Wednesday, September 14, 2016

A quick trip to LA

Los Angeles was really fun. The Judy Lopez dinner was lovely, I thought my speech went fine, and I got to meet Kelly Jones, author of Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer. I told her that I lived on a farm but my husband drew the line at chickens. She said her husband was fine with chickens but drew the line at goats. I've had goats; they're not as much fun as you'd think they'd be.

Los Angeles is crazy-busy, at least to someone from the sticks like me. Heading out of the airport in a taxi, going the 12 miles to my friend Holly's house, on Saturday afternoon, I found myself in seven lanes of highway traffic each direction, going 25 mph. Fourteen lanes of traffic! It was unreal.

Holly Goldberg Sloan, on the other hand, was entirely real, as was all of her family. One of her sons was so like my own that every time he spoke I started laughing. Her husband was lovely; her mother was lovely. Her friends--we went to a birthday party down the street--lovely. I got to know Holly over the 2 1/2 days of the Anderson Bookstore YA Conference 2 years ago. There were 40 authors there, and I came away feeling like I had made two good friends among them. This weekend, I felt like Holly had already become an old friend, someone I could fall in and out of conversation with easily.

It was also brilliant to talk with other writers. They're thin on the ground in Bristol, but I'm telling you, Los Angeles is chock full of 'em. I couldn't live there--those highways! and no room for horses--but it was brilliant to be there for a few days.

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