Over the weekend, Mick and I traveled to Sacramento to attend Authors on the Move, an event which benefited the Sacramento Public Library Foundation. My talented brother, John O'Neill, chaired the event, and it was a huge success.
Although the evening was wonderful for many reasons, the biggest thrill for me was hearing keynote speakers Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones and her husband, Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil. Remember when I talked about how inspirational it is to meet your favorite authors and hear them speak? Well these two authors were no exception. The Lovely Bones is perhaps the most moving book I have ever read, certainly as an adult, and one that moves me to tears each time I read it. I felt strangely emotional just hearing Alice Sebold speak about it.
In this video, Alice and Glen talk about fear of success and failure:
Of course, as great as it was to hear them speak, the heart of the event is the many other authors who participated. The premise is that while you eat dinner, a participating author sits and speaks with you. They tell you about their book(s), about the writing process, answer your questions, etc. Our table was lucky enough to have Keith Raffel, author of a thriller series based in the Silcon Valley, followed by Marilyn Reynolds, author of several young adult books, and Judith Hortsman, author of A Day in the Life of your Brain. All three were charming, entertaining, and open about their writing. It was a pleasure meeting all of them.
The real winner in all of this was the Sacramento Library Foundation. It was a great event, and I hope they raised lots and lots of money.
