It's May?!

Seriously, where did April go? Here in the Midwest it rained for what seemed like the entire month, but we still squeezed in a junior high softball season. One of my favorite places to be is in the stands, cheering for my daughter. And guess what? She was the lead off hitter AND hit her very first home run! Now on to travel ball season!

But first -- this week is Children's Book Week!

These characters are from my upcoming book, DARK SKIES, and were created by the talented Makenzie McCarthy!

I'm excited to be a guest on Vivian Kirkfield's blog today for the official cover reveal of Dark Skies! You can read the post here.

Vivian is the host of the writing contest 50 Precious Words, where you are challenged to write a children's story in 50 words or less. It's incredibly fun! I was a finalist in 2023 with the story below, which allowed me to submit my DARK SKIES manuscript to The Little Press and resulted in my book deal!

What I'm Reading:

I just started reading THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune. It's about a normal, somewhat boring, human who is employed as a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. His by-the-book life is upended when he is sent to an orphanage that is home to some very unusual children. I'm loving the characters and the magical setting and can't wait to see what happens to poor Linus Baker.

I'm also reading the middle grade novel, Monster Mountain by Stacey Bartlett, a portal adventure that features wild creatures (think bigfoot!) and Minecraft.

Upcoming News:

After a enlightening marketing meeting with The Little Press last month, I've been looking for local bookstores and other fun places to potentially host book signings once DARK SKIES comes out. Like most authors, I absolutely do not like being the center of attention, but I believe so strongly in this book that I'm really going to push myself to get out there and promote! If you know of any places you think would be great for book signings/readings, please let me know!

I also have some fun ideas for my Street Team, which will be hosted on Facebook later this year. If you would like to be a Street Team member, sign up for blog updates to stay in the loop. If you've never been part of a Street Team, it's basically a group of people who hype up a new release. You'll get to read my story before anyone else and possibly win some prizes. All I ask is that you share my pre-made posts on social media and leave me an honest review on Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes and Noble!

That's it for May! Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!