Rachel Vail's Keynote: School, Drool, & Other Daily Disasters: Finding the Humor and Heart in Middle Grade Novels, part 2

Rachel is speaking of how the great thrill of being a writer is the chance to live more than one life. How do we do that? How do we become someone else?

It's not write what you know. (Tolkien didn't know many hobbits.)

It should be START with what you know.

Start with yourself. Your memories can make what you write feel real.

The room is super-focused on what Rachel is saying - bursting out with laughter, choked up with emotion and held-back tears, scribbling furious notes, even tweeting so many wonderful insights!

"Humor and heart, pain and hope - they are so intertwined."

Rachel Vail totally rocked it!