Kimberly Pauley

Too many topics to come up with a good post name

So…it’s been a very busy, very crazy time in the Pauley household. The Max’s Nana (my hubby’s mom) and his cousin Cameron (yes, the one that Cameron in the book is named after!) came to visit for a week. We went ALL over, from dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th Floor of the John Hancock building to Lake Michigan (via beach in Racine, WI) to Medieval Times in Schaumburg, IL. It was a good time, but I’m totally worn out now! But I’d better pull it together soon since my older sister and her son are coming to visit on the 20th! (Then we’ve got more visits after that, with my in-Laws and my younger sister & her hubby). Very, very busy summer.

In the current book news (working title: Cat Girl Saves the Day), I’m still working on it. *sigh* I wanted it to be done by the end of June but that didn’t happen. It’s so very, very, very close though. I’ve got about 1/2 a chapter to the end and then some additions/corrections I need to make in the earlier chapters. So it *is* almost there. Almost. I’m hoping this week, if I can fit in writing between working my way through the mountain of laundry that seems to plague all the authors I know and doctor appointments and…

An Author Visit!

I’ll be at Glendale Heights at the Glenside Public Library tomorrow at 7 PM where I’ll be talking about writing and will even have VISUAL AIDS. No, I’m not bringing any funny bats. But I will have marked up copies of the first book so you can see what a manuscript looks like once your editor is done with it (Oh the red! Oh my eyes!) and other cool stuff. I’ll also be giving away tattoos and bookmarks and stuff. And who knows…if enough people are there, I’ll give away an STBM vase too… So, if you live in Northern Illinois, please do come by!

Where was I?

Oh yes…the craziness that’s my life. There’s also some really BIG BIG news that I can’t talk about yet. Life-changing stuff. Driving-me-crazy-stuff.

But I can’t talk about any of that.

But I CAN talk about where I am with picking winners of the Launch contest. I know, it’s been a month since the contest ended. I should’ve announced winners already. Besides going to ALA and having guests, I have no real excuse other than that it has been INCREDIBLY hard narrowing it down. First I went through all the entries and narrowed it down to a group of finalists. Then I sent those out to my guest judges. Then I tabulated the results. I marked my favorites (as well as the one Cameron gave a vote to while he was visiting). Then I noticed that two of the finalists were pretty close to each other, so I emailed them asking if, should they happen to win, a joint event would be feasible/possible. I just heard back from them (literally while I was typing this up) that they could do a joint event, so I’m going to be posting a FINAL poll for the Grand Prize so YOU can help me pick. Because I can’t narrow it down any farther. I just can’t. You guys are too awesome.

I am also going to award some additional runners-up prizes. Namely some Skype visits with me + swag packs (bookmarks, etc.). Honestly, I wish I could visit every single one of you! But I can’t afford it. Heck, after all this vacation-ing, I can’t afford anything!

Anyway, stay tuned for more on that soon (as in the next half hour).

Posted in Author Appearances, Personal, Writing, randomness | No Comments »

ALA 2010 Recap

As always, I had a blast at ALA. It also always coincides with my anniversary, so the whole family comes. This was The Max’s third ALA and the librarians, as always, love him. We arrived last Thursday a bit later than planned (had to sit on the runway in Chicago for almost 2 hours because of weather between Chicago and Washington D.C.) and just wandered a bit. We saw the White House and ate at Siroc Restaurant. They were very nice and the food was quite good. Call it “interesting Italian-ish” fare. And when I asked for extra cherries for The Max? They gave him a little bowl of them.

Flying Max

On Friday, we went to the National Air and Space Museum. The Max saw rockets and spaceships and airplanes. It was definitely a hit. It was kind of amazing to see one of Amelia Earhart’s planes as well as The Spirit of St. Louis in the same building with a lunar module. Very cool. Oh, and who can forget the Wright brother’s airplane? The real one? That’s a piece of history. Actually, all of it was. We enjoyed it as much as Max did. We also walked around the National Mall (you know, the big patch of land around the museums and the Washington Monument and all that) and wandered around the Smithsonian Folklife Festival that happened to be going on. The Max especially liked the music.

We met up with my editor & other Wizards of the Coast staff for dinner at Chef Geoff’s. It was good and the start of my gaining at least 3 pounds while we were in D.C. The Max was happy; he had popcorn as part of his dinner.

Nina Hess & The Max w/ tattoos!

