessions, and got the speakers' permission to post them.

Stephen was up first, so here's a recap in my own words of what he had to say:

( What to do BEFORE you look for an agent )

( Four Habits of Highly Successful Writers )

In Part Two, which I hope to post soon, Stephen discusses what a good agent can do for an author. Part Three will cover the Q&A session that followed his talk.

SCBWI CANADA EAST SPRING CONFERENCE

Location:
Saturday June 23, Barrie, Ontario, Kempenfelt Conference Centre
Just 10 minutes from downtown Barrie or 40 minutes north of the Hwy
400/401 intersection

Featuring:
* Agent Stephen Barbara from the Donald Maass Agency, NY talking about what an agent does, do you need an agent, how to get one. He acquires YA and middle-grade novels plus adult literary fiction and nonfiction. [Yes, he does fantasy/SF -- Ed.]

( More Details )

*** If you'd seriously plan on coming please drop Lizann a note at lflatt@muskoka.com or ra@scbwicanada.org as soon as possible. We need to judge attendance numbers because we will have to cancel if it doesn't look like we can cover our costs. ***

Anyone else interested in this? James and Erin? *dangles shiny new agent*