Wow. Before I say anything else, I just want to say thanks to the many Dashner Duders who came to the writers conference this past weekend. Simply put, you blew me away. T-shirts (Donna and Debbie). Dashnog buttons (LexiconLuvr). Iron-ons (Graham Chops). Just amazing. Here are some pictures:
(If you're new here, the Duders have been creating a language they call Dashnog based on the confirmation words you have to type in to leave a comment.) I am one lucky author.
I've been debating ever since I got home how to blog about this past conference. My studly man friend, J. Scott Savage, was in charge, and he pulled it off spectacularly. Great facilities at the Marriott. Awesome guests, awesome classes, awesome food, awesome everything. And over ONE HUNDRED more attendees than last year. Can you say "word of mouth?"
The thing is, I don't really know what to say or who to mention. I don't dare risk leaving anyone out. And if you weren't there, you just wouldn't appreciate the awesomeness of it all. But for two very full days I had the time of my life, and I just want everyone involved to know how thankful I am. So, thank you. Very much. Like, way much. Like, really, really, really ababunda much.
A special shout out to Dean Lorey, our keynote speaker and author of the NIGHTMARE ACADEMY series from Harper Collins and an accomplished screenwriter/ producer in Hollywood. I ended up lucky enough to be your official escort buddy liaison person guy, and I enjoyed every minute of it. You've inspired me to give screenwriting a shot.
The best part of all was meeting old friends and new, as well as people who used to be fans but are now friends. Whattup. Let us hear from you in the comments.
To cap it all off, I was shocked and honored to win the Whitney Award for 2008 Best Youth Fiction (THE 13TH REALITY). To everyone who voted, thank you very much. My only regret was that I gave the single stupidest acceptance speech in history because I genuinely didn't expect to win and hadn't prepared. At all. I didn't even thank my wife! Idiot. (Me, not my wife.)
Sweetie? Love of my life? Most glorious woman mine eyes have ever beheld? The goddess who helped me get to where I am? Thank you.
And thanks to everyone responsible for creating and attending a conference I'll never forget. And I'm sorry I didn't mention more names. I just can't risk leaving so many good people out!
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40 comments:
Congratulations James on winning the Whitney. You deserve it. It was a great weekend. Can't wait to hang out at another conference. These writerly things don't happen often enough.
I'm not shocked at all that you won. I knew it was going to happen. =] I am sure your awesome wife knows how much you're grateful to her. I know we, your fans, are grateful to her for all that support because it enables you to create such awesome stories for us to read. So CHEERS for Lynette! HOORAY!
Thanks for being so awesome at the conference, James. I can't possibly put into words how thankful I am. You're just awesome. (That's the 3rd awesome. See? You must be!)
p.s. In case you cool fans wanted to know, Graham did AMAZING in the contest! Everyone congratulate him! (I also got a sneak peek at some of his writing and I have to say, he's amazing people. Seriously.)
p.s. I got to meet J.N. Future Author and I can't say enough nice things about him. You're class act, JN!
WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!! I couldn't stay for the awards and have been checking out the Whitney Award website to find out the results. That is so AMAZING and you totally deserved it.
I'm sure if you clean the whole house, make an incredible jewlery and take you wife on a cruise you might be able to work off forgetting to mention her in your thank you speech.
Thanks for suggesting that I attend the conference. I came away with some fabulous information and am reenergized about finishing this round of edits. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for cheering me on.
It was great to see you. And congratulations again. You rock!
Can't wait to get home and resume bedtime stories with Dark Infinity.
PS. My word verification is iddet. I think there may be some kind of use for that in Dashnog, like for someone who hasn't read your stuff yet...
It was a fantastic conference! It was so good to see you again, James. You're Whitney speech wasn't *that* bad. LOL.
Wow, Congratulations again!!! Way to go. That is a great accomplishment.
While you were having a fabulous time there in Utah, your Hawks didn't fare so well here in Georgia. They lost to the Heat. This morning on the radio I heard something about a 'curse' that seems to hang over the Hawks. What's your take on the matter?