On Saturday, I got all ready (i.e. put on makeup and all that jazz) and we headed over to the convention center for ALA. I had a signing at 1 and we wandered the floor a bit. I snapped pictures of Avi, Jerry Pinkney, Laurie Halse Anderson, and actually finally met Ellen Hopkins in person (nice dress, Ellen!). Also saw Ralph Nader, which was like a bit of random “Whoa, is that who I think it is?”-ness. I caught a quick glimpse of John Green as he was whisking by, but didn’t get a chance to say hello. Oh, and I met Sarah Wingfield, a sales rep from Random House who has been awesome to me and my books.

The signing was fun. I really love meeting people who love books and that’s the truly great thing about ALA. Everyone there is a book person. Without exception. Max loves it too. He thinks all of the booths are just for him, I think. He even passed out bookmarks to people (which was too adorable — him holding out a bookmark

And The Max is....out.

to librarians and going “Mommy’s book”). Then he literally passed out. He was also really excited to get a Max and Ruby book signed by Rosemary Wells.

Saturday’s staff dinner was at West End Bistro, another great meal. We dressed Max in his little vest and bow tie. He was a hit all the way around

Sunday we started out walking around since my signing wasn’t until 3 PM. We went to the Natural History museum and The Max saw dinosaurs, which he’d been talking about since we started mentioning museums. He really loved the dinosaurs and went running from exhibit to exhibit. He also loved the sculpture garden outside of the National Archive, where you can stick your feet in the water. We all did, actually. It was so incredibly HOT that it was a welcome respite.

I have no caption for this...

ALA Sunday was just as fun. Did run into fellow Chicago-area author James Kennedy and The Max got to meet one of the lions from Between the Lions.

Dinner that night was at Marakesh, a Moroccan-y place with belly dancers and food you eat with your hands. I was so proud of The Max; he tried a bunch of different foods and he loved the show. Just ask him — he’ll belly dance for you now.

Monday was our anniversary and we spent the day walking the city and seeing monuments (Lincoln Monument, the Washington Monument, etc.) and going to the American History museum, which was really cool. Got to see Julia’s Child’s kitchen and Kermit the frog and…well, too many things to list. We definitely have to go back to Washington D.C. when The Max is older AND not in the middle of summer. Way too hot. We’re heat wimps now.

We were originally planning (and had a reservation for) The Inn at Little Washington for our anniversary dinner, but we hadn’t realized how far it was from D.C. It’s over 60 miles and with the rush hour traffic, there was no way to do it. It would have cost us $400 to hire a car to get us out there and back. So we wound up going to Teatro Goldoni instead. It was good (and much, much closer).

Tony and The Max

And that was pretty much it. Tuesday was just a travel day. It was a great trip, though I wish I’d had a chance to hobnob more with my fellow authors. I always feel like I’m somehow missing out on the biggest parties or something. Or I hear about them too late to go. Still, it was an awesome time and we all had a lot of fun. AND we met a ton of librarians. Librarians Rock. And I’m totally not trying to suck up here. I think if I weren’t an author, librarian would be high up on my list of possible other things to be. You know, especially if “independently wealthy and fabulous” weren’t available (which, sadly, it never seems to be).

Oh, and if you want to check out some more of the pictures…here you go (Facebook album)! That’s actually not all of them, since I didn’t figure the whole world would want to see all the dinosaur and rocket photos that The Max kept telling me to take.

I can’t wait for our next trip. Where should we go next? Oh yeah…I still need to pick the Launch contest grand prize winner…

Hmmmmmmmm.

So, where will that next trip be….?

Posted in Author Appearances | 4 Comments »

ALA! Washington D.C.!

So, I’m off to ALA (specifically, the American Library Association annual convention) today! I’ll be signing at the Wizards of the Coast booth, #2253 on Saturday at 1 and on Sunday at 3.

It’ll be cool. I haven’t been in Washington D.C. for a LONG time. And my hubby and The Max are coming with me too. (our 13th anniversary is on Monday, and we’ll still be in the city) Oh, and my new blue hair, too…hope to see you there!!

