Penguins, Nerds, Swing Dancing, and the Road to Hell — NCTE, part 2

I shared a bit about my NCTE Friday last week, and I just wanted to tell you about Friday night, which was a great time. I went to the Penguin Nerdy Cocktail Hour, which was a cocktail party (generally, my least favorite thing in the whole world). It was fun! I now know enough people who I actually WANT to see and chat with that I don’t hide in the corner the whole time at an event like this. It’s a miracle. Penguin was celebrating a bunch of its new/forthcoming books and their authors, and I was cheering on Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths, by Marilyn Singer! I can’t wait to get my hands on that one.

Donalyn Miller, Colby Sharp, and Mr. Schu from the Nerdy Book Club (whee!) were the hosts, and they are all so passionate about books and funny, too. They led a trivia game that we played on our phones. It was mostly related to novels by the authors being honored, and I tanked at it. But it sure was fun:>) I would’ve been better if it had been picture book-focused, I swear!

I got to see all three of the NBC folks–and I had never met Colby or John in person, so that was fun. I saw and briefly chatted with Dylan Teut, one of ILA’s 30 Under 30, and caught up with other folks I know in person already: April Whatley Bedford, Andrew Karre, Alyson Beecher, and many more. Plus I hung out with Marilyn Singer; her husband, Steven Salerno; and my poet friend Heidi Mordhorst. Who wouldn’t have a good time? I only took three pics at the very end, when I realized, hey, I’m having a good time. It would be fun to remember this. Lame on me.

I took away from this cocktail party an amazing sense of community, and a gratefulness, especially, for the opportunity to connect in person with people whose passion for books inspires me online constantly.

After the cocktail party, Marilyn, Steve, Heidi, and I walked the long way about to Hell’s Kitchen, a local restaurant with yummy food and live music. No surprise there, since you can’t keep Marilyn and Steve off a dance floor! My feet hurt, I was smiled out, and I was nervous about finding my car in the parking garage (which one? wasn’t 100% sure) after dinner, especially since it was cold and dark out.

But we had a terrific time! Tomato soup and a grilled ham, pear, and cheese sandwich filled my stomach. Laughter and conversation filled my heart. Celebrating writing and music filled my well that night:>) Again, I only took a few pics, but here they are:

All the tables nearby were talking about how cute Steve and Marilyn are.

Steve, Marilyn, Heidi, and me at Hell’s Kitchen

Shiny Vic Volare and his band

Marilyn got a kick out of this.

Steve and Marilyn make their own dance floor!

And then I found my car (yahoo!), went home, and dropped!