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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: book events, Most Recent at Top [Help]
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1. More selfies than you can shake a stick at

I'm home all this month (hallelujah!) but it's been a travel-heavy year and will continue to be so. I won't be at ALA (but ARCs of THE FORGOTTEN SISTERS -- the 3rd and final PRINCESS ACADEMY -- will be there!). I'll be at SDCC and a book festival this summer, I think, before I hit the road in October to tour for THE PRINCESS IN BLACK.

Here are some random selfies from my spring trips to TLA, BEA, IRA, etc., in no particular order.

Jessica Day George and I were on the same plane to Texas. In the airport we ran into Matthew Kirby...

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...and Jim Di Bartolo.

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David Levithan modeling the fried green tomatoes we ate in New Orleans.

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On stage at the Teen Book Con in Houston with Emery Lord, Brendan Kiely, Rachel Hawkins, and Jason Reynolds

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...also with Tess Sharpe and Bree Despain...

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...and Laurie Halse Anderson keynoting, showing the slide of all the authors who were there. What a fun group! We had a blast. Thanks, Blue Willow Books!

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For some reason, I did this.

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With Laini Taylor and Cecil Castelucci in...where? I think Houston. It all runs together. But I remember we played a very funny card game in a hotel lobby till late at night with Bree Despain and Eliot Schrefer. Well, not too late. We ain't kids anymore.

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Trent Reedy, Elizabeth Eulberg, Sarah Mlynowski, and Sarah Mlynowski's hand

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Aw...Lauren Myracle.

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Dean Hale, I told you to stay away from Tori Spelling!!!

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At lunch, Varian Johnson and Alaya Dawn Johnson (no relation!) show us they can salsa.

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Laini Taylor and I model Daughter of Smoke and Bone masks.

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The fabulous E. Lockhart. Have you read We Were Liars yet?

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During our panel on "Kick-Ass Girls" I invited the audience and fellow panelists Elizabeth Eulberg and Maggie Steifvater to do the Wonder Woman pose and feel the power! (we're on the table, because why not). Also it was Mother's Day.

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In the hotel, Dean wants to see if he can walk on the ceiling.

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Chillin' by the river in San Antonio with Nathan Hale, Tom Angleberger, and Jenni Holm. Man, I love those kids!

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With my good pal Michael Buckley. He's like a big brother to me. When he's not like a little brother to me.

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In NYC, having lunch with Brandon Mull and his wife Mary we found a Diane Von Furstenberg sample sale. Brandon models a dress I thought about buying. (the idea of a sample sale is better than an actual sample sale)

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In New Orleans for IRA I did a panel with Sean Williams, Garth Nix, and Maggie Steivater for Spirit Animals. At the signing, my ARCs of book 4 (FIRE AND ICE! Out next week!) didn't show up, so I mostly just watched them sign. And took photos. And gave them helpful pointers. I'm sure they were thrilled.

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Dean models a "This princess wears black!" t-shirt

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At our signing for THE PRINCESS IN BLACK in New Orleans. I am at a loss for words about how excited I am to share this book with everyone.
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Doing some dangerous moves with PRINCESS IN BLACK editor Sarah Ketchersid.

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After years of narrowly missing each other, Dan Santat and I finally meet! I loved BEEKLE.
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BEA, New York City, Michael Buckley and I emceed the first annual Slushpile Family Circus, an author and illustrator variety show. Libba Bray opens the show with her incredible set of pipes and pack of sass.

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Michael Buckley sings Lionel Richie's "Hello" while Tom Angleberger, Phil Bildner and Gareth Hinds juggle, as you do.

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Comedy sketch with Jason Reynolds, Brandon Mull, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, and Maryrose Wood.

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This photo started out with me pretending to karate chop Daniel Handler's injured knee, when he took my hand and placed it there. I swear! I'm totally innocent! Also important to note that the last time we were together was also in Javits (for NYCC last fall) and I was wearing this same outfit. Surely he believes I'd been there all those months, just waiting for his return.

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After this lovely gentleman by the name of John Green waited in line for both of my signings at BEA, I thought I needed photographic proof that John Green is a fan of mine.

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Kate DiCamillo signs a copy of LEROY NINKER for my kids after hearing we're all big MERCY WATSON fans...

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Then we try to take a photo together but can't decide of we're sitting/crouching...

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...or standing so we kept popping up and down.

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And home again.

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2. The Slushpile Family Circus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New to the Annual Children’s Book Art Silent Auction and Reception at BEA this year, The Slushpile Family Circus, an entertainment and comedy variety show displaying the non-authorial talents of various children’s writers and illustrators. Masters of Ceremony Shannon Hale and Michael Buckley will emcee with their trademark Verve™ and Panache™ the phantasmagorical cavalcade of “talent” and showmanship.

Come witness such luminaries as David Levithan and Jon Scieszka display never-before-witnessed “talents”! What shocking tricks will Pseudonymous Bosch and Melissa de la Cruz be up to? We would give you a sneak peak of the hidden talents of Brandon Mull, Jason Reynolds, and Paul Zelinsky but we’ve been sworn to secrecy! Jarrett Krosoczka, Maryrose Wood, and Scott Westerfeld will amaze and delight! Libba Bray, Daniel Kirk, and Tom Angleberger will provoke and alarm! And who will be the Mysterious “Talent” Guest? Come one, come all and witness the bizarre, the unusual, but the always entertaining Slushpile Family Circus at this year’s Silent Auction!

The Silent Auction runs Wednesday, May 28, 5pm-7:30pm at the Javits Center in New York City. Get your tickets here!

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3. School Days: AFTER THE BOOK DEAL – Guest Post by Jonathan Auxier

After the Book Deal Banner

The Internet is full of great advice about how to sell a book, but what about after the sale? When my first book came out, I found it was surprisingly hard to find answers to some basic questions. Like most authors, I learned most of the answers through trial and error. And so in anticipation of the launch of my new novel,The Night Gardener, I’ve decided to write down everything I learned so I don’t make the same mistakes twice!

AFTER THE BOOK DEAL is a month-long blog series detailing the twenty things I wish someone had told me before entering the exciting world of children’s publishing. Each weekday from now until MAY 20, I will be posting an article on a different blog. Follow along and please spread the word!

