Carrie Anne Noble, Author

I attended back to back writers' events in June: UtopYA Con in Nashville followed by the St. Davids Writers' Conference in Grove City, PA. Two very different experiences! UtopYA was a convention for Young Adult speculative fiction fans & writers, and it was a swirling extravaganza of hundreds of people, shiny books, panel discussions, swag giveaways, and signings. To top it all off, I finally met my editor in person. About 60 people attended St. Davids, spending four days on a peaceful, beautiful, rainy college campus, taking classes, making friends & connections, & eating way too many desserts. Here is photographic documentation!   One of the UtopYA exhibition halls. The lovely Rysa Walker shared her table with me & 3 other Skyscape suthors.     A few of the authors of Skyscape Publishing:  Jacqueline Garlick, Theresa Kay, Alys Arden, Rysa Walker, & me!   Selfie with Mr. Pew of Grove City College...

I live in the country. There are birds.   Don't get me wrong. I love birds. They're amazing little creatures. However, every morning at 4:45, a single bird starts singing outside my window.   4:45 a.m .   The sun hasn't even begun to come up. It's still dark. I'm trying to sleep, for goodness sake!   But he sings. After a while, another bird answers him. As dawn sneaks up, more birds join the birdy choir. By the time the sky is well lit, tweets and whistles fill the air.   This morning (shortly after Bird 1 began tweeting), I thought about What It Means. This one bird's song. So here are my deep thoughts (these are rare occurrences, so pay attention!).   Bird 1 sings alone. He sits in a dark tree and no one is listening to his song. He sings anyway. He makes music because he likes to, because it's what he was meant to do . If he had to sing alone all day, he would.   But then the other birds hear him. They open thei...