STATUS: A rainy start to the day.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? KIM THE WAITRESS by Material Issue
Well, I do foresee a few problems with blogging this week but I will try my best. I will be spending the majority of my time in the Agents Centre and it does not have wifi. Yes, you read that correctly. Nor can I plug my computer in for the internet. It just doesn’t have it.
And the hotel’s definition of “high speed” internet greatly differs from mine. Working on my network is physically painful it’s so slow. I’ve also looked around for an internet café and geographically they are not handy. So we’ll muddle long as best as possible. In good news, the vino rosso is lovely and the formaggio even more so.
So this morning I’ll be heading over to the Fairgrounds around 11 a.m. to visit the Agents Centre and have my table assigned. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out when they would send me my table number. At London, you get your assignment when you registered. Finally an agent friend took pity on me and mentioned that the table doesn’t get assigned until the fair begins. Aha. Seems a little inconvenient for the people trying to meet with me but when in Bologna….
Today is the SCBWI Bologna Symposium. I’m participating in a first pages agent panel. This is the workshop where the conference volunteer reads the first page of a variety of submissions and the agents then comment on it.
Hey, writers wanting to be gluttons for punishment is international! Grin. Seriously though, just remember that no matter how an agent responds to your pages today, this is not the make or break moment of your career. The greatest thing about writing is that you can grow and mature in your ability.
Since the fair hasn’t actually begun, I have very little to report but I do have two fun pics to share:
From a bookstore on Via dell’Indipendenza, the Italian bestseller, which is currently sitting at #7 on the list, IL GUSTO PROIBITO DELLO ZENZERO:
The Forbidden Taste of Ginger. Look familiar? Yes, it’s the Italian version of Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet.
And four ladies take a Venetian Gondola by storm. I must say Antonio looks distinctly unimpressed.
From left, author Sarah Rees Brennan, her friend Natasha, and me. Ally Carter snapped the pic. I have other great shots but guess who forgot to bring the cord for her camera so I could download the pictures off of it….
You lucky thing!
Enjoy the food, Bologna is the nation’s food capital.
I’ve never been to Bologna, but if it’s anything like Venice then you’ll have a wonderful time (when you can sneak out of the conference).
Oh what fun!!!! I know the lack of wifi stinks but that only succeeds in making our mouths water all the more for details of your trip! And the food…
Thanks for sharing with those of us wishing we could be there!
I think the universe is telling you to take it easy and enjoy the wine and Gondola rides 🙂
Have fun!
Oh my. Sounds like you are in quite the technological conundrum. But you are also in Italy; this negates the tech problems.
Have fun! I’d be too terrified to get into a gondola by the way. I wonder if I’d have to buy two seats, similar to air plane regulations. Hmmm.
Between the sparse network connectivity and last week’s news about emailed contracts, it sounds like paper is making a comeback.
Do they still use carrier pigeons in Bologna? (Grin)
OMG It’s my dream to be able to go there with all of you someday 😀
Guess I better keep writing!
Have fun and keep us updated (despite the awful connection >_>)
Thanks for sharing whatever you’re able. I always enjoy when you share your experiences at conferences.
I’m along for the ride. Haven’t been on a gondola in 25 years! Been all over Italy backpacking, but not to Bologna. Enjoy and thanks for sharing. This will be my first vicarious conference!
The man in the back (Antonio?) looks so funny! lol
Hi Kristin, Kay Rush here. An American ex-pat-author-journalist who spent most of her adult life in Italy. I read about you in Agent Query and was about to send you a query letter for my two (published in Italy) novels and then I came upon your blog…and there you are! In Italia! If you eat meat, make sure you try the lasagne al forno and ragu Bolognese. Kay Rush (Internet in Italy: if it were up to Berlusconi,the Internet would be censored as it is in China)
How did we ever survive before high speed internet?!
How quickly we got used to it. I never touched a real computer until I was around 20 and the “web” didn’t make an appearance for several years after that – and many years after that before high speed, but still if a page takes more than a second to load I’m grumbling about how slow it is!
Wish I was there too – or anywhere but here where it’s 10F today and windy. I’m still deciding on a birthday trip for my birthday in December – maybe go to something like this!
Have a great trip!
Oh I wish I had known you were there! I was there all week, as a writer, blogger and contributor to two magazines. I was planning to blog from the fair but my mobile modem wouldn’t let me upload my photos so my post on Day One has only just gone up.
Do let me know if you’ll be there next year too – it would be lovely to snatch a few moments with you.
Oh, I can’t see the photos, only red x’s – dang!
Just read your newsletter about the enhanced e-books – it’s facinating how things are changing in the publishing business; for authors, agents, publishers, editors.
We loved you at the SCBWI Bologna Conference! I posted my notes @ http://bethbeck.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/bits-of-wisdom-scbwi-bologna-2010/
And posting from the hotel was a pain. Four internet providers in four days.
🙂