Hooray for PNBA

Dear Dreamwalkers

My wonderful publisher Dial Books for Young Readers, set up a Dragonswood book signing for me at the PNBA Fall Tradeshow. My friend, Heidi Pettit, caught a few fun shots of the day. The tradeshow was held in the elegant Hotel Murano.

 

Check out the beautiful sea green glass in the entry. We headed upstairs for the tradeshow and ran into some friends right away. Justina Chen was there signing Advance Reader Copies of her upcoming novel.

 

 

 

Justina and I caught up with two of our favorite local independent booksellers, Rene Kirkpatrick of Eagle Harbor Books, and Sue Nevins of Mockingbird Books. Then it was time to do some book signing.

 

 

 

It was a Very Long line! Everyone was talking about the beautiful cover. I said, "Boys will like the adventure scenes and the dragons in the book, though I can understand that the cover deters them."

      The next man in line said, "I'm here because I like the cover."

     "Heidi," I said, "Get a photo of this guy!" Here he is.

 

 

After the book signing, I chatted with Colleen Conway the sales rep for Penguin Books. We'd never met before this. It was great to talk in person. 

I also caught up with fellow author, Meghan Nuttall Sayres, who was signing copies of her newest book Night Letter.   

 

Some readers may not know Meghan is also a Tapestry Weaver. She asked me to try on a felted whirling dervish hat, which she learned to make in Turkey (one of several hats the protagonist Anahita wears Night Letter.) I was happy to try it on.

 

and end the day with a dance.

Until next time, Dreamwalkers, walk well.

 

Summer ALA and Fall Library Conference

SUMMER Means ALA

I flew down to LA with writing buddy Katherine Grace Bond  and we dove into the American Library Association Conference in Anaheim. The trip combined 2 favorite things.

Books and swimming pools.

The best parts of ALA for me this year were:

~ Spending time with my editor, Kathy Dawson.

~ Standing in line while Katherine signed copies of her new book The Summer of No Regrets.

~ Meeting the librarians and snagging them for interviews on my blog Library Lions!

~ Hearing

read the prologue to her newest book

(Katherine and I gave her a standing ovation.)

Last, I have to say it . . .  going to Disneyland for the first time in my life (Katherine treated me to an evening pass.)  

FALL means WLMA (Washington Library Media Association) conference.

This October I headed over the mountains with author buddy, Deb Lund driving to Yakima to present on the panel "Show, Tell, and Do: The Next Generation of Author Visits" Deb and I joined  authors, Jennifer Wolf and Helen Landalf  and had a great discussion with the librarians.

(Deb grabbing books from the table. Helen & Moi)

Next day I presented one of my favorite workshops "The Female Hero in Children's and YA Fiction" The topic prompted some amazing discussions.

Thank you for traveling with me through summer and fall.

Until next time fellow dreamwalkers. Walk well