Announcing KidLit Authors Club!

I'm breaking my own challenge (inspired by Laurie Halse Anderson of abstaining from blogs, Facebook, Twitter for one month) for this important announcement. The KidsLit Authors Club has arrived!

Are you a teacher or librarian in the PA, NJ, DE area who would love to have one-stop shopping available for author visits? How about a whole group of young adult, middle grade and picture book authors arriving at your doorstep in one day? If you think this is a fabulous idea - look no further.

The KidLit Authors Club (KAC) is a group of of authors and illustrators from PA, NJ and DE who will bring the party to you! The KAC is new, but gosh, are we busy already! Check out the website for a list of where we will be visiting: bookstores, schools, libraries and writing conferences. This terrific mix of debut and multi-book authors combines fun with valuable writing tips. You make the contact, we'll take it from there - talk about a party planner!

Check out our blog at KidLit Authors Club and be inspired!

No Time To Write? Stop Blogging!

Another gem from Laurie Halse Anderson, and she makes a very good point. She dares us to stop blogging, Facebook, etc. for the month of February. I would have to agree that we will find ourselves with much more time to write. The newsletter from the Institute of Children's Literature relays a quote from Laurie that I think is fabulous. "Reading blogs will not turn you into a published author. Writing blogs won't either. Writing books will. You have precious little time after your other responsibilities and if the goal is to write a book, well, then . . . write it." That's it, folks - I'm signing off. Not sure I can do the month of February, but the longer I write this note, the less time I'm writing my book!

Top 10 Influential YA Authors

Amazon recently announced who they consider to be the Top 8 Influential YA Authors of the decade. I picked up this link from the blog of Laurie Halse Anderson, who I think is a terrific author, and is included in the list. Other noteworthy authors are Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries), Stephenie Meyers (Twilight) and Christopher Paolini (Eragon). Check it out.