***

School Days: Crafting an Effective School Program

Yesterday I talked about how to do Skype visits with classrooms, now I want to move on to school assemblies! When my first book came out, I did almost nonstop school events for seven months—it was exhausting but extremely rewarding. I picked up a few things along the way that might be worth sharing …

 

NightGardener Cover

Be a Storyteller, not an Author

In the vast majority of cases, you will be coming to these kids as a complete stranger. Most kids will not have read (or even heard of) your books. This is important to remember as you’re crafting your presentation: don’t assume they will be impressed by the fact that you’re a published author. Your only job is to convince them that your story is something they want to read. The best way to do this is by BEING A STORYTELLER. Don’t just read an excerpt and give a summary—instead invite them into the world of your story, put them in the shoes of your hero, make the book come alive right there on the stage.

 

Play to Your Strengths

Take careful inventory of personal skills that you can bring to the table. Some authors draw on giant notepads. Others perform music. Others juggle or teach dance routines or fold origami. I exploited my past career as a professional yo-yo demonstrator by incorporating a yo-yo into my routine. It is hands-down the most popular part of every presentation! Chances are, you’ve got some silly talent that can be turned into a memorable moment in your presentations—make the most of it! Here’s a video of my yo-yo presentation, for the curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbmSYeyVDtI

 

Crowd Control

There’s no question that wrangling a crowd of kids can be tricky. I have a loud voice, but with groups over 100, I always require that schools provide a microphone. Even with a mic, however, a hall full of squirming kids can get pretty loud. I always request that the teacher/librarian who introduces me gives the kids a special reminder about appropriate assembly behavior. And when the classes are streaming into the room, I go to every one of the teachers and introduce myself, thank them for coming, and ask them where their students are sitting—this is a subtle way of encouraging the teachers to be more proactive with crowd control. My final crowd control trick is to start every presentation by showing the Peter Nimble book trailer. Not only does this give kids something to visualize the story, but it creates a baseline of actual silence from the crowd. I’ve found that when I don’t show the trailer, I’m never able to eliminate the dull roar of whispers and fidgeting that passes for “quiet” in other circumstances.

 

Build a Flexible Program

Every school runs on a different schedule. Generally speaking, assemblies will run between 40-60 minutes. It’s important that you have a program that can expand or contract to fit these requirements. Your goal should be to have discrete “bits” that you can add and remove at will depending on the needs of your audience. If I’m talking to a restless crowd, for example, I can trade out a more serious literary discussion for an extra game. Flexibility goes beyond time-management. When I started touring, I carried around two vintage suitcases full of props. The suitcases looked cool, but they were a serious pain in the neck. I’ve since learned to pare down my props—fitting everything I need into a single shoulder bag. Likewise, when showing my book trailer, I used to haul my laptop computer (school computers were just too unreliable). Recently, however, I’ve ditched the laptop for a small VGA adaptor that plugs directly into my iPhone … so much easier!

Selling Books

You always want to be working with a local bookseller that can handle sales—you don’t have time to deal with that stuff yourself. If the school doesn’t have a store they regularly work with, then offer to connect them to someone. In most cases, a store will give 10-20% of all proceeds back to the school … which you should encourage them to do. Every store has a different way of handling book sales. I’ve found the best method is to send out pre-order forms in advance of the event as well as a “last chance” order form that kids take home the day that you visit—then once all orders are collected, you can sign books at the store, which will deliver them to the school later in the week.

 

That’s it for AFTER THE BOOK DEALTomorrow we’ll be talking about how how and when to charge for appearances. In the meantime, you can catch up on previous posts (listed below), and please-oh-please spread the word!

AFTER THE BOOK DEAL – Stops So Far

WEEK ONE: Before Your Book Comes Out
4/21 – Finding Your Tribe: entering the publishing community
4/22 – Do I Really Need a Headshot?: crafting your public persona
4/23 – I Hate Networking: surviving social media
4/24 – A Night at the Movies: the ins and outs of book trailers
4/25 –  Giveaways! … are they worth it?

 

WEEK TWO: Your Book Launch
4/28 - Can I have Your Autograph?: 5 things to do before your first signing
4/29 –  Cinderella at the Ball: planning a successful book launch
5/1 – Being Heard in the Crowd: conferences and festivals
5/2 - The Loneliest Writer in the World: surviving no-show events

 

WEEK THREE: The Business of Being an Author
5/5 – Handling Reviews … the Good and the Bad!
5/6 – Back to the Grindstone: writing your next book
5/7 – The Root of All Evil: some thoughts on money
5/8 – The Green-Eyed Monster: some thoughts on professional jealousy

 

WEEK FOUR: Ongoing Promotion
5/12 – Death by 1000 Cuts: Keeping ahead of busywork
5/13 – Can You Hear Me Now? Tips for Skype visits

Jonthan Auxier Headshot - web square

***
JONATHAN AUXIER writes strange stories for strange children. His new novel, The Night Gardener, hits bookstores on May 20—why not come to his book launch party? You can visit him online at www.TheScop.com where he blogs about children’s books old and new.

Find The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier at the following spots:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powell’s Books | Indiebound | Book Depository | Goodreads | ISBN-10/ISBN-13: 141971144X / 9781419711442

Thank you so much to Jonathan for stopping by today! Connect with Jonathan on Twitter and on Facebook!
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our various affiliate relationships.

Original article: School Days: AFTER THE BOOK DEAL – Guest Post by Jonathan Auxier

©2014 There's A Book. All Rights Reserved.

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4. LA Times Festival of Books YA Schedule


Hi, everyone! It's that time of year again. It's The LA Times Festival of Books! The festival is this coming Saturday and Sunday and the schedule is pretty amazing. To help you out, we've collected the YA events (and a couple of children's events) into one handy dandy page below. Panels inside lecture halls may sell out so it is best to get tix if you can. They only cost $1 so well worth it. Veronica Roth and John Green are already sold out but there should still be plenty of good tickets available. Please go to this link to buy tix before the festival. For the full show schedule, please check out this link. I (Thuy) will be there both days so come by and say hi if you see me. 


http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/
http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/fob-schedule/

SATURDAY

Children's Stage

12:35 p.m. Oliver Jeffers, Author of THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT 
YA Stage

10:30 a.m. Young Adult Fiction: Haunted
Jonathan Auxier
Francesca Lia Block
Ransom Riggs
Moderator: Aaron Hartzler

12:00 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Putting the Story in HiSTORY
Katie Alender
Andrea Cremer
Rachel Shukert
Moderator: Cecil Castellucci

1:30 p.m. Young Adult Fantasy: Worlds Beyond Imagination
Kelley Armstrong
Tony DiTerlizzi
Rachel Hawkins
Neal Shusterman
Moderator: Denise Hamilton

3:00 p.m. Young Adult Nonfiction: Where the Truth Lies
Aaron Hartzler
Georgia Bragg
James L. Swanson
Maya Van Wagenen
Moderator: Paula Yoo

