Bwah, bwah, bwah.... Zank you very much vor visitng zee blog today. Vee have a very, very special guest whoose book Vampirina Ballerina, iz very, very, cute and perfect vor little vampires and ballerinas alike. Please velcome zee vonderful, Anne Marie Pace.
How do I slip on
a banana peel? Let me count the ways . .
. seriously, you don’t want to know all the mistakes I’ve made over the years
in this business. But I’m happy to share
my most embarrassing moment with the Banana Peelin’ audience--now that fifteen
years have passed, and only because
fifteen years have passed.
In the late 90s,
when I was in a dabbling phase of writing for children, before I was really
serious or knew what I was doing, I joined a small children’s writing listserv
called WRT4KDZ. Most of the members were published and they were very
generous with their time and advice, even to me (the dabbler). Jane Yolen
was probably the best-known author on the list, but there were many others:
Darcy Pattison, Susanna Reich, Debby Edwardson and more. I was very grateful (and still am) to be part
of this group.
I
soaked up everything the folks on WRT4KDZ had to offer like a toddler soaks up
language. It was amazing to me--a community where a newbie like me could post a
question and Jane Yolen would answer it--whoa!!
That year, the
Virginia Festival of the Book was hosting an event featuring Lois Lowry.
WRT4KDZ members often reported on the conferences they attended, so I
decided to do the same. I took detailed
notes on Ms. Lowry's presentation to share with the group. It was a small way to repay all that WRT4KDZ
had given me.
At one point, Ms.
Lowry spoke of socializing with writer friends in Cambridge, where she lived,
including "Susan Cooper, who is no longer with us." I took this note:
"Susan Cooper has died”; and passed it along with my notesl
The reactions of
the WRT4KDZ members were, as you’d expect, sorrowful and shocked; but that
sorrow quickly turned into doubt. Why
wasn’t Ms. Cooper’s death in the news? Had
she been ill? Why was Lois Lowry the
only one of Ms. Cooper's friends who knew?
Finally, Jane
Yolen called Lois Lowry herself for clarification; and as you've probably
guessed by now, Susan Cooper was not dead. She had simply moved away.
Can
we say, oops? Can we say, cringe? Can we say, crawl under my desk and shrivel
into a miserable piece of desiccated earwax? I was mortified--completely and
totally and utterly mortified. I had made a huge factual error, and one that
caused people sadness at that.
Of course, we all
know that kidlit people are the kindest and most generous writers in the world,
and the WRT4KDZ members didn’t kick me out.
Rather, they consoled me and got me through the embarrassment; and we
are still together today.
What
did I learn from this? I learned to double-check my facts before publication.
And
I learned that "no longer with us" does not always mean
"dead." It can also mean "moved to another town." Who
woulda thunk it?
Bwah, bwah, bwah! Zat one cracked me up! Zank you Anne Marie vor sharing your story. And now vor zee goot news...Anne Marie vould like to give avay a book. Zes, zats right. =) Leave a comment below in your best vampire language and you vill be entered. Bwah, bwah, bwah!
