P.J. Hoover's Blog, page 81

Batteries, Books, and Why I Love Austin

Happy Monday!

First off, a huge congratulations to Shannon Messenger who just signed with my agent, Laura Rennert. I'm thrilled for Shannon! Head over and congratulate her!

It's a short week here with no school Friday and short days Wednesday and Thursday, so I'm going to cram as much writing as possible into today and tomorrow. I get to take a nice diversionary break to change a car battery, but I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit so my fingers don't go numb on me. Also, I'm going to be writin...

Five Reasons to Visit a Juvenile Detention Center

Happy Friday!

For The Texas Sweethearts Friday roundup, make sure to visit our blog. We've got a lot this week including a picture of a cupcake and where you'll be able to get one in April!
(And now I really feel like making cupcakes. That's what the weekend is for!)

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So Thursday, I was fortunate enough to do an author visit at the Williamson County Juvenile Detention Center. Last year I spoke there solo, and this year I spoke with author Jessica Lee Anderson. We spoke to two groups of kids...

VA Festival of the Book

I hadn't been to the Virginia area sans leaves on trees in ages. Not since the kids hit school. So traveling over Spring Break was a real treat. I could see houses through the trees and see bridges and water and things I hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday, I left the kids with my parents and drove down to Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book. My panel wasn't until 2:00, so I first checked in with my fellow panel members Stacy Nyikos, Keri Mikulski, Barrie Summy, and Suzanne M...

Five (things I've done besides writing) on a Friday

I'm totally psyched for the Virginia Festival of the Book. I'm on a panel Saturday, March 20th, at 2:00 pm in case you're in the Charlottesville area! I'll post some pics next week. I'm also having coffee with my agent, Laura Rennert, who will also be there.

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I'm cataloging my thoughts on writing while on vacation, but in the meantime, I'll give you five things I'm doing besides writing on vacation:

1) Played three games of croquet today. I won two. My son won one (nice bit of rhyming there...

Huge Congrats to Beth!

I am so excited for my awesome critique buddy Beth Revis! Beth just sold her debut novel(s) in a MAJOR deal to Razorbill. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE will come out Spring 2011!

Head over and congratulate her when you get a chance!

(Cascarones just seemed appropriate!)

Winner and Patience!

When you get a chance, head over to The Texas Sweethearts blog where we have Jessica Lee Anderson talking to us a bit about patience and her writing journey.


And a huge thank you for all those who dropped by to wish Jo Whittemore cheers on the release of her brand new book, FRONT PAGE FACE-OFF! I wasn't able to make her release party, but I heard it was a smashing success. Way to go, Jo!

And the winner of an autographed copy of FRONT PAGE FACE-OFF is...

Robyn Campbell !!!!!

Robyn, please email m...

Spring Break Friday

Happy Friday, everyone!

I'm here in Virginia until the 22nd! Plans for the week ahead include a workshop for a creative writing club on Tuesday in Woodstock, VA and then the Virginia Festival of the Book on Saturday the 20th. Not only am I on a really cool author panel there, I get to see a bunch more panels and authors! You can check out the entire event here.

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I have to share this review from Teens Read Too for THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD. Yes, NAVEL got a FIVE STAR review and the GOLD STAR A...

Sweetheart Jo Whittemore - Interview and Giveaway!

I couldn't be happier to introduce today's interviewee:

The totally awesome,
really cool,
pretty,
smart,
and funny
Jo Whittemore

Jo is the author of the Silverskin Trilogy, a superb YA fantasy from Flux, and her brand new novel FRONT PAGE FACE-OFF was released today! Is the cover darling or what?

**Stick around because I'm giving away a copy!

Not only is Jo a friend, she's also a fellow Texas Sweetheart (along with Jessica Lee Anderson). And without further ado, here is Jo...

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PJH: Congratulations...

SCBWI, Star Trek, and Critiques

So I had a total blast presenting at our Austin SCBWI meeting this past Saturday. I talked about how to put the power into PowerPoint, and I plan to post on that subject separately, but one of the biggest points I tried to get across was that just like our writing should have our voice, our PowerPoint presentations (and presentations in general) should be unique to us. And we should have fun with them. I certainly had a good time!

Huge thank you to everyone who came out to hear me speak!

Me...

Five on a Friday

I hope everyone had a great week! Here are my five for the week.

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Tomorrow (Saturday), I'm presenting here in Austin, TX at our SCBWI meeting on how to put POWER into your PowerPoint! I can't wait! So if you live in the area and can make it out, the meeting is
Saturday, March 6th at 11:00 at BookPeople.
Be there (please)!

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1) I love my Vado HD Video Cam. I want to record everything and piece it together, but I will try to control myself.

2) My son loved the MAGIC THIEF books by Sarah Pr...