Monday, February 13, 2012

Life, The Universe, And A Picture Thief


What a weekend! For those of you who went to Life, The Universe, And Everything 30, I bet your minds and bodies are as packed with awesome and as worn out as mine. To top it all off, I had a CP group after the last day (among other cool things). So! Here's the recap of my experiences at LTUE 30 (with stolen pictures - since I helped manage a table).

This is the first time I've gone to any conference where I wasn't able to attend panels. I really wanted to, but our inkPageant table was busy - just as we had hoped. I did, however, get to speak with lots of patrons of all ages and talked about what they learned. A few even took up my offer to critique their first pages. Impressive, to say the least. As a result of putting the site out for all to see, inkPageant has lots of new faces. Check it out!

I slipped away to hear the keynote address by writer and illustrator James A. Owen, an artist that I had not heard about until this weekend. That's corrected now, thanks to this little treasure I snagged from the bookstore. ------------------> Ain't that a beaut? I was in need of a dragon fix. This should do it. Best keynote address I ever heard.

It was great to have UVU (alumni) host this year. The Student Center was packed the entire weekend!

See what I mean?

With great eats nearby, finding a bite to eat (and friends to share them with) was no chore at all.

(I'm totally stealing your pictures, Donna)

Thanks to Paul Genesse, I went to the best conference dinner of my career - a pleasure to meet Mr. Owen.

(Snatched from Paul or Jess S. Smiley?)

But what did I get out of the conference most of all? The chance to mingle with my most favorite writers ever!


Amber Argyle (I'm a klepto, aren't I?)



And how about that book signing, eh? Such a great opportunity to get signatures (and a book or two).

(These are from my camera, I swear!)


And let's not forget Chantele Sedgwick!

How about Jared Peterson, Jackson Porter, and Matt Hayes? Most promising teenaged authors I know. They ran all over the place. They even took me up on my twitter offer. They found me hiding and got to hear a page of Woven. Be jealous. I'll tell you what - it takes real men to where Everneath tattoos on their face.

(Yoinked from Jared's blog)

I apologize for not giving you a rundown of the panels, but I hope you have seen how awesome it is to meet people from the writing community. And that's exactly the reason why these conferences exist. People. You can go to as many panels as you want, but true growth and pure wealth come from supporting each other.

Others I met but did not get a photo with (photo fail): Shallee McArthur, Kate Coursey, Melony Pulley, and more than I could ever hope to conceivably remember.

LTUE 31 can't come sooner. Here's to another 30!

(I promise not to steal pictures next year, savvy?)

*     *     *
An explosion of new recruits have joined The Cosmic Laire this week! Here's their links. Go and say hello! (If your name is not linked, I couldn't find your blog)

Anna Smith
Komal 
Julia King (relation?)
and

Phew! Something tells me LTUE and Rachale Harrie's 4th Campaign had something to do with this outbreak of awesomeness! Thanks so much. See you again soon!

*     *     *

UPDATE: On top of all that, I speed-read my Woven MS, using notes from the best CP ever. Why not wait until after the conference? ... I'm, uh, not at liberty to say ...

Now? I can give full focus to Dragon's again. I'm about to post an excerpt from it, so come back sometime this week. Prepare yourself for some steamy romance!

Too bad The Death Star blew up the next day ...

I'm David, and have yourself an inkPageant cookie!

41 comments:

  1. Sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't been to any kind of conference in ages. I miss them.

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  2. Ha ha ha ha! Am I stuck with that nickname forever now? You do one creepy thing and you're labeled a creep. It was SO good meeting you! Hopefully we'll see ya around more next time. And not just in the parking lot. ;)

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    1. That could be taken in so many ways. ;)

      It awesome to meet all of you!

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    2. Ha ha ha! I better stop now before I say more creeptastic things. ;)

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  3. Ooh, thanks for linking to the audio of the keynote! If you and whoever recorded it don't mind, I'll also put the link in my next post. Also, I want to submit a few of my LTUE posts to inkPageant soon, but I feel like I need a new profile picture first. Soon, very soon...

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  4. Sounds so awesome! It seems like you met some wonderful people!

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  5. Looks like an awesome time! And look at all of the bloggers and writers you met. And Susan and CM's blogs are listed in my sidebar.

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  6. Dude, I totally want one of those inkpagent cookies!!!

