Monthly Wrap-Ups

November Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Book Sales/Signings: I had two local sales/signings in the past month, one at Sturdy Shelter Brewing and one at Blue House Books. Both went great – selling during the holiday season is a lot easier (and I find it much easier to pitch to people too, because you can always start with,… Read more »

October Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: So You Want to Write a Kids’ Book Presentation – I presented at my library about the basics of kidlit writing and publishing. It felt like a great success, and I got really positive feedback on the presentation! How Now Booking Company – I signed up with How Now Booking Company… Read more »

September Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: 2026 IL Reads List – THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN was chosen for the 2026 IL Reads List! Not only is this a great honor, the organization has several events associated with it throughout 2026 that I’ll get to attend!   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by… Read more »

August Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Check out this new review of The Song of Orphan’s Garden over at Always in the Middle! I love the way Greg ends his reviews with a “five more things to like about” format! Turned a manuscript in to my agent! – I finally finished the ms I’ve been working on… Read more »

July Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: LITaPalooza and KidLITaPalooza – I got to participate in LITaPalooza (and KidLITaPalooza) at Anderson’s Bookshop. I’ve attended these events at Anderson’s for years, so it was really exciting to be on the other side of it. This was the first event where I got to participate on panels, too!   View… Read more »

June Wrap-Up What I Read:

May Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Poetry workshop: I did poetry workshops at a grade school, one session for each grade. Lots of work, but also really fun. Donation to Bernie’s Book Bank: I already mentioned that we went back to volunteer. This was the first time I donated my own book to Bernie’s, which made it… Read more »

April Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: Book Events: I had a few different events over the last few weeks. I did an IGLive interview with B&N Classworks that was great fun, an interview with a fantastic kids’ writing organization called The Society of Young Inklings, and an event for Drop Everything and Read Day at B&N Oswego.

March Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: I flew out to Denver for my good friend Megan E. Freeman’s launch party for AWAY! The event was wonderful, and I was very excited to see Megan in person again. She’s my accountability partner, so we talk weekly, but since she’s out in Colorado, we don’t get to actually see… Read more »

February Wrap-Up Book News/Progress: It’s been a blur. Honestly, this whole week has just been a smudge in my mind. My release party was super successful, and everything since then has felt like “recovery” from the adrenaline involved in the event. LOL! I have been scheduling future events, interviews, school visits, etc. though, so preparing for… Read more »