Blue Ridge bookfest

This past Friday and Saturday I attended the Blue Ridge Bookfest in Hendersonville, NC. Friday was a meet and greet author reception with a reading performance by a group from the local area of the featured author's, Ann B. Ross, first book - a Miss Julia book. Saturday the authors greeted patrons at their tables while Malaprop's Bookstore sold copies of all exhibiting authors' books.



(doesn't help see the back too well with me wearing a blue shirt under the shawl. I'll make sure the next time I'm wearing a white shirt so that the colors show up better) (basically I'll have two outfits - white shirt, blue jeans and shawl; blue shirt, white pants and shawl)

(my shawl was tie dyed and is an original from Tina's Tie Dye

On Saturday, May 21, 2011, The Travelin' Maven, Ma America, made her debut. What do you think? I also have matching shoestrings in my tennis shoes but haven't taken a picture of the whole person so shoes can't be seen right now - lol. So officially, "Ma America" is now my alter ego. On the back of my shawl, I placed the lettering - "THE TRAVELIN' MAVEN" and on the front "MA AMERICA". The letters are stick ons I picked up at Walmart in the department where the mailboxes are since the crafts/sewing department didn't have anything cheap that I liked. I used 2 inch lettering on the back part and 3 inch lettering on the front. I think it turned out pretty good. I'll be looking for some more permanent (iron-on or sew-on) lettering soon but for now, this will have to do.



These are a few pictures of my table setup, but I moved my sign after a couple of hours when I had trouble getting out from between the tables when the folks behind me got there (you can see in the picture how we were). but didn't take any new pictures of the sign on the other side. There were a few children's authors there (maybe half a dozen or so), poets, historical fiction, and some nonfiction authors as well. I think there was a little bit of something for everyone but not enough traffic. I'd love to have seen more teachers or families visiting but many factors could have come in to play over the weekend.

Here are a couple of folks I met during the day. The one thing I did forget to do was to get some pictures of my friend Beatryce Shaw, author of the Brown Roses series, and I apologize to her for that. She had her brown roses on the table which were very pretty.

Kit Grady, author and illustrator

Mango's table (partial as there were other books displayed as well)

John Bemis, a YA author I'd met last year at the SCBWI Fall Conference in Charlott.


It was a good weekend but exhausting. See you all in the postings -

Skype in the classroom

Today was my author visit with Ms. Jurkowski's 3rd class in Indiana, and all I can say is awesome. The kids had some questions prepared and then we talked a little about the writing process. They were super well behaved too. I'm looking forward to more classroom sessions in the fall, unless there are any teachers who need to do something different for the last few days of class and would like to have an author come into class for half an hour or 45 minutes. If you would like me to visit your class, leave a comment with a contact email so we can set up our session. Gotta love the ability to reach students across the nation and in other countries too. I'm pleased with the classroom visit and the students. Happy writing, ya'll. Mrs. E :)

Skype an Author and Plurk

About the middle of March or so, Mr. Hughes introduced me to Plurk, a social network much like twitter. I joined and have connected with teachers and school librarians. I like it much better than twitter in that it is easier to follow the postings. The teachers are always posting great resources. I've got a couple of make your own comic book sites and a few other things from being there.

Last week, one of the teachers had posted about her class Skyping with an author. I commented that I couldn't wait to have my first Skype session. Another teacher said I could Skype her class if I was bored. So we have connected via plurks and private messages and I will have my first Skype in a classroom session Thursday. I can't wait to Skype with Mrs. Jurkowski's 3rd class in Indiana, a state I have not visited yet. If any of my readers are looking for a new social network to join, come on over to Plurk and check it out. Here is my personal invite to all of you to join. You never know with whom you will connect.

Writers on the Move first workshop

Just reminding all my followers about the free workshop coming up this Monday on EveryWhereChat. Come learn about doing your own podcasts - teachers, readers, writers, homeschoolers - all are welcome. For links to the workshop and more info, please see my posting on my other blog and tell all your friends interested in making a podcast. Don't forget to register with Maggie Ball for the handouts prior to the workshop (info is on the Writers On the Move blog posting and my previous posting about this workshop). Hope to see you all there - Mrs. E :)

State of Nature - finally released

After a few problems, glitches, et cetera - we are proud to announce that State of Nature is released and available to the public. It may not show up on amazon.com until the end of the week, at which time I hope to upgrade it to the pro package (so it will be at least two months before it shows up in Baker & Taylor and Ingrams and other distributing markets as per createspace.com). I would like to get State of Acceleration also upgraded this weekend so that when I'm finished and the book is print ready, it will be heading over to distributing channels much quicker.

Remember all books are available on the JGDS website and come with complimentary study guides. If you want to special order books for schools, classes, homeschooling co-ops and order at least 10 copies of any given title, you are eligible for a 10% discount. Please see the website for more details on this.

I also have met a milestone on this blog with the posting from May 1, 2011, regarding the Writers on the Move - that was my 300th posting since starting this blog in 2008 - only took me 3-1/4 years to reach that - woohoo!!!! -

I do have several events coming up in the next six months, so don't forget to check out the calendar of events and see where you may find the JGDS books and meet me for book signings. Come on and visit - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :) & the JGDS

Writers on the Move News You Can Use

NOTE: This is a double posting as I posted the same information on my main blog. I want to make sure the information does get out there.



VBT Writers on the Move has changed to just Writers on the move and we have a new feature: workshops. These will be monthly member-led workshops on topics to help fledling authors and readers who are thinking of writing. The workshops will be held in Everywherechat and can be found here.

The following is the description per Karen of the new workshops; the first will be held on May 16th

In our efforts to continually provide fresh and helpful information to our readers and visitors, and since our group has so many experienced and knowledgeable writers and authors, we've added a new and very exciting feature to our group, the Writers on the Move Workshop.

The workshops will focus on writing and marketing, and depending on the presenter and topic, the workshops will range from 30 minutes to ONE hour to ONE day to ONE week long. We are hoping to keep them free, but for the week long, and possibly even the day long workshops, there may be a small fee – we'll have to see how it all pans out.

The first Writers on the Move Workshop will be in a LIVE hour long chat format, scheduled for May 16 at 7pm EST. Maggie Ball will talk about Podcasting for Writers.

The workshop link Show up a bit before to sign into EveryWhereChat and to see if there is any information already in place

DESCRIPTION OF WORKSHOP:

The simplest definition of a podcast is just a recorded radio show and Maggie will provide the information you need to get your podcast up and running. She'll define what a podcast is and the many different ways you can either do a single podcast, or start your own "radio show" or even syndication with recorded podcasts.

This will be a very informative workshop for writers who want, rather need to bring their books and/or services to a larger audience. If you're blogging now, the next step is to create podcasts and Maggie Ball can show you how.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The June Workshop will be presented by Karen Cioffi and it'll be about creating and selling e-books. We'll have the details the end of May or beginning of June.

We hope you find the information we provide valuable in your writing and marketing journey.


WRITERS ON THE MOVE TOUR: It is the 1st of May and the VBT Writers on the Move tour has begun. I'm supposed to be featured on Carolyn Howard-Johnson's blog Wednesday, but I've not prepared anything and I know Carolyn is traveling for a good part of this month. I will try to get something to her tonight and hopefully she will be able to post it.

Join us as we share our books and other writing information with you all. Please visit Karen Cioffi who is featuring Deb Eckerling today.

Remember that there is always something new and you can see the full schedule on the right under Writers on the Move Tour Schedule. See you all in the postings. E :)