Well, it’s official—The Song of Orphan’s Garden, my very first book baby has been born! And what a long labor it was! I got my publishing offer for this book at the end of August 2022!! For those of you who’ve been part of this blog for years, thank you for all your support. For those who’ve joined more recently, welcome! I’m glad you’re here! I just had to write a post about my launch […]
I’ve been hinting and hinting, and now I can finally shout the news from the rooftops: ORPHAN’S SONG, my MG novel in verse is coming in early 2025! I got the offer from Feiwel & Friends back in September and signed the contract in December, so it’s officially official! You can find my announcement on Twitter and Instagram as well (just click those links to see them). I can’t wait to share more with you […]
Hey, everybody, I’m back! I’ll confess that my brain feels a bit like pudding after all the amazing things I learned at the summer SCBWI conference—I think I need to give it all a little time to set. But so much wisdom was shared, and I’m feeling reinvigorated when it comes to my writing, which is always a good thing. I thought I’d share some highlights from the conference. This is just a tiny taste […]
I struggled with what to post here, but I couldn’t let Grace go without some acknowledgment, and a “mention” in my Sunday Post amidst giveaway announcements and silly news about my landscaping didn’t feel right. In case you don’t already know, we lost a vibrant member of our community on Wednesday. Grace from Rebel Mommy Book Blog lost her fight with cancer. What makes this even sadder is that, as her blog title declares, she […]
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the annual YA Lit Conference at Anderson’s Bookshop with my mom. We look forward to this event every year! It’s technically geared toward teachers and librarians but book enthusiasts are welcome as well. 🙂 I thought I’d give you a little rundown of the featured speakers. Enjoy! Mark Oshiro He gave his speech in numbers: At 8, he read IT by Stephen King(!!) and fell in […]
On Friday, my mom and I went to the Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel tour stop at Anderson’s Bookstore. This was way more than a book signing, it was a musical event! It was the perfect way for us to get a little taste of the musical since I got my mom tickets for us to see the show together in February for her 70th birthday! I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this tour. The […]
Last night my mom and I got a chance to go to a stop at the Epic Reads tour at Boswell Book Company up in Milwaukee. The featured authors were Kendare Blake, Mackenzi Lee, Elana K. Arnold, Claire Legrand, and Anna Godbersen. (I somehow missed getting a picture with Anna, so she’s not in my little collage above—sorry!) As I’m sure you can guess, I was super excited to meet these authors. (Can anyone guess who I […]
I’m heading off to Utah very early tomorrow morning for the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers writing workshop! I’m not planning on updating the blog while I’m there (unless I’m feeling especially inspired) because I want to focus on the conference as much as I can. Things about WIFYR I’m looking forward to: Meeting Trent Reedy. Have you read Words in the Dust? If you haven’t you need to. Absolutely fabulous! I know I’m […]
This past Sunday, my mom and I got to attend the Children’s Literature Breakfast hosted by Anderson’s Bookshop. This is the first time I’ve gone to this event, and I was excited to see what it was all about! KEYNOTES: Peter H. Reynolds – Peter introduced us to his newest children’s book The Word Collector, which is all sorts of adorable and inspired by the fact that he’s been keeping lists of words that he […]
I had a chance to go to an author event at Anderson’s Bookshop last night with my mom (in celebration of her birthday), so I thought I’d share a quick recap. I’m doing it in bullet-point format to make it easier! Adam Silvera just plain makes me happy. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to an event that featured him and not fallen a little more in love with the guy. You know, in an […]