It started with a *BANG* with the sale of my third book to FSG, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS. JYAP comes out in the fall of 2011 so watch for it!
In mid-January I did an event at The Book Stall in Winnetka, IL, with Julie Halpern and Beverley Patt. It was one of my favorite signings with such a fun group and at a lovely store! I'll be back there again on January 29th at 2pm with Elizabeth Eulberg (The Lonely Hearts Club) and Kristin Walker (A Match Made in high School) which I think will be an absolute blast!
February was packed with first the launch party of my friend Kristin Walker's funny book.
And of course the super fun Valentine's Day signing I did with Kristin and Kimberley Pauley.
Then a visit from two of my fave critique partners (Deena from NY and Em from IN) and the annual Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast.
In March I did a fun visit with the Westmont Junior High Writer's Club, attended the Joliet Library Author Fair, met fellow Deb Carrie Ryan at her Anderson's Bookstore signing (yep, with Kristin Walker again. If you can't tell yet we hang out a lot!),
and I was debut author of the month on Alice Pope's blog!
April consisted of more fun author events like the Fountaindale Library Authors Festival (I'm going back again this April!) in Bolingbrook, IL, and a Reader Meet Author chat at the Borders in Bolingbrook (my fave Borders).
In May I did my first ever Skype school visit (loooove the skype visit! Happy to do them free for schools-- e-mail me for info) and visited with a Young Writers Studio group. And I was revising like crazy (and I do mean crazy. Me and revision-- not so cool. It's probably the hardest part of the whole writing process for me).
June was a blur of end of year school stuff with my kids, swim lessons, and baseball games. And I swore off checking my Amazon rank.
In July I had one long anxiety attack as I realized my book, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, was coming out in August and I needed to order promo, plan a launch book signing, and fill out about a million interviews and guest blog posts. And I launched my new super cute Web site!
In August, I celebrated my new book release!
Early September was the launch book signing.
And two more author fairs in Aurora and Homer Glen.
In October I worked hard at copyedits for JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, attended the ISLMA Author Showcase, got older (birthday month!), and I about died when my author idol Meg Cabot mentioned me on her blog.
And in November? Things got EVEN BETTER when Meg Cabot wrote a blurb for my book!! I still get giddy even thinking about it! I also had a seriously amazing time on vacation with my family and friends. Looooooove Disney!
And of course this month: a big whirl of fun holiday celebrations with family and friends, the Young Chicago Authors Holiday Book Bash, and my new book trailer celebrating The Espressologist releasing in paperback next week.
Other cool things in the past month or so: The Espressologist was named a 2010 honor book by the Society of School Librarians, Scholastic Book Fairs bought My Fake Boyfriend is Better Then Yours (I can't tell you how much I LOVE the school book fairs and how I can't wait to see my book there!!!) and I also saw the Japanese and Russian versions of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST release (German released in '09). And I sold My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours to Germany too! Foreign sales are the coolest, I'm telling ya.
And moving into 2011 I have one book I'm writing now, one I'm revising, and three more that I've started and need to get back to. Which sometimes feels overwhelming to me but then I remind myself that it's a good place to be: busy!
Happy New Year! I hope your 2011 is amazing!
