Friday, August 11, 2006

Absolutely, Positively, Kick A$$ -- Eve

Robin, Jay, Lisa Yee, Gregory K., and Eve
just minutes after our speaking debut as children's book writers
(okay, bloggers...whatever!)
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Top 10 Highlights of the
2006 SCBWI National Conference
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10. Meeting Mo Willems: Funny, humble, and handsome. And boyfriend can draw a pigeon like nobody’s business.
9. David Larochelle’s speech: Sweet, informative, and gave me great hope that perseverance conquers all.
8. Jacqueline Woodson’s keynote: Beautiful and poetic…the kind of writer we all aspire to be.
7. Hanging with Jodi Reamer: No-nonsense agent who is funny, direct, and professional. I especially like the fact that she can hang with us rowdy L.A. hooligans without being mortified by our antics. That’s my kind of chick.
6. Very entertaining Friday night dinner with Robin, Gregory K., and assorted friends. Jay ditched us for some cute chicks, so we had to leave him obnoxious crank calls on his cell. Very funny…to us!
5. Saturday night’s Jade Jubilee: Lots o’ frou-frou drinks, laughs, dancing (giving myself a stress fracture and whiplash…swear!), and hot tubbing…Ahh, good times!
4. Lisa Yee’s blog workshop: Pulled off what will undoubtedly be the most difficult task of my writing career…speaking to a roomful of strangers while nervous, exhausted, and UN-CAFFEINATED. Are you kidding me?? I can’t even brush my teeth while un-caffeinated! I rock!!
3. Shaking booty in a hot Reggae club with Robin and two dudes who we’re pretty sure were Ferris Bueller and his friend Cameron.
2. Q & A with Arthur Levine: This guy could charm a parking meter. Frickin’ hilarious. His story about the French woman at a writer’s conference following him around calling him an “Anti-intellectual, money-grubbing, American publishing pig” had me rolling. If the publishing gig doesn’t work out for him, he can seriously be a comedian (in America…not France).
1. Presenting Tomie dePaola with his own copy of The dePaola Code. In our swimsuits, we approached him at the bar…which, of course, was the best time to approach the most famous, award winning, prolific author/illustrator of modern times. After a cocktail or two he actually found us quite amusing. Now he’s our new BFF! And he’s going to create a picture book about us!! It’s about…um…mermaids who dance and blog and run around the world spreading Disco Love everywhere. Coming soon to a Barnes and Noble near you.
- Eve
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This blog is not a DVD. There are no bonus features. You can not view deleted scenes or outtakes. If you could, this post would have more bonus material than any other Disco Mermaid post so far. The review board (a.k.a. Robin and Jay) saw the post before its world wide release and made some edits. If this blog actually was a DVD and included the director's cut (a.k.a. Evie's cut), it would be a blockbuster!

10 comments:

Lisa Yee said...

You were nervous? There is NO WAY anyone would have known had you not confessed! In fact, you seemed so comfortable speaking you could be Star Jones's replacement on THE VIEW.

Thetoymakers said...

Next year I am going to snag Hermoine's Timeturner so that I can go to ALL the workshops. Dang I'm sorry that I missed the blog one!

Wasn't David's speech magic? It was all good!

Best thoughts,

Marilyn.

Disco Mermaids said...

Just so there's no misunderstanding, I didn't actually ditch Eve and Robin for some cute chicks. They were authors represented by the agency I was offered a contract with. I was simply picking their brains for useful info.

The fact that they were all very very cute was only a side-benefit (or maybe a sneaky...and successful!...P.R. campaign orchestrated by the agency).

- Jay

Greg Pincus said...

Whew. For a second there I thought you were gonna tell Jay what he actually MISSED at that dinner when he deserted you. Luckily, that remains the secret of those of us who were there....

Disco Mermaids said...

Funny, Jay! Okay, so my unedited post was a little more self-disclosing (raunchy) than it needed to be. However, in my defense, I just wanted all the readers in blog-land to know how much FUN the conference was.

But, yes, the squeaky clean version is a little more appropriate and professional. But if I act like a 14-year-old, doesn't that make me a better writer for real 14-year-olds? Hmm??

And, Lisa...THE VIEW called. They told me if I clean up my act, and create a more demure public persona, they'll offer me a contract.

Eve

Disco Mermaids said...

Greg, please, you're only encouraging her. :-)

- Jay

Disco Mermaids said...

I agree...no more encouragement needed. Some of us have small children (and a small conscience).
Too bad I don't remember much of the REAL version. Curse you, Mojitos!!

-Robin

Painter said...

Yeah...umm..this would be "Ferris". Nice touch adding the pic....I'll make sure Cameron see's it. I'm sure he'll be thrilled.

Anonymous said...

Glad to see Ferris and I had some impact at the conference. Even better that the Mermaids have a flair for 80s nostalgia. What would "Ed Rooney" have to say about these shenanigans?

Disco Mermaids said...

"Ed Rooney" probably wouldn't think much of it, Cameron. 'Cause he's in prison now for Kiddie-Porn!! It's true. For real. Google it. I swear.

Nice, Cameron. Nice. It's all fun and games here at the DiscoMermaids site until someone references kid-porn.

Eve