{"id":498,"date":"2014-10-20T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T23:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=498"},"modified":"2018-11-20T05:42:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T05:42:04","slug":"kidlitcon-2014-further-thoughts-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=498","title":{"rendered":"KidLitCon 2014: Further Thoughts (and Sketches)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I meant to do this post last Thursday, but work spun dizzily out of my control, tossing me into a whirling black hole (do black holes whirl? I feel like they do) of getting-caught-up. Tanita&#8217;s done some amazing posts with lovely photos of the KidLitCon last weekend, and while I can&#8217;t compete with the photos (mainly because I forgot to take any&#8230;sigh) I do have a couple of quick sketches I did during sessions, which is a Thing I Do at Conferences when I&#8217;m not jotting notes. And I did jot notes, too, and was left with a lot of food for thought on blogging and on diversity.<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte of <a href=\"http:\/\/charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Charlotte&#8217;s Library<\/a>&#8211;a fellow Cybil-ite and a good friend from previous KidLitCons&#8211;gave a very practical and thought-provoking presentation the first day on Finding Your Voice. You&#8217;d think this wouldn&#8217;t be a problem after blogging for as long as I have (<a href=\"http:\/\/aquafortis.blogspot.com\/2004\/05\/whos-writing-this-garbage.html\" target=\"_blank\">EONS<\/a>!) but it really and truly is something I constantly agonize over. Here are some things I learned from Charlotte; things I&#8217;m still working through in relation to my own blogging and what I might want to do with it in the future, and making myself feel like it MATTERS:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What makes a blog interesting? <u>Focus<\/u> + <u>intensity\/passion<\/u> + <u>personality<\/u>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>However, in order to stand out and be authoritative, a personal approach needs <u>reasons<\/u> to back it up.<\/li>\n<li>People will relate when you talk about what you care about&#8211;but to what extent should one talk about personal things?&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Things that make the blogger a protagonist in their book journey&#8221; &#8211; that&#8217;s what many readers want to see from a book blog<\/li>\n<li>Consider who is the target audience, but also who isn&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<li>What is holding you back from writing strong blog posts? Is it diffidence? Or a desire not to hurt feelings?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those were some big take-aways for me, especially the idea of showing one&#8217;s personality through a conscious attempt to share our journey with books. Also diffidence&#8211;because I have trouble getting very personal with blogging.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/writingya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/JewellParkerRhodesKidlitcon2014.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/writingya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/JewellParkerRhodesKidlitcon2014.jpg\" height=\"180\" width=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Another great session I attended was Getting Beyond Diversity, with <a href=\"http:\/\/jewellparkerrhodes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jewell Parker Rhodes<\/a> (pictured), <a href=\"http:\/\/mclicious.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hannah Gomez<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/campbele.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Edi Campbell<\/a>. One point that really resonated with me was something Jewell said, which is that when considering diversity in books, we have to think about what we <u>don&#8217;t<\/u> see as well as what we do see.&nbsp; Hannah added that it&#8217;s important to know your own biases as well as your readers&#8217; biases. Edi shared a list of diverse reads she recommended, and I was reminded during this session that posting a themed roundup of books is always a good thing for book bloggers to do now and again, and something I haven&#8217;t been doing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/writingya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/SESinkhornKidlitcon2014-787x1024.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/writingya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/SESinkhornKidlitcon2014-787x1024.jpg\" height=\"320\" width=\"246\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>I honestly can&#8217;t gush enough about keynote Mitali Perkins or the Skype presentation from Shannon Hale. They were awesome! I think my tweets are probably the best record of those particular sessions, as well as the one by the folks from #WeNeedDiverseBooks. There were a lot of provocative ideas brought up, and not-so-provocative things we should all think about and remember. A few of my tweets from the conference sessions (and a drawing of S.E. Sinkhorn from the #WeNeedDiverseBooks panel):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Zetta Elliott: blanket policies that exclude self-pubbed books uphold the status quo. <s>@<\/s><b>zettaelliott<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Diversity: Review books that you think matter. <b><s>@<\/s><b>shgmclicious<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>A child&#8217;s imagination co-directs story along w\/writer, &amp; accesses all 5 senses. W\/movies, director is in charge.<b><b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b> <s>@<\/s><b>MitaliPerkins<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>Tropes, good or bad, when repeated again and again, begin to acquire power. <s>@<\/s><b>MitaliPerkins<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Writing diversity: how is race defined, if at all? If not, is it assumed that white is the &#8220;default race&#8221;?<b> <s>@<\/s><b>MitaliPerkins<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re going to cross a border of power in your story, have you done the work to authentically tell that story? <s>@<\/s><b>MitaliPerkins<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/li>\n<li>An important job of writers: stop being safe &amp; scared and start telling the truth of the world. <b><s>@<\/s><b>haleshannon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>The assumption is that stories about men &amp; boys are universal, while stories about women &amp; girls are only for girls. <b><b><s>@<\/s><b>haleshannon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>When will writers\/books of diversity not be solely relegated to &#8220;diverse reads&#8221;? <b><b><s>@<\/s><b>haleshannon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>Making a personal\/emotional connection helps readers engage with your blog or campaign. <b><b><s>@<\/s><b>karensandlerYA<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>Kids need to see others, see diversity, so they can learn to be empathetic. <b><b><s>@<\/s><b>karensandlerYA<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>WeNeedDiverseBooks<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li><b><b>.<s>@<\/s><b>karensandlerYA<\/b> <\/b><\/b>on reading outside our comfort zone: &#8220;I think it&#8217;s good to be a little uncomfortable.<b><b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>WeNeedDiverseBooks<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li><b><b>.<s>@<\/s><b>farre<\/b> <\/b><\/b>talks about how diversity is more than race or culture &#8211; it&#8217;s also socioeconomic status.<b><b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Caring is not trying, and trying is not succeeding.&#8221;<b><b> <s>@<\/s><b>shgmclicious<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>WeNeedDiverseBooks<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<li>Bloggers have an important role in reaching people who care but who don&#8217;t know where to go from there. <b><b><s>@<\/s><b>shgmclicious<\/b> <s>#<\/s><b>kidlitcon<\/b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/unconventionallibrarian.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Unconventional Librarian<\/a> Pam, I also took a SHELFIE with Mitali&#8217;s upcoming book <i>Tiger Boy<\/i>, but I&#8217;ll leave you to find that for yourself on Twitter if you really must see it. I always think I look weird in photos (and selfies possibly even more so) and this is no exception. Don&#8217;t forget to check the #kidlitcon hashtag on Twitter to read more live tweets from the conference&#8211;believe me, they were flying fast and furious, and it was a great simultaneous discussion.<\/p>\n<p>I really hope to be there next year in BALTIMORE for more amazing book talk. I always end up feeling much more energized about blogging, with all these wonderful ideas (which I currently have no time to implement, argh) and I honestly couldn&#8217;t recommend this conference more if you are a kidlit or YA blogger or author. Really really.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I meant to do this post last Thursday, but work spun dizzily out of my control, tossing me into a whirling black hole (do&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,18,19,10,73],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-af","tag-happenings","tag-kidlitcon","tag-views","tag-world-o-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}