Rasco From RIF

What an afternoon!

October 6th, 2009

Last week Rasco from RIF turned one year old.  At that time it had been my intention to write a reflection post about my first year of blogging…alas, RIF was closing out the old, ringing in the new fiscal year; there were events and meetings to be attended in New York City; and well, you get the picture…time got away from me.  Today as RIF welcomed Laurel Snyder, I realized her visit tells the story of my blogging and my twitter experiences better than a “reflection piece.”

Would I have met Laurel Snyder outside the blog world, outside twitter?  Maybe, but probably only in passing.  However, today the minute I walked into our reception area to welcome her, I realized I “know” her even better than many I walk out to welcome regularly.  One of the first things I asked her was “How is Lewis who doesn’t wear diapers anymore?” 

Once I had blogged for about three months with help from many of you as you introduced me to so many individuals in the kid lit world online, I realized my children’s/youth “shelves of books read” had huge gaps from that time my daughter moved from children’s books to YA/adult books to the present.  Entering the world of twitter confirmed the gap to be even wider than I originally diagnosed.  And while I prided myself on the number of children’s book I had read each year and the ones from my childhood I re-read on an every other year schedule, I have huge gaps.  A resolution I have kept in 2009 has been to turn my voracious reading habit almost solely toward children’s and youth literature newly released and released during those years filling the gap.

I thrill when new books among my online friends are released, I get excited when books from the missing years of my children’s book repertoire are discussed and put in front of me for consideration.  Having read and recently posted about the wonderful memories of my childhood neighborhood and friends evoked by Laurel’s Any Which Wall, I was excited one day to pick up from a tweet stating her home library as the Enoch Pratt Free Library that she appeared to have grown up in Baltimore and was headed “home” for a visit.  I immediately DM’d (direct mailed) her to ask if she would consider visiting RIF for a visit with the staff…and I was thrilled that an author said “of course!”

Today Laurel Snyder initiated what I hope to be a regular feature on RIF’s calendar:  author visits.   We had a grand time as I hope you can tell from the rather non-traditional photos taken of the two twitter friends!

It’s interesting as the feedback so far has been much like the blind men describing the elephant….programs personnel were buzzing about one aspect of the free flowing dialogue, Q and A; other departments had somewhat differing but equally exciting “take away’s” whether from the writing, publishing, publicizing angles and more.  However, the one consistent refrain in the halls of RIF was “I am so energized!”  The bar is set high, the interest whetted, and we look forward to dialogue with others of you in DC/VA/MD or passing through the beltway. 

And we certainly look forward to a return visit from Laurel, to whom we say thanks for making a Tuesday afternoon such a fun one!  The welcome mat awaits you;  bring the boys next time!

Happy reading!
Carol

Twitter: @RascofromRIF

Filed under: Author/illustrator visits, Children's Books, RIF Staff Events

Tags: Any Which Wall, Laurel Snyder