Storybook Nook Book Signing

I had so much fun at my book signing today! The Storybook Nook is a darling little independent bookstore full of fun books and toys. I was introduced to screaming flying monkey toys and let me tell you--I so want one for Christmas now. I also got to meet lots of readers and book lovers while I was there. One teenage girl had not only read Forbidden Sea and loved it, but she had created the most beautiful necklace featuring Adrianne, the main character. She offered to make one for me. If she does I'll post a picture of it on this blog. It was just amazing. The Storybook Nook had only one copy of Forbidden Sea left by the end. I'd say the event was a huge success. A big thank you to all of you who came out to meet me today.

Forbidden Sea Book Signing

For those who might be interested, I will be visiting the Storybook Nook at Gardener Village to have a book signing on December 11th. I will be there 1:00pm - 3:00pm. Those who visit with me can get their name in a drawing to win a one-of-a-kind handmade miniature mermaid necklace. I will also be handing out adorable sea creature shaped lollipops to anyone brave enough to come up and talk to me while I'm out there. Books will be available for purchase, but even if you don't buy the book, come on by and just say hello.

The Storybook Nook's address is:

100 W. 7800 S.
Jordan, UT 84088

Hope to see you all there.

This is for All You Scott Westerfeld Fans!

I was invited as an author to attend the Teen Book Fest for Provo City Library this year. The keynote speaker was Scott Westerfeld.

(Can I just say here how much I LOVED his Leviathan series!)

His speech was not just informative but it was hilarious as well. For those of you who love Scott Westerfeld and his books as much as I do, click the link below to see a video of his keynote speech that day. The introduction at the beginning has her introducing the other authors at the event. Listen carefully and you will hear my name called out!

http://provout.swagit.com/play/11182010-90/0/

Dixon Middle School Visit

I was invited to attend a Fall Reading Festival at a local middle school on Wednesday. Three other authors besides myself were invited to participate and I must say, it was SO much fun!


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!

Teen Book Fest 2010

Yesterday my library put on its first annual Teen Book Festival. Scott Westerfeld was the keynote speaker. If you haven't heard Mr. Westerfeld speak in public before--he is a RIOT! I especially loved hearing about how he came up with the idea for writing his Levianthan trilogy (which I love) and how he and the artist, Keith Thompson worked together to create such an interesting world. There were many local authors invited to speak and do book signings as well. I was one of them. Some of the other authors that came to present were: Ally Condie, Brandon Sanderson, Carol Lynch Williams, Brandon Mull (who I sat next to during Mr. Westerfeld's speech), Sara Zarr, Jessica Day George, Bree Despain, Kristin Chandler, and many more than I could possibly list here. Hundreds and hundreds of teens and their parents came to the Teen Book Fest. You should have seen some of the lines for the author book signings. Scott Westerfeld's line went on forever. The building was so packed you could barely get around from place to place. My favorite part of the evening was getting to talk to the teens in the question and answer sessions. My favorite question was "Don't you get rich when you get a book published?" I quickly explained that unless you are J. K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer--most authors definitely have to keep their day job. They seemed a little disappointed by my answer. : ) Because it was the day before Halloween, all the kids and authors came dressed in costumes so they could take part in the costume contest and win some prizes. I was a steampunk Victorian lady in honor of Scott Westerfeld's visit. (See picture above) The whole event was such a success I think the library will be putting on another one next year.

Hope I'm invited again!

Cybil Awards Nomination for Forbidden Sea!

Forbidden Sea has been nominated for the Cybil awards! This is an award given out each year by book bloggers for the best books of the year. Click the link below to see all the nominations for this year. A special thank you to Rebecca since she was the blogger who liked my book enough to nominate it. I don't know Rebecca personally, but I do know her fantastic blog--check it out by clicking here.

Here is the list of Cybils where you will find Forbidden Sea:
http://www.cybils.com/2010/10/nominations-reminders-of-critical-importance.html

A lot of those titles I haven't read yet. Guess I'd better get cracking.

New Update! Forbidden Sea Deleted Scenes and Changes

Now that many of you out there have actually read Forbidden Sea, I thought it might be fun to post a few behind the scenes facts and deleted scenes that were changed or taken out of the book during the revisions process.

*Spoiler Warning* Do not click the links below unless you have read the book!

Click here to learn more about changes that were made to Forbidden Sea during the revisions process.

Click here to read deleted scene Part I.

Click here to read deleted scene Part II

Click here to read deleted scene Part III

Click here to read deleted scene Part IV

Click here to read deleted scene Part V

Keep your eye on this post--I will be adding more links to deleted scenes from Forbidden Sea as the weeks pass.