Events

It seems the palooza tagline has been used for all manner of events. I wonder if any enterprising equine enthusiasts (how’s that for alliteration?) have had an Appaloosa-palooza. If they haven’t they certainly should. Well, there won’t be any appaloosas (sorry, equine enthusiasts) but that’s about the only thing there won’t be at this Saturday’s YA-Palooza right here in downtown Clinton, NJ. I’ll be joining fellow YA authors Charlotte Bennardo, Kristi Cook, Amy Holder, Kathy McCullough and Natalie Zaman for this event which runs from 1 to 3. Enjoy lunch with the authors, answer fun trivia questions, win prizes and get a jump start on your holiday shopping at this fun event.  The Clinton Bookshop is located at 12 E. Main...

Why are my lips coated with sugar? Because today is the official book birthday for Bad Taste in Boys by one of my good online friends, Carrie Harris. Carrie’s the fearless leader of the Class of 2K11 and her debut YA novel is made out of awesomeness and zombies and sugar lips. Happy (belated) book birthday to another good online friend and fellow Fluxian, Medeia Sharif whose debut Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. came out on Friday! Speaking of Fluxians, although Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman has been out for a little while, the big book birthday party is set for Thursday night, and since these sirens live so close to me (and there is the promise of cake) , I’m looking forward to attending their launch party in person. It’s a busy week...

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s book signing at the Borders in Stroudsburg, PA. I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar KidLit Authors Club members and getting to meet some others. I’m also looking forward to being back up in the Poconos and seeing some old friends who have promised to stop by. I like nice weather as much as the next person, but if say between the hours of one and three tomorrow it was a little bit less nice, maybe the sort of weather that made you feel like spending some time in a bookstore, I would not complain. Check it out, the Pocono Record did a nice article on tomorrow’s event and the KidLit Author’s Club. Click here for the...

UPDATE: Ok, now that video should be showing up at the end. I don’t know what happened to it before. I meant to get this post up yesterday, but somehow the time got away from me. I guess I needed an extra day to fully recover from my busy weekend. I had a great time Saturday at the book signing at the Borders Express in Exton, PA and another fun day on Sunday at the BooksNJ 2011 festival in Paramus. Here’s a photo from BooksNJ with fellow KidLit Authors Club members Margie Gelbwasser and Alison Formento: My weekend wasn’t all work. I did get the chance to enjoy a little concert on Saturday evening. I should probably mention that this was a concert in the basement of my boyfriend’s parents’ house and that it was incredibly short. Did...

Although the calendar assures me that summer has not yet arrived, it feels like summer in this part of the world. Part of the fun I’ll be having this summer is heading off to libraries book stores and other fun bookish places to promote Popular. This weekend I’ll spend some time Saturday afternoon with fellow YA authors Beth Fantaskey, Amy Holder and Jennifer R. Hubbard at the Borders Express at the Exton Square Mall in Pennsylvania for a group book signing. Although the weather will be sunny I’m hoping the heat might drive some folks into the mall’s air conditioning, at least during the early afternoon, like say from 1-3 when conveniently you’ll be able to pick up some signed books from some awesome YA authors. Sunday, I’m...

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the annual New Jersey SCBWI (that’s Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, for those of you who didn’t know. It’s a mouthful, thus the alphabet soup.) annual conference. Tomorrow is actually the pre-conference. I’m excited to be joining fellow YA authors Keri Mikulski and Ellen Jensen Abbott for an intensive workshop we’ll be conducting on character development. Saturday the official conference gets under way, and Keri, Ellen and I will be leading some shorter fun character development sessions Saturday afternoon. Keri and Ellen are fellow members of the KidLit Authors Club and we also have a group of picture book authors from our group who will be leading some workshops of their...