On October 8th, I participated in the Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, California, for the first time. I had an author booth at the very end of the line-up (or the very beginning, depending on where you parked), just under a tree and in front of a little duck pond. More notably, I happened to be just across the street from the entrance to Bass Pro Shops, whose bathrooms I far preferred to the parking lot porta-potties. As you can see from the photo, I selected the cloth purple color of my book cover as the official color of the day.
Although I was not the most popular booth, by any means, I had a steady trickle of visitors throughout the day and was never idle for more than fifteen minutes at a time. Many people only stopped to glance idly at my booth before moving on, some people stopped to chat or grab a business card, and some stared at me in amusement and remarked on how young I looked. But the main attraction of my booth was the writing contest: participants were given 2 minutes to write a plot or story idea based on a picture of a robot and a man bending over a flower.
There seemed to be two types of people at the event: the people who stopped short and gasped in excitement when they saw "Writing Contest" on my sign, and the people who only glanced at it, looked incredibly bored, and moved on.
Throughout the past week, I carefully read through the stack of writings from the contestants. They were all in varying stages of completion, but each one managed to capture a little of the spirit of the author. It was remarkable how the same picture could be viewed or reimagined so differently by everyone. I got a lot of great writing from children, but I think my favorite was Tyson's:
"'Oooh,' Bob the Robot said as he picked up the plant. 'This is the first plant I've seen in awhile.' He put it in his container to keep it in mint condition."
His writing was very clear and neat for how little time he had.
Many people had very original ideas, but I think one of the wittiest was Moira's:
"The last human finds the final sign of life, just as the last robot finds him. 'You must be preserved,' the robot states. 'We must,' the man corrects, cradling the flower. Cue comedy about robot keeping human."
In the end, however, Audrianna's story stood out as the most complete, the most well-written, and the most creative:
"It's been a long time for the man to find any solace in his life, but as he trekked through the city, he stumbled at the foot of a small robot. 'What is my goal, dear sir?' the robot asked. The man saw the flower in the cement before looking to the goal-oriented robot. 'To do better than us. And to show love to all,' the man replied."
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