I am home from Austin where I had a fabulous time. I will update more with words later as it takes some time to distill it all and I have a stack of reading to do for class tonight. But I can give you the short version, in pictures, first. Okay, the super short version without pictures is that I had a fabulous time and learned so much about myself in the process.

The day before I left I made a quick run down to Hicklebees to see David Lubar. David was charming the kids one by one but my favorite was the red-haired boy who came away clutching his book to his chest who said, “I can’t believe I got an actual David Lubar autograph in my own book.” He was going up to everyone in the store telling them about it.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Then it was off to Austin at o-dark-thirty in the morning. I got there Thursday afternoon and Thursday night I went to dinner with author/illustrator Don Tate and illustrator Mary Sullivan. Mary illustrated my picture book, Oliver’s Must-do List. We had a great time chat about all things under the sun on the lovely patio of a restaurant I can’t remember the name of. I wanted to set up a dinner like this for every week! A perfect start to the trip. The only bummer was the bakery that Don and Mary were raving about was closed by the time we were done and now I will never know what a black and white cookie is. Sigh.

From VCFA Day in Austin

The rain held off until I was back in my hotel room but then the thunder and lighting started up. It has been a long time since I lived in a place that had lighting storms like these. I couldn’t get the patio door to open to get a good picture but I was mesmerized. This was one of the small strikes. Most were two or three verticals at once.

From VCFA Day in Austin

In the morning

liz_scanlon

picked me up and we headed off to Austin for breakfast. We started talking and didn’t stop until it was time for Liz to pass me over for the next stage of my trip. Part of the joy of meeting people you’ve known online for a while is that you know if it is someone you are going to click with, feel comfortable with and then when you meet, it brings a new dimension to the visit.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Liz took me over to BookPeople so I could meet up with my longtime friend Peni Griffin who drove up from San Antonio to see me. Peni and I poked around BookPeople for a while before driving over to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center. We hiked around, looking at plants and birds, on a perfect weather day, the sun staying behind the clouds until we were ready to leave.

From VCFA Day in Austin

After that it was off to the reception for the conference where I finally got to meet in person another long time friend, Cynthia Leitich Smith. We forgot to snap a picture but I did get one with her equally charming husband Greg.

From VCFA Day in Austin

From VCFA Day in Austin

I got to meet LJ buddy

jo_no_anne

who refused to take no for an answer.

From VCFA Day in Austin

and another LJ buddy whom I didn’t get enough time to chat with.

From VCFA Day in Austin

After all that visiting and hiking, this shrinking violet was exhausted. Alas I had had no sleep the night before because of the cement bed, evidently a hallmark of this particular chain. So I asked for extra pillows and created a new version of the pillow top mattress.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Uma Krishnaswami is another long time online friend that I was so happy to get to meet. I have her beautiful voice imprinted in my brain now which plays back in my head as I read her words on the screen.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Uma introduced me to her critique partner and poet friend Stephanie Farrow. We chatted about poetry and so much more. It was hard to believe we had only just met.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Donna Bowman Bratton was another friend met on this trip that felt like an old friend from far away.

From VCFA Day in Austin

After the conference a group of us went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. This was our end of the table. Stephanie, Me, Donna, Emma Virjan, and Erin Edwards. We ate and drank. Talked and laughed. Filled up our wells for all sorts of writing.

From VCFA Day in Austin

I had high hopes of Cassie pining away for me while I was gone. This was the image I kept in my mind.

From VCFA Day in Austin

Alas, when I got home, she ignored me, as though she hadn’t even noticed I’d been gone.

There are other pictures circulating out there somewhere that I hope people will send to me. This was a terrific trip, a learning experience on so many levels. I’m so very glad I went. I will post the more introspective version of the trip tomorrow.

About six months ago we took Cassie for her eval to see if she could make it into day care. We thought a day or two a week playing with doggie pals would be good for her. Alas for Cassie, a complete introvert, it turned out not to be a good thing after all. She flunked the eval and we were told that it would too hard on her, traumatic even, to be there all day. The evaluator told us to keep Cassie out of dog parks because it would be too much for her. My poor shrinking violet.

She gets so excited when she sees another dog, tail wagging, sometimes a pay attention to me bark. But then the moment comes and they are face to face (or face to rear as it goes with dogs) and she is just overwhelmed by it all and usually gives up on the attempt to make a new friend.

I can so relate. I want to meet new people, make new friends and yet there is that whole, tail wagging, attention getting time where I wonder if I have something to bring to the table of friendship. Will they like me? What if they don’t? What if I make a mistake of some kind or say something stupid? What if I’m too fat or too old or too serious or too, you get the picture. Fill in the blank with your current irrational fear.

Recently we met a friend and his dogs at a local dog park so we could get to know each other’s dogs and catch up with one another. While Cassie wasn’t the life of the party she didn’t dig a hole and climb in. She spent most of her time glued to our sides. But she tried. We’ve been taking her to the dog beach where she can run after the other dogs as they chase a ball. She’s not interested in the balls and not totally interested in the dogs but she ventures further away from us on her own there. She stays back from the pack, the leftover, the lone wolf just outside of being accepted. Of course if she would let herself join in the fun I have no doubt that should would be accepted totally, just as she is.

We went back to the dog park last weekend and as soon as we opened the gate and took off her leash she ran into the crowd of dogs without even a backward glance. She didn’t stay there long and she didn’t really play with anyone but when she trotted back to our sides she looked happy and interested and not at all traumatized. For over an hours she would venture off on her own to sniff around and then come back and check in with us. Friends commented on how much better she was doing this time around.

As we were getting ready to leave another dog entered the park. This one was a German Shepherd.  Cassie tore off after him, happily doing the sniff test and letting herself be sniffed. No matter where we go, she gravitates toward her kind. After a little bit of visiting Cassie was ready to go home, the scent of her new friend firmly implanted on her brain. My shrinking violet was starting to bloom.

In the morning I leave for Austin for the one day conference put on by the folks at Vermont College. Being a confirmed and lifelong introvert, I don’t normally do this sort of thing. But I decided to take a chance.  I decided to go in early so I could have time with friends and do a little reaching out of my own.

Thursday night dinner will be with illustrator Mary Sullivan and illustrator/author Don Tate. Friday morning (I hope) with

liz_scanlon

and Friday afternoon with Peni Griffin before heading to the opening mixer where 70 children’s authors will gather to glean wisdom from Kathi Applet and Sharon Darrow.

These are my people. And though I am a shrinking violet myself, I gravitate toward my kind for I know I will welcomed there and accepted and they will help me bloom.

Okay, I may not be heading to SCBWI but I am, in October, going to the VCFA event in the Lone Star State.

Anyone else going?

I am registered and now entering the "how do I decide which hotel to stay at" phase. This phase is soon to be followed by the "ohmygosh how am I going to get from point A to point B and everywhere else phase" which is also known as the typical (for me) transportation panic phase. Other phases soon to follow will include the "what if I have forgotten how to do the chit chat in person networking phase," the "everyone will be younger or skinnier or more talented than I am phase" and then of course the "is it too late to change my mind and cancel phase." Oh, and let’s not forget the "I have nothing to wear phase" which I’m sure I will pass through several times.

I kid you not.

Yes, I am an introverted wimp but I am really going to try and break out at least a little bit.

I think I am going to go a day early on the chance that I can have some time to meet some local friends. So if you live in the area, please let me know because otherwise I will go early and then sit in my hotel room playing the stupid bubble game on my phone until the battery dies.