The last week has been filled with writerly goodness. This weekend I was at the annual NESCBWI conference (more on that later); before that, I was part of the Brookline Public Library’s New Voices in YA and Children’s Literature series. It was awesome!

Confession: readings (or any kind of public speaking) make me nervous. I’ve never had a terrible experience, but I always get anxious a few hours before the actual event. Fortunately, the vibe at the reading was so enthusiastic and low-key that I quickly forgot about nerves.

I read with three other YA writers, two of whom (Beth Brenner and Mike Dwyer) are good friends. We all have fairly different styles, so it was cool getting to hear everyone’s readings. A few topics covered: girl detectives, reincarnated guards, magical families, and drivers ed. I’m sure it’s hard to plan for different styles in advance, but it worked out really well. Fellow New Voices writers, I need to hear more of your work, immediately.

Series organizer Dorrie was wonderful to work with. She made sure we had necessary info and felt taken care of beforehand, and she kept things interesting during the reading. Usually I stress about Q&A sessions, but Dorrie came up with fun questions that we all got into answering. Dorrie also included a drawing of a bird Amelia Earhart in the program handout. How cool is that?!

Many thanks to everyone who came out to hear us read. It made a huge difference to have so many friendly faces in the audience. And thanks to the wonderful librarians and staff at the Brookline Public Library for putting together such a cool event.