Visiting Monterey Park Library

Yesterday I had a wonderful visit at the Monterey Park Library. It’s a beautiful space with a huge children’s floor. They have an active community and a great after school program. Thanks to librarian Diana Garcia, the kids were reading SPIRIT’S KEY! The kids were very enthusiastic and had worked hard to develop thoughtful questions to ask me. The kids had even baked Sky’s cookies together in the library kitchen and brewed yaupon tea for the occasion. It was a day Spirit and Sky were so proud to be a part of.

Spirit’s Key Tour

I am still recovering from my whirlwind tour on the east coast. My schedule was packed. I visited eight schools, four bookstores and did an SCBWI workshop. Whew! All the events went so well, and I love how enthusiastic the kids were. Here are some photos from my travels. You can read a recap of my Durham Academy visit here. And my SCBWI workshop recap is here.

Vanstory Elementary, my alma mater in Fayetteville, NC

I got this super cool t-shirt!

Ephesus Church Road Elementary in Chapel Hill, NC

Jones Elementary in Wilson, NC

SCBWI Magic and World Building Workshop in NYC with my editor Susan Dobinick and critique buddy Bridget Casey. Clearly, I was saying something important.

Balfour Elementary in Asheboro, NC

Me with Durham Academy 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Donnelly in Durham, NC

Speaking to the fifth & sixth grade at Durham Academy

Cleveland Elementary in Clayton, NC

Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC: me with Princess Leia Pup, Kami Kinard, author of The Boy Problem and Rebecca Petruck, author of Steering Toward Normal

My high school buds came out to see me at the Fayetteville Barnes & Noble

The most exciting thing about returning to my hometown? Reconnecting with my childhood BFF.

Books of Wonder in NYC

The crowd at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC

 

LA Teen Author Reading Series

Join me and these fabulous authors at the Playa Vista Library on Saturday!

My first reading

Photo credit: Jess Capelle

In February I attended a writing workshop put on by Nova Ren Suma at Djerassi. You can read more about the workshop by clicking on Nova’s name in the previous sentence. There were 11 other novelist in attendance. While I was there, I worked on my first pass pages.

At night, Nova let us sign up to do readings. I thought it would be good practice for me, since I haven’t read to an audience since I stopped teaching. So I read the first few pages of SPIRIT’S KEY!

Nova Ren Suma, Marie Cruz, Kim Liggett and me!

As you can see I dressed up for the event. 😉 Monster t-shirt, unicorn slippers, no makeup–we wore our writers’ uniforms. If nothing else, I was comfortable. I think it went well. Everyone was nice and said it did. Anyway, practice makes perfect, so it was great to have the opportunity at an early stage before the book comes out. September gets closer everyday!

Showing off the map