Flashback Fridays: ALA Recap

Welcome to Week Ten of our fabulous segment Flashback Fridays where the old and new collide on everything from books to movies to first loves to favorite vacations.

This week I'm flashbacking to my experience at last week's ALA conference. So what exactly is ALA? Well, it's the American Library Association, and it is the oldest library association not only in the country, but in the world. Pretty impressive, huh?

ALA held this year's convention in Washington DC. It's always been a dream of mine to go to our nation's capital, so I figured touring DC and hitting the convention was an awesome plan. I'm sure you're thinking, "So what does a writer need with a bunch of librarians or info on the newest online databases?" Trust me, ALA is so much more than library cart races(yep, they do have those!). Publishers, editors, and authors all convene on ALA just as much as librarians do. Where else would you get to meet authors like Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins, Melissa Marr, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. And yes, although he signed books after I left on Sunday morning, I did have a fangirl John Green moment as he passed by my buddies and me.

Here are some pictures of the exhibit hall

It was truly an intense experience meeting all those great authors. It was a surreal moment getting MG author, Avi, to sign my book. My first year teaching I taught his The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.


And I have to say that it was an especially fangirl moment with Laurie Halse Anderson. I can't imagine a more giving and caring author than Laurie. After mentioning teaching Speak to my Freshman, we talked about the experience, and she also wished me luck in my own writing career. Now that's classy!! I can't wait to read her historical fiction Chains and its sequel Forge.

Other very approachable authors were a personal favorite and fellow AbsoluteWriter, Melissa Marr, and Carolyn Mackler, the author of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. Her new book, Tangled, sounds awesome.

So what else is cool besides meeting authors and publishing teams? One word. ARCS!!! I scored some very exciting books like Ally Condie's, Matched, Lisa Desrochers's Personal Demons, Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia's Beautiful Darkness, and Alexandra Adornetto's Halo

Here I am with my tower of ARCS along with some purchased books




















And here's my buddy, Rebecca, with her books




















And here I am being very, very excited to have scored an ARC of Matched. Ally Condie was there on Sunday signing after I left. Bummer!













So ALA was about meeting authors, free books, but it was also about meeting up in person with "online" friends.

Here I am with a good Absolutewrite buddy of mine, Sumayyah. Remember her name because Melissa Marr loved it and its meaning. She might be immortalized someday!

And here I am with Twitter buddies, Miranda and Rebecca, who is co-owner of http://www.fallenarchangel.com/, which is a fansite for Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series.

So, if you get the chance, I highly recommend you check out an ALA conference. They have a mid-winter meeting in January, which will be held in San Diego. And then next year's conference will be in Nawlins...or New Orleans!!