Don't let this steal your joy. Again, congratulations! I'm sure your wife knows how much you appreciate her.
Dashner!! Chanti on the Win!!
You forgot to thank your wife? What's up with that? Seriously? Who did you thank then? JK. Andavat is Dashnog for someone who puts his foot in his mouth all the time....guess who I'm thinking of today?
Really though, it was a fabulous conference!! It inspired me to start a blog (See how cool you are!) check it out at run-donna-run.blogspot.com (Any Duders who want me to link their blogs just let me know.)
Fabulous meeting the Dashnoggers and the other Dashner Duders at the conf. You are a lucky lucky man to have some many truly amazing Chalsions.
Can't wait to hear your next great news. Seems that every time I check you have something else fabulous to share with us.
yeah, honestly, I have to seperate the Storymakers conference into about 20 different posts!!!!
Its going to be a long day O.o
I was glad to see you there! it was so much fun!!!
right now I have all 4 dashnog pins on my sleeve. you wont believe how many people ask about them!!! Its a tribute to Lexicon that I wear them ^.^
Dashnog: Oblied. (Oh-Blie-d) Like obligation, as a verb! I am oblied to wear these pins everywhere ^.~
Careful James! It's a vinyl sticker, not an iron-on! You'll destroy a shirt AND an iron AND a sticker!
Dashnog: megoge (meh-go-jee). When you destroy three things at once.
I didn't even notice that you left anything out in your acceptance speech. HUGE Congrats on your Whitney. That was one tough category! It was cool to meet some of your dashnogs as well. Howdy, ladies! Those tee-shirts were a riot.
Congrats James on your Whitney! It was so great to see everyone last weekend. I always look forward to the conference--Storymakers ROCK!
Wow.
Wowie wow wow. It's like you have fans or something.
thede-synonymous with passive aggressive behavior.
Graham, that's hilarious. Glad I didn't warm up that iron yet!
nkrell, maybe the Hawks will rebound tonight. But yeah, they're cursed.
Heather Moore, congrats to YOU too.
Congrats to everyone who placed in the contests. Lots of Duders did well!
And thanks to everyone for the congrats. Without readers, none of this would matter. So THANKS.
Congrats on the Whitney! I was really bummed not to attend. It was great hanging with you at Storymakers, and nice to put names with faces.
Donna, thanks for the almonds.
James, thanks for adding to the experience!
I'm one of those geeks that read the whole Whitney Gala live blogs looking for the winner of the Childres/Young Adult category, and never found it. It wasn't until today that I FINALLY had the validation of being right- you did win. I thought you would. I wish I could have been there to see the speech.
You already know that your wife is awesome enough to forgive you, but it wouldn't hurt to clean the house and take her out to dinner for good measure. You can't be too careful.
Next year I'll be at the conference. It kills me that I had to miss it... and I've never even been before.
That is beyond awesome. It makes me want to leave the forsakeningly rainy hills of WA and come live in UT and all of the awesome writers that live there.
Dashog: Swrain-A person who is tired of rain.
Hey I asked a while ago if you had an E-mail address but I didn't get a reply, so, do you?
Aaron B.
congrats wish I could of come...have any buttons, stickers shirts etc left over that I could have....Whintney award awsome but next time you get it add your wife to your little speech....stupid crt's started today...ARC?...word conslym def depressed ................... tiki tiki dude
I just started reading your 13th reality books. WOW! Master George and Mistress Jane are something else! WOW! I am hooked for sure. And I really don't need another distraction from my regular household chores--I don't ever want to put the book down, It's that good. Thank you for writing it! What did you say in your acceptance speech? I bet it wasn't that bad. Whitney's are the only thing I didn't do. Oh and boot camp. I'm sure your speech went just fine.
Well, I for one wasn't surprised. James is a stud and his books rock. I'm saying this as a manly friend, of course. And your speech was just fine. The best part of the night was how you and Scott announced the awards--my wife couldn't stop talking about how you guys were just naturally funny. She's trying to figure out how to make that kind of humor work in story telling.