4:30 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Adrenaline Rush
Stephanie Kuehn
Abby McDonald
Lauren Oliver
Sarah Skilton Mo

Seeley G Mud 

12:00 p.m. Illustrating the Point: The Art of the Graphic Novel
(Conversation 1072)
Vanessa Davis
Ben Katchor
Anders Nilsen
Mimi Pond
Moderator: Deborah Vankin

Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL 101)

10:30 a.m. Picture This: Young Adult Graphic Novels
(Conversation 1041)
Gris Grimly
Jen Wang
Gene Luen Yang
Moderator: Hope Larson

1:30 p.m. Children's Books: Drawing the Imagination
(Conversation 1043)
Joe Cepeda
Gianna Marino
Jon J. Muth
Salina Yoon 
Moderator: Lee Wind

3:00 p.m. Children's Books: Inspiring Young Minds
(Conversation 1044)
Mac Barnett
Doreen Cronin
Jennifer Fosberry
John Rocco 
Moderator: Kelly Sonnack

12:00 p.m. Middle Grade Fiction: Stories in Series
(Conversation 1042)
D.J. MacHale
Ridley Pearson
Jonathan Stroud Moderator: Jonathan Hunt

1:30 p.m. Children's Books: Drawing the Imagination
(Conversation 1043)
Joe Cepeda
Gianna Marino
Jon J. Muth
Salina Yoon
Moderator: Lee Wind

3:00 p.m. Children's Books: Inspiring Young Minds
(Conversation 1044)
Mac Barnett
Doreen Cronin
Jennifer Fosberry
John Rocco
Moderator: Kelly Sonnack

4:30 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: It's the End of the World As We Know It
(Conversation 1045)
T. Cooper
Allison Glock-Cooper
Tahereh Mafi
Lydia Millet
Moderator: Cecil Castellucci

Norris Theater

10:30 a.m. Middle Grade Fiction: In BeTWEEN Tales
(Conversation 1091)
Lisa Greenwald
John Rocco
Joyce Sidman
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Moderator: Rollie Welch

12:00 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Testing the Boundaries
(Conversation 1092)
E. Lockhart
Rainbow Rowell
Andrew Smith
John Corey Whaley
Moderator: Aaron Hartzler

1:30 p.m. Middle Grade Fiction: Growing Pains
(Conversation 1093)
James Howe
Jenny Lee
Megan McCafferty
Moderator: Holly Goldberg Sloan

3:00 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Writing Culture & Identity
(Conversation 1094)
Maurene Goo
Cynthia Kadohata
Gene Luen Yang
Moderator: Lynn Rutan

4:30 p.m. Young Adult Fantasy: The Real & the Unreal
(Conversation 1095)
Soman Chainani
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Margaret Stohl
Laini Taylor
Moderator: John Corey Whaley

Bovard Auditorium

12:30 p.m. John Green, Author of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, in Conversation with David L. Ulin
(Conversation 1052)
John Green
Interviewer: David L. Ulin


SUNDAY

Children’s Stage

10:20 a.m. Jon Klassen, Author of THIS IS NOT MY HAT
We <3 Jon Klassen!

YA Stage

10:30 a.m. Young Adult Fiction: Square Peg, Round Hole
Elizabeth Eulberg
Ken Baker
Bill Konigsberg
Amy Spalding
Moderator: Aaron Hartzler

12:00 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: A Little Help from My Friends
Robin Benway
Heather Cocks
Jessica Morgan
Lauren Myracle
Moderator: Aaron Hartzler

1:30 p.m. Young Adult Sci-Fi: Fantastical Tales
Leigh Bardugo
Cecil Castellucci
Sarah J. Maas
Marissa Meyer
Moderator: Andrew Smith

3:00 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Told From the Heart
Stephanie Perkins
Emery Lord
Joanna Philbin
Moderator: Amy Spalding

Norris Theater

10:30 a.m. Young Adult Fiction: Somewhere in Time
(Conversation 2091)
Ann Brashares
Eoin Colfer
Melissa de la Cruz
Tamara Ireland Stone
Moderator: Sonya Sones

12:00 p.m. Ava Dellaira, Author of LOVE LETTER TO THE DEAD, in Conversation with Stephen Chbosky
(Conversation 2092)
Ava Dellaira
Moderator: Stephen Chbosky

1:30 p.m. Young Adult Fiction: Outside Looking In
(Conversation 2093)
Carrie Arcos
Deb Caletti
Anna Shinoda
Ann Redisch Stampler
Moderator: Stephanie Kuehn

3:00 p.m. Laurie Halse Anderson, Author of THE IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY, in Conversation with Susan Carpenter
(Conversation 2094)
Laurie Halse Anderson
Interviewer: Susan Carpenter

Bovard Auditorium

11:00 a.m. Veronica Roth, Author of THE DIVERGENT TRILOGY, in Conversation with Leigh Bardugo
(Conversation 2051)
Veronica Roth
Interviewer: Leigh Bardugo

1:00 p.m. Daniel Handler, Author of FILE UNDER: 13 SUSPICIOUS INCIDENTS, in Conversation with
Ransom Riggs
(Conversation 2052)
Daniel Handler
Interviewer: Ransom Riggs

3:00 p.m. Sandra Cisneros, Author of HAVE YOU SEEN MARIE? in Conversation with Michael Silverblatt
(Conversation 2053)
Sandra Cisneros
Interviewer: Michael Silverblatt

Hope to see you there!




0 Comments on LA Times Festival of Books YA Schedule as of 4/8/2014 6:15:00 AM
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5. A cool thing and a song

PalaceofStonebookjacket_3dThis is a cool thing I'm doing in early October. I'll be presenting an author assembly in New York City, and School Library Journal is broadcasting it live into other schools. Educators, you can sign up your class or school to participate remotely. I'll be taking questions and comments from kids both live and digitally. I know Jeff Kinney did this recently and it turned out super awesome.

See my events page for upcoming appearances in Utah, Illinois, Baltimore Book Festival, and NYC.

Thanks for your support of my new book! Here's a snippet, one of the songs that start off the chapters:

 

Once there was a queen in a palace of bread.
Sing blue, sing white, stay up all night.
She nibbled on the walls and gobbled up her bed.
Sing white, sing blue, sing ballyhoo.

The people begged a crumb from their robust queen.
Sing blue, sing white, she ate all night.
She would not share a thing until it turned green.
So white, so blue, the mold it grew.

