Malinda Lo

I’m back from the American Library Association in Washington, DC! I had an incredible time there, but unfortunately I seem to have taken very few photos, so if you took a photo of me somewhere, uh, please feel free to send it to me (you can email me at mlo[at]malindalo[dot]com) and I’ll add it to this post. Meanwhile, here are a few highlights from my whirlwind weekend …

Friday morning, I got up bright and early (I hadn’t yet become sleep-deprived) to walk around the White House in the incredible heat and humidity (later on I broke down and started taking taxis everywhere).

Look! I'm at the White House!

Later on Friday, I was part of a panel at the YALSA pre-conference about authors and the internet. Here I am with my fellow panelists:

Left to right: Me, Margaret Stohl, Melissa Walker, Kami Garcia

Kami and Margie have an incredible energy about them, and in case you didn’t know, Melissa Walker has like five amazing websites (and does those cool cover stories posts). It was really interesting to hear them talk about how they approach online promotion and developing connections with readers.

Friday night, I was honored to attend a special dinner for the finalists of the Morris Award: L.K. Madigan (Flash Burnout, which won the award!), Nina LaCour (hold still), Amy Huntley (The Everafter), Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures), and me. We met all the members of the 2010 Morris committee, and I had such a fabulous night! This was definitely one of the absolute best experiences I’ve had since Ash was published. Thanks to the wonderful publishers for the dinner, and thanks to the incredible Morris committee for honoring Ash.

On Saturday I had to get up bright and early again (it was made a little harder by the fact that my wine glass was never empty at that Morris dinner) to sign copies of Ash in the exhibit hall. I also ran into a ton of authors, including the lovely Diana Peterfreund, author of Rampant and its sequel, Ascendant (October 2010).

Diana Peterfreund, her book, and me

I loved Rampant and I am lucky enough to have already read an ARC of Ascendant, which I blurbed:

I was riveted by Ascendant. It’s not only about killer unicorns; it’s also about finding the courage to make tough decisions — and to be true to yourself. I think Astrid rocks!

I will remind you all when Ascendant comes out, because everybody should read it.

After meeting up with Diana, I had lunch with some great fellow authors, but by then I was so debilitated by the heat and humidity (OK, and maybe a bit of a hangover) I had to head back to my air-conditioned hotel to recover. (I am now a wimpy Californian when it comes to weather.)

Sunday morning, I went to the Rainbow Project breakfast, where I nearly burst into tears listening to Leslea Newman talk about how she got Heather Has Two Mommies published 20 years ago. Since I missed San Francisco Pride this year for ALA, it was fantastic to hang out with the Rainbow Project librarians for part of the weekend.

On Monday, I did a whirlwind tour of several Smithsonian museums before I headed back to the airport. Proving just how big of a geek I am, I also nearly burst into tears when I saw this:

Apollo command module

That’s the Apollo command module that went to the moon and came back. I think I was pretty tired by the time I got to the Air and Space Museum, so those tears could have partly been from sleep deprivation, but I have to face it: I’m a space geek. I mean, one of my favorite movies from the ’80s is Space Camp. (I haven’t seen it since the ’80s, so I can’t vouch for whether it’s good or not.)

Why else would I have taken this photo at the Air and Space Museum, thinking it was one of the coolest/geekiest things I’ve ever seen?

Coke in space

Anyway, now I’m back in sunny, humidity-free California, and I’m about to launch into a brand new book idea. I wish I could tell you more because I’m very excited about it, but for now it’s a secret. Stay tuned!