Event Season Has Begun

As with previous years, this year is jammed pack with events. There have been a few minor changes this year and hopefully I will keep doing some of them into the upcoming years.



There are really two event seasons for me - March to June and end of August/first part of September through November.

In March, I participated in the SC Association of School Librarians conference which was a good event and I have a feeling that next year will be even better. In May, I participated in the SC Book Festival which was pretty good other than having too many folks in the booth but we have parted ways and it's time to move on to other things. The homeschool conference in June wasn't held this year since USC-Sumter was remodeling the building where the event is usually held so I had no events over the summer to speak of. I had previously done a homeschool event about the middle of August in Charlotte - the Love 2 Learn conference - but didn't get to do that one this year since I was busy with work and have been taking a friend of mine to her doctor's appointments and money was tight.

The first scheduled event this season (the August to November time) is the Sunday in the Park in Mint Hill. This is held the 3rd or 4th Sunday of August every year and is one of the least costly events for me, other than travel time (gas is going back up again - but I have had success covering gas at least at this event). Since this is a day event, I don't have to pay for a hotel as the event is only about 2 or so hours away from home. So, Sunday, August 26, I will be heading to Mint Hill, NC, for the event and I hope my son will go with me to help set up the tent and just man the tables. He said he would go but he's been sleeping a lot during the day and getting up late at night to do whatever so I'm hoping tomorrow he gets on a better sleeping pattern and goes to bed and sleeps during the night so he can get up early Sunday to go with me.

Right after the Sunday in the Park event is Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. The last time I did this event was in 2008 and that was when State of Wilderness was first released. Since then, I have had five more state books published and Finally Home plus a few short stories are ebook published. So in 4 years, I think that is pretty good.

Between the beginning of September and beginning of October, I don't have anything planned since the Geofest will be at the SC Council for Social Studies conference the end of September and I can't afford an exhibitor booth for that event ($450 is a bit steep for me right now).

October is a very busy month for me as I have the Georgia Librarian Associations (it's called Georgia COMO - combined SELA (Southeastern Librarian Association), GMSA (Georgia Media Specialists Association) and GLA (Georgia Librarian Association)) conference the 3rd through the 5th. I lucked out on this one as I was fretting how I would come up with the exhibitor booth cost and put the dilemma to the director and he came up with a solution for me - I get to man the SELA booth and display my books to sell at no cost to me. I also have been accepted to do a presentation Friday morning and get to participate in the Author Reception Thursday evening - so my only costs will be hotel and gas and food - and I've booked a suite so I can take inexpensive food to have for my meals (breakfast is at the hotel and I may even purchase Lunch to Go, depending on cost for my evening meals). Everything works out as it should and I think this will be an excellent group to get in with.

I'll return Friday evening and then Saturday, the 6th and the following Saturday, the 13th, I hope to be in a "ghost hunting" course - and get to participate in the field trip to do some ghost hunting.

The weekend of the 19th-20th of October is the Sugarfoot festival and that is here in town, so my expense is table ($25 and already paid) and my time to set up and be out there.

The next one I hope to participate in will be the last weekend of October which is the Georgia Council for Social Studies but again - everything will depend on funding in September and if I can swing the exhibitor's booth cost.

I won't be able to do the SCISA teacher's conference this year since it is in Charleston and the overall cost for me to take that trip, stay overnight in a hotel for a half day conference wouldn't be worth it. I hope next year they will move it to the upstate area - either Anderson or Greenville would be perfect for me.

I also won't be able to do the Savannah Children's Book Festival this year as they have moved it to the same weekend as the YALLFest and the cost would be more than it would be worth it.

I'm going to talk with Sybil about splitting a table at YALLFest and seeing if she can get me a hotel room on the cheap that weekend since she lives in Charleston. I will try it this year and go from there.

I think that pretty much wraps up the Fall Event Season for me. Don't forget for every book purchase you will receive 5 chances for the red, white, and blue afghan and extra chances are only $1 each. For every 25 chances purchased, you get 5 extra chances (so you pay $25, you get 30 chances; you pay $50, you get 60 chances; you pay $75, you get 90 chances; you pay $100, you get 120 chances) - The drawing will still be held the 1st of December with the afghan being mailed out about the 7th of December. See you all in the postings. Reports after the two upcoming events - Ma America

SCISA, SCCSS and GCSS conference updates

I called the SCISA today to find out if I could get more information about their teachers' conference or workshop coming up in November. They are going to email me the information as soon as they have everything fixed up. She also said she would love to have me do a presentation. So now the wheels are turning on what to present to a group of teachers. As a writer, I don't really feel I have much to offer teachers, but I'm going to go for it - a writing workshop for teachers. This one will be held at Ben Lippen School in November. So I'll make the trip to Columbia the first week of November.

As I'm not coming up with the funds for either of the state Council for the Social Studies conferences, I've decided to forego them this year and hope that maybe next year I can afford them and hook up with the social studies teachers. I'm happy with being able to get involved in a teachers' conference.

I'll keep plugging away, doing what I'm doing - homeschool conferences, independent school teachers' conferences and hopefully the council for social studies conferences with an occasional book festival thrown in there (can't let the Savannah one go because that is an opportunity to do school visits before the event).

Stay tuned for more updates as I get them. Ma America & the JGDS

SC Geographic Alliance newsletter

Last year I hooked up with the SC Geographic Alliance during the SCHEA convention in Sumter. That led to Geofest in September and February. The quarterly newsletter came out today. I love finding new leads for my books. Not only does the SC Geographic Alliance provide information and resources for SC teachers and schools, but they provide other leads that help me expand. I just checked the resources listed and they have a listing of children's literature that can be used in schools, so my next project is to find out how to get listed as a resource - lol.

The biggest news pertains to the new SC Social Studies standards and that definitely helps me with my study guides and other aspects of the books.

The calendar was showing an entry for the SC Independent Schools Association on November 4. So what do I do? I explore. I find the website and explore it. It seems that November 4 is the date of the State Teacher's Conference. Guess where I'm going to try to be with my books? You guessed it - at the SCISA teacher's conference. With over 1100 teachers in attendance, I should have a pretty good turnout at my table.

Also in November it shows SEDAAG. Again, I had to explore but don't think they have exhibitors at the conference but when I can find out who to contact, I'll see. The biggest problem with this conference is that I will be in Savannah for the Savannah Children's Book Festival the days before so I would be there already but I don't know if I can afford to stay three or four extra days. Everything will be dependent on how things go at events in the next couple of months.

I also found out that Geographic Awareness week is November 13 through the 19th. I'm planning on some activities during the week with some giveaways, so stay tuned as Geography Awareness week approaches.

See you all in the postings - Ma America (Mrs. E) & the JGDS