Five Things on a Friday

© Derek Anderson. All rights reserved.

1.  One of the many fun parts of being an author is seeing that your books matter (even if only for a little while) in the families of complete strangers.  I loved this blog entry from a family in Canada over Happy Birthday, Hamster.

. . . the story culminates with all Hamster’s friends leaping out and yelling, “Surprise!” Benjamin was absolutely delighted. He insisted on reading the book over and over again over the next few weeks and there wasn’t a single family member that could resist him when he came toddling over carrying the book and yelling, “Pize! Pize!”

Just imagining that makes me so happy.

2.  I had a nice meeting with my critique partners last night.  I told them about my new novel, and their eyes widened, proving to me that I'm on a good path with it.  It's another thoughtful middle-grade that'll be a good discussion book. 

3.  It's 45 degrees here, so it's time to hunt under the bed for my LL Bean slippers. 

4.  I set up my projector and ran through my school visit presentations for Milo yesterday (who promptly fell asleep!).  It's been a couple months, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't too rusty next week when I'm visiting five Tennessee schools.

5.  And I'm visiting the Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  That event is open to the public. So if you're in that area, I'd love to meet you!  I'm not sure what book I'll do.  The book cover shown is Happy Birthday, Hamster, but at 7 at night, I don't know if I'll have the audience for that book.  So for events like this, I usually prepare a few different presentations.  Then when I see the audience, I pick the talk that seems the best fit. 

Book Talk and Signing

Tuesday, September 20, 7:00pm

featuring 2011 Pen Pal Author Cynthia Lord

Sponsored by the Friends of Linebaugh Library