going and coming

 Leaving Wisconsin, here is the Wisconsin SCBWI fall 2010 retreat faculty:

I had fun with y'all, and I learned a lot. A very smart, savvy, witty, compassionate faculty, even if I do say so myself.

 And here are our photographers! Pam Beres, regional advisor; Judy Bryan, assistant regional advisor, and JoAnn Early Macken, member (and writer) extraordinaire. Thank you, thank you, thank you again!

I left Wisconsin with my friend Robin Hoffman, Queen of Scholastic Book Fairs, who came to pick me up this morning. We drove to Chicago together, yakking all the way, and made a stop on the way to our destination. Robin knew just what I was looking for:

Here I was, just a week ago, thinking I needed to set book three of the Sixties Trilogy in Berkeley in 1968 -- even ready to find a short-term rental there for next summer. Now I think maybe I need to set book three in Chicago, of course.

Whew! Well... I don't have to decide about 1968 now. I need to finish book two. But first... Chicago. Tomorrow I work with Scholastic Book Fairs in three Chicago schools and then speak at National Louis University, at their North Shore Campus at 4:30pm. Here is your invitation to come out and hear me talk about Countdown!

Please come, if you're in the Chicago area and can make it -- I'd love to see you.  I promise not to look this tired:

One more photo to add to this one and this one, in Robin and Debbie's Big Adventures.