Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Thanks so much for coming!


one of the many great schools I visited!
So it's been a whirlwind week, with more active weather coming! I was in California visiting schools and stores--Mrs. Dalloway's in Berekely,  Lindentree Books in Los Altos, the Bookshop Santa Cruz and the Children's Book World in LA--of course, all to promote my new book, When the Sea Turned to Silver (just in case you didn't know).  It was super fun! The only reason why I don't have more photos of any of the events is because I was too busy!

But people came out to the bookstore events and it was a thrill! Authors are always scared to death of presenting to empty chairs, I'm very, very grateful that most of mine were filled:



And on the third day of my travels, I was informed that When the Sea Turned to Silver is a National Book Award Finalist! EEKS! The winner will be announced at the ceremony in November--cross (double-cross) your fingers for me!!

the great folks at the Bookshop Santa Cruz helped me celebrate with cupcakes!

But I had to rush from the balmy CA weather to Boston (arriving after midnight!) so that I could prepare for my big launch party at Porter Square Books!

Since we don't live in the area anymore, we had to camp and prep at a local airbnb. There was a lot of prep:

even Rain Dragon helped stuff goodie bags!
 because this was to be my party deluxe.  The silver goodie bag decorated with a red tissue butterfly (which take longer to make than I thought, tissue flowers are way faster)  had a poster, an embroidered bookmark, and a "moon cookie" (courtesy of my mother-in-law, again). And if you preorder, you also received that exclusive booklet:

I admit I am  listing these things so they might make you  come to the next one!

And after stuffing about a hundred of those...it was show time! People came and I talked. And then some friends and I performed the Readers Theater to rapturous applause:

We told "The Story of the Red Stone" 
check out the cool costumes that I had made!

and then I signed books:
at the event
and after the event!

And when the day was done,  I got together with some of my awesome local friends...who surprised me with a cake:
did I mention my friends were awesome?
Lucky for me, that  cake was high in sugar because now I'm going to keep going! Come see me at Water Street Books (Exeter, NH) on Wed and at Northshire Bookstore (Saratoga Springs, NY) on Friday! AND after that, Providence RI, Austin TX and more...