In a lot of cool places. I'm putting together my schedule for book signings and presentations. The schedule isn't set, but I figured I'd put a mention so you can look out for other awesome authors, and maybe The Powers That Be will jump on the chance to invite me...
Here they are:
April 19: YA Fest
http://yafest.blogspot.com/2013/04/ya-fest-2014-is-coming.html
This is being coordinated by awesome author Jennifer Murgia. Tons of authors will be signing and some are giving writing presentations. I've been to this twice and was thrilled to be asked again. You. Can't. Miss. It.
April 26: Little Flowers Teen Book Festival
https://www.facebook.com/LFWritersFest
Again, another amazing author, K.M. Walton, is one of the coordinators, along with the marvelous sisters at Little Flowers. I'm giving a writing presentation, and then doing a meet & greet/signing. *Sings 'I'm so excited....'
May 3: Hudson Children's Book Festival
http://www.hudsonchildrensbookfestival.com/
I'm still waiting to hear if my application is approved, but updates are always being made. There are sooo many authors, from PB to YA, who sign here. It's HUGE.
May 17: Hillsborough Libray Book Fair
http://www.somerset.lib.nj.us/hillsborough.htm
There will be a range of authors from picture book to young adult. Details are still being worked out, but you'll see some familiar faces (like me) and make new author friends.
June 1: Somerville Spring Street Fair
http://somervillebiz.org/event/somerville-spring-spectacular/
I'm working on getting our Kidlit Authors Club members a spot on this Main Street affair. There are vendors, food, bands, and lots of friendly folk! Stay tuned for more details.
June 28-29: NJ Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Annual Conference
http://njscbwi.com/
All the details aren't posted yet, but if you've EVER wanted to write or illustrate-picture books, poetry, articles, middle grade or young adult novels, THIS is the place to be. Famous guest speakers, agents, editors, published authors signing their books and giving presentations on writing/illustrating for children. I never miss it! I may be presenting- stay tuned for details as they develop.
Sept 19-21: Chapter By Chapter Book Rave
http://www.cbcevent.com/p/updates.html
This is UNBELIEVABLE. Hosted by YA author Jennifer Armentrout and co-hosted by my friend Damaris Cardinali & TrinDee Events, there are (at present!) 39 young adult authors and as many NA (new adult) authors. It's a 3 day extravaganza with a free, open to public book signing and other events. Keep checking back for updates! Right after, I'm dying & going to YA heaven...
Sept: Warwick Children's Book Festival
http://www.warwickchildrensbookfestival.org/
I've been trying to get in for several years but... (and I'm a NY native. Huh.) An updated site for 2014 hasn't been set yet, so there isn't a specified date yet.
Get those dates blocked on your calendars, there's too much book/reading/author goodness to be missed!
Char
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
No Man Is An Island...
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
John Donne, Courtesy of Poem Hunter
"There is no 'I' in team..."
Michael Jordan
On Christmas Eve, I volunteered to set up and light the luminarias around our church. The effect was breathtaking, as it is every year.
Do I deserve the credit?
No, because although I volunteered for the job, my mother and two sons helped. So, thanks guys.
But so did Andre Hughes, Adriana Calderon, and Kleber Salas. Church members? No. I don't even know these people. So how do they get to claim credit and get kudos with us?
They made the white paper bags that we poured the sand and set the candles into. Their names are proudly stamped on the bottom.
And then there are those people who made the candles, packaged the sand, transported the supplies, sold them, and church people who ordered them.
One simple job, so many people deserve credit and thanks and acknowledgment.
So too with Blonde OPS.
By now everyone knows that Nat & I wrote it together, but it was the brainchild of our editors Peter Joseph and Kat Brzozowski, and we were brought together by our agent Natalie Lakosil. They've all been acknowledged and thanked, along with family and friends.
But the creation of this book, like the luminaria display, involves so many more people. Copyeditors, packagers, artists, publicists, bloggers, readers, booksellers, truck drivers, shippers, postal workers, typesetters, and too many more to count. I wish I knew everyone who had a hand in making this book a reality just so I could personally say thank you and list them in the acknowledgments.
Some people need a deeper acknowledgment; they deserve the dedication. Here's mine and Nat's.
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When I was in seventh grade, my father, who'd worked on lunar modules that orbited and eventually landed on the moon, was out of work. As he struggled to find a job, my mom waitressed. It was a tough few years, and sometimes my parents had to borrow money from family in order to feed us. There was nothing left for trendy fashions; I had hand-me-downs or what clothes my mother made. Enter the rich kids with their overpriced designer outfits and overblown egos.
I was bullied. It made me shy, afraid to talk to people, willing to do anything to fly under the radar. But there was Mr. Cavuto, my English teacher, always with a smile, quick joke, or praise. When Jimmy (and I'm glad I can't remember his name otherwise I'd send him a letter telling him what a lowlife he was) laughed and taunted me because although my clothes were clean and pressed, they still looked poor and out of date.
Mr. Cavuto told him to shut up. And I still remember the look on Jimmy's face. Someone didn't think his jibes were funny? They were telling him to be quiet?
