Hanging with Librarians @ OASL / WLMA, Day 2

A night after crashing catatonic in bed without changing positions for seven hours straight, I'm happy to report that a more alert Me presented at Day Two of the WLMA / OASL Conference in Portland, Oregon.

My audience was skeptical when I told them that I get inspiration for my novels from so many places: travel. Eavesdropping. Daily humiliations.

Case in point: Lorie Ann Grover informed me post-presentation that my shirt rode up everytime I gestured, leaving a big old two inch swath of bare, stretch-marked belly for all in the ballroom to see. *sigh* So reminder to self: before ANY presentation, move in front of a full-length mirror with my outfit to ensure no undue belly baring or otherwise. (Or perhaps an amendment is in order: check outfit before appearing in public. Anywhere. Why? Oh, like the time when I met a certain bigwig's sister AND found out to my horror later that I had bared half my breast in front of her. And people wonder why I am so connected to my inner teen?)

I'm happy to report that I've made a full recovery of today's humiliation. First, I had a great conversation with Liz Gallagher. Then, my brother, Dave Chen, and sister-in-law, Jill, took Lorie Ann and I out to dinner at Biwa, a fantastic little Japanese restaurant with yummy skewers and homemade noodles. Homemade chubby udon noodles--the sumo wrestler of noodles. I will be dreaming about them...

And then Lorie Ann and I whooped it up (okay, looked bleary-eyed at each) in a swanky boutique hotel in Portland.

I am a princess. And I know it. (Live it up, I'm telling myself. In 24 hours, I return to the land o' squat toilets.)

Beginnings and Endings

Nothing affirms that YUP, I'm moving to China quite like having needles stuck into my triceps. (Typhoid--ouch. Hepatitis--not so bad. Japanese encephalitis--the shot BURNS...no matter what I tell my kids.) So today, in another step to prepare for our upcoming move, I hauled the kids and my mom to get First Aid trained.

(Did you notice the beautiful splint I administered on my mom?)

And then in perfect yet poignant counterpoint to this new beginning, the readergirlz co-founders (Lorie Ann Grover, Janet Lee Carey, Dia Calhoun and I) joined countless other authors tonight, including Liz Gallagher (THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE)

to bid one of the most ardent champions of reading and writers a fond farewell. Today marked the last day that Chauni and Bill Hauslet helmed one of my favorite bookstores: All for Kids Books.

(Pictured here: Holly Cupala, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover, Dia Calhoun, and the Hauslet duo of wonder.)

While Seattle has lost one of its most precious institutions, I am thrilled that Chauni and Bill get to relax at last.

Thankfully, Seattle still claims Rene Kirkpatrick of Third Place Books as one of our own. If you ever need a YA book recommendation, she's the one to ask. We do--all the time at readergirlz!