march march marchin on
if you've followed me on Facebook for a while, you know how much I love the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival. I've volunteered the last two years, and each time, in the lead-up to the festival, my Facebook page is nothing but information, even though I kind of assume most of my followers aren't in this region and probably won't go.
it was exactly the same this year, except this year I have a book out, an agent, another book coming...and I went as an author instead of a volunteer!
I had a great time connecting with other authors, speaking at panels, and signing books, but my very favorite moment was when one of the kids stopped me on my way out of a panel. the panel was on writing authentically—which is how I interpret the writing advice "write what you know." I've given presentations on this topic, including last February for Power of the Pen, an Ohio writing competition for seventh graders.
to me, middle school is about the time that you start questioning yourself. as in, "wait, my friends said this character is unrealistic, even though this character feels the way I feel. maybe it is unrealistic. maybe something's wrong with me? I guess I'll change it and spend the next two decades quietly thinking I'm messed up somehow."
it took me a long time to unlearn that thought pattern—to realize that if someone thought my characters were "unrealistic" for traits they share with me, that's a reader-not-sharing-my-experiences problem, not a me-being-a-freak problem. so writing authentically is an important topic to me and one I thought would be perfect to discuss with seventh-graders last February.
it turns out this young person at the book festival had been in the audience for that presentation! and remembered it! and said it had helped with their writing!
it's amazing, as an author, when a reader says my book has helped them in some way or meant something to them. but hearing that a kid was helped by a message I spread because it's exactly the message I needed when I was their age hit different 🥺
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remarkable retirement audiobook
reminder about the release date! the remarkable retirement audiobook comes out on 26 april 2024—the culmination of a week of giveaways, games, and posts to celebrate Edna's first birthday.
keep an eye on my social media for birthday week events!
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odds & ends
recent reads
Kamilah Cole's So Let Them Burn, which was as an excellent a book as Kamilah is a person (very extremely). definitely one of the best enemies/annoyance/hate-to-love arcs I've ever seen, and full of complexity and musings on the horrors of war that made me WEEP
Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, which has been on my TBR for some time (obviously) because little old lady getting into shenanigans. this book was everything I hoped it would be and more!
recent watches
saw a trailer for Dreamworks's The Wild Robot and that alone made me weep, so that bodes well for how much I'll love this movie lmao. look for it this fall!
recent birds
I've been making heavy use of Merlin's ID-by-sound feature lately and OH MY GOSH IT'S AMAZING. after several tries, I finally got a recording of a pileated woodpecker, and I found out that a bird I hear all the time is a pine siskin—which hasn't been on any of my previous years' bird lists because I was unfamiliar with the call and never see the bird!
until next time!
