Hurricane Helene and Other Writing News

When reflecting on the past month, the phrase that first comes to mind is, “the best laid plans of mice and men.” I had a very busy October planned with lots of public appearances, but Hurricane Helene disrupted most of them.

I have no room to complain because so many people lost their homes, or even their very lives. In my case, I am safe, my family is safe, and we didn’t sustain any property damage. Our biggest inconvenience is a home without running water for twenty-one days, and now, even though water service has been restored, it isn’t safe to use without boiling first and allowing it to cool. Suffice it to say, I will never take clean water for granted ever again, and how ironic that my latest book is about Wilma Dykeman and the French Broad River, the very river that flooded Asheville.

Despite the storm, I do have a few updates since my last blog post:

On August 28th, my co-author, Amie and I were interviewed on the GROG about our book, Dancing In The Storm. You can read it here: https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2024/08/dancing-in-storm-middle-grade-w.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawF-OAxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZrACFDnuKw0aKIs_26ZLmufxOM3IwmtgCDXgCNAH8__rwDpAlZ4f1HxaA_aem_uug_hdXd7I9mLlRzcK4yNw

On September 1st, Constance Lombardo and I appeared on Wordplay Radio to talk about our new picture books. Here we are with host Lockie Hunter:

I was on a panel at Asheville’s first annual Punchbucket Literary Festival with the Wilma Dykeman Legacy folks. I wish somebody had thought to snap a picture!

On September 25th, I delivered my first ever keynote at the East Tennessee Literacy Conference. My topic was Tennessee Culture and Inspiring Students to Write.

I am super excited that my two-book deal with Amy Fitzgerald at Lerner was announced in Publishers Weekly. Lerner will reissue my debut novel, The Ballad of Jessie Pearl and publish its sequel, Wild Mountain Ivy.

On October 4th, I attended the North Carolina Library Media Conference in Greensboro, NC. I was on a panel moderated by Tonnye Fletcher with fellow authors, Kelly Starling Lyons and Carolyn Fraiser. Our topic was The Inquisitiveness of Children, Using Hands-On Learning to Build a Community of Readers.