The Queen of Pitches lost her britches
Going to the Conference
when alerted to the fact
she said that's utter
nonsense! (Jane Bloomfield)
Since October/November last year my life has been dominated by two things - writing a novel and organising a conference/hui. There have been other things; preparation for my eldests application for a student exchange to the US, preparation for her separate travel to the US for cheerleading worlds (she leaves April 15th), being part of the team on producing my new picture book
The House That Went to Sea (now off at the printers) and of course being Mum, wife, daughter, pet owner, housefrau, company co-director and student. But the conference and the novel have occupied the majority of my thoughts. Spinning Tales happened last weekend. The culmination of all the running around, the meetings, the emailings, the plannings, the plottings and the stressing. I think it went pretty well. We had a last minute cancellation from an overseas speaker due to illness but were able to offer a brilliant alternative (thank you Jill Marshall) and make different arrangements for other things affected by this turn of events. The venue, the food, the speakers, the chairs, the volunteer helpers, the drivers, the technical engineer were all really quite stunning in their professionalism and generosity. By thursday I felt that everything the organisers could do had been done and now we just had to see how it all played out. And it played out like a charm. I have been overwhelmed by the thanks and the positive feedback. And I want to say a thank you right back. Writers and Illustrators for children have to be the nicest bunch of people you could ever hope to meet. They are warm, welcoming and caring. And the reason everything went so well is because they made it so. Everyone engaged with what was going on, and with each other. I have watched with a lump in my throat as folk who met up at Spinning Tales now connect up on facebook, forging stronger links of mutual support and encouragement. This is a tangible result - the Spinning Tales effect. I feel so privileged to be a part of this community. Now of course I am down to just the novel and I have no excuses to not focus more time on finishing this....gulp
5 comments:
It was a wonderful weekend! And you will feel a bit flat after it, as organising events on this scale take over your life so much. Your family will be glad to see you back...I know my family had the mantra..."after the conference...." for months as I worked on Spinning Gold.
You can take pride in the relationships that will be started from Spinning Tales....they wouldn't have happened otherwise!
Beautiful things will happen and it will be because of you and the team!
Yup, wot she said!!! (Eloquence is my middle name...) :-)
Yay for your successful conference and for your humungous organizational skills!!! Good grief!! Well done you!!!! I am as always, in AWE!
Take care
x
Indeed - a big vote of thanks to you and all the other organisers, Melinda. Everything appeared to run like a dream and it was great to have the opportunity to meet up with so many of our authors & illustrators.
It's just a shame that publishers weren't allowed to attend the Sat night dinner, so that we could've caught up with people for a proper chinwag and a bit of socialising. Ah well, never mind.
Hey thanks guys. I am beyond thrilled at how everything worked out. Except for the dinner Penny - I tried but just couldn't win that argument.
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