Children's Books and Other Updates

On Sunday I went to a round table for my Writing for Children class, which was basically a panel of all the authors who have taught my class. In case anyone is interested, they are:
Elizabeth Mosier, who is from Arizona and went to Bryn Mawr!
Jen Bryant does these fantastic historical picture books and verse fiction.
Paul Acampora does funny short stories and novels.
Catherine Murdock went to Bryn Mawr and wrote a fairy tale novel, as well as a teen series.
Alexander Stadler writes and illustrates these really cute picture books.
David Wiesner is an amazing picture book author. He did Tuesday, that book with the frogs flying on lily pads.
It was a really good panel, and the authors, all of whom I have been taught by except for David (who's last), were funny and interesting, and had new stuff to say. Earlier in the semester I went to a publishing panel, with editors, publishers, and agents. Which was totally depressing, in my opinion. I thought they were all snobs and they made getting published sound hopeless. I mean, obviously it's hard, but it made me never want to be involved in the publishing business. On the other hand, the authors this semester have made the children's industry sound wayyyy better. More pleasant people in general.

Also I got a good general message out of the panel. Do what you love. Life is too damn short. I have two life goals: do something to help people and improve the world, and do what I love. I don't see much point in wasting time in a job that doesn't include those things. Obviously you need money to survive, but honestly, you can survive on little money. We think we need so much more than we do.

Speaking of such things, I am preparing to go to Nashville this weekend. It is really good for me to have a forced vacation. The weekends go by so fast here and I go out so little- I need money so I work, I attempt to catch up on sleep and homework, but I don't do much. A change of scene will be refreshing, I believe.

I have posted my resume on a teach English abroad website, and man! I have been getting lots of emails every day. There are a ton of Korean recruiters, which I'm sure range from greedy and crappy to reliable, but I've also gotten a few direct from schools. Man, in this economy, it sure feels good that someone somewhere wants me to work for them. At least it's a self-esteem booster.

The weather here is extremes- it goes from pouring rain to gorgeous sunshine. I guess that's what happens as spring approaches. I can't wait for glorious, sunny, spring days.