Read Local in New England!

New England’s a great place to be a children’s/YA author. We have a fantastic network of enthusiastic readers, booksellers, educators, librarians and fellow writers; we’re the kind of people who show up for book events even during a winter of 100+ inches of snow.

So what better place than to read local? New England educators, librarians, and readers, take the Read Local Challenge!

The logistics, from wonderful New England author Jen Malone:

The challenge is open to any school, library, homeschool cooperative, or book club and will run throughout the 2015-16 school year. Working off the poster to the right (contact me to request a free copy by mail), groups work together to read the featured titles. Each book featured is written by an author who calls New England home and is appropriate for middle school readers. (Note: some titles are classified as Young Adult. Please contact me with any questions about possible content within a particular title.)

If at least one student in the school/library/group completes a book, mark it off on the poster. In April 2016, groups will send in their tally and we’ll award the top four groups an author visit by one of the four sponsoring authors. If more than four groups achieve the highest possible score of 30/30, we will hold a drawing to select the winning group.

How cool is that? I’m beyond excited to see The Chance You Won’t Return on the list, along with awesome books like MonstrousFish in a TreeBecoming JinnThe Hunger Games, and more.

To get started, click through, get the poster, and start reading local!

Links Galore

A few links for your week:

 

Links Galore

Lots of links I’ve been saving:

Friday Fifteen

Happy Friday, guys! Somehow it’s Friday again? Not that I’m complaining, but this week kinda got away from me ( cough no blog posts cough). At least I can catch up with a good ol’ look at what I’ve been reading and writing in fifteen words or fewer:

Reading: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Finally read it! Feels way more epic than I expected; love the family stuff too.

Writing: “first causality of the quiz bowl road trip—somehow dinosaur-related.”
No, it’s not a time-travel. Into revisions and hoping to have draft two ready by the end of the month (gulp).

Links Galore

A few mid-week links:

 

Links Galore

Start the week with some good link-age:

 

Attention MA Authors: Marketing and Bookstores Talk at the Writers’ Loft!

Allison PH flyer finalThese days, most authors have to finagle a lot of their own promotion. And unless you have a background in marketing, it can be difficult to figure out what’s worthwhile and who you should connect with and how you should plan for events.

That’s when you bring in the experts. Wednesday, July 22 (tomorrow!) friend, writer, and former bookstore event maven, Allison Pottern Hoch, is giving a talk at the Writers’ Loft about book marketing and working with local independent bookstores.

I’m excited to hear Allison’s advice and figure out ways I can better market my work and connect with the wonderful people at our local bookstores. Come on out and take notes with me!

Links Galore

Lots of links to start your week: