My writer friend, Janet Fox, who attends the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is working on her MFA has posted a blog interview of me. Here is the link:

http://kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com/

As a first time author, it's sort of funny/strange/different to see an interview of oneself. Kind of reminds me of those days when I was back in school, and the teacher would make everyone stand up and say a few things about themselves. Well, here I am standing up and waving. hoping you'll be interested in my answers.

Janet's website is here: http://www.janetsfox.com/

She's written a book entitled Faithful, (Puffin/Penguin Group), which is due out in 2010. The sequel, Indigo Spring, is due out 2011.

Thank you, Janet!

Look what came in the mail today!

Here it is, the most exciting gift I could ever receive. I let the package sit on the table for a few minutes. I knew what was inside. I could see it had been so perfectly wrapped, a bird motif on the wrapping paper, a ribbon to match, a message on the back of the Bowen Press card from my editor, Brenda Bowen, that they were finally here; copies of my very first middle grade novel.

When I finally opened it, that book smell, the shiny cover, the spine that hadn't yet been opened wide enough to make it lay flat. But mostly, the feeling that anything can happen.

Not that I'm counting

Thirty-two days and seven hours until my first book is released. Not that I'm counting. As a first time author, this is a very exciting event. I just about cried when I received one of my advanced reader's copies of the book in the mail. I can only imagine how I'll react when I actually SEE it in a bookstore. When there it is in the real world for anyone who wants to read it.

I have learned so much this year. First and most importantly, I've learned that when a book happens to fall into to a young reader's hands, it finds that particular reader just where they are in their life at that moment. Meaning, it has the ability to speak to them if they are at a point in their life to be able to relate to the book's story. Not all readers relate to every book. That seems obvious but it's so important because while a book, once it is printed, is permanent; a reader grows and changes. And that same book can be picked up some time later, when the reader has changed, when their lives have gone on, and it's just possible that the book might get a second chance with that reader.

My fabulous editor, Brenda Bowen, once wrote something to me in an email. I have a feeling she wouldn't mind if I shared it. To quote her, "Now, may it (the book) go out into the world and sing."

Almost makes me teary-eyed all over again.