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6. 12 cities, 35+ events, 1 book tour

The Princess Academy: Palace of Stone tour is over! My first book tour in about three years. I took a good deal of time off, 'cause:

It was so great to get out and chat with readers, revisiting old haunts and discovering new ones. I'm terrible at taking photos. Here are a few I was able to scrounge from my camera and others. In no particular order, because that would require too much effort.

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In Baltimore with Tiffany Trent (Hallowmere, The Unnaturalists). We were MFA bffs in Montana. She read the first (horrible) draft of The Goose Girl. We had a dream back then of one day being published authors and meeting up at conferences...

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Also in Baltimore, Mr. Hale himself! Nathan Hale, that is, in spiffy hat, promoting his fab graphic novel historicals One Dead Spy and Big Bad Ironclad.

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Baltimore Book Fest's author hospitality suite is in this awesome old house. I appreciated this statue.

 

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Traveling from Baltimore to NYC. I texted my hubbie, "I'm riding with Ellen Datlow on the train." (superstar editor) He texted "Does she know you're there?" So I took this photo and sent it to him. (She did know. We shared licorice.)

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Oh my! How did I get on this panel? Avi, Ann M. Martin, Richard Peck, Rebecca Stead, and myself at Books of Wonder in NYC. SO great to be back in NYC again! I love that town. I'm claiming Reb Stead as a new best friend. And I pretty much want a transcript of everything Richard Peck says.

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SQUEE!

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Newsflash: Francisco X. Stork is awesome. So lovely, smart, and kind. Just in case you needed any other reason to read his fab books.

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A school visit in Memphis. That's a photo of my 10-year-old self on the screen behind me.

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On stage at the Decatur book fest in Georgia with my young helpers. So hot. So worth it. Great fest.

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Book event at Alamosa Books in Albequerque. Fab store!

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Stop it! These girls in Phoenix stenciled their shirts. I'm certain "SH" stands for "smoked ham."

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Fun assembly in Jackson, MS, organized by Lemuria Books, another fab store. These kids helped me do some storytelling, so we posed after for a photo op.

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I show off my roll of rejection letters to St. George's School in Memphis. Great kids.

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St. Georges gave me BBQ at a special lunch after. Serious. Take me back to Memphis.

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Back at home, my daughter Dinah playing hide-and-go-seek.

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Palace cake at the book launch at The King's English! I don't think I've ever partaken of food at my book events. But it's sure pretty! Great launch. My editor and I co-presented, and I just loved talking with her.

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Clearly awesome gals in Phoenix showing off their "Mutual understanding is sexy" t-shirts. (from The Actor and the Housewife)

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Congratulatory best seller flowers.

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In Decatur, it wasn't hard to distinguish the children's writers from the elite crowd. At the authors' hot and humid reception, Rebecca Stead, David Levithan and I plopped our butts down on the ground in front of the one fan. It was an excellent plan. We were shortly joined by all the other present children's writers. There are definite benefits to having no dignity.

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My daughter covered a doll's face in masking tape and drew her face on. Creepy. And an excellent story starter!

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These were restaurant bathrooms in NYC. Yes, the doors are clear glass. When you go in, the door presumably clouds up so no one can see in. But I could still see out, so I had to wonder, as I frantically rushed through my business. There is such a thing as too fancy. I have a reoccuring dream that I have to go to the bathroom and the only public bathroom has no walls, so this experience was so surreal!

Thanks to all the great bookstores: King's English, Deseret Book, Changing Hands, Alamosa, Booksellers at Laurelwood, Lemuria, Little Shop of Stories, Andersen's, The Children's Bookstore, Books of Wonder, and Barnes & Noble! And thanks to School Library Journal for hosting the webcast, and Scholastic Book Orders for the wonderful day. Utahns, don't miss my event with Libba Bray this Saturday. I'll be in Southern California in February, and I hope to see more of you next book launch! Whenever that might be...

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7. Coming up on squeetus 2013

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and hello! We're snowed in here and feeling cozy. About to go write for a couple of hours and thought I'd drop a few lines to say what I've got in store in 2013 (since the world isn't ending...yet).

No new book in 2013. Prepare yourself for a shocker: toddler twins have slowed me down a bit. I outlined my current novel in 2005, finished the first draft in 2009, and hope to finish the final in January 2013, pubbing in early 2014. It's been a doozy of a book. I've cut about 300 pages overall. But I like it! I really, really hope you will too. I've worked SO hard on this. Promise me you will love it? Cross your heart?

Well, I sort of have a new book in 2013. I wrote a short story for the new GUYS READ anthology, edited by the marvelous Jon Scieszka, theme: fantasy and science fiction. I believe that will pub in the fall.

See my events page for stuff. So far:

AUSTENLAND premieres at the Sundance Film Festival January 18.

I'll be speaking at the Family Literacy Symposium in Provo, Utah.

I'll be in La Verne, San Diego, and Los Angeles doing events in February.

Teens, come join me at the Teen Author Boot Camp in March.

In May we'll do our annual fab 1-day writers' workshop Writing for Charity, TBA.

Check here for ongoing news about the AUSTENLAND movie, title and jacket of my new book, some teasers for the first book of THE PRINCESS IN BLACK series (book 1 pubbing fall '14), and other such niceties. Thanks for stopping by squeetus.

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8. See me! Doing an assembly! On your computer!

From last post, many of you were curious what I do for a school assembly. It just so happens that I can show you. In the fall I did an assembly at the Brooklyn Friends School in New York City that was live webcast to 100+ other schools through School Library Journal. SLJ has the webcast archived, and you can view it for free. You need to register to view it. If you see it let me know what you think, 'cause I will not be watching it. 'Cause it's my own voice and face.

(Friday is the premiere of Austenland at the Sundance Film Festival. I will report back to you on Monday. Excited and nervous, excited and nervous...)

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9. My phone camera captures Austenland glamor

So much has happened. So much goodness and craziness. I hardly know how to organize my thoughts. I have a bunch of crappy phone photos so maybe I'll just paste those in.

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On the "red carpet." When I first arrived I was the only one. I posed for photos. Awkwardly. Such a relief when the actors came and took the attention.

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I have a photo of the three of us almost exactly like this from four years ago, the first time we three got together to talk about the movie. (I don't have a photo cred for this one but it's not mine, couldn't find the source, sorry.)

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Jerusha Hess (Austenland director) and I backstage before the premiere in Park City. I love her.

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The audience as I came up on stage after the screening with the cast, director, and Stephenie.Watching the film with a huge, sold out crowd, hearing their honest and constant laughter (and sometimes gasps) gave me goosebumps and made me cry. Surreal, beautiful experience.

