Hello future Conventioneers,
The most important update is of course that since October 14 the tickets and t-shirts can be ordered through our website! http://www.bcconvention2010.nl

Furthermore we are obviously very busy with the preparations, and it's all starting to get exciting. The contract with the venue will be signed next week, we are busy thinking of and collecting nice thingies to go in the goodie bags, for the tombola and the raffle (contributions still most welcome!) and we are also seriously thinking about the lunch on Saturday.

We managed to find a few sponsors for some of the things we need and we're very happy about that! Please sneak a peek at the thanks page: http://www.bcconvention2010.nl/11-Thank_You.html
The flying Dutchman and New Amsterdam (publishers) are donating some books which we can raffle off, cheese for the lunch comes from Cheese Farm Clara Maria, and TTY Internet Solutions provides our Internet site... great stuff, and we thank them all most cordially!

The programme for Saturday is taking its final shape: we have confirmation from Rob Ruggenberg, an author who writes historical children's books, and some of his work has been translated to English. See his website http://www.ruggenberg.nl.
Another author gave us the yes-word a long time ago, her name is Karin Spaink, see http://www.spaink.net. She will be speaking to us concerning the ins and outs of internetcommunities.
Furthermore we have storytellers Sahand Sahebdivani and Rik (surname not yet known, sorry) who will tell us splendid tales from the east. And finally there will be a writer from the Middle East, who has been living in the Netherlands for years, and will speak of his experiences with writing in another culture, and being an author in and between two languages.

Contributions continue to trickle in. The Internet site has been updated extensively, and much information has been added. Please take the time to look around, a lot has changed. A list of restaurants and hotels in the surroundings is in the making.

That's about it for now. At the time of writing this, 72 people have registered as attendees. Get your ticket while they last!

I suddenly realised that I've never posted anything about the trip to NZ I took with gummihuhn in April. I simply never felt like it. I loved New Zealand, but I don't like writing all that much!
Still, here's a short episode I thought about today... so why not write it down. The pictures are Gummihuhn's.

( Click to read it... )

For a different perspective: compare gummihuhn's story... it has more pictures. And if you ever find yourself wanting to rent a motorbike in Christchurch or Auckland, head to the good folks at City Motorcycle Rentals and tell them I said hello.

And so does having to say goodbye to friends and to an awesome Convention.

Getting back home, on the other hand, is likely to be very nice indeed.

Another nice thing: free WiFi.

Moem, hailing from gate 4 at HongKong International Airport, thanks to the small but mighty Eee-quivalent

We had another meeting today. We, in this case, means the small group of BookCrossers who are conspiring to bring the 2010 BookCrossing Convention to the Netherlands.
Present were: Fotomiep, LuieLezer, pvanoort, Phoenix-Flight and me. Joanazinha, boekenxnl and chris147 could not make it, the first two because they'd both come down with terrible colds.

It's all going really well. The information that futurecatnz gave me has been sent on to the other conspirators, and we find it very valuable. We'd still like to get the written part of your presentation, by the way! It's worked once, it may well work again.  ;-)

Here's what we've got so far: Phoenix-Flight came up with a venue. It's a theatre, and we can actually afford it. It has all the room and facilities we need, including wireless internet for our guests.
I'm not telling you the location yet, but it's in a place that you furriners will love.
There's plenty of things to see and do nearby, it's easily reached by public transport, and there's free parking space for those who come by car. There's a fancy hotel close to the venue, and better yet: a camping/hostel combination for the outdoorsy types and those who travel on a limited budget! You can bring your tent, but you can also rent a bed in a hut if you prefer.
The city center is very easily reached (public transport) and offers something for everyone. You may well want to book your flight in such a way that you can spend some extra days. You won't regret it.

Another nice thing: it won't break the bank. No hard figures yet, but I can safely say that admission to the 2010 Convention may turn out even cheaper than it is for the 2008 Convention Londen (which I find quite reasonable).

We'll keep the location secret for a while, so as not to spoil the surprise. You can all start saving up now, because I feel quite certain that we have a good chance of winning the bid!

Today, six Dutch BookCrossers met in Utrecht to discuss the Convention. Not the upcoming one in London, but the 2010 one. That's right, we're going to present The Netherlands as a candidate for the 2010 Convention.
Of course, we'll need to have a good story to tell in April... so we set up a small meeting to gather some ideas about that. What'll be on the programme, what kind of venue are we looking for, does anyone have contacts who can help us with that, who should we look to for sponsoring, things like that.
We had a lot to discuss, but it was a pleasant meeting as well. I'm really looking forward to the presentation of our plans in Londen. I'll probably get nervous as the date draws closer, but for now it sounds like fun.

To be continued!