Celebrating Good Reads and New Projects

Hi, there, I haven't been very active on this blog since my eye surgery, but the eye is healing, and it's time to celebrate again.

But first, this Celebrate the Small Things blog hop is co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate. I recommend it, because it's always fun to see positive news that others are celebrating, and to share your own as well. 

So, what am I celebrating? 
1. I'm starting a new project--one I can't talk about yet, but it will keep me busy all through the month of July and possibly August. 

2. Meanwhile, during my "recuperation" period, I've been reading lots of good books, and "filling the well."

3. And, three new beta readers read through my latest mystery rewrite and, apart from a few small tweaks, thought it was good. I'm letting it "rest" for now, while I mull over the comments, but August I plan to go through it with those tweaks and then send it out. 

How about you? Do you have any projects you can't talk about yet? Have you read some good books lately? (Names, please. These days I do a lot of my reading based on recommendations.) Do you give your manuscripts time to rest between rewrites?

Celebrating A School Visit and a Guest Post Next Tuesday

Carla Pereira in her charming
shop, Casa Stop

It's again and I'm celebrating two events that  are actually going to happen next Tuesday, June 2nd. 

One of them is a school visit in Braga Portugal! How did this happen?
   
Last May, Rajan and I visited Braga, Portugal for the first time so I could do research on a new book that I've set in Braga. At that time, I met the very gracious Carla Pereira in a charming shop called Casa Stop which offers a range of things for the home. (You can see more about the shop at its Facebook page HERE.) Carla gave us directions when we got lost, and when she found out I was writing a book, we struck up a nice friendship that we continued by email. (Don't you love the Internet?)

My husband and I visited again in September, and when she learned we were returning in June, Carla asked if I would pay a school visit to her daughter's school. Well, of course I said yes! I'm thrilled! The students speak English (I don't speak Portuguese), and they are curious about American authors. It's a class of 30 I'll be addressing, ages 13 to 15. Pictures will definitely follow in a post visit blog!

The second wonderful thing I'm celebrating next Tuesday is that I'll be a doing a guest post on the cool blog, Mad About MG History, a blog about middle grade historical fiction. It's hosted by several bloggers, one of which is Chris Eboch, who has another blog, Write Like a Pro, a free online writing workshop. (I've heard Chris speak at workshops, read and liked a some of her books, and bookmarked several of her articles. She knows whereof she speaks.) You can visit Mad About MG History HERE and tap into some good reads for middle grade readers. Come visit me there on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I'm getting to celebrate all this with you, thanks to LEXA CAIN's blog and her co-hosts,
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @ TheCyborgMom. Visit Lexa's blog and follow and join the other links. It's really nice to see what other people are celebrating.

Have a great day.












http://madaboutmghistory.blogspot.com

Celebrating an Art Show and a Book Signing Coming Up

Today I'm celebrating two nifty events coming up, one soon, and one next month.

The soon one is tomorrow: My after school art club at the South Natomas Community Center is having their art show in the window of University Art Store, at J and 26th, in Sacramento. These kids are wonderful artists, ages 8 to 13.

The one next month is a book signing I'm having at Time Tested Books, on 21st St. between K and L, in Sacramento. I'll post about it again, closer to the time. But this is for my new book, Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls, set in Victorian London and featuring a ten-year-old girl who helps Sherlock Holmes find her mother's missing pearls. (You can learn more about it by pressing on the book cover in the margin.)

This is a fun blog hop, and you can read other neat celebrations at Lexa Cain's blog, sponsored by L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @ TheCyborgMom . Also you can link up to other sites and add your own link. Enjoy. Be sure and visit Lexa's blog. And have a great day!