Author of award-winning, adventurous realistic and historical fiction

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A Happy Debut Year

Dec 29, 2014 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s hard to believe that the year is coming to a close. It really does feel like yesterday that I was welcoming 2014–and eagerly anticipating my February 4 book birthday.

It has really been a delightful experience sharing Audrey’s and Alice’s stories.

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Author copies arrive!

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Author copies on a shelf [they’re all gone now–in libraries, where they belong :)]

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Signing at my launch party

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A great panel at Books of Wonder, my indie home

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Class of 2K14 celebrating after ALA in Vegas

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Barnes & Noble panel with Tara Dairman, Polly Holyoke, and KA Holt in Fort Worth, TX

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Awesome panel at The Book Spot in Round Rock, TX

Working on an Amelia Earhart story

Working on an Amelia Earhart story with young writers at the NYSL

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WAMA projects by the great students at St. Francis Academy

I’m so grateful to all the people who have supported me along the way,  to all those who work tirelessly to get books produced and shelved and sold and checked out and taught, and most of all to readers. Because of all the wonderful moments along the way, the best have always been about them.

First up in 2015 is finishing revisions for my second book, Summer of Lost and Found (which might be undergoing a slight title change–more on that in the new year). Then I’ll be back to work on a brand new story.

Have a safe and happy new year!

Tricks & Treats at the Voracious Reader

Oct 21, 2014 | , , , , , , ,

Monday night, I was part of a fantastic MG panel at the Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY, with author friends (and fellow 2014 debuts) Tara Dairman, Lauren Magaziner, Laura Marx Fitzgerald, and Michelle Schusterman. The Voracious Reader is a dream bookstore–cheerful and charming, and chock-full of excellent children’s literature.

We had a nice crowd of enthusiastic young readers and writers, who asked so many fun and insightful questions! (We came prepared with lots of candy–the treat for any attendee brave enough to trick us with a question.) Here are some photos, courtesy of Tara, of our great night:

 

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Thanks to Francine and the Voracious Reader for hosting us, and for all the readers who came out to talk middle grade!

New Book News!

Jun 12, 2014 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So you might have seen this in Publishers Weekly this afternoon (click to make big!):

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That’s right! I* sold my second book! The Summer of Lost and Found will be in bookstores in 2016. It’s full of everything I loved to read about as a middle-grader: history, mystery, beach towns, and ghost stories.

I’m so excited to be working with the uber talented Jordan Hamessley and everyone at Egmont to tell this story.  The way it feels when Jordan shares her editorial vision for your book can only be expressed with a Liz Lemon GIF:

 

Liz Lemon, 30 Rock, self high five gif

 

I’ll leave you with a picture of the beach at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, on Roanoke Island. I was there doing research while this deal was coming together, and while a trip to see such a beautiful and historic place would always be special, this serendipitous timing made it even more so.

 

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*And by “I,” I do mean my fantastic agent, Suzie Townsend. I’m incredibly thankful to her for being such a great advocate for my writing, and to everyone at New Leaf Literary for their amazing support.

ETA: The announcement also ran in the June 13th Publishers Marketplace deal report (you can click to make big). Hooray!

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Launch Party!

Feb 25, 2014 | , , , , , , , ,

I had so much fun at the launch party for When Audrey Met Alice last Thursday at Books of Wonder in NYC! Here are some of the highlights:

 

IMG_4423(I freaked out a little when I got there and saw the sign–but in a good way.)

IMG_4428(Pretty books!)

IMG_4433(Drinks and snacks, featuring “WH Chef Debra’s” chocolate-chip cookies, petits fours, fake champagne [Alice would not approve] and gift bags–each with an Emily Spinach inside.)

AUDREYParty1(Mingling before the reading. Books of Wonder has the most amazing children’s literature art collection!)

IMG_4471(Fellow debut authors Michelle Schusterman, Lauren Magaziner, Emery Lord, and Kim Liggett helping me share a Top Ten list of First Kid hijinks)

photo-6(Getting used to signing)

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(Chatting with Write Nite friends Kathryn, Kristi, Bess, and Gina! And thanks to Jodi for taking this picture)

There are a lot more photos on my Facebook page here.

