Happy Birthday to

Interlopers! 

One year ago today, Interlopers:  A Shifters Novel hit the shelves, becoming available for purchase by a wider audience.  What a year it has been.   It is such an exciting thing, as a writer, to see your words and stories in print.  It is an even more exciting thing to get to travel around and introduce that book to audiences nationwide–which is what I have been doing for the past year.

It really is like a birthday.  As most writers know,writing any sort of piece is like giving birth (except the anguish is psychological and not so much physical).  Our writing is a part of us, a little piece of our soul that we offer out into the world.  And while I first began writing Interlopers in March of 2009, October of 2010 is when it made its way into the world and I became a proud, published author.

In the year’s time since my little bundle of joy has entered the world, I have had a variety of authorly firsts.  I have had my first ficiton reading in front of audience in Chicago, IL.  I have signed my first copies.  I have received my first gratifying positive reviews, and I have also received some more lukewarm responses.  Being a proud, published author, I have ushered my new creation through the world, introducing it as far and wide as I can.

Of course I love to hear from readers who have bought and love the book.  I love to hear those four little words “Can’t wait for the sequel”.  But there have been other moments, moments that I never anticipated at the outset of this process, that have stayed with me too.

Some of the best moments so far in my authorly journey include meeting with the students of Hampton High, New Heights, and Inglewood.  I have not often gotten to do school visits in my travels but I love these opportunities to meet with young people whether they have read my book or not.  I love the opportunity to see what they are capable of:  the Hampton High students put on a mini poetry reading in celebration of my visit, and there were some wonderful burgeoning poets among them; the students at Inglewood asked such wonder and thought-provoking questions that made me think about my book in ways that I have not before;  the New Heights students were so enthusiastic, and I hope I inspired them to read more.

Also, unexpected, some of my other most memorable moments have been meeting other authors out on the book fair/festival circuit.  I have met Emma Michaels, Amanda Havard, T. K. Richardson, Jo Whittemore, Tayari Jones, and many others.  Charles Frazier was signing books down the aisle from me this weekend at Southern Festival of the Book.  Whether from big publisher or small,whether up-and-coming or well-established, what I have found to be constant is the wonderful support of this community of wordsmiths.  It is a beautiful thing.

So here’s to one year as a published author.  What a ride!  And, guess what ?…

Interlopers won’t be an only child for long.

Book 2 of the Shifters Novel Series is due out next spring!

Southern Festival of the Book

Today I woke up early in the morning, after barely even going to sleep, to travel to Nashville for the Southern Festival of Books.  I am still working on just two hours of sleep in the last 40 or so hours and I am pretty close to delirium (so that potentially makes for a funny post), but I have had such a wonderful experience that I just have to write a little something about it.

My panel today was with Amanda Havard, author of The Survivor series.   Between the two of us, it was fantasy, YA, world-building synergy.  Different approaches and perspectives, but they dovetailed so well, and I really think that our audience got a lot out of it.  The tone of SoFestofBooks is different from most of the book festivals I have been to so far.   There was such a thoughtfulness about the questions and the discussion that every panel became this really informative event.

Tayari Jones signed my copy of her newest book, Silver Sparrow.  Our sessions ran concurrently, so I did not get to see her speak, but we had a nice little chat afterwards.  (I admit it:  I am still, at my core, a total author groupie.  There are writers whose work I love, and if given the opportunity, I will always ask for an autograph.  Authors are my rock stars  .)

More later.  I really should get some sleep.

In honor of my southern roots:  Night Y’all.

Last of the ATC…Orange County Children’s Book Festival

I am listening to The Proclaimers.  Specifically, “I’m Gonna Be.”  The refrain goes so:  “I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more, just to be that man who walked that 1000 miles…..”  and that is exactly what I have done this week.  Well, I didn’t walk, I flew, and it wasn’t 1000 miles, rather, 2,182, but I would do it all again in a heart beat. 

The Orange County Children’s Book Festival was great.  Good crowds and a lot of cool activities going on.  Of course, when you have your own booth, you don’t get to walk around and experience the festival too much, but I could hear some of the performances and they sounded really good.  Plus, this is definitely the fanciest book fair/festival badge that I have received to date.  It will be a cherished memento; until I get a better one.

I shared a booth with T. K. Richardson and Emma Michaels.  They are both west coast based and write fantasy as well.  They were good fun and made the day pass quickly as we tried different experiments to bring people to our booth.   I look forward to reading their books.

Tomorrow, I have another school visit and then I will be making my way back east and towards Nashville on the 15.