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On stage for the Q&A. The entire cast flew out for Sundance (Georgia King and Jennifer Coolidge didn't arrive till after the premiere due to filming their respective TV series) You can watch the video of that Q&A here.

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With Jane Seymour (Mrs. Wattlesbrook) and her real life sister Annie (Patience the maid). These two were dear friends of mine on set and it was a joyous reunion when I saw them again. Annie flew in from England!

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I got Ricky Whittle to eat a vegetable.

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My agent Barry with Lady Jane.

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More Ricky! With some amazing nachos. I love this boy.

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And even more Ricky! Given some of the photos I had with me and Ricky on set, I thought it only fair that I get one with my husband and Ricky embracing, just to be fair.

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The fabulous Jennifer Coolidge and Jerusha's assistant and my friend Erica. Great ladies. Hours of excellent convo.

How about some crappy, self-shot iphone photos?

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With Ricky and Jared Hess (Jerusha's husband, Napoleon Dynamite director, and as you can see, ultra-serious and highbrow.)

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Jerusha and JJ Feild (Mr. Nobley). He even looks good in this crappy photo. We think Jeru and JJ look like siblings.

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Ricky, Steph, Annie, and part of Jane's face. Everyone was so happy to be together again! Lovely, lovely crew.

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Jerusha and I after the Odgen screening last night (thanks for the photo, Rachel). So awesome to hear people laugh at lines I wrote, really enjoy something we worked so hard on. Truly a gift. When people read my books, they're alone. It is special to be present when people are enjoying something I've worked on.

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After the Ogden screening, I ran into my former high school Drama teacher Cindy Hunt! So excited to see her. And when I got on my phone to show her a photo of my husband, I found a text informing me that Austenland sold to Sony for distribution! WAHOO!

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10. Announcing my fall tour

EAH_Storybook_smBook tour for EVER AFTER HIGH: The Storybook of Legends. Come see me!

Tuesday, October 8
6 pm
Tattered Cover
2526 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO

Wednesday, October 9
7pm
St. Louis County Library
1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd
St. Louis, MO
Booksales by Barnes & Noble

Thursday, October 10
5pm
Mrs. Nelson's Toys & Books
1030 Bonita Ave
La Verne, CA

Saturday, October 12
1pm
Children's Book World
17 Haverford Station Rd
Haverford, PA

Sunday, October 13
10:45am
New York Comic Con Panel
The Magic of Storytelling panel with Lemony Snicket (When Did You See Her Last?), David Lubar (Weenies series), Matthew Cody (Will in Scarlet), Shannon Hale (Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends), George O'Connor (Olympians), and Scott Campell (If Dogs Run Free)

New York Comic Con Authographing: 12PM - Table 21

Tuesday, October 15
7pm
Provo City Library
Library Ballroom
550 North University Ave.
Provo, UT 84601
Booksales by Kings English

October 17, 2013
7pm
Talk and signing with Lisi Harrison, Megan McCafferty, and Diana Lopez
Book People
Austin, TX

October 19, 2013
Tween Reads Book Fest
Houston, TX

November 9, 2013
YALLFEST
Charleston, SC

Check with the stores for further information. Remember, it costs stores money to advertise and staff an author event. If you want to get books signed at bookstore-hosted events, please support their continued existence by purchasing a book from them (doesn't have to be one of mine--but hey, that'd be nice!).

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11. Jazz hands and chocolate cubes: photos from the book tour

Just heard the news...EVER AFTER HIGH: The Storybook of Legends is a New York Times Best Seller! Callooh Callay!

A smattering of visuals from the first leg of my book tour. First, a video of me and Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) before our NY Comic Con panel.

 

At the Provo Library last night, look at this amazing wall sticker:

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They do such lovely window displays at the Provo Library!

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Details from the window display. Raven and Apple emerging from a 3D book. Really pretty.

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Posing with my fabulous apple purse in front of a HUGE cover of my new book at NYCC:

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Mr. Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) reacts to my dignified, mature observation that my book cover poster is larger than his:

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They told me this was the author green room:

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First sighted in public: the new, smaller trim size of Calamity Jack! (Rapunzel's Revenge has also been downsized.) I was impressed with how good these look. The text size is still very readable, and now these can fit on regular sized book shelves. These books have been hugely popular in libraries but hard to find in bookstores because they were hard to stock on shelves. Hopefully bookstores will carry them more broadly now!

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A dessert I ate at a NYC restaurant. It was called "Chocolate Cube." Yes, thank you.

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Filet mignon and mushroom wellington. Pretty much how I eat at home too.

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12. Links I Shared on Twitter this Week: January 10

TwitterLinksHere are highlights from the links that I shared on Twitter this week @JensBookPage. It was a bit of a light week overall, but, happily, there are a number of excellent articles dedicated to growing bookworms. 

Book Lists and Awards

Some good books in the Newbery / Caldecott 2014: Final Prediction Edition from @FuseEight http://ow.ly/sqTfx #kidlit

These are standouts | Picture Book Gems of Years Past 10 years recommended by @fuseeight http://ow.ly/somuE #kidlit

Neat to see so much #kidlit in the top 20 books of last year (w/ a middle grade title at the top) http://ow.ly/smEkF via @100scopenotes

Another good list: 2013 Best Children’s Fiction from @tashrow Waking Brain Cells http://ow.ly/smDZO #kidlit

Diversity

At Random Musings of a Bibliophile @brandymuses reviews the fabulous The Latte Rebellion by my friend @aquafortis http://ow.ly/sqSRS

The folks @bookriot are looking to cover more books by people of color, and are looking for your author suggestions http://ow.ly/somRL

Events

2013-badge-chocolateandpink (1)It's that time of year | Launching A #KidLit Celebration of Women's History Month, 2014! http://ow.ly/skog9

The 2014 SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books is ramping up! http://ow.ly/solzx via @bkshelvesofdoom #kidlit

Growing Bookworms

Nice! Through the Years: Reflections on Raising a Reader by Monica Babaian @txlibrarianbabs @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/smFrw

The Importance of Reading Bedtime Stories to Big Kids | @Scholastic http://ow.ly/soRa4 #literacy

Because kids need books! Ten Ways to Find Children's Books on the Cheap from @BooksBabiesBows #kidlit #literacy http://ow.ly/smF2B

Excellent! Matt Renwick’s Top 10 Takeaways from The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease @NerdyBookClub @ReadByExample http://ow.ly/smEMf

On her daughter finding "Her Book", "THE book that spoke to her" by @GigiMcAreads @NerdyBookClub http://ow.ly/sfHA8

Excellent resource! Chapter Books to Read With Children 5-12 from @TrevorHCairney http://ow.ly/sfHpz #literacy

Miscellaneous

Twenty Questions from @escapeadulthood to Start Your Year with a Bang. I like "What's my perfect day?" http://ow.ly/sonlc

On Reading, Writing, and Publishing

Stacked: The Reductive Approach to YA Revisited: Contemporary YA & Generosity to Readers http://ow.ly/smDMe @catagator #yalit

Food for thought from @haleshannon at Squeetus: The young adult book tropes that ate the world http://ow.ly/sko3K

Schools and Libraries

A great idea! Nonfiction in the School Cafeteria | @ReadByExample http://ow.ly/smFb0 #literacy

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.

