Visit to Lake City Community College and Richardson Middle School

On March 18, I'm visiting Lake City Community College (Lake City, FL) to read, sign books and appear on the college's TV show--Perspectives.

Before my signing, I'll be visiting Richardson Middle School in Lake City. I get to meet with a pre-AP class and I can't wait. Should be fun.

I'll be signing books at 2pm in the learning resource center at LCCC's campus. This is super special to me because I started taking classes at LCCC when I was sixteen. I graduated from LCCC in fall 2005 and then transferred to FSU. I had an amazing time at LCCC and I'm excited to go back. The campus is amazing and I had the best experience there.

A very special thanks to Jim Morris and Sonja Yarborough for setting this up. I appreciate it! Gooo, Timberwolves! :D

Canterwood Crest Academy fan site--no way

OMG.

There's a Canterwood Crest Academy fan site. *dies*

Someone actually set up pages about admissions, dorm rooms, stables and classes. So. Cool.

Thank you, HorseGirlMishi! :)

First school visit to William J. Montford III Middle School

Setting up my Power Point. That's the awesome Kathy Drake--the media specialist.

Signing outside. It was a balmy 75 degrees. Lovely!

Signing books in the media center.

A display in the media center. I got to share the board and table with friend and author Sarah Prineas! Sarah's visiting Montford next. I freaked out when I saw Take the Reins next to The Magic Thief. :)

Chatting with horse-crazy girls.

I signed that shirt. Yes, I did!

The group of kids. They were the best audience!

I just got back from my first talk/signing at William J. Montford III Middle School in Tallahassee. The coolest part? It was the school's first author visit!

I was I'm-going-to-faint nervous before I went. But the second I got inside, it felt amazing. I asked the kids not to throw anything at me because I was nervous and we all laughed. It broke the ice and once I got started, I could have talked for hours. We talked about publishing, writing, editors, agents and sticking with it no matter how many rejections come.

One of the highlights was showing pics of my trip to S&S. I likened the board room to something out of The Apprentice, but noted that no one at S&S (thankfully) resembled Donald. I told them my editor is not a man, did not fire me (yet! ;)) and has waaay better hair than Mr. Trump.

I talked (a lot) about lip gloss and my love of pink pens. By the end, girls were showing me their fave pens and glosses. I even got invited to a spring break sleepover. So. Cute. They thought I was in high school, LOL. When I told them I was 22, they still wanted me to come. And to bring my lip gloss collection. :)

The excitement was insane and I almost died when kids started offering me arms and hands to sign. I felt like a rockstar! A sweet girl asked me to sign her t-shirt and I signed a hoodie for another. I asked several times if their parents were going to freak that I took a Sharpie to their clothes. They said no, but I'm worried about getting angry emails. Eeep.

I had sooo much fun at Montford. They're a lucky school since they get to have Sarah next and I told them so.

Thanks so much to Lisa, Kathy, Bill, Mary and everyone at Montford for hosting me. Yay!

First school visit tomorrow

Tomorrow, I've got my first school visit at William J. Montford III Middle School. I'll be presenting to the school's book club and then we'll move outside to sign books. My friend Mary is bringing a mini horse and we'll get to introduce the kids to the horse. It should be fun! Thanks so much to Kathy Drake for working with me.

I present at 12:30, so wish me luck. :)

Editseditseditsedits

I'm totally engaged in edits right now for TRIPLE FAULT (CC #4). Yes, book four. I almost can't comprehend that sentence.

Interesting things I've noticed about this round of edits:

I manage to eliminate favorite words from my writing. Then, I come up with new ones. :) In CHASING BLUE, I was obsessed with "grinned." It was everywhere. In TRIPLE FAULT, I'd finally manged to ditch "grinned," but I tossed in two new words--"so" and "sooo." They *might* appear thousands of times. Okay, okay, not thousands, but enough to cause me to smack myself in the forehead when I reread my edited manuscript.

Chapter titles are so (Ack! The "s" word again!) one of the most difficult and most fun things to write. I heart them.

I might have to go back and read my own books to refresh my memory on certain events. Is that lame? I feel as if I should remember the things that happen in my own books! :D

Writing mean girl lines is my fave part and it's easy. That might say something about me...

And, finally, never stuff your edit letter with your precious handwritten notes to self in a cabinet and forget where it is. You might panic, tear up the house and then want to stab yourself in the eye with a pink pen when you recover the letter hours later.

Canterwood Crest #6 title reveal and photo shoot fun

Tallahassee Magazine just left a short while ago. They came and took pics for an upcoming article in the mag. Scott and Monica were wonderful and I had so much fun. Thanks for coming, guys. I appreciate it! :) I can't wait to see the pics. Scott showed me a few on his camera and I thought the background looked great.

Also, I can reveal the title for Canterwood Crest #6! Little White Lies comes out on December 22, 2009. It's now up on Amazon. Cool.

Back to editseditsedits.

A sweet review

Melissa at Kidliterate reviewed Take the Reins. Thank you, Melissa! Check out her thoughts here.

:)