Colorado Teen Literature Conference: Reflection

Hi again, my readers!

A few weeks ago I had the great fortune of volunteering for the Colorado Teen Literature Conference (CTLC), which is a statewide conference for teens and adults alike.  There are local authors as well as headliners, classes on various subjects that you can attend all day, and places to buy items from local vendors and authors.  (Their website is here and is awesome.)

I had never been before or even heard about it before, so volunteering for it was a great way to get introduced to what CTLC is all about.  Most of what I was doing was directing visitors to the various places on my school's campus so they could find their seminars and classes easily.  I also got to participate in classes if I felt inclined (I went to one on fairytales in YA literature and now have like 20 more books on my "To Read" list on GoodReads) and hear the guest speakers present.

This year, the guest speakers were Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungles, and Wendelin Van Draanen, author of Runaway.  They were amazing.  Hearing them speak about why they became writers was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life.

Wendelin started writing as a way to cope (she called it revenge writing) when her family's business was destroyed in an arson act.  She used to teach computer programming and math at the high school level and wrote in her free time.  When she decided to start sending things to publishers, she came up with the term "Hope in the Mail"; what it means is that as long as something is out there, there's hope.

Andrew is a high school English teacher and also writes in his free time.  He mostly wrote things for himself and was convinced by a friend of his to send some of his stuff off to a publisher.  He now has two contracts and writes two novels a year while teaching.  One of his books required for him to figure out how many miles the earth moves in a period of time.  The answer is 20 miles in five seconds.  He tries to encourage all his students to stop thinking about what they're going to do with the rest of their lives; instead, he wants them to think of what they're going to from 20 miles to the next.

I was able to meet both the authors and get Andrew to sign my book.  I also got this wickedly awesome picture with Andrew that Wendelin photo bombed.  Of course I blinked.

It was fantastic.  If you get the chance to go to CTLC, I highly recommend you take it.

~Meaghan