That time I went to nErDcampMI and didn't take any pictures

*Cough Cough*

*Dusts off blog*

*Tap tap tap*

Is this thing on?

I haven't been blogging much lately. I'm not sure why. I just haven't been feeling a compulsion to write as of late. Even my writer's notebook has gone ignored since the school year let out.

But an event like nErDcampMI deserves to attempt to bring my blog back from obscurity into regular posting again.

For those of you who don't know, nErDcamp is a spinoff of the Edcamp model with a literacy focus. The name nErDcamp comes from Nerdy Book Club co-founder Colby Sharp who, along with his wife Alaina and a slew of Nerdy planners and volunteers, began the first nErDcamp in 2013. The first  nErDcamp was in Battle Creek, Michigan and had about 200-250 people in attendance. This year? Over 1000.

I was very low key at this year's nErDcamp. I didn't tweet much. I took like two pictures. It's not that I wasn't excited to be there. I've just been off my social media game lately.

So rather than write up a big long post about everything that happened at nErDcamp, here are some of my personal highlights:

• When author/illustrator Deborah Freedman came up to me and said, "Are you Beth?" and then introduced herself. Woa. Crazy that authors know who I am.
• Getting to hug Gae Polisner.
• Chatting with Jess Keating about her upcoming picture books
• Letting the tears flow freely during Raina Telgemeier's touching Nerd Talk about the boy she had a crush on in Smile who recently passed away.
• When Kate DiCamillo made a surprise appearance (How on earth are they going to top THAT next year?) 
• Pondering the mysteries of Cardboard Schu
• Learning more about the ways I can use picture books with my 8th graders from Pernille Ripp 
• When I ran into Jenni Holm and she gave me a huge hug and then told me to tell my husband she said hi. 
• A session led by authors that talked about helping kids learn from their mistakes

If you've never been to nErDcamp and have been wanting to go, I highly recommend making the trip. Registration is completely free and you have an opportunity ot learn from teachers, librarians, authors, and illustrators from all over the country.

For more nErDcamp highlights, check out my Storify archive: