Like always, it’s been a long time in between blogs. I always think…I should blog this, or I should blog that. And then I get home and I forget or I start doing something else.
Today though, I got a little reminder that I wanted to post a blog. I had so much fun spending time at a local high school giving book talks. I talked to students about SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) and how cool it is that they get 15 minutes of free time every day to read whatever their little hearts desire. I wish we would’ve had SSR when I was in school. Maybe I would’ve started reading before I turned 30. 
So I talked a lot about Bluford Books . I love these books. They are especially great for teens who hate, I repeat HATE, to read. They’re only 10 chapters and each chapter is only like 10 to 15 pages long. Super short books with great high school stories. My favorites are Brothers In Arms, Secrets in the Shadows, and Search for Safety. After each book that I talked about it was totally awesome when a student would want to read that book. “Can I get that one?” “Can I trade for it?” Totally cool!!!
I also book talked Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson . What better book to recommend to a group of 9th graders than Speak. The content of the book is so relevant and they can totally put themselves in Melinda’s shoes walking into school on the first day of high school, nervous, feeling like you don’t belong. Of course, that’s not the only thing that’s on Melinda’s mind, but I don’t want to spoil it so I will leave it at that.
Getting the opportunity to talk about So I’m A Double Threat was a surprise, but their teacher asked me to talk to the students about my book and being a writer. I loved that some of them had already heard of Double Threat. I cracked up when one of the students asked if my autograph was worth money. HAHAAHHAH!!! Good luck trying to sell it. Too cute! Maybe some day.
There were a lot of students that want to read You Act So White, so I’m hoping to have that ready to go by Christmas. I’m going to start shooting photos for the cover next week, so we’ll see how it goes. Even though the book is finished I can’t stop trying to fine tune it. I really love this story and I’m not ready to let it go just yet.
Part 2 of Double Threat, Meggie’s sophomore year is not quite done. Well not even not quite, it’s just not done at all. I haven’t even finished my first draft. I know I have about forty pages to go, but I keep getting distracted. I’ve heard some buzz about people asking if it’s out yet, so I’m working on it. I’m still not sure what it’s going to be called. I really like Double Threat My A$$, but I don’t think that would look very nice on a cover, so I might have to go with DTMA: Double Threat My… or Double Threat My… . I honestly have no idea. If you have any suggestions, send them my way!
Okay. I better get back to writing. Erian H.: I will be sending a book your way. She’s my reminder that I wanted to blog. When I got home today, there was a new comment in the guestbook from one of my book talkees telling me she’d like to read my book. Thanks for taking the time to visit my site!
Be back soon….
Julie
