At Write Up Our Alley I blog about winning awards and coming in second place. It isn’t the talk I gave at the Tassies on May 19th, but it does capture the essence of what I said. You can read the post here.

And yes, I do mention Jerry Spinelli.

This Wednesday May 19, 2010, at 7:00 p.m., the Shoreline Arts Alliance will host this year’s award ceremonies for the Tassy Walden Awards: New Voices in Children’s Literature at the Blackstone Library in Branford Connecticut. It’s the 10th anniversary of the awards, and I have been asked to speak for a few minutes about how the awards affected me. (No Castles Here came in as a Tassy finalist in 2002, under the title The Last of the Fairy Godmothers and another manuscript was finalist the year before.)

My congratulations to this year’s winners, Karen Jordan (picture book, text only), Diane Warner (illustrated picture book), Pamela Farley (middle grade novel), and Lynda Mullaly Hunt (young adult/teen novel).

Bravo!

I drove over 300 miles round trip yesterday—exhausting but worth it.

The Albany Children’s Books Festival was a hit! The organizers were warm and helpful. And I met a lot of wonderful people, eager children, talented artists and writers and so many avid readers. Some of my high points: meeting an 8-year old true fan of No Castles Here and reading his favorite chapter; eating a delicious lunch with the best rice pudding for dessert; and making origami boxes with countless children, and watching them show them off to family and friends.

My thanks to the organizers at the Albany Academies for pulling the day together.

I’ll be at the Albany Children’s Book Festival tomorrow.

See you there!

According to Barnes & Noble, Come Fall was written by me and Mr. William Shakespeare.

What can I say? I only collaborate with the best.