Hudson Children’s Book Festival–2012!

I spent Friday and Saturday in  NY state visiting the Maple Hill Middle School in Castleton-on-Hudson and then attending the Hudson Children’s Book Festival in Hudson. What a blast! This was my third year at the conference and it is so well run, so well attended, so fun! This is a community that really supports reading and does everything it can to support it. I saw loads of writing friends, listened to an excellent keynote address by Walter Dean Myers, and talked books with readers and writers alike. It was also wonderful to work with the kids at Maple Hill Middle School who asked great questions about writing and being a writer. Photos to follow!

 This is me and friends at Hudson itself: Julia Rozines DeVillers, Ann Heywood Leal, and Danielle Joseph.

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of Valerie Flood, Reading Specialist at Maple Hill, who invited us to visit her school–and put up three of us for the festival–me, Danielle Joseph (Shrinking Violet, Indigo Blues, Pure Red) and Ann Haywood Leal (Also Known as Harper, A Finders Keeper’s Place). We were all in the class of 2K9 together.

Remembering why I write YA….

Yesterday I attended Rick Riordan’s webcast with kids from Westtown, where I teach. Most of the audience was in sixth grade, although there were some tenth graders there, too. Honestly, I didn’t really want to go. I have a ton going on these days and I could have used that hour to “get something done.” I loved Percy Jackson, though, for some reason, I didn’t read the whole series. I read part of The Red Pyramid with my daughter, but then she finished it on her own. But, I thought, I really should go. I should see how a web-cast is done, see how Riordan interacts with his audience, learn something about his process, etc. etc. I also want to support YA, and fantasy, wherever I can, so I left my desk over-flowing with to-do lists and lessons plans and trotted over to the science lecture hall where the webcast was happening.

It was decent. Riordan was in an Egyptian museum and he was engaging as a host, knew a lot about Egyptian gods and magic, and was thoughtful in his presentation to his young readers. Fine. Nothing to write home about, but I was glad I came.

The last question he took was a student asking if he planned to take on a new mythology in his next series. He handled the question with just the right build up to his announcement. Yes, he had been thinking about this for a long time. There was one mythology that always fascinated him–that had really been his first mythological love, in fact, so he was very excited to tell us that he would next tackle…

Norse Mythology.

Throughout the lecture hall sixth graders started cheering, high-fiving each other, fist bumping, grinning from ear to ear. They were pumped. About Norse Mythology. The totally unaffected joy in that room about the promise of a good story–that’s why I write YA.

Muskogee, Oklahoma!

I had a blast yesterday skyping with a group of students at the Hilldale Middle School in Muskogee, Oklahoma! There were some technical glitches, but it was really neat to connect with this group of avid readers and writers. They asked great questions–and even laughed at some of my jokes! Watersmeet has been nominated for the Sequoyah Book Award in Oklahoma, which first brought these students’ attention to  my book.

There are some parts of skype that are difficult. What with trying to look at the camera and not the screen and the delay in what each party says, it’s really hard to read your audience. But all this is made up for by the fact that you get to connect with readers from far away. I would never have been able to make the trip to Muskogee, but there I was–or at least cyber-me was there!

Thanks for the invitation, Ms. Harrison, and thanks to the group of students who welcomed me so warmly and asked such  great questions!

Why I love writing (at the moment…)

…because a few days ago, I looked up the characteristics of a shrapnel wound (really nasty pictures, by the way) and learned how quickly and to what extent such wounds would get infected. I also learned various techniques for cleaning these wounds. Today, I looked up sea monsters and found this really cool Maori monster called the Taniwha which can be good to a certain tribe and terrifying to others. Sometimes it lives in the sea, sometimes in rivers. What other job allows you to pursue such a wide collection of questions and call  it “research”? One click leads to another, and pretty soon was I was learning about cryptozoology, which is a search for animals whose existence has not been proven. Who knew?

(and yes, there are some clues to what might be happening in the next Abisina installment in this post!)

Paperback is almost here!

I expect to receive a box of the Watersmeet paperback any day now! Look for it in stores and on Amazon.com! Meanwhile, I’m hard at work on Book #3…..

Cool interview!

Check this out! My Journey Sister, Bev Patt, interviewed me for a blog she’s part of:

http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/2012/02/fantastic-fantasy-discussion-author-ellen-jensen-abbott/the-centaurs-daughter/

An overdue report!

Well, school is back in session and taking over my life! As a high school junior and senior English teacher, I spend much of the fall giving advice on college essays and writing recommendations. I love the work–talking about writing? What could be better!–but it means things like blogging go out the window.

There are a few items to report in the world of Seldara: the paperback for Watersmeet comes out around March 1! Yay! I can’t wait to have a less expensive book to sell! I hope more  people will discover Abisina and her adventure!

The Centaur’s Daughter is selling well–it’s possible that they’re going to reprint soon so keep your fingers crossed! (And get your copy soon because there might be a period when it won’t be available!)

I got a GREAT shout out from Cynthia Leitich Smith on the blog Teen Voices: http://www.teenvoices.com/2011/10/17/part-2-the-%e2%80%9ccynsation%e2%80%9d-of-cynthia-leitich-smith/ Cynthia is the amazing author of Tantelize, Blessed and Eternal, among other books. She’s also the blogger behind Cynsations, a ‘must-visit’ for writers and book lovers. I have to pinch myself each time I realize that she enjoyed my books!

Joanne Fritz also posted an interview with me on her blog: http://mybrainonbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/ya-friday-pa-authors-part-two-centaurs.html Joanne is a writer and a bookseller and she knows A LOT about YA lit (and children’s too). Check out her blog!

It’s still college season, but I’m hoping I’ve gotten the biggest crunch behind me and will actually get working on BOOK 3!! I’ll keep you posted!