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13. And the Eisner goes to...

...Coraline! Ah, well. We feel very loved that rapunzel's revenge was nominated at all. And it reinforces two very important life rules to live by: 1. Never get involved in a land war in Asia, and 2. Never go up for an Eisner against Neil Gaiman.

Comic-con was huge and loud and crowed and hot and cool and crazy and fun too. I'm sorry I wasn't clear--I see from the comments that people were looking for me there! The truth is, I'm nobody at Comic-con. At bookseller conventions like BEA or librarian conventions like ALA I might be asked to do signings, talk on panels, be represented in a booth. But at Comic-con, I'm tiny potatoes. I was just there as a participant like everyone else, then attending the Eisner Awards Friday night.

At the Eisner gala, some of the tables were labeled "Nominees," but ours said "Eisner Staff." It was also the farthest one from the stage. We took it as an ill omen--we were not going to win. And we didn't, but then others from our table did win, so our paranoia was completely inaccurate. It was such an honor to be there with so many great writers and artists and comics folks. Amazing.

Ran into Jennifer Holm and Brandon Mull, and got to hang with Nathan and Mindy Hale. We didn't plan very well, so I didn't get to any writer panels. Got to see Holly Black and Tony DiTerrlizzi, but missed their talks. But got to a few others:

Batman: The Brave and the Bold - our favorite cartoon on TV now. Awesome! And they showed an episode that'll be on next season. It was so funny, so great. Imagine watching it in a room with thousands of fervent fans who laughed and cheered and at the end gave a spontaneous standing ovation. Awesome. The director, producer, and some of the voice talent were there.

Dollhouse - Joss Whedon is one of my favorite living writers, and he's so funny and witty live. Eliza Dushku joined him, and they showed an amazing and totally different unaired episode of Dollhouse.

Cartoon Voice Talent - This was so fun. Six professional voice actors told anecdotes and did voices for us. Gave me an appreciation of that industry. I was laughing so hard at some of the stories. I wish I could retell them all. Chuck McCann is my new hero. Their stories reminded me that what it takes to succeed in any creative profession is a lot of perseverance, constantly working to improve your talent, willingness to make a fool of yourself and just go for it, and basic kindness and civility to others. Do what you love, people! Follow your passion! And be nice about it.

Quick draw - Several professional artists drew for us, their papers showing on big video screens. The host asked them questions like, "Draw what would be torture for you" or "Draw what you would be doing instead of hiking the Appalachian trail." They were so fast, clever, and talented. Loved this. Sergio Aragones is another new hero.

One-liners overheard at Comic-con:

"So, if anyone asks, I'm dressed as Rainbow Bright."

"What if you gave Darth Vader a basket of kittens and a basket of puppies? He wouldn't know what to do!"

"Star Trek fans and Star Wars fans can get along."

At the Batman panel, they introduced some of the voice talent. They said, "And now, Batman himself!" A regular guy came out on stage and everyone cheered, but a six-year-old girl behind us began to shout, "That's not Batman! That's not Batman!" She was so the girl that would have declared that the Emperor had no clothes.

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14. The coolest cabbie around

This week (and probably into next) I'm being interviewed on The Yellowbelly Show. Nathan Hale (no relation) does his fabulous weekday webcomics, and this week Yellowbelly has his own show. The cartoon version of me really is saying the lines I gave him. I have to say, it's not easy to respond to Yellowbelly's questions. The stutters and pauses are quite real. (And the "poo" line is a nod to Dean and my appearance on The Today Show.) Nate continues to astound. We got high res proffs of calamity jack this week and they are GORGEOUS! He is an artist to be reckoned with.

I have new events up on my events page. The tour dates and locations are missing times--more info to come. Two upcoming events I want to pimp: Writing for Charity, round 2! Those who went last year can attest, it was pretty cool. And we've learned stuff from last year's, so it should be smoother. Northern Utahns rejoice, it will be in Ogden this year at the Treehouse Museum. Come for a halfday writing workshop with some pretty amazing authors, and know your money all goes to the Treehouse Museum's awesome community outreach and literacy programs. Register here.

Also, I'll be at the Orem B&N on August 26, 7pm. Come throw breadcrumbs at me and laugh. Okay, I have to go to the airport now and pick up Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Robin Wasserman, and Jo Knowles. Was there a reason to say that? No, just wanted you to think I'm cool.


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15. Calamity Jack party: a GRAPHIC account!

Here are some (shocking!) photos from our (alarming!) King's English launch party for (earth shattering!) calamity jack. Intrigued...? I thought so.

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Dean, Nate, and I talked about making the book. Blah, blah, blah. Why does my husband's shirt have a bloody hand print? Because it's his Intermural Zombie Hunting League team shirt. Obviously.

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Nate's awesome presentation on the making of a graphic novel. The cutie kids sat on the floor. Where they could better put their hands in front of the projector. Obviously. Nate made a graphical homage to this moment on his blog.

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More talking. Questions answered. Two super secret projects revealed. Does Nate look like he's keeping his distance? Almost as if...he doesn't trust us, for some reason? Weird.

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Through Interpretive Movement, Dean and I explain the process of Collaboration.

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With a big finish!

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Look at these cutie kids! Rapunzel is decked out from head to foot. Awesome! And cowboy little brother was definitely smiling on the inside.

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Two Rapunzels show the world how to whip evil! A shout out to Mindy Hale who knit this unbelievable wig for me at the Rapunzel launch. It appeared on the Today Show even, the most famous wig in America! I should have just worn this wig the entire time. My other hair looked awful. Just texted my hair dresser: emergency!