Mr. Cavuto didn't make a big deal of it, but Jimmy never bothered me again, and all through the time I spent there until we moved several months later, Mr. Cavuto praised my work, encouraging me to write. He even had the whole class write farewell Haikus on my last day. It still chokes me up thinking of the kindness he showed.
He deserves the dedication because I may not have continued to write or learned how to deal with criticism if it weren't for him. Thank you, Professor George Cavuto.
And then there was Mr. Grattan, high school English teacher. A sensitive, intellectual man, often bullied by snotty, 'I'm so cool but I'm really a jerk' students, he taught all the literature that seems to be the bane of students (sometimes even English-loving kids like myself): Romeo and Juliet, Silas Marner, Great Expectations, A Streetcar Named Desire. No one loves all the assigned readings, but even with the ones that I could have lived happily without having read, discussed, and written about, Mr. Grattan forced open my narrow view of what literature should be. Great literature doesn't have to be iambic pentameter, or a play, or 18th century English prose.
Literature can be anything I want it to be.
Without having been exposed to the greats and maybe not-so-greats, I might not have let my mind expand to the point where now I can say, "yeah, there's a story in that."
So thank you, Mr. George Grattan, for enlarging my vista, and I'm sorry that I didn't say it sooner while you could hear it. I'm no less grateful.
I proudly, humbly, gratefully, and lovingly dedicate Blonde OPS to you.
Char
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
John Donne, Courtesy of Poem Hunter
"There is no 'I' in team..."
Michael Jordan
On Christmas Eve, I volunteered to set up and light the luminarias around our church. The effect was breathtaking, as it is every year.
Do I deserve the credit?
No, because although I volunteered for the job, my mother and two sons helped. So, thanks guys.
But so did Andre Hughes, Adriana Calderon, and Kleber Salas. Church members? No. I don't even know these people. So how do they get to claim credit and get kudos with us?
They made the white paper bags that we poured the sand and set the candles into. Their names are proudly stamped on the bottom.
And then there are those people who made the candles, packaged the sand, transported the supplies, sold them, and church people who ordered them.
One simple job, so many people deserve credit and thanks and acknowledgment.
So too with Blonde OPS.
By now everyone knows that Nat & I wrote it together, but it was the brainchild of our editors Peter Joseph and Kat Brzozowski, and we were brought together by our agent Natalie Lakosil. They've all been acknowledged and thanked, along with family and friends.
But the creation of this book, like the luminaria display, involves so many more people. Copyeditors, packagers, artists, publicists, bloggers, readers, booksellers, truck drivers, shippers, postal workers, typesetters, and too many more to count. I wish I knew everyone who had a hand in making this book a reality just so I could personally say thank you and list them in the acknowledgments.
Some people need a deeper acknowledgment; they deserve the dedication. Here's mine and Nat's.
When I was in seventh grade, my father, who'd worked on lunar modules that orbited and eventually landed on the moon, was out of work. As he struggled to find a job, my mom waitressed. It was a tough few years, and sometimes my parents had to borrow money from family in order to feed us. There was nothing left for trendy fashions; I had hand-me-downs or what clothes my mother made. Enter the rich kids with their overpriced designer outfits and overblown egos.
I was bullied. It made me shy, afraid to talk to people, willing to do anything to fly under the radar. But there was Mr. Cavuto, my English teacher, always with a smile, quick joke, or praise. When Jimmy (and I'm glad I can't remember his name otherwise I'd send him a letter telling him what a lowlife he was) laughed and taunted me because although my clothes were clean and pressed, they still looked poor and out of date.
Mr. Cavuto told him to shut up. And I still remember the look on Jimmy's face. Someone didn't think his jibes were funny? They were telling him to be quiet?
Mr. Cavuto didn't make a big deal of it, but Jimmy never bothered me again, and all through the time I spent there until we moved several months later, Mr. Cavuto praised my work, encouraging me to write. He even had the whole class write farewell Haikus on my last day. It still chokes me up thinking of the kindness he showed.
He deserves the dedication because I may not have continued to write or learned how to deal with criticism if it weren't for him. Thank you, Professor George Cavuto.
And then there was Mr. Grattan, high school English teacher. A sensitive, intellectual man, often bullied by snotty, 'I'm so cool but I'm really a jerk' students, he taught all the literature that seems to be the bane of students (sometimes even English-loving kids like myself): Romeo and Juliet, Silas Marner, Great Expectations, A Streetcar Named Desire. No one loves all the assigned readings, but even with the ones that I could have lived happily without having read, discussed, and written about, Mr. Grattan forced open my narrow view of what literature should be. Great literature doesn't have to be iambic pentameter, or a play, or 18th century English prose.
Literature can be anything I want it to be.
Without having been exposed to the greats and maybe not-so-greats, I might not have let my mind expand to the point where now I can say, "yeah, there's a story in that."
So thank you, Mr. George Grattan, for enlarging my vista, and I'm sorry that I didn't say it sooner while you could hear it. I'm no less grateful.
I proudly, humbly, gratefully, and lovingly dedicate Blonde OPS to you.
Char
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