Here’s my publisher’s complete schedule, so you don’t miss out on anything cool:

Saturday, June 26, 2010
All About Vampires
10:00 – 11:00 AM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: Nocturne by L.D. Harkrader
11:00 – 12:00 PM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: A Practical Guide to Vampires
1:00 – 2:00 PM AUTHOR SIGNING*: Kimberly Pauley, Still Sucks to Be Me
2:00 – 3:00 PM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: Nocturne by L.D. Harkrader
3:00 – 4:00 PM DEMO: “How to Track a Vampire” – Learn monster hunting basics with these activity based demos from the book, A Young Wizard’s Handbook: How to Trap a Zombie, Track a Vampire and Other Hands-on Activities for Monster Hunters. Hosted by the author A.R. Rotruck.
4:00 – 5:00 PM DEMO: Learn how to play DUNGEONS &DRAGONS® with a quick and easy demo you can run in your school or library!
*Titles are limited to one per person, while supplies last
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Monster Mayhem
10:00 – 11:00 AM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: A Practical Guide to Monsters
11:00 – 12:00 PM AUTHOR SIGNING*: Lukas Ritter, Monster Slayers
1:00 – 2:00 PM DEMO: “How to Trap a Zombie” – Learn monster hunting basics with these activity based demos from the book, A Young Wizard’s Handbook: How to Trap a Zombie, Track a Vampire and Other Hands-on Activities for Monster Hunters. Hosted by the author A.R. Rotruck.
2:00 – 3:00 PM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: A Practical Guide to Monsters
3:00 – 4:00 PM AUTHOR SIGNING*: Kimberly Pauley, Still Sucks to Be Me
4:00 – 5:00 PM DEMO: Learn how to play DUNGEONS &DRAGONS® with a quick and easy demo you can run in your school or library!
*Titles are limited to one per person, while supplies last

Monday, June 28, 2010
Magic & Mischief
9:00 – 10:00 AM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: A Practical Guide to Faeries & A Practical Guide to Wizardry
10:00 – 11:00 AM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: Path of the Planeswalker
11:00 – 12:00 PM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: Swordmage: Blades of Moonsea Book I & Corsair: Blades of Moonsea Book II.
1:00 – 2:00 PM AUTHOR SIGNING*: Lukas Ritter, Monster Slayers
2:00 – 3:00 PM BOOK GIVEAWAY*: The Stowaway by R.A. & Geno Salvatore
3:00 – 4:00 PM DEMO: Learn how to play DUNGEONS &DRAGONS ® with a quick and easy demo you can run in your school or library!
*Titles are limited to one per person, while supplies last

Posted in Author Appearances, Books | 1 Comment »

Hiya, Forest High School!

Me, Today w/ Funky Hair

So, today I had a Skype Video Chat with Forest High School (which is, incidentally, the rival high school of Vanguard HS, where I attended 9th and 10th grade). It was a lot of fun, though it’s a much different dynamic than if you are in a room with the students since you can’t really see them and gauge their reactions to your babbling.

Not that I ever actually intend to babble. But it happens. And could someone please poke me with a cattle prod every time I say “um”?

At any rate, I hope they had a good time. I did (even though my hair really didn’t behave…I swear it has a mind of it’s own and it always goes kind of funky if there’s a camera involved)!

They asked some good questions about writing and getting published and so I wanted to kind of reiterate what I said.

On how to get published…here’s something I’d written up before with advice for aspiring writers and how to get published.

On writing process…here’s something I’d written up before about my writing process. (Basically, I outline). And I try to do some “butt in chair” time every day. My goal is always a 1000 words. Sometimes I don’t hit that (er, like yesterday), but other days I knock it out of the park.

Oh, and they wanted to see The Max, but he was out at a park with his babysitter. So here’s a gratuitous picture of my little guy:

The Max!

Tags: forest high school, ocala
Posted in Author Appearances, Just for Fun | 2 Comments »

Pictures from the Valentine's Day Signing

So, I completely forgot to take a camera with me on last Sunday’s Valentine’s Day author signing with Kristin Walker and Kristina Springer. Because I suck. Kidding. Kind of. BUT Kristen (@bookgoil AKA Bookworming in the 21st Century) came and was not so unprepared as I was. And she was kind enough to send me some pictures.

Looking at these pictures, I can’t help but think: Geez, I’m short.

Didn't we make it all purty?

Kristin, Me and Kristina lookin' all in charge and things

Kristin, Me, The Max (flirty boy), Kristina, and Kristen (that's a lot of K's)

Posted in Author Appearances, pictures | 6 Comments »

Valentine's Day Author Signing in Bolingbrook, IL!