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16. September 2010: KidLit Events in Southern California

Support Your Fellow Kidlit Authors and Illustrators! Event, readings, and signings in Southern California for the month of September are as follows:

SEPTEMBER KIDLIT EVENTS:

Thursday, Sept 9th

7 pm: Kathy Charles presents and signs John Belushi is Dead at Book Soup 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90096  Phone: (310) 659 3110

Friday, Sept 1oth

4 pm: Nancy Holder presents and signs her new YA Fantasy Crusade at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Saturday, Sept 11th

10:30 am: Naomi Howland reads from and signs Princess Says Goodnight at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, California 91101

11 am: Lee Wind, M.Ed. present SMASHING STEREOTYPES! Writing Workshop with author Francesca Lia Block at Book Soup 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90096 Phone: (310) 659 3110.

11 am: Jamie Lee Curtis signs her newest book My Mommy Hung the Moon at A Whale of a Tale Bookstore at 4199 Campus Drive Suite A, Irvine, CA 92612.

Thursday, Sept 16th

4 pm: Brian Lies shares his children’s book Bats at the Ballgame at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Friday, Sept 17th

6:30 pm: Vroman’s Young Adult Book Group discusses The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor at Vroman’s Hastings Ranch 3729 E. Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, California 91107

Monday, Sept 20th

4 pm: Adam Jay Epstine and Andrew Jacobson share their book The Familiars at A Whale of a Tale Bookstore at 4199 Campus Drive Suite A, Irvine, CA 92612.

4 pm: Jennifer Fosberry reads and signs her picture book My Name is Not Isabella at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Thursday, Sept 23rd

10:30 am: Sara Penny Packer and Marla Frazee read and sign the new book in the Clementine Series at Children’s Book World at 10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064.

4:30 pm: Sara Penny Packer and Marla Frazee read and sign the new book in the Clementine Series at A Whale of a Tale Bookstore at 4199 Campus Drive Suite A, Irvine, CA 92612.

Saturday, Sept 25th

11 am: Jamie Lee Curt

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17. Falling Back (Into Reading)!


Now that it's September, I'm officially back in NYC full-time! Though I miss the quiet of 90 open acres and no one around but my fam, it's nice to be back with friends, and back into the book scene. Last night I attended the B&N Back to School Bast, where I heard readings from new releases and heard a rockin' performance from TIger Beat,  the best (and to my knowledge only) YA-author rock band around. 
Tiger Beat (pictured above) is Daniel Ehrenhaft, Natalie Standiford, Barnabus Miller, and Libba Bray. And if you like their books, you'll love their music. 

Read more about the night and other recent goings-on about the town in my readergirlz NYC host post from earlier today. 
For those of you who don't know, I've been hosting for readergirlz since March 2009, writing up the various literary events that happen in and around my fine city. As of November, I'll be taking on a new role at the site, coordinating content from featured authors. My first author will be Lauren Oliver, whose novel, BEFORE I FALL, blew me away. 

What else? Oh! While I was upstate, I fell MADLY in love with my Kindle. Too bad I only began this affair AFTER I returned from my 5-week honeymoon - it would have been great for traveling. Well, maybe on the next marriage. 
(I kid, I kid...)
But yeah, Kindle. Didn't think I'd be into it, now I can't put it down. Back in January, I joined up with some other authors in a challenge to read
100 books this year. I'm now somewhere in the 80's, and I think I have the convenience of the kindle to thank for that. 

What about the rest of you? Where do you come down on the subject of e-books? 


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18. October KidLit Events in Southern California (2010)

Fantastic Kidlit events are happening all over Southern California this October! If you can, come out for some spooky literary adventures and support your fellow writers and illustrators!

Friday, Oct 1st

4 pm: Gitty Daneshvari shares the second book in her book series School of Fear: Class Not Dismissed! at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Tuesday, Oct 5th

10 am: David Wiesner signs Art and Max at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Wednesday, Oct 6th

1:30 pm: David Wiesner signs Art and Max at Children’s Book World at 10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064.

7pm: Kiersten White shares her debut YA novel Paranormalcy at The Yellow Book Road at 7200 Parkway Dr., Suite 118
La Mesa, CA 91942.

Saturday, Oct 9th

10:30 am: Ann Redisch Stampler and Eugene Yelchin sign The Rooster Princess of Brestov at Children’s Book World at 10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064.

2pm: Cecil Castellucci discusses and signs Rose Sees Red at Book Soup located at 8818 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90096.

5 pm: Lauren Strasnick reads and signs her young adult novel Her and Me and You at Skylight Books on 1818 Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

Sunday, Oct 10th

10:30 am: Antoinette Portis signs her book Kindergarden Diary at Children’s Book World at 10580 ½ W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Thursday, Oct 14th

4 pm: Antoinette Portis signs her book Kindergarden Diary at Mrs. Nelson’s Toy and Book Shop located at 1030 Bonita Avenue, La Verne, CA 91750.

Saturday, Oct 16th

10:30 am: Antoinette Portis signs her book Kindergarden Diary at Vroman’s bookstore at 695 E. Colorodo Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101

12:30 pm: Cecil Castelluci bestselling author of The Queen of Cool and The Plain Janes signs her first picture book, Grandma’s Gloves at Every Picture Tells A Story located at 1311-C Montana Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90403.

4:30 pm: Jamie Lee Curtis signs her newest book My Mommy Hung the Moon at Every Picture Tells A Story located at 1311-C Montana Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90403. Preceding the book signing, the Aero Theater (across the street) screens the family favorite Freaky Friday followed by a Q and A with Jamie Lee Curtis.

Sunday, Oct 17th

5 pm: Francesca Lia Block discusses and signs The Frenzy at Vroman’s bookstore at 695 E. Colorodo Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91101

2 pm: Laura Numeroff autho

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19. First Day of the Virtual Literacy Day Conference

Whew! The first day of our virtual Literacy Day Conference was absolutely incredibly amazing! Yes, that’s a lot of adjectives for a professional writer to be tossing around, but hey, it really was a day to write in the history books. Why, you ask? What could possibly be that exciting to a seasoned conference organizer [...]

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20. Near-Fiascoes in Book Event World

Inspired by Shannon Hale's Mortification Monday (thanks Wendy!) this week some of the Buzz Girls are sharing book event fiascoes with the world. Now, hopefully I'm not jinxing myself (*throws salt over shoulder*) but I've never had a true book event fiasco. I've had some near misses, though, so I'll dish on those...

