Check It Out

It seems forever since I signed up to attend the First Annual Kidlitosphere Conference. And here it is just a little more than 45 hours before my husband and I head to Chicago.  We are taking the red-eye and arriving at 5 AM Friday. 

We will spend Friday sight seeing.  Our goal is to get one of those double decker tour buses and go to the Field Museum.  We will head out Friday evening in search of pizza.  The conference starts early on Saturday and look at this line up:

7:45-8:00: Check in. Pay your registration fees if you haven’t already, get your name tags and your Who’s Who cheat sheet. (We’ll have coffee and continental breakfast.)

8:00-8:10: Intro to the conference.

8:10-9:00: Kidlit Blogging, Part 1 (led by Tasha Saeker and others): How to get started, how to get ARCs, how to do reviews, how to do author interviews, what blog formats seem to work best, etc. There’s a lot of experience in this group, and I’m hoping many of you will have tips to offer.

9:10-9:45: Podcasting 101 (led by Mark Blevis and Andrea Ross): The how-to’s (and why-to’s) of creating and posting podcasts on your site. I just did a podcast interview on Friday–it’s the wave of the future, baby!

10:00-11:00 (room #1): Cybils Forum.

10:00-11:00 (room #2) Blogging for Authors (led by Robin Brande, Gregory K, Barry Lyga): websites, blogs, MySpace, why to, how to, the different philosophies thereof (sales & promotion, connection with readers, daily writing exercise, can’t stop talking, etc.).

11:10-12:00: Promotion Ideas for the Kidlitosphere (led by Jen Robinson): Brainstorming ideas for increased promotion of the
kidlitosphere as a whole, as a resource for readers/parents/ authors.

12:00-1:00: Lunch on your own (not alone on your own–you can find friends).

1:10-2:00: Kidlit Blogging, Part 2–the business side (led by Pam Coughlan): Brainstorming tips to improve your blog, attract more
traffic and links, keep your blog (and yourself) fresh, and generally kick it up a notch.

2:10-3:00: Kidlit Blogging, Part 3–the creative side (led by Anne Levy): How to establish your “voice,” how to maintain your writing quality, what makes for a good review, how to hone your reviewing skills.

3:10-4:00: The Ethics of Reviewing (led by Liz Burns): What do we do about personal relationships/potential conflicts of interest, “bad” reviews, copyright, and other ethical issues?

4:00-5:00: Meet the Authors (hosted by Esme Raji Codell of PlanetEsme). A chance to have a little one-on-one with some of the authors–a time to chat, interview, question, inspect.

7:00-9:00: Dinner! Prize giveaways! Fun!

On Sunday, we head back to the northwest VERY early.  The weather in Chicago is supposed to be fabulous, in the eighties.

I am reading, reading reading to get books read before arriving and meeting many of the authors.  I just finished Me, Evolution and Other Freaks of Nature by the conference’s organizer, Robin Brande. It is a great book for middle school and high school. I was taken back to high school, wishing that I had the courage to stand up for my beliefs like Mena.

Now I am onto reading Letters From Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, and Diary of a Fairy Godmother (Esme Raji Codell). 

Full reporting upon my return. Happy REading.

MsMac