What: A Valentine’s Day Author Signing with me (Kimberly Pauley), Kristina Springer (author of The Espressologist), and Kristin Walker (author of A Match Made in High School) — call it the Three K’s (though I guess my mom must not have gotten the memo exactly right…)!

We’ll be signing and we’ll have goodies, and who knows what (I *might* be bringing an advance copy or two of Still Sucks to Be Me with me…so if someone sees this and comes and asks me…)! Come out and chat and bring us a Valentine.

Where:  Borders Books in Bolingbrook, IL
161 N. Weber Road
Bolingbrook, IL 60490

When: February 14, 2010 (V-Day!) at 3 PM

Please spread the word! I SO do not want to sit and eat a bunch of Valentine’s Day cookies by myself…

P.S. This is actually, believe it or not, my very first bookstore signing.

Tags: author signing, bolingbrook, borders books, valentine's day
Posted in Author Appearances | 7 Comments »

The Prairie Writer's Day Conference & Other Random Thoughts

So, I went to the SCBWI Illinois Prairie Writer’s Day Conference this Saturday. It was a strange experience for me. I haven’t been to a conference since we lived in Florida (I used to go to the Florida Suncoast Conference every year) — and, more importantly, since I got published. It feels entirely different now. Of course, there’s also the difference in conferences; the Suncoast one is much larger and for writers of…well, everything…while the SCBWI ones are (naturally) for those that deal in YA, kiddie lit, and illustration.

I still remember very fondly the year I got to have dinner with Harry Harrison. That was one of the highlights of my life. Should I say that? Oh, I am such a sci-fi geekette. Anyway, back to today.

It was a good conference but, as most such things are, it’s really geared more towards the pre-published than the published. I can’t say that I learned a whole lot. But then, I’ve also been “around” the business for quite some time what with running YA Books Central all these years. And other stuff. Eh, did I ever tell you I interned as an editorial assistant at a University Press? Oh my, the slush pile. It was, eh, academic. But weird.

But I digress (like I normally do).

Not that I am by any means an expert at anything in this crazy writing business. I may be published (and come May I’ll be more than a one hit wonder–Yay!), but I still have lots of questions. But they aren’t really the questions that get answered at conferences unless you can have a wee bit of a chat with an editor or agent (but not a stalkerish one). Though technically I suppose I can chat with my own  editor or agent. And I do. But sometimes, it’s hard to get solid answers. And I have to sometimes wonder if they’re just being nice (because they are, you know. Nice. Really. Awesome people.).

Like I’ll ask, “Um, so how is my book doing? Is it doing okay? How many copies should I be selling? How many copies do debut authors tend to sell on average?”

The answer I’ve gotten to that question is basically “Hey, it’s doing just fine.” and “It’s hard to give an average. I really couldn’t say.”

Maybe it’s because my husband is a math dude that I get a little caught up in numbers. Or maybe because he’s always asking me. When I get my royalty statements I can tell him how many copies I’ve sold, but I’ve never really been able to say whether it’s a good number or not. Because I really don’t know and it’s not the kind of stuff you can find anywhere online and they don’t teach it at conferences (though if someone did a breakout session on that? Oh, I would totally take it). And you can’t compare to news reports because they only seem to report on the big guns.

And I am NOT J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. I am not selling millions of copies. Not that I would complain if I was. So, you know, if you feel like going out there and buying a copy or two or three…

Um, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. The conference.

One of the little tidbits I happened to learn today was during a session with Michael Stearns of Upstart Crow Literary. He’s an agent that I’ve followed on Twitter awhile and kept up with his blog posts (he’s pretty funny and if you know me, you know I like funny). He used to be an editor with a couple of different (very large) publishing houses. He said that [fairly popular author who I've heard of and admire greatly]‘s first 4 or so books sold only a few thousand copies each. And even his [really great, very awesome] award-winning novel only sold like 6,000 copies in hardcover.

Whoa.

Really?? I mean, I’d seen a news article recently that said something about how a first book nowadays is considered a success if it sells 5,000 copies. I thought it was a typo. Seriously.

Sucks to Be Me (in hardcover) has sold a bunch more than that. Not like Rowling level bunches or anything (not even close), but way more than that! And the paperback version that came out in August? It’s already sold more than that (though I think the numbers he was quoting were all about the hardcover, so I don’t know how the paperback sales stack up). And the hardcover did even go into a second printing, pretty fast.

