Have Your People Call My People

The past few weeks have been full of good news. For starters, I will be making my first ever author appearance this fall! The fine people at the Watchung Booksellers bookstore in Montclaire, New Jersey, have launched a writing discussion series called Writing Matters. In September they'll be discussing the craft and business of writing children's books--and they've asked me to be a panelist! (Exciting, no?) Even better is the fact that I actually have a publicist that I have to run this kind of thing by. (Is it too soon for me to say stuff like, "Have your people call my people"?)


Also, Flamingnet.com reviewed Your Life, but Better! and gave it their Flamingnet Top Choice Award. (They review books on a scale from 1-10, and anything that scores a 9 or 10 is considered a Top Choice book.) Thanks, Flamingnet!


Not to be outdone, Girls' Life Magazine featured my book in their online book club last week: http://www.girlslife.com/post/2009/12/11/you-life-but.aspx And GirlMogul.com has named Your Life, but Better it's February book of the month! (Ooh, I hope I'm not spoiling any surprises for their readers.) 


A friend of mine from high school who is now an assemblywoman even offered to organize a press conference in my honor. Whoa...that would be a bit much, I think. But I still got a kick out of the idea.


And finally, I'm having a couple of book parties! My friends, family, and coworkers are all coming out to celebrate the book's publication. One of them will be a joint party with my friend Elizabeth Paulson, whose book 98 Ways to Find a Great Guy just came out too.


So yeah, things have definitely been going well. But just in case you're worried that all this good news is going to my head, I've also gotten my first review that wasn't exactly glowing. Even though they did say that middle school girls would enjoy it, the gist of the review was that the novel is a little too girly and over the top. And I do believe the words "fluff" and "filler" were used. Eh. What can I say? You can't please everyone. And everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion. My hope is that my intended audience will at least find it fun and that it makes them think a little bit about the kind of person they want to be.


Either way, I'm still proud that I've realized my dream of becoming a published author. It's great to have something out there in the bookstores--even if somebody slams it!