Wild West: twice in one month

At the beginning of February, I was honored to be a third-time participant (and first-time keynoter) at the Nevada Reading Week Conference in Reno. I must have been more focused than I realized at the time because I took only one photo:

Hard to make out the scenic Reno horizon in the background.

At the end of February, I made my first trip to Seattle to speak at four area schools and one writers conference.

The books I signed at Hazelwood Elementary in Newcastle, WA.

One photo I wanted to take but neglected to was the second instance I've seen of a school library that is home to a bathtub converted into a reading tub.

A highlight of my trip was speaking at St. Francis of Assisi School in Burien, WA. As for why, come back on 3/23/12.

One WA school I was especially hoping to include on this trip was a hefty 307-mile drive from Seattle (still, better than the 2,499-mile drive from where I live). The reason this school appeared on my radar is because one of its students sent me this letter, which by chance arrived a mere couple of weeks before my Seattle stint:

I couldn't give the school enough notice to add them to this trip, but I'm planning to return to Seattle in the fall and I'm hoping Destiny's school is on the docket then.

In the meantime, I emailed Destiny via her school; here's an excerpt:

If you like to write, or draw, I encourage you to check out www.stonesoup.com. It's a magazine written and drawn completely by young people. If you meet their age requirements, try a submission. You, too, could be a published writer, and long before you're my age. Maybe writing is your destiny, Destiny.