Two Down, Two to Go—Book Festivals & Conferences

Did you know that we are smack dab in the middle of the fall book festival and writing conference season! Yes, that’s a thing—but I didn’t know it until I made writing my primary profession. I was thrilled to be a guest author at the Sheboygan Children’s Book Fest—especially when they were kicking off their new TEEN BOOK FEST. What a blast! This festival was a fabulous three days of fun activities, great author talks, and book signings. Make plans to attend this wonderful event for book lovers (of all ages). I promise it’s worth the drive if you don’t live in the area.

They made trading cards for each visiting author. How cool is that?

Silvia Acevedo and I presented a session on the popularity of mythology in teen/tween books, including our own!

And there was a tough trivia contest where the authors teamed up with the readers to have a friendly competition. (L to R, Authors Silvia Acevedo, me, Melissa Gorzelanczyk, and Rachel Vail with a bunch of smart readers.)

The next weekend I traveled to the Wisconsin Writers Association Fall Conference. Here writers from all over the state gather to learn about the craft of writing and effectively promoting their work. I had a sales table and taught a session on traditional media publicity. 

I’m off to the Wisconsin Library Association Conference this week to present a session on the Teen/Tween Writing Group at the Columbus Library. It’s called Workshop to Writers: How to grow a teen/tween writing group. Last fall in conjunction with National Novel Writing Month, which occurs each year in November, I taught a novel writing workshop over the course of three different evenings. This group became an ongoing Teen/Tween Writing group, which they named the Inklings. I can’t wait to explain how we did this so other libraries can replicate the process in their communities!  

And finally, on November 5, I will be at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books participating in panel discussion about character background, growth, and change. (I promise we will make it way more exciting than that sounds!) This is also a great conference for readers. It’s FREE to attend and there are a ton of excellent speakers on both Friday, November 4 and Saturday, November 5 on the UW-Waukesha Campus and an opportunity to buy books and get them signed by the authors in attendance.

During these crazy, busy weeks, I am also preparing for the launch of the final novel in the Circle of Nine series:  Circle of Nine – Sacred Treasures.

It is always a whirlwind of activity to get a book into the hands of readers and this has been no exception. I’ll talk more about that soon as well as offer some fun contests and promotions as we approach that book’s birthday on November 16!

I am in love with the cover of this book. (If you missed my post on how this cover came to be, click here.)