So many fun/funny/smart things in this new year of 2019!
This week I visited a local Book Group that had just finished GLORY BE. We had a "continental breakfast" and Q&A. A donut and a book, as one boy noted, "doesn't get much better than that." The questions were a blast. One of my favorites? "Do you have any family members who've read this book?" Oh boy, do I! Here we are, disguised as copies of GLORY BE. Fun times!
I love sharing books with kids, so when they asked me who'd inspired me and also if I could recommend another book for them to discuss, I mentioned Barbara O'Connor and WISH. The librarian hustled himself off to the library and came back with this. WISH is on the current Sunshine Readers. Win win!
And then there was the mail. A librarian in Texas had emailed to ask my mailing address. She had a student who'd read my novel, the first book she'd completed on her own. Writers, this is why we spend (so so many!) years trying to publish a book. Or writing a book. Or trying to publish multiple books. It's all about the readers.
On the second page of the letter, the P.S., Isabella tells me she wants to grow up and be just like me. I hope that means she's going to find another book to read all by herself. Of course, I answered her. And of course, I mentioned a few more books she might also love.
While tidying up my files, I found a group of letters from a school in Washington state. I'd filed them away for when I worry that nobody's paying attention. And let me tell you, that happens to all writers! Finding them today was a gift. "When we stopped at a chapter, I wanted to keep reading!" "Did you have a bossy sister? Did you have a friend like Frankie? Did you live a life like Glory?" And what librarian-turned-author wouldn't cherish a picture of the library in GLORY BE? She even remembered the "Back Room."
Did I say it doesn't get much better than this lovely way to start the New Year? Here's hoping you've all had a little joy in your mailboxes, too.
About this time eleven years ago, I considered starting a blog. I was publishing a lot of book reviews and a few personal essays and I wanted a place to share the links. I hoped to write fiction, and I loved finding things to share about books. The advice then was that if you were trying to find an agent or an editor, many of them would check to see if you had an online presence. Facebook and Twitter were barely on the horizon. Or at least my horizon. So off I traveled to Blog City.
My new critique group friend Lee Hilton started SPOON AND INK then, her fabulous food blog. Fun times in the blogosphere, no? We thought so. But I don't read too many blogs now, and I wonder if anybody's reading this. :)
(Hellooooo out there! Anybody home?) And then today I discovered an author I admire has a really great blog, and reading it inspired me to write this.
When I still worked as a school librarian, Claudia Mills's books were very popular in my school. I remember hearing her on a panel about publishing at the New School when I first thought about writing. I had those notes forever! Probably still do! Here's the link. I'm going to make it extra large and obvious. Please visit. You can thank me later.
Learn to respect the pages the reader will never see.
— Joshua Mohr I sorry to say I don't know Joshua Mohr, but I sure like that quote. I also love seeing the pictures she shares, mostly of the American Southwest which seems light years and many miles from my own vistas. Thanks, Caroline!
(Aside: here's a nifty trick! Caroline turned one of her blogposts into a short article you can read in the current WRITERS DIGEST magazine.)
Inspired by Caroline and Claudia, here's my first blog photo of 2019 and a quote from the new Quaker Motto Calendar!
"There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship." Thomas Aquinas.
