Ah, Beautiful Alaska
First off, a huge thank you to everyone who has been sending thoughts and prayers my dad’s way. It is appreciated by him and by me. He is home now, but still returning to the hospital for daily treatments and tests. It’s not over yet, but he is persevering.
But now, my promised blog about Bouchercon.
For me, Bouchercon was two-fold. First I had the opportunity to participate in Bouchercon’s wonderful Authors in the Schools program. Using a grant from the State of Alaska, Bouchercon was able to send out a phalanx of authors to schools in small villages, as well as a few suburban centers. I was fortunate enough to be sent in a tiny little plane (just me, the pilot, and the mail!) to the lovely city of Gustavus. I say city, but it is a community of about 380 people, set in the gorgeous Glacier Bay area. Surrounded by majestic mountains, on the brink of the ocean, this town is blessed with people as wonderful as its environment. And that’s pretty wonderful – the town is home to Glacier Bay National Park.
I was treated like royalty. Lynne Jensen and Sylvia Martinez, library board member and director, respectively, took care of me from the start and rustled up the following luxuries: a room in the Whalesong Lodge (whose owners welcomed me even though they are officially closed for the season!); an array of breakfast foods each morning; homecooked meals of salmon steaks, homegrown vegetables, homemade cranberry juice, halibut enchiladas, moose jerky, salmon salad, and pudding with nagoon berries; meals at the Homeshore Café (the only restaurant open this time of year); and wonderful conversations.
But, oh yes, I was sent there to work. And I did. Although it felt like fun. I spent one day at the Gustavus School. One session with K-3, one with high school, and one with grades 4-8. There are only 44 students in the entire school, but they were all so wonderful! The kids were enthusiastic — writing stories, collaborating on ideas, and drawing lovely pictures. I had to laugh, as they wrote about some things my own kids would never think of: hunting moose and encountering bears. I was so impressed with the teachers, and the amount of care they give these kids. I walked into the K-2 class once to find the teacher giving guitar lessons! Gotta love that. I really enjoyed the day, and hope the kids had as much fun as I did.
The next day I met with the local writers’ group – would you believe the little village has at least three published authors? Check out Sally Lesh, Kim Heacox, and Abigail Calkin. There are even a few others, but I unfortunately didn’t get to meet them.
I also had the opportunity to provide a community program in the evening at the Gustavus Public Library, where my favorite part was getting to take my shoes off at the door and give my talk in my wool socks. (Talk about cozy!)
I adored the town, and hope to return some summer with my family to enjoy the tourist season. I didn’t get to see any whales (headed to warmer climes) but I did see three moose, a porcupine, a bald eagle, a sand crane, and a spruce grouse. What I also got to see was the wonderful community. I hope they learned a portion of how much I learned from them.
After that great experience, I was afraid Bouchercon itself was going to be a let down. But, as always, it wasn’t. In fact, I enjoyed this Bouchercon more than most others I’ve been to. Being way up in Alaska, a lot of people chose not to go, which made this a “small” event. I think 600 people or less, about a third of the usual crowd. I got to catch up with lots of old friends, meet new ones, and enjoy the party my publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, threw to celebrate its tenth anniversary and the fact that my editor, Barbara Peters, was Fan Guest of Honor.
I often feel like I go to Bouchercon because I think I “should.” This time I went because of the Authors in the Schools program. And I’m so glad I did. It really was an enlightening and life-altering week.
To sum it up, here are two heart-warming letters I received this week from Gustavus students (with illustrations).
“Dear Judy Clemens, thank you. for helping me with my Story. it was very fun. especially with some words you helped me spell. your friend Bethany”
“Dear Judy Clemens, I like the Story about the guinea Pig. Samantha”
And my reply? Thank YOU.
