We started off the day with two school assemblies. The students had written down some questions and we authors had to give our answers before an auditorium that was filled with students. We then were invited to eat lunch with a select group of students, all of whom were interested in becoming writers themselves someday. Cafe Rio was served--yummy! Each table was dedicated to the author who was eating there and was decorated accordingly.
The mermaid table was for Forbidden Sea.
The tennis shoe and money table was for Kristen Landon, author of The Limit.
The wolf table was for Kristen Chandler, author of Wolves, Boys, and Other Things that Might Kill Me.
The dragon table was for Clint Johnson, author of the Dragon Codex series.
After lunch we broke out into four smaller groups and discussed with the kids our writing process and how you go about getting published. The kids were then allowed to ask us authors questions one on one. The picture below is of one of these sessions.
Below is a picture of the lovely lady, Leann Moody, who put this whole event together and three of the authors who attended this year. (left to right: Kristen Chandler, Kristen Landon, Leann Moody, and Sheila Nielson.)
Just in case you were wondering why our fourth author is not in the picture, Clint Johnson doesn't like to have his photograph taken. Photographs of him are rare. The kids were starting to speculate that maybe he was a vampire and he just doesn't show up in photographs if they are taken of him. : )
This is a picture of one of the two assemblies. The auditorium was packed!
4 comments:
Hi Shelia! I won a copy of your book from the Complete Your Draft Challenge in September. I just wanted to check in and say Thanks! It was one of the best books I've read this year and I love that I get to share it with my 7yr old daughter who loves to read. Thanks for writing such a wonderful novel and for taking the time to send me a copy. My daughter is loving it!
Rebecca,
Yes, I remember your name. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and let me know how you liked Forbidden Sea. You'll have to let me know what your daughter thinks after you've finished reading it to her. There is nothing more wonderful than sharing a good book with someone you love. : )
Hey Shelia... again. I've met you four times now- once at the Teen Book Festival after Scott Westerfeld's keynote, I talked to you afterwards. Second was the DMS Fantasy Festival (I won the book character costume contest as Katniss Everdeen) where you told me about your secret blog (Which I've found, not to mention the one on Goodreads), and twice at the library, the first time the weekend after the DMSFF and the second time one, two maybe three weeks ago when I wouldn't back down from trying to get your book as you were signing two copies of Forbidden Sea with a girl from my Gym class and her mom, one for her, one for her cousin in a different state, I believe.
Well, I had also heard before this that you drew out sketches of your characters, and I finally found them on here. I must say that I really, really like them. I sometimes do this too whether it be a character from whatever book I'm writing (I'm writing multiple books right now and it is indeed hard work to do, so now I don't complain when authors write 500 paged books in a year cause I don't think I have 100 pages (Well, 165 pages written in my notebook of my main story)), but I SUCK at drawing almost as much as my shoes stink once I'm through with them. I can cartoon meteorically well if I put all of what I've got into it (Two recent drawings of Terra from Teen Titans turned out kinda good). The jewelry I've seen is great- my mom's an aspired jewelry maker with her own business on eBay called Attitudes. Not to mention that one of my friend who lives in California's mom LOVES dolls like heck and has her own blogs about them and the doll dresses she sews together. I can't sew to save my life. Period. Let's just say sewing machines hate me. A LOT.
I've finally found the time to read Forbidden Sea! I must say, I love your word choice and the mood of the story, how it represents a sorta 1900-ish time period... or at least that's the time period that stuck out to me. Last night all I was doing was reading it, I was hooked. I got kinda nervous when a best friend of mine (In the Fantasy Festival picture) who read it claimed it was a romance- I tolerate it if it's not the main theme, but for the most part I'll be honest that I steer clear of that (Which is why I absolutely HATE the Vampire romance fad that's been going around here!). And I really think that she's wrong because sure there were romantic elements in it, but I'd definitely say that it was a fantasy. Sorry girl, but Adrianne's crush on Denn is NOT the main theme. You wish.
Anyways, sorry if that was a long comment- I am LONG, long story short (hehe, that was awkward in the sense that I didn't take long explaining long story short). I just like longness- so things can last while they can. Only long thing I don't like is a long story, also kinda awkward.
Anyways, I hope to see you soon! I will finish your book as soon as possible- I honestly LOVE it. :)
Alyssa, I do indeed remember you! Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I'm pleased you decided to read my book despite what your friend thought. I'm even happier that you ended up liking Forbidden Sea.
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