    And it's okay that your a thief this year, because I'm thinking about stealing pictures too, although I did get permission to do that so maybe it's not stealing :)

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  7. It was great, wasn't it? I was front row, dead center for all of Saturday morning, for Brandon Mull, Tracy Hickman and the 'Writers on Writing' group. Learned so much.. I told my wife that after that 3 day high, it was nearly impossible to go back to the doldrums of the normal work-week. Wish I could have run into you there DPK, would've been nice to introduce myself. Next year. Great pic's.. I've got some I'll have to post soon as well.

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    1. How did three days go by and I did not see you? Gah! Sorry about that. You're not the only one I missed. Next time. Definitely.

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  8. It sounds like it was an awesome conference. :)

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  9. My name is Amber, and I DID NOT get and inkpageant cookie. *pouts* Maybe next time . . . ;)

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  10. Ba ha ha ha! Katie Creeper Dodge. Hilarious. That was a little odd picking up some dude walking through the parking lot... ;)

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  11. LTUE 30 sounds like it rocked big time. And I'm glad to hear that inkPageant had lots of patrons stopping by.

    Now, of course, I'll be tapping my finger pondering the need for the speed-read through Woven. But patience is a virtue I'm working on so I'll patiently await to see what that was all about. Hmmm...

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  12. It looks like you had a great time! I'm wondering about Woven... Hope it will lead to the need for some Congrats! And I totally love your Lego Star Wars Storm Trooper pic. I can't get enough of Lego Star Wars :)

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  13. Sounds like an awesome conference. So wish I could have gone.

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  14. For fun!!!! Gaaah... looking at all the pics makes me so jealous. Looks like it was a fab conference. Who knew there were so many awesome authors here in Utah? JK... I knew. :D

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  15. Oh my goodness, so many awesome bloggers in one place. I'm so jealous!

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  16. Aw, thanks for the mention. :) I tagged you in a blog post today as well. Go check it out! http://vickiorians.blogspot.com/2012/02/tag-im-it.html

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  17. It was so great to meet you, David! Katie's nickname is quite fitting. :) Ha! You're a good sport. :)

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  18. Looks like you had a great time there. That dragon book cover is awesome.

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  19. Oh my cookies! I really had no idea where you guys were. I only got to go on Saturday and was very fish out of water, meandering about.

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  20. the cookies were so so so good. And though I only got to see you a couple times, it was still good to see you. And I agree about James Owen. He's the bomb!

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  21. It's so great to see so many faces of friends from the blogsphere. So jealous you got to meet them all in person. So jealous I didn't get to meet you in person :) haha

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  22. That keynote was the best EVER! I'm glad you got to sneak away to that one! I'm a little jealous you got to have dinner with Mr. Owens. Seriously.

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  23. Sounded like it was really awesome! Wish I could have been there! :)

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  24. That sounds like an adventure and a half! I'm intrigued about this book with a good premise... I have such a passion for new authors! Thanks for the shout out :)

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  25. Wow! You know so many people :-) Sounded like a great conference. Thanks for the shoutout!

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  26. Hey Dave,

    So cool to see so many Bloggers "live!"

    It sounds like y'all had a blast so thanks for stealing, er I mean *posting* so many pics :)

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  27. You share a lot of my passions and that's why I like you dude.

    Thanks for the shout out!

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  28. *jealous!!*
    Looks like so much fun! Best line in this post: "it takes real men to wear Everneath tattoos on their face." Absolutely!

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  29. Sounds (and looks) like this was a fun conference! Love the dragon cover.
    Thanks for the shout out!

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  30. Thanks for the shout out. The conference looked like fun.

    See you around on the campaign, friend.

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  31. Pity we don't such conferences here....the ones that happen are so far and few and always in a distant city.
    Look forward to reading your entries in the campaign.

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  32. Thanks for the mention, David. The conference looks great. I'll have to try harder to make it next year.

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  33. That sounds like fun!! Too bad I never get to go to the conferences.

    I feel bad for that clone trooper...

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  34. Thanks for the shout out! Love the pic of the lego people. Super sweet. Hope your Valentine's Day was beautiful!

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  35. Sounds like a fabulous time. Color me jealous. And blue for not getting one of those cookies sent to me.

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  36. This was the best LTUE I've been too. You got to have dinner with James? Cool!

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  37. Hi, David. I agree with you about James Owen's keynote address. Amazing and inspiring and I want to be just like him when I grow up.=)

    I found your blog through the platform-building campaign and then realized I saw you at LTUE but we weren't formally introduced. We mostly just talked with Kate about unusual heart rates. =) I've tagged you with some questions that are going around the campaign. If you'd like to join in, the questions can be found at http://celestarimington.blogspot.com/2012/02/ive-been-tagged.html

    Also, that inkPageant cookie looks awesome.

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