Sirens11 Wrap-Up

I had an amazing time at Sirens last weekend. I knew going in that I was going to have long talks about beloved books with fun and passionate people. I was so excited and grateful to be on the staff; Sirens is run by a group of smart, organized, and funny women and I love them all to pieces.

There was glitter hair spray and fantastically monstrous costumes made by wickedly creative people. There was a lot of talking and thinking and re-evaluating the ideas and experiences we bring to the books we read. I bought bags of books, including all of Marie Brennan's Onyx Court books and Laini Taylor's shiny new Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which i am not starting until I know i can stay up all night reading it. I know the moment I open it I will be lost until I've finished it.

Each of the last two years, I have come away from this conference with a full and happy brain, ready to return to work and already looking forward to the next event. I think I'm not alone in that- read through #sirens11 on twitter to see what others had to say.

I promised those who attended my workshop on creating and writing critique groups that I would post my handouts online. (I made a writers' group guidelines mad lib. I hope they have as much fun filling it out as I did writing it.) It's going to take me a little while to get new pages formatted, but if you'd like to download an rtf file, you may do so here. (If you need a different file type, email me!) Thank you so much for being there!

Next year, Sirens will be October 11-14, just outside of Portland, OR. I am already tracking airfare and coordinating childcare...