Last weekend, I took a day to drive
out to Houston (which is 3 hours from here) where I crashed the Teen Book Con. I
know I shouldn’t have been surprised about how many kids were there, but I was.
Hundreds. I’m not joking. And they were not only excited about meeting the amazing
authors (around 38 total) but they were also excited about writing, and
especially about reading.
Yes, I’m aware that I am actually an
adult, and that attending a “teen” event without being a participating author might
sound somewhat creepy. But I am an author of teenage literature, so I figured
it was okay to pretend I was one for a day.
And since I was in Houston, I met up
with another writer friend who lives in the area. She had a hard time breaking
away from her other important priorities to attend, but in the end, managed to sneak
away for a few hours, and, as she said, “take her half out of the middle.”
And we both pretended to be teens
for a day.
Because in the chaos of adult life,
it’s sometimes difficult to remember how important it is for us to take the
time away from our every day obligations in order to do something exciting and
fun. Or at least something that makes us happy. (Or in my case, normal—I need a
little normal right now!)
I took a time out, and so did my
friend. (Also, she brought her 14 year old daughter, so that was cool too.) And
even though the event itself wasn’t all that unusual for this
adult/author/person who spends lots of time with other authors, it was a very
nice time out.
And a time out is always a great
thing.
What about you? What are you willing
to do for a time out from life?
