We left Houston at 6:45 a.m., and after a layover in Baltimore we landed in Buffalo at 1:30 in the afternoon. The Highlights Foundation met us with a stretch limousine to transport us to Chautauqua. We confess that we were a bit excited about the limo ride. We were accompanied by other writers. The hour ride through a lovely hill country was quite pleasant. We had the opportunity to meet and talk to writers and authors in the limo.
When we arrived at Chautauqua, we were given a bag of children and young adult books and sat through a friendly orientation before heading to our hotel room. We are staying at the Antheneum Hotel -a beautiful Victorian hotel built in the 1800's visited by Presidents and famous Americans such as Thomas Edison. The area is filled with lovely Victorian homes overlooking Chautauqua Lake. You walk everywhere in this historic utopia, surrounded by the cultural arts and learning.
Children's author Donna Jo Napoli was the keynote speaker at the evening opening banquet. The learning gem that we carried away from this session to bring back to our students is to impress upon to write about something they care about, to write about something that is important to them. She said that perfection is an illusion. We both understand that as writers who have perfectionist tendencies. We can relate to students, in particular, our gifted and talented students who also tend towards perfection the first time. She talked writing a draft, putting it aside, requesting feedback, and then completely writing it again. The first draft is just that -a first draft. The second draft is where the hard work happens.
During dinner we had the opportunity to visit with authors at our table, including a five time Emmy award nominee who wrote for Reading Rainbow. The overall opening experience was exciting and thought provoking. We are looking forward to a great week!
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