Thanks to everyone who came out to hear about First Kids, eat some cookies and petits fours, and make my launch party such a memorable–and fun!–experience!

On Pub Day

Feb 4, 2014 | , , , , , , ,

This is a really hard post to write and a really easy one, too. It’s hard because I’ve thought about this day for so long–in terms of when I started writing for publication, five years; and in terms of how long I’ve secretly dreamed of being an author, probably my whole life. It’s easy because the only thing I really want to say is this: Thank You.

Writing isn’t easy, and neither is publishing. There are ups and downs and of course I’ve had plenty of both along the way. But one thing I’ve never lacked is enthusiastic support: from my friends and family, from my agency and publisher, from my delightful and inspiring coworkers, from the other writers and bloggers I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know in the kid-lit community. The only thing that doesn’t feel surreal today is a deep sense of gratitude–that I get to share my words with the world, and that I get to have so many wonderful people cheering me on as I do.

 

Finished copies!

Jan 30, 2014 | , , , , , , , , ,

Last night, I got home to a big box on my doorstep. Sent from Sourcebooks c/o RR Donnelly, so I had an inkling what was inside.IMG_2132

(Photo taken after I’d gone inside and grabbed a camera, and almost locked myself out in my excitement.)

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(Please ignore the other boxes in the background. What? You seem to remember that I moved almost a year ago? Uh . . . let’s move on, shall we?)

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What was inside was pretty freaking exciting.

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And it made for a pretty awesome night.

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Hello, hello!

Oct 3, 2013 | , , , , , , , , ,


Hi! You made it over here to my blog’s new home.

I figured now would be a great time to mention how wonderful working with Biondo Studio has been. I was pretty scared about leaving my comfortable Blogger home and venturing into the world of WordPress and a static website. For a while, I researched web designers and drooled over other authors’ websites. It didn’t take that long of a while before I realized that my favorite sites were always created by–you guessed it–Biondo Studio. So I sent them an email, and here we are now, at my shiny new website, which I love.

Denise and John at Biondo Studio are awesome. When we first started discussing what I wanted my site to look like, I think it sounded like I was creating some kind of bizarre word-association poem: “Doughnuts. I love the beach. Orange cats are my favorite. I write historical and contemporary fiction. I live in NYC. Did I mention that I love doughnuts?” If had made a homepage from that, it would look like this:

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But Denise and John took that jumble and made something perfect (and coherent) (and really cute). I hadn’t really known how to communicate what I wanted, but it didn’t matter: Biondo Studio has design ESP.

From there, it was smooth sailing. Denise and John were patient when it took me approximately twenty-seven tries to figure out a) who I had registered by domain with, and b) how to access it.  And they didn’t bat an eye when in true production-editor form, I kept finding the tiniest things to tweak, and tweak, and tweak.

So if you find yourself wanting a new website or a blog tuneup, I can’t recommend them highly enough. I’m grateful and happy that they created such a nice home for me online, and that they made the process so easy for someone as scattered and web-designophobic as me!

 

One-Word Wednesday

Oct 10, 2012 | , , , , , , , ,

“Gratitude and Rust” by Shannon Kringen (CC)

Thanks for all of the kind words yesterday! I’m overwhelmed in the best possible way with the support and enthusiasm of the writing community. 🙂

(Borrowing this meme today from Katy Upperman)

July in Pictures

Aug 2, 2012 | , , , , , ,

How I spent last month: living out of a suitcase.* I made it through 9 flights and 26 hours in the air! I currently have no idea what time zone my body thinks I’m in, but I can assure you that it’s not EST.

All that travel was so worth it:

I made friends with sea turtles.

And relaxed poolside.

Saw waterfalls.

Ate coconut everything.

Went to lots of beaches.

Saw lots of sunsets.

 But most importantly:

It was my best month, well, ever.

I’ll be back to semi-regular Internetting next week (thanks to all those flights, I have plenty of books to talk about).

What have you been up to? What awesomeness have I missed in the blogosphere?


*Actually three suitcases, and by the second half of the trip it had evolved to those three plus one hefty tote bag masquerading as personal item. I do not pack light.

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