The event comes together despite bad planning and vomiting children
Aw look, they love my agent as much as I do. *sniff*
Yesterday was quite the eventful day – my inaugural SCBWI event on building an online presence was at 2, which of course meant I went into a bit of a panic when my daughter started violently throwing up at 10. I mean, holy cow, it was terrible. But superheroic dad that I am, I did my part to get her comfortable and taken care of, frantically polished off the rest of the Saturday morning errands, and managed to arrive at the event venue with my composure intact and no discernible smell of vomit in the air. Victory!
In the end it was a great event, and while my (possibly overambitious) plans didn't all come to fruition, enough of them panned out to keep me from sliding into a state of despair, and the members of the unexpectedly large crowd were patient and enthusiastic participants throughout. And of course I got the very best in logistical support, facility booking, audience management and baked goods from my region's ace squadron of SCBWI organizers, led by friend and generally awesome human being Keely Parrack.
Anyway, there's all kinds of stuff I promised from this event, specifically in the form of video clips, so here they are, yo!
REMOTE HECKLING: AN INTRODUCTION
The issue of who'd handle the camera, when to cut, where to point the darned thing…err, yeah. Not planned, any of it. Which is why Jeannie Mobley's remote heckling served as a kind of pilot video for the whole process. Here I am, suave and authoritative, dishing out vague and wobbly instructions for the madness to come, which was to have not-in-attendance hecklers send their derisive comments in and have a proxy heckler speak in their place. Yeah, I know – this is a very questionable idea.
REMOTE HECKLER #1: JEANNIE MOBLEY
The lovely and super-fun Lisa Schulman was READY to serve as Jeannie's proxy heckler! I mean, yowza, Lisa was ALL IN. A command performance.
MY RESPONSE TO JEANNIE
REMOTE HECKLER #2: JIM HILL
Anne Nesbet came through with a bravura proxy heckling session despite the fact that she knows NOTHING about Dungeons & Dragons, which forms the basis for Jim's obscure but potent heckle…
REMOTE HECKLER #3: AMY SPITZLEY
Edna Cabcabin Moran was actually the perfect choice for Amy's proxy heckler…
WISH YOU WERE HERE
I freely confess that this is the clip where my planning broke down to the greatest degree – I wanted to acknowledge everyone who sent good wishes and pre-event congratulations via Facebook or this blog, but due to my hasty, overcaffeinated delivery of instructions and the overall rowdiness of the crowd (these children's writers and illustrators, I swear, they like to paaaarty), probably half the names I planned on having read were left scattered around the room on assorted sheets of paper. Those of you who were left out, I'm sorry!!! You know my affection for you is a dashing, leaping, gazelle-like thing, right? RIGHT??? AAAAAGGGGHHHH
It's okay Arthur, we forgive you. 
LINKS TO SOME OF THE STUFF I SHOWED YESTERDAY
Verla Kay's Blueboards
Lisa Yee's 2009 Bodacious Book Contest winners
Dystel & Goderich first lines contest
Tara Lazar and I review NEIL ARMSTRONG IS MY UNCLE
I howl at the moon
Nan Marino gives me a special prize
Tara Lazar and I review WHEN YOU REACH ME
Betsy Bird gives my blog a shoutout!
Kathleen Duey on Shrinking Violet Promotions
The Maureen Johnson internet manifesto
The Enchanted Inkpot
Me and my editor at SCBWILA10 (scroll to the bottom)
Me as a zombie
Thanks again to everyone who attended! The crowd is no less important than the speaker, at least when it comes to MY events, so y'all did it up right, and I'm grateful.
Reporting to you live from Upchuck City,
m.
