My Weekend Away

Where to start? I had an amazing writerly weekend at the Central Coast Writer's Conference. The Discomermaids were as gorgeous and generous and fabulous as always. The great thing about hanging out with the DMs is that they attract other fabulous people that you get to hang out with as well. Such as?

Such as the wonderful (and teeny - I was the Jolly Green Giant next to her petiteness) Cecil Castellucci. By sheer coincidence, I had just started her new book Beige, so it was even cooler. I adore Mary Hershey, and she gave a great seminar on humor that made us work for her wisdom so that it stuck. Here we are hanging out:



Jay was so busy being wonderful that he had his nametag stand in for photos.


But then he finished his seminar and showed up in the coolest shirt.


He let me fondle his last ARC for Thirteen Reasons Why and I managed to cram in one chapter before I gave it back. I'm going to go and preorder my copy as soon as I'm done here. His comparison of Pat the Bunny to current YA is not to be missed. Not only that, but he can even make Moon Over My Hammy pretty:



Then, to top it all off, the gang invited me along to dinner with them and wonderful agent Laura Rennert. The waiter's confused look was priceless once Eve and Robin started riffing on him. Talk about thinking on your feet! He never had a chance. We sat outside among the fairy lights and talked about everything. Because I love Agent E, I had nothing at stake and was able to really enjoy hanging out with Laura. If you ever have the chance to work with her, run, don't walk, because she is seriously fabulous.

I stayed at Robin's house with her amazing (ok, I'm running out of adjectives here, but they are all true) and talented hubby and adorable merboy. They put up with me for two whole days, and even took me for a walk by the beach.


The DMs are as great as they seem. Not once did I feel like the fourth wheel on their tricycle, and it is so nice to see all of the love and support they give each other. I'm already saving my pennies to go to the national conference in LA next summer. It was one of those weekends where you wish you could hit rewind and do it all over again.

On this date: In 1965, The Smothers Brothers debuted.