Making Masks and Reading

On Wednesday, July 17th, I was invited to do an author signing/reading along with some Arts & Crafts at Woonsocket Harris Library. Here are the pictures from that fantastic event.

Masks! One Tiger getting fitted.

Making Masks

Bug came, too! Making an elephant mask.

Reading our story

Thanks everyone for coming and having a great time with me!

Having a Party and You're Invited!

With the rainy weather lately, I know kids are getting a bit crazy. Bring them down for some library time with me!

Next Wednesday at the Woonsocket Library, I'll be returning for another reading and signing. But, there's more! Before the signing, we'll be doing a craft project. That's right, get there early with the kids and sit back while they make animal masks. After, they can wear their masks while we read the story.

Hope to see you all there!

Event Info

Where: Woonsocket Harris Library

303 Clinton Street, Woonsocket, RI

When: Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Time: 10 am  

Who: Children under 7. 

(Older is fine, but story is geared for younger.)

What: Arts & Crafts and Story time

Books will be available for purchase.

June is Bustin' Out All Around

For those of you who don't know, I've been busy, busy, busy. Revisions and rewrites are happening on my Picture Book Week manuscripts. One of them is close to being ready to go out into the Querying World. Hopefully it will flourish out there on it's own.

June is also a very busy month for me. Besides the usual winding down of school year activities, I also have several book events. The first is Saturday, June 15th at Booklovers' Gourmet in Webster, MA. If you're in the area, come down and have one of their fabulous snacks, buy a couple books and visit with me.

I'll also be at the Charlton Library on Wednesday, June 24th. I'd love to see see everyone's smiling face there as well. You can always see where I'll be on my Appearance Page.

And, if you want to see me, but don't want to come to a book reading, you can see me perform stories not written by me at Mutton and Mead Festival. Stop by and say hello. I'll be easy to find --- just follow the trail of mud.

In case you weren't aware, I'm also (slightly) musically inclined. You can hear me squawking away with several bands all month long. (By several I mean three. By all month long, I mean ALL MONTH LONG.)

So, that's June in a nutshell. I'm slightly relieved that Camp NaNo is next month and not this month. I can barely eke out enough time to write a blog post, never mind a whole novel.

What is everyone else doing this lovely month?

And the Winner...

Thank you to everyone who voted. For some reason, Blogger poll decided to keep resetting, but I was keeping track of votes on my own. THE NOISE GOBBLER pulled ahead, followed closely by THE LONELY MINOTAUR. Tying for third were PURPLE ORANGES and KNICK-KNACK KNUCKLE. I now have an order in which to start my editing and revisions. Thanks!

As a reward, I will now give you a quick synopsis of the winner. Enjoy and don't be afraid to let me know what you think in the comments.

Benjamin Bibbity won't go to bed. He stomps on the floor and shouts instead. When everyone else is fast asleep, from under the bed, THE NOISE GOBBLER creeps.

Mostly made up of ears, the creature eats every sound it hears. Peace and quiet is better than sheep, helping everyone to soundly sleep.

I'm excited to get to work on this and looking forward to sharing it with everyone!

New Projects in the Pipeline

This past week was PiBoWriWee --- Picture Book Writing Week. The challenge: To write a new picture book draft every day for seven days. To my own amazement, I managed to complete it.

Now, I'm facing a new challenge. With seven fresh picture book manuscripts to work on, which one do I tackle first? This is where you all come in.

I'm posting the Working Titles ONLY for each of the seven books. These titles may change in the future, but they're how I'm identifying them for now. Armed with only the titles and any information you may have picked up from me over the week, I want you to vote on my next project.

Voting will be open until the weekend, when I hope to start in on edits and revisions on the winner. The candidates are:

1. PURPLE ORANGES

2. KNICK-KNACK KNUCKLE

3. DELILAH GRAY

4. PERFECT PET

5. THE NOISE GOBBLER

6.  THE LONELY MINOTAUR

7. HIC, HIC, HICCUP

So, lovelies, what's it gonna be? You can click on your choice in the poll on the right. Thoughts and comments are always welcome as well.

Happy Friday!

Got my first #FF (Friday Follow) on Twitter this morning. It's very sweet, from a awesomely talented writer/artist. Made my day.

#FF @ermckeon who is perhaps the nicest PB writer I have ever virtually met. :)

— S.P. McConnell (@SP_McConnell) April 26, 2013

What are you doing today to make someone smile?

New Children's Book Blog

Hey guys! For anyone who missed it, there's a new children's book blog in town. Run by Malika Gandhi, Cracking Stories 4 Children aims to help spread the word about different children's book and help readers connect. Today, WHO WILL DANCE WITH ME? joined their ranks.

Take a look and see what you think. Make sure to check back often because you never know what book might catch your, or your little one's, eye.