LAKESIDE INTERMEDIATE MAY 14th, 2010

Meeting the 4th, 5th and 6th graders at Lakeside Intermediate was exciting. Everyone was excited about the book and full of questions about the writing process. I was treated royally by "Mrs. Peaspanen's Book Club." I had a tour of the school and anything I needed. Thankyou to Jeanette Peaspanen and all the students for making the day special!

OUT IN AFRICA

My daughter thought she could fix the nose of the Sphinx with tape.

Yes, that's me in the red shirt. I joined a Tunisian band.

Here we are on top of Mt. Etna, a volcano in Sicily (the non-active part.)

I lilke tea, and tea in Cairo was very yummy.

This experience is already in the second book.

Hello everyone out there. Yes, there is a big time gap in this blog. But as you can see from above, I've been busy travelling. I've also been writing. I'm half way through the sequel to The DragonFly Keeper, and it's all downhill from here. Keep reading and send me an e-mail!

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

STS JOHN AND PAUL SCHOOL

I had a wonderful day at Sts. John and Paul high school and elementary school last Monday, November 24th. Stephen Robison and Brittany DiMare, the high school president and vice-president (above) were my guides and assistants. They were a lot of help and are two very mature leaders. I met honors society students from SJP and also Geneva and Lakeside. I hope all your exciting dreams come true.

I don't have any speaking plans the next few weeks before Christmas, but the book is still selling well. It is still on-line, at the restaurant, at Ashtabula Giant Eagle and bookstores everywhere. If your bookstore doesn't have it - they sold out and can order it! Contact me if you have any problems procurring it.

What's next? Well right after Christmas I am going to Sicily with my family for six weeks. We will spend time with family and hopefully I will get close to finishing that sequel!! In March I have many engagements - The Kent State English Festival, a conference for Madison Middle School Girls, and an appearance at Eastlake Library.

Happy Holidays!!

NATIONAL BEST BOOK AWARD FINALIST!!!!

I was happy to open my e-mail Monday and find out - surprise - I was a finalist for an award in children's fiction! This is a national award which gives out prizes to all the big houses like Hyperion and Simon and Schuster, so to be a finalist coming from Fava Press really excites me. I just wanted to share the good news with you all!

KINGSVILLE ELEMENTARY

The students at Kingsville Elementary in Kingsville were great! Everyone had great questions and some even got up and danced to the Kingsville Elementary World Music Bands. Thank you, Kelley Louden for helping to set up the event.

PLYMOUTH ELEMENTARY READING NIGHT

As you can see, we had a lot of fun at Plymouth Elementary Wednesday night. I met some very dedicated teachers, students, parents and educators. Thank you for inviting me!