John Scalzi kindly allowed me to blather on (at length) about how I came about the ideas that led me to writing Come Fall. You can find my essay here, as part of his ongoing The Big Idea columns.

I also posted a much shorter piece for Write Up Our Alley about book birthdays — what they are and aren’t.

Today is the official release date of Come Fall. Happy birthday! You can now order it at your favorite bookstore or online outlet.

I’ll be throwing a book party on Saturday August 28, at The Alphabet Garden Bookstore in Cheshire, Connecticut to celebrate its release. Come join us!

I’ve recently updated my website to include resources for writers who are seeking information on how to get their works published. The list is a work in progress, and I’ll be updating it from time to time. You can find the current version here.

Come Fall is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. I am getting very excited!

Elizabeth Bluemle wrote an insightful piece for Shelftalker: A Children’s Bookseller’s Blog (for Publisher’s Weekly) asking us Where’s Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty? She took issue with the publishing canard that white readers aren’t interested in characters of color. She also called on writers, editors, publishers and booksellers to send her titles of modern books with main characters of color where the book isn’t primarily about race. The result was an outpouring of information, which she detailed here. She decided to pull together the suggested books on a Library Thing list.

There are many lists and sources of information on the web, like Cynthia Leitich Smith’s website; The Brown Bookshelf; American Indians in Children’s Literature; Oyate; Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children’s Literature. But the more shout-outs for books with characters of all colors, the better.

Bravo Elizabeth!

[And thank you to Nicole Tadgell for the links.]