  • For my debut launch party at Houston's Blue Willow Bookshop, my parents were planning on flying down from Oklahoma City to join the party. It was their only child's first book and they wanted to be there to celebrate. They packed their overnight bag, went to the airport, and... realized that they had misread the landing time as the departure time. They had missed their flight! Luckily, they caught the next one (it's only a hour long flight, thank goodness) and, despite cutting it quite close, made it just in time!
  • My next signing was at Katy Budget Books, also in Houston. Unfortunately, that was the time when my mother was in the hospital and I was up in Oklahoma City to be with her and my dad. She was still in the hospital, but stable, and I didn't want to flake out on the booksigning. So I bought a ticket down and back on the same day, leaving myself plenty of time to get to the signing. Three hours extra, in fact. Guess how late my plane took off? Yep, three hours! I made it, though... barely. However, it was summer vacation, and apparently everyone who had been in the store the week before had been buying books for their trips because, literally, two people showed up. And I knew one of them. It was a very emotionally draining day, but meeting the one fan who came in already having read my book and asking me to sign the cover with silver marker, to take pictures with her for her blog, that made it all worthwhile.

All of my other events have been pretty smooth (*knocks on wood*) with only the typical no-one-shows-up dramas and do-I-have-to-read-pages worries. If those are the worst things that ever happen in my booksigning career, then I'll county myself lucky. (*goes in search of four-leaf clovers*)

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com

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21. Book Oopsies and a Winner

We've been talking about blips in our booksignings this week. Fortunately, I've had a good run with my signings, but I do have two stories to share.

First off, when my SORORITY 101 series debuted, I had a launch party in Boston with all of my work friends, a ton of writer friends, my agent, my sister, brother, nieces, and cousins. It was a huge blowout and I was hot, sweaty, nervous wreck. As I gave my speech toward the end of the night, I looked around the room to thank certain people. When I saw the person's face, I thanked them, and proceeded around the room. However, I pulled a Hilary Swank. I forgot to thank my then husband! It wasn't totally my fault because he was standing behind a pillar and I couldn't see him. I did correct the mistake, but I was horrendously embarassed!

Marley speaking

The other oopsies was when my book THE OTHER SIDE: A TEEN'S GUIDE TO GHOST HUNTING AND THE PARANORMAL was released, my co-authors (my now fiance, Patrick Burns, and Dave Schrader) and I were having our launch party at Dave's Darkness Radio event at the Queen Mary. Only problem was, the books arrived a week after the event. Talk about egg on the face! We had 200 people there who wanted to buy our books. So, our amazing publisher got the attendee list and addresses and mailed them all a FREE copy of it. That was incredibly generous!

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Let's hope neither of those things happen again!

Last week, I put up a giveaway for C.C. Hunter's BORN AT MIDNIGHT...and the winner is...

*****TEPEE*****

Please e-mail me offline with your name and address at marley_gibson AT yahoo dot com. Congrats!

Next week...the launch of my new book GHOST HUNTRESS: THE DISCOVERY!

Hugs,
Marley = )

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22. Good week

Gearing up for some book events in July. New Ulm Public Library has a cool website. I'm there on July 15.

This is my birthday week, so on my birthday yesterday, I rode 55 miles -- Eeek. That's a mile for every year. Muddy, wet, rainy, windy, puddles, grit, but I did it.

Wrote all morning, then rode, then met my writing group for a birthday party/goodbye party for dear friend Jann who is moving to Fargo-Moorhead this weekend. Then Tom took me out. What a great birthday.

Now: back to writing.

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23. After Austen

Tonight at 8 pm EST (6 pm MST) I'll be doing a live chat with uber-fabulous authors E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks) and Elizabeth Eulberg (Prom & Prejudice) on figment.com. We'll be talking about that bottomless topic "why does everyone love Austen so much?" and answering your burning questions (but not your itching questions--keep those ones to yourself). You should be able to follow along here on my blog as well. Come harass us!

&lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=f0411f3f0d" _mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=f0411f3f0d" &gt;After Austen&lt;/a&gt;

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24. Soup with three things*

The past couple of weeks have been even crazier than normal. My email inbox has activated an automatic self-destruct command. Just no extra brains for blogging right now. So many interesting things to talk about. I'll have to deal with later. Just know three things:

1. Writing for Charity is going to be awesome this Saturday. You can sign up at the door, but those who preregister are guaranteed lunch and get preference in choice of authors for their critique session. The book signing at 4 pm is open to the public. The silent auction has some drool-worthy offerings, so if you can't make the conference, come at the end!

2.I'm emceeing Brandon Mull's launch party for Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion tomorrow (Tuesday) again, Cottonwood High Auditorium in Salt Lake. Comedy, music, books, a great family event, so much fun. This year, I'll be signing books after as well. Show starts at 7 pm, but get there early if you want a seat. FREE!

3. I have another super secret project...no, not a movie. But I love it so much. I can't wait to talk about it.

*My friend and writer Tiffany Trent lived in Hong Kong for a time. She told me about how a restaurant translated each menu item into English, and one item translated as simply "Soup with three things." I love that. That would make a great book title! Or blog post title...

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25. Deja sob

IMG_0983I spent the last couple of days in Houston for TLA (Texas Library Assoc annual conference). I love Texans and love librarians, so obviously this is an excellent conference. (and they gave us cowboy hats and fake mustaches!) I kept meeting people there who said, "I met you last time you were here two years ago." And I thought, I was here two years ago?

And then I did the math--I would have been preggo. With twins. Nauseated to my eyeballs. And I have no memory of attending TLA. Nothing. I couldn't drag up a single image. Someone said there was a dinner I was supposed to attend but didn't go (probably vomiting in the hotel) where I would have shared a table with those librarians and Suzanne Collins.

Yesterday I was on a panel about graphic novels with an excellent group of lads: Gareth Hinds (The Odyssey, King Lear...), Ben Hatke (Zita the Space Girl), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Laddertop...). Near the end, we were asked a question about something, Gareth answered, it was my turn, and I started to pontificate on how important GNs are for kids and especially certain kinds of readers, and how difficult it would be to find or even publish GNs for young readers without the awesome support of libraries. And I started to cry. Blubber, really, getting embarrassingly emotional, because as much as I yearn to be in total control of my face at all moments, I do that. Mom thing? Me thing?

When I was done, I think there was an awkward silence, and the moderator went to the next person down the line, OSC, repeating what had apparently been the question: "What are you working on now?"

Yep. That had been the question. Not, "Can you sum up why GNs matter, who is to thank for their existence, and why you want to mouth kiss every librarian you meet, and toss in some tears while you're at it?" Nope, I was just supposed to talk about my current project.

OSC said gamely, "I'm not following that."

Afterward, it all started to feel awfully familiar. I looked back on my blog and found my post after last TLA. You guys, I did it there too! The very same speech probably, oozing very similar and equally damp emotions!

I wonder if I'm getting a reputation. If when I show up to conferences, my fellow panelists look at each other and think, oh great, we got the blubberer.

Awkward tears aside, let me just say again, THANK YOU, LIBRARIANS. Thank you.

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