{"id":1268,"date":"2018-06-04T19:17:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T00:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/jessicaconoley\/?p=1268"},"modified":"2018-06-04T19:17:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T00:17:02","slug":"litup-book-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/jessicaconoley\/litup-book-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"LitUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a Saturday afternoon and I\u2019m volunteering at a teen literary conference<\/a>. I\u2019m sitting at the book sales table talking to my new BFF, who\u2019s name I can\u2019t remember. The night before, she had asked about my shoes, \u201cWere they comfortable when you got them?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the midst of the very classy mixer, surrounded by very important people of all types, I delivered one of the most emphatic, \u201cNo\u201ds of my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh good. I just got a pair and\u2026\u201d We both looked to the over-priced ballet flats I wore.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnives on my feet for the first three months. They get better.\u201d She\u2019d nodded knowingly, and I knew we would forever be linked together with our shared pain in the name of colorful footwear.<\/p>\n

Today we\u2019re both wearing entirely sensible, non-knife shoes because we\u2019re in for a long day at the Independence branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library.<\/a>\u00a0 I\u2019ve spent the morning surrounded by bookish teens and helping moderate panels. My poor introvert brain was about to hit overload when I spotted BFF at the sales table nestled at the bottom of a short flight of stairs.<\/p>\n

She offers me refuge behind the table, and we report to each other on the morning\u2019s success. I pause mid-word because an electric tension pings the book table. BFF and I keep chatting, but with every word the current of excitement grows stronger\u2014it\u2019s definitely not coming from BFF or me.<\/p>\n

Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse a blonde urchin hopping from one foot to the other. She\u2019s all spindly legs and golden hair, rosy cheeks and white teeth. An indeterminately young scrap of humanity that a fairytale witch would surely lure to some candy-covered snare.\u00a0 (OK, maybe she\u2019s ten or eleven? But I\u2019m officially a grownup because everyone under the age of twenty-five looks like a toddler.)<\/p>\n

The tension intensifies as the ball of elfin giddiness slowly makes her way closer to the sacred stories spread before us. She bites her lip, furrows her porcelain brow and takes inventory of the table.\u00a0 There, amidst the Pulitzer Prize winning and New York Times best-selling books, is an anthology\u2014the collected winners of the festival\u2019s young artists and writers. My new BFF and I trade a glance. BFF smiles toward the nymph, \u201cDo you have a story in there?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sprite\u2019s cheeks flame crimson. Her whole body rises with a sharp intake of breath as she nods and breathes out the most sacred of words \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this the first time you\u2019ve been published?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

She hovers a few inches off the ground. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShow me. Which poem is yours? I have to read it!\u201d<\/p>\n

She solemnly opens the anthology. Points to her poem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is amazing work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you get your subject matter?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should sign some copies.\u201d BFF unearths a sharpie from the table and extends it toward the pixie.<\/p>\n

Her light-eyes widen to pools of wonder; berry lips stretch to an O as she takes the hallowed marker. Flipping through the anthology on top of the stack, she finds her poem and ceremoniously pens her name next to the by-line.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to do some more?\u201d BFF asks.<\/p>\n

Tinker Bell trembles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do it like at the bookstore.\u201d I say. \u201cYou sign. I\u2019ll prep the books and hand them to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

We settle in side-by-side and get to the most important work of the day. Her name is written with care. She\u2019s careful not to smudge the ink.\u00a0 Occasionally, she\u2019ll dot the \u201ci\u201d in her name with a heart. But alas time flies, the stack of anthologies on the table are all signed.\u00a0 Tinker Bell holds the sharpie, looking at the empty spot on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant to do some more?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

Her eyes linger on the empty space. BFF lugs a box of unsigned anthologies from underneath the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I mean\u2026 I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever get to do this again,\u201d Tink says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course you\u2019ll get to do this again!\u201d I open an unsigned copy and slide it to her. \u201cOne day you\u2019re going to be the person talking on the stage, and have stacks of books on the table to sell, and people will be waiting in line for you to sign them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She signs every last anthology in the place.<\/p>\n

Today the world is full of magic and there is no place in the galaxy better than the book sales booth.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Serious face, the LitUP fest was one of the most impressive things I have seen in all of my years of being a writer.\u00a0 If you have a tween or teen in your life who loves reading bookmark http:\/\/litupfestival.org\/<\/a> and plan on taking them in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a Saturday afternoon and I\u2019m volunteering at a teen literary conference. I\u2019m sitting at the book sales table talking to my new BFF, who\u2019s name I can\u2019t remember. 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