JACOB THE JOURNALIST

Here I am at the Geneva Library with third grader, Jacob Roney. He reviewed my book for Austinburg's "Pearson's Press." Luckily for me, he thought it is a good book and that I was good at writing. It was a pleasure to meet Jacob, a fellow writer.

ROCKY RIVER BOOK FESTIVAL

Around 50 authors from the Ohio area gathered in Rocky River for an event to benefit the library. We had a lot of fun and sold some books. Above I am pictured with Marilyn Sadler of the "Honey Bunny" and "P.J. Bunny FunnyBunny" books my daughter loves. At the bottom is Shelley Pearsall who wrote the YA books Crooked River and other best sellers. The gentleman pictured, William Price, was a colorful author who wrote about his father's life as a Russian spy and other really adventurous things his family did. And I ate really good potato salad!

JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY

Wednesday, May 11th, I had a great time with Jefferson Elementary. I spoke with the 4th, 5th and 6th graders and they did some great jamming with my world instruments. Good job everyone! Thank you for being such a fun audience. And thank you for the beautiful cards!

ABBIE'S PICTURE

This past saturday I had the great pleasure of meeting Abbie. She visited me at Gale's and brought me this great picture signed "your biggest fan." I have to say - I love to write the stories for the writing. But when someone tells you they cried after they read your book and that they were shaking when it was over, well . . . It makes all the effort worth it. Sincere appreciation is worth more than anything for me. Thanks for making my day, Abbie!

BE Smart conference

It was great to meet some of the girls from the area at this first ever conference for young women at Madison High School. I met a few to-be writers and many other exciting, ambitious people this past Saturday, March 28th. Good Luck to you all!

EASTLAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Many thanks to Athena Gerber and Donna for the nice set-up at the Eastlake Public Library. I met some future writers and we snacked and read and talked about writing. This Saturday I will be in Madison for a conference for middle school girls. And then next Thursday I will be speaking to a cubscout group out in Jefferson. Happy Reading!

KENT STATE ENGLISH FESTIVAL 3-20-09

It was great to meet some of the fans to The DragonFly Keeper last Friday at the Kent State English Festival. The students all had wonderful questions and were great at trying their hands at a little poetry.

AUSTINBURG EL

Here is Mrs. Pearson's third grade class at Austinburg Elementary. They invited me in after finishing The DragonFly Keeper as a class. I was bombarded with a lot of intelligent questions and even met a aspiring Hollywood businesswoman. Tomorrow I will be at Kent State's English Festival. See you there (maybe.)

I'M BACK FROM ABROAD!

Happy Spring! (OK it's wishful thinking.) Anyway our family was in Italy visiting the in-laws. We were in Sicily which was rainy but not frozen. We ended up taking a boat to Egypt to see the pyramids. We were already 5,000 miles from home. What was a short boat trip accross the Mediterranean and a short bus ride through the desert? We also got a chance to stand on the vulcano Mt. Etna. I brought my laptop to write. . . but with three little kids, lots of wine, and camels. . . well I got a lot of inspiration. And Giuseppe is in the pilot's seat of a small jet in that picture up there.

I am into the second DragonFly novel, however, and will give you updates.

Currently I have a poem published in the on-line journal http://www.wildviolet.net/. Please check it out!

Here is my current list of appearances. Please check the blog in the future for the current times and schedules:

March 5th, Thursday, afternoon, cub scouts in Jefferson

March 9th, Monday, afternoon, 3rd grade at Austinburg Elementary

March 20th, Friday, day, Kent State English Festival

March 24th, Tuesday, evening, Eastlake Library

March 28th, Saturday, day, Madison Middle Schools Girls Conference

April 14th, Tuesday, evening, Madison Library Books and Cooks

May 13th, Wednesday, day, Jefferson schools

May 16th, Saturday, day, Rocky River Library Civic Day