Dude, I'm looking forward to relaxing with the 13th Reality. Once my brain slows down from the exhausting conference.
Josh Perkey
You guys are way too nice. I really appreciate all the congrats and faith in me!
Aaron B, you can send me a message through Facebook, though I have a hard time answering all of those. But I will for you!
Okay, I'm totally bummed that I didn't git me a Dashnog button while the gittin' was good. Dang.
I was thrilled when you won, and I thought your shock just showed your true humility. You and JSS were hilarious.
Thanks again for your generosity at the conference. It was a highlight of my day.
James, there were definitely some good moments, some great moments, sprinkled with some moments of hilarity, all adding up to a great weekend. I'll never look at Gelato the same again... especially if you get sick!
This year has been amazing for you, all up until the point you forgot to thank your wife. I hope she made you suffer :)
I don't have much to add to the conversation. I was just checking up on the comments, and the Dashnog was too good to pass up (I'm so not making this up either).
Dashnog: damet. It's from the ancient language of Scriptus, spoken by Typor. It's a generally accepted mild expletive, used in moments of delicate frustration.
Graham you crack me up!! What exactly is 'delicate frustration'?
Damet is a great Dashnog word. I'm stealing my dashnog word from when I was over at Deb's earlier and she was on the blog but didn't post. Here it is: Limon [lime on]-its a dashnog fruit hybrid of lemon and lime and the juice makes a drink that tastes like 7up without the carbonation.
And Arlene you rock the wowwie wow wows. I so haven't heard that enough from you lately.
Oh yeah and Dashner Hope your back to working on that word count of yours. I love to see the numbers fly.
I've still got plenty of buttons for anyone who wants them. Feel free to contant me and I'll ship 'em your way. ltelliot@live.com
Congratulations on the whitney dude. And thanks for being there for me this weekend. In spite of your big head I think you'e ten shades of awesome . . . oh did I mention . . . I'VE GOT AN AGENT!
Right on, Julie!
I know...
...that your jealous of how much I comment on Dan Well's blog. :)
Aw, James. I miss the witty diatribe we used to have going.
bendr- state of being while writing a book. usage- Dashner is on a bendr. No, not THAT kind of bender. You know, a bendr, like writing a book.
I need a bendr. Or at least time for a bendr. hehehe.
dashnog Chrica (saving this for later when I am not at work so I can think of a good def. No one touch my word...lol.)
Anybody needing something uplifting to get you through your day, check out Donna's blog at run-donna-run.blogspot.com. She's A-mazing!
See, this is where my social awkwardness comes in handy. I was too shy to talk to more than a handful so I can mention them ALL in my blog post. Which I've...yet to write...hrmm...
Anyway. Neener neener neener! And it was great to meet you!
Julie Wright, YOU DO HAVE AN AGENT and not one person on Earth is happier for you than me. I need people to rule the literary world with me!
Arlene, I must've missed a comment over at Dan's or something. I'm too lazy to look. But right back at ya!
You guys should definitely get some buttons from Lex. They're so awesome.
And thanks to Luisa and Kim for coming all the way from NY and Canada to meet me! OK, not really to meet me, but to the conference!
Congrats on your win James. I didn't think your speech was bad at all. But duh...remember next time to thank your beautiful wife! ;)
Can't wait until the Maze Runner is out.
BTW, if there is anyone out there that would let me borrow your ARC of the Maze Runner, I would treat it with care and return it promptly. Thanks!
James - It was totally awesome to see you at conference! And congrats, dude. You totally deserve that Whitney!
Congratulations on the Whitney. I'm sure it won't be your last, so practice up.
BTW, props on the Whitney, James. Wish I could've stayed for the awards. Maybe next year.
I'm sneaking up on 27,000 words in my book. Insomnia has its advantages at times...
Dashnog: nonso. It's when you go on a writing binge and crank out a few thousand words in one sitting.
Thanks again everybody. I feel so freaking lucky to have supporters and friends hangin' here on the Dashner Dude.
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