So I do feel like, hey, maybe my book is doing pretty good! And who knows what will happen once the sequel comes out in May? Maybe even more people will discover it.

Hmmm. Betcha didn’t realize that even published authors still stress about stuff, huh? It makes me smile every time a fan writes me (and I write back) and they go “OMG! A Famous Author wrote me back!” Because I sooooooo do not feel remotely famous. If I’m ever out and about and I actually see someone reading my book (someone I don’t already know), I will probably SQUEE out loud and faint dead away.

Hmm. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m NOT J.K. Rowling. I’d have to carry a pillow around to land on or something.

But I should get back to talking about the conference. It was pretty good. Besides Michael Stearns, the other keynote speakers were Cynthia Leitich Smith (it was incredibly awesome to FINALLY meet her in person after having “known” her for years via email and she also brought along her husband Greg, who writes middle grade novels that I also love, so that was a bonus), Stacy Cantor from Walker Books, Yolanda LeRoy from Charlesbridge, Alisha Niehaus from Dial Books (Penguin), and Nick Eliopulos from Random House. They were all great, though Nick was especially funny — PLUS he also went to the University of Florida AND he also played D&D in High School! And he’s on the shorter side (though not nearly so short as me). I’d love to work with him someday. I think he’d be fun. I would totally write a paranormal gay romance just to do it.

Okay, I’m sure that made no sense to you. Ha! Nick had filled out a questionnaire about what he’d love to see come across his desk and that’s what he put down, even though he was kind of joking. But only kinda.

Though the novel I’m working on now is paranormal and it does have some romance and it does have a gay character…hmmmm. Though the gay character is a best friend and not the main character, so not a 100% fit. Anyway. But who knows, maybe my agent can send it to him when I’m done. You never know.

I thought all of the editors that came were very interesting and knew their stuff. And they were entertaining…Yolanda even sang and danced for us and Alisha turned a cartwheel.

Um, maybe you had to be there.

I also took in a breakout session with Cynthea Liu, the author of Paris Pan Takes the Dare. It was on PR. I actually pretty much already do all the things she talked about (which, geez, hopefully so since my first book came out in 2008!), though the one thing I ought to be more proactive about is scheduling events and trying to book school visits. I just haven’t put that as a big priority, partly because of The Max. But Cynthea’s got a 2 year old and if she can do it…Though, really, I think it’s tough right now because most schools and libraries just don’t have the funding to book authors. And I can’t afford to do visits for free (heck, childcare for The Max is around $100 if I’m gone all day) except when I do it as a promotion/giveaway. *sigh* Darn economy. But who knows, maybe next year will be better.

The only cringe worthy moments for me were when anybody brought up vampire novels during the talks. And how they were so over and blah, blah, blah. *sigh* Every time someone at one of these things asks me what my book is about, I kind of hate telling them it’s a vampire book. But it’s different! I say, while their eyes glaze over. I feel like I need to get a T-shirt written up with a disclaimer: Yes, I wrote a vampire book. No, I didn’t write it because of Twilight. I wrote it before Twilight came out, thankyouverymuch. There was a bandwagon? Wow, I must have missed that. Really, the undead are sooo dead? Thank you for telling me. I hadn’t heard that. Yes, I do have fangs. Do you want to see them? No, the book I’m working on now doesn’t have any vampires in it. No, it doesn’t have werewolves in it either. No, there are no zombies. No angels either. Would you like a bookmark?

Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Um…this is getting really long and it’s past my bedtime. And it’s not even a rant. So, to sum up (as Inigo says)…

The conference was interesting. The guests were informative. I still feel all “Whoa, I’m an actual author.” And free Snickers? Those are always yummy.

Tags: alisha niehaus, kimberly pauley, michael stearns, nick eliopulos, prairie writer's day, scbwi illinois, stacy cantor, yolanda leroy
Posted in Author Appearances, Personal, Posts that are entirely too long, Writing | 5 Comments »

ALA 2009! Woot!

So ALA was this past weekend (though technically it is still going on right now today, but all the stuff I was scheduled for was over the weekend). Had an absolute blast, as per usual.

