New releases

Here are my new babies due out early next year.



Neither of them is dedicated to Orlando Bloom or his dog.

How to make an impression on a panel

So I just got back from the children's book panel at Changing Hands. There was a nice crowd, good questions, and fun people on the panel with me. Afterward as I sat chatting with people and signing books I felt like such a professional. A real author. And then one of my friends told me that my fly had been open the whole time.

Yeah, I'll never run out of embarrassing stories.

Speaking of which I should be updating my website next week (translation--my daughter's coming home from college) and I'll put up the stories from my embarrassing moments contest.

Stay tuned!

Event tonight at Changing Hands

Okay, granted, I know I should have posted this announcement um, sooner than four hours before the event. But if you happen to be in the Tempe, Arizona area and you want to write for kids, here's a free event you'll want to check out.

Time: Monday, August 18, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Location: Changing Hands Bookstore

6428 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85283
480-730-0205
McClintock at Guadalupe


HOW TO WRITE FOR KIDS AND TEENS 7pm

Explore the writing, marketing, and publishing process of creating first-rate children's literature with authors J. S. Lewis (The Fall of the Templar), Janette Rallison (How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend), Robert Mesta (Condor: Spirit of the Canyon) and freelance magazine writer Sara Fujimura. Joining them is Christianne Meneses Jacobs, editor and founder of Iguana, a bilingual magazine for children. Panel moderated by Changing Hands Bookstore’s children’s book buyer Brandi Stewart.

My Wonderful editor

Okay, I have to give major kudos to the bow-tied one. In fact, I take back all of those things I'm going to say about him during my next book's revisions. He asked me a long time ago who I wanted to blurb my book and the first name I said was Ellen Conford.

Right now Ellen Conford is best known for her Jenny Archer and Annabel the Actress series but back when I was growing up she not only wrote middle grade novels she also wrote some dang funny Young Adult books. She was hands down my favorite author. I loved reading about her quirky heroines because they always made me laugh. I pretty much wanted to be her when I grew up. In fact, after I'd written my first national market novel, Playing the Field, Tim mentioned that my main character didn't have a last name and needed one. So I gave my character the last name of Conford in her honor.

Now the thing about Ellen Conford is that she is not easy to get a hold of. Go ahead and try to google her. She doesn't have a website. I know it took Tim a long time to get a hold of her and even longer to get her to read my book and blurb it, but he did--and SHE DID!!!! (Those are exclamation points of a rabid fan. Imagine me waving my hands around and squealing.)

Here is what she said about my next book for Tim, Just One Wish.

Rallison's manuscript was a pleasant surprise, humorous and unsentimental in spite of its serious underpinnings. I especially appreciated the scheming and machinations the girls devise to see Steve Raleigh. . . With sympathetic characters and a charming teen aged hunk I think that Janette Rallison's book will appeal to many young teenagers.

I am so going to put this quote somewhere on my website. And there will probably be dancing cats or something surrounding it just to draw people's attention to it. Because yeah--how cool am I--my idol liked my book. Wahoo!

Pictures from my daughters that make me nervous

Lately I've been getting pictures from my daughters that make me . . .well, just a tad bit concerned.

Here are a series of drawings that my youngest daughter drew in comic book like procession. As you can tell they are pictures of her happily riding her bike singing, "La La La" when along comes her older brother, humming, and runs her down with a car. We, her parents, look on in horror. Her older brother does not drive the car, by the way, nor has he ever made plans to flatten her. At least not that I know about.

One just wonders if her teacher is reporting us to CPS.
Scene 1


Scene 2


Scene 3


Scene 4

I have to say the expressions on her drawings are quite good. I actually look like this drawing sometimes. She obviously takes after middle daughter who surpassed my drawing skills in about third grade.

Then here are pictures of my oldest daughter falling to the earth. Yeah, that's a little bit scary.
Skydive


Skydive with Hawaii