On Veterans Day, 26 people came out to learn about Dickensen Academy and my road to publication. According to the bookstore, that was a huge number of attendees for a Sunday night, especially in the middle of a three-day weekend.

The book will be on sale near the register in the "Recent Events" section until early December.

Join me to celebrate the release of my debut novel. I will give a short presentation about the book and my road to publication. Bring your questions for a Q&A session. There will be light snacks, prizes, and giveaways.

For more details or to register for the event, click here: REGISTER

​My book release coincides perfectly with this year's Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. On Friday night, I will be signing my books along with dozens of other northwest authors. Scary, but exciting.

The signing event is open to the public, and it's free. I'd love it if you stopped by to support me. Plus, you will have a chance to meet many other authors. 

Let me know if you plan to attend, so I can look for you. 

Now that Dickensen Academy has finished with the big edits, I have shifted much of my time to creating and implementing a marketing plan.

It's a whole new world as I learn about the hundreds of ways I can promote my book. Some free and some with a huge price tag. Of course, I can't do everything, so I'm trying to prioritize as well as spend some time each week editing my work in process and re-reading Dickensen Academy now in a PDF version to make make sure it looks good they way it is laid out on the pages. Until this point it has been in Word.

Back to updating my website. And then time to take Ruby for a walk. 

​I am in the process of revamping this website. As of now, I’m keeping this Blog Page up but am not actively blogging for a couple reasons.
 
1  –  I need to decide the best focus of this blog.
 
2 - My writing time is being stretched between working with The Wild Rose Press to get Dickensen Academy ready for print, editing my work in progress, critiquing other’s works, and preparing to market my book when it comes out later this year. 
 
I am continuing to read as much as I can. I am currently reading Social Media Just for Writers by Frances Cabello. Learning lots! I anticipate it will be a five-star rating. J
 
I regularly post my reviews on Goodreads but currently am not finding the time for the more detailed reviews on this blog. Check out my ratings at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.    
 
Thank you for reading this post.  
 

​I apologize for not posting as regularly to this blog as I used to. Most of this year I have been busy drafting my second book and am now well into the editing phase.
 
I’m continuing to read as much as I can. I am a member of two book clubs, and we read a variety of genres. Plus, as a Young Adult author, I am constantly reading YA to improve my writing, and as a mother, I am always on the lookout for MG and YA books for my children to read.
 
I regularly post my reviews on Goodreads but currently am not finding the time for the more detailed reviews on this blog.Check out my ratings and reviews at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.    
 
Thank you for reading this post.  

​Title: Rules
Author: Cynthia Lord
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Length: 197 pages
 
 
Summary 
 
Twelve-year old Catherine simply wants her life to be normal. But normal is challenging when you have an autistic brother. This summer a girl is moving in next door, so hopefully they can become friends, if her brother David doesn’t find a way to ruin it like he does for everything in her life. Catherine has created a list of rules for David so he can learn to behave normally, and just as importantly, allow Catherine not to be embarrassed.
 
Unexpectedly Catherine meets Jason in the waiting room of David’s speech therapist. Jason is wheelchair bound and communicates by pointing at pictures in his speech journal. What starts as drawing special word cards for Jason, so he can talk like a normal teen, leads to a special friendship. Meanwhile, Catherine is taking tentative steps towards a friendship with her new neighbor, Kristi. But when Kristi suggests that Catherine invite Jason to a dance, Catherine needs to decide what to do because she has not had the guts to tell Kristi of Jason’s special needs. And bringing a boy in a wheelchair to a dance is not exactly normal in Catherine’s eyes.
 
My Review
This is a book I had a hard time putting down. (The same held true for my twelve year old daughter.) The characters were so real, particularly Catherine and Jason. Nothing earth shattering occurred in the book, but I still had to know what happened next. I believe it was because Catherine’s struggle to fit in and be normal is something that so many pre-teens (and even adults) face.
 
The book was written in first person, which helps bring the reader into Catherine’s world. We feel her struggle as she tries to figure out what to do: the right thing or the normal thing.   
 
I am a member of two book clubs, and we read a variety of genres. Plus, as a Young Adult author, I am constantly reading YA and MG books to improve my writing, and as a mother, I am always on the lookout for books for my children to read.
 
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my ratings at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.    
 
Thank you for reading this post.  

​Title: Twice Upon A Time: Sleeping Beauty, The One Who Took the Really Long Nap
Author: Wendy Mass
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Length: 172 pages
 
 
Summary 
 
This is a fairy tale retelling based on Sleeping Beauty. In this story, the main plot of the original fairy tale holds true: Princess Rose is still cursed to fall into a one hundred year sleep when she pricks her finger on a spindle. However, this retelling follows Princess Rose and the Prince as they grow up.
 
Princess Rose faces the challenge of being perfect in so many ways, thanks to the gifts of the fairies. Additionally, she must live with overly protective parents who hope Rose can avoid the fairy’s curse by hovering over her and not allowing her to participate in any activities where she might hurt herself.
 
Meanwhile, we get to know the Prince as he grows up one hundred years later. He lives with his own challenge: a mother who has some ogre blood which causes her to feed, sometimes on humans, two times a month. He discovers a castle, eerily similar to his own, deep in the woods covered by briars and is drawn to enter it. Like Princess Rose, the Prince also has very little independence making it difficult to investigate the hidden castle.
 
My Review
This is was a fun book to read. The story was told in first person, alternating chapters between Princess Rose’s and the Prince’s point of views. I really enjoyed how the author developed these two characters so we got to know their personalities much better than in the original fairy tale. I especially enjoyed seeing how Princess Rose’s gifts of beauty, cleverness, grace, and perfection at singing, dancing and music could be its own curse by not allowing her to fail causing her to seek out activities where she might fail. Both main characters were very likable as well as each of their best friends.
 
This book is classified as Middle Grade and is therefore intended for ages eight to twelve, but I believe anyone interested in fairy tales would love to read this twist. Additionally Wendy Mass has written a few other fairy tale retellings that would likely be of interest to people who enjoy this story.
 
I am a member of two book clubs, and we read a variety of genres. Plus, as a Young Adult author, I read a lot YA and MG books to improve my writing. And as a mother, I am always on the lookout for books for my children to read.
 
If you would like to read more of my reviews, check out my ratings at Christine at Goodreads. If you like them, please send me a friend request.     
 
Thank you for reading this post.