School Visits, Author Events, & New Books

It has been a whirlwind spring of not enough writing, but a wonderful schedule of author events, including a visit to Toki Middle School in Madison with fellow teen author Angie Stanton. We spent the morning there and talked about our books with nearly 150 kids. They had great questions and started some very interesting stories using the writing prompts we provided. I hope they kept writing those stories after we left! 

Toki MS has an impressive fundraising drive for the remodeling of the Library/Media Center.  Librarian Mandy Meloy is doing a great job getting the word out on this. It’s going to be a fabulous space when it’s finished!  Angie and I were happy to take part in the publicity effort for this project with a message for their campaign.

I need to mention that Angie’s new book Under the Spotlight was released this week . . . it’s the third one in the Jamieson Brothers Trilogy.  These are super stories—great for adults, too.

I also had the chance to work with 4th graders at St. Jerome School in Columbus this week. We talked about the elements of a story and used some writing prompts just like the kids at Toki. 

I do get to hang out with adults sometimes, too.  The Books and Beer event was a great success at Hydro Street Brewing in Columbus. We’ll continue this format approximately once per month by reading a book from an area author and then spending the evening with them talking about all things writerly over a pint or two!  Thanks to Sandye Adams at Hydro who is hosting this fun event. Watch for the Facebook event invite for the June Books & Beer night!

Other events lately included a Young Adult Author event at A Room of One’s Own bookstore in Madison. This awesome group of authors with their novels are  (l to r) Lori M. Lee, (me), Kelly Risser, Sandy Goldsworthy, Angie Stanton, Jessica Salyer, and Kelley Lynn.

And the spring SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) luncheon in Fond du Lac where I was lucky to sit with (l to r below) Diane Swanson, Julie Mata, Silvia Acevedo, (me), and Wendy Lombard.

Silvia’s debut teen novel was released May 1.  I am so very grateful to be in a critique group with this smart woman! God Awful Loser is a laugh-out-loud, fast-paced adventure where "A careless Cupid gets dethroned and joins misfit fallen angels to battle hell's army, save Olympus, and hopefully regain his crown." 

To close out this spate of events, I will be at the Wisconsin Writers’ Association Author Showcase at the Lakefly Writers Conference at the Oshkosh Convention Center on Saturday, May 9.

Then, I will be getting down to business and writing, writing, writing. (I promise!) Look for an important announcement in June!