Nina (my editor) and me (with fangs)

I had two signings and a thingy at the YALSA Coffee Klatch (which is mostly where I got to talk to my fellow scribblers). The signings went well and were tons of fun. There were over 150 people at one of them, which was really cool. AND I got to meet the PageFlipper (Chelsea!) and The Story Siren (Kristi!) and Bookgoil (Kristen, who lives in my hometown!) plus more librarians than you can shake a stick at. Not that I would. Since, you know, I love love love librarians.

Me signing, Max wondering what I'm doing.

This time I got to meet a bunch of authors that I’ve corresponded with via email or Facebook over the years (like Sara Ryan and Sarah Dessen and Simone Eckles and Garrett Freymann-Weyr) PLUS some that I’ve read for years and had some fangrrrl type moments meeting (like Richard Peck, Margaret Weis [got to have dinner with her!] and Patricia Wrede) and some that I’ve met a few times but only get to see at author-y events (like Stephanie Kuehnert [and I totally just spelled that without looking it up, so hopefully I spelled it right], Pamela Todd and Kristina Springer) and some I just saw but didn’t really get to speak to (like John Green, David Levithan [I did get to say "hi" but it was during a crazy picture paparrazzi moment, so I don' t know that it really counted], Libba Bray [ditto], and Lisa McMann). Crazy times.

Me and Sarah Dessen

Me and Richard Peck (and his new book!)

Me and Patricia Wrede (!)

The Coffee Klatch was the utmost craziness. For one, I had no idea it was going to be so big. They told me it was like speed dating with librarians, so I thought it was a one-on-one kind of thing. I knew I’d have 5 minutes to talk and then I’d be switching tables. I just didn’t realize that the tables held anywhere from 4 to 10 people. So I didn’t bring nearly enough stuff (I had some STBM reading guides — which, incidentally, my publisher gave me a stack, so if you want one, let me know!) to give away. It was a lot of fun though. And then when it was all over, they got all the authors together for a big photo and I wound up sitting next to David Levithan and Libba Bray (who were both hilarious).

I took a bunch more pictures, including some of The Max (the poor guy got a bug bite on his eyelid on Friday and it was all swollen and red, so he looked like he got in a boxing match and lost). You can check ‘em all out in my Facebook ALA album (you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to see ‘em).

I can’t wait for next year! (And hopefully I get to go) Especially since it’ll be right before Still Sucks to Be Me will come out! Not to mention getting to hang out with the folks from my publisher (Nina, Shelly, Kate, Laura, etc….they’re all awesome!)

Tags: ALA, ALA 2009, kimberly pauley, YALSA Coffee Klatch
Posted in Author Appearances | 8 Comments »

ALA This weekend!

I’ll be at the American Library Association (ALA) convention this weekend. Besides getting to hang with my lovely editor Nina and Shelly the awesome and a bunch of wonderful librarians and a boatload of cool authors, I have a couple of things scheduled:

Saturday 7/11
Book signing (WotC booth #1442)
3:00 PM 4:00 PM

Sunday 7/12
Coffee Klatch (speed dating w/ librarians and authors)
8:15 AM
Kansas Room, Marriott Hotel

Book signing (WotC booth #1442)
1:00 PM 2:00 PM

My hubby Tony and The Max (who’s almost 16 months now!) will be coming with me. All the librarians loved The Max last year. Of course, everybody loves The Max. He’s too cute for words. Anywho, if you’re going to be at ALA, I hope you can come by and meet me! I’d love to see you!

Posted in Author Appearances | 1 Comment »

Pictures from my Awesome!! San Antonio visit

Okay, so here finally are the pictures I took (or my hubby took) of the Character Writing Camp / Vampire Party at the San Antonio library. You can also check out the awesome ones that the library posted too.

It was an awesome time, if you can’t tell from the pictures. We had fun (I hope!) in the writing camp and developed a character uniquely San Antonian…his name was Tuck, he always wore boots, and he had black and purple hair. And a horse that he really loved…plus some family issues and girl trouble (can’t have a story without conflict!).

During the vampire after party there was a rockin’ DJ (we literally rocked the library…I’m sure the other library visitors had no idea what was going on!), red-themed food (did you know there were red Cheetos? I had no idea), button-making, book signing (my publisher, Mirrorstone, was kind enough to donate a bunch o’ books), a red taste test, and lots of fun. It was a great time and the library staff AND the teens (and the not-quite teens) AND even the parents were really, really awesomely wonderful people. Geez, I need to find a new word, huh? I think I’ve used awesome too many times already!

Posted in Author Appearances | 10 Comments »