I had me a good time yesterday at the Writers League of Texas conference, where I served on a late-morning Q&A panel with Kathi Appelt and Anne Bustard. Our moderator was Mark Mitchell, and among the 30 or so attendees were Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith, who had their own presentation in the afternoon.

I’ve attended lots of conferences, but this was my first time on the invited-guest side of the table. I hope the folks who attended our session got something valuable out of it. I know I did: the realization that not everyone knows the “Day-Glo” name. After the session, a young woman approached me and politely and discreetly asked, “What’s Day-Glo?” When I described it to her, she knew what I was talking about — it was just the name itself that didn’t ring a bell.

I had considered bringing Day-Glo props just in case this sort of thing came up but didn’t want to seem desperate. (There’s really no such thing as drawing only a little attention to yourself when you’re using Day-Glo.) Next time, I think I’ll give desperation a whirl. I’ve been invited to an educators’ conference in early August, and I’ve set a goal of making sure that everyone I meet knows exactly what Day-Glo is.

These wouldn’t be too much, would they?