AUTHOR SKYPE SUCCESS: Or how Dianne Salerni rocked our socks

"In mid-nineteenth century America, mysterious knocking noises haunt Maggie and Kate Fox, two teenage girls who become famous for their apparent ability to communicate with the dead.

Do the sisters have a supernatural gift -- or is it a hoax?"

On Tuesday,  author Dianne Salerni, who wrote the CAPTIVATING novel WE HEAR THE DEAD, skyped with my high school creative writing classes.  It was a RESOUNDING SUCCESS!   Check out her blog about the experience here.

I met Dianne through a fabulous, free online writing conference this past August: WriteOnCon.  (I have blogged about it's awesomeness before).  This marks the first time that our school has ever skyped with an author- and now that we know how easy it is to set up, I can't wait to book more!

Dianne talked about how she got interested in the Fox sisters' story- how she researched, the primary sources she used while writing (Hooray Primary Sources!), and her journey through self publishing and then on to publishing with Sourcebooks.  She also tempted us with eerie facts about her newest manuscript CAGED GRAVES about... what else? Caged graves!!  Totally spooky right?

My students had wonderful questions for her ranging from how she stays focused while balancing a full time job/family life, to dealing with writer's block, to naming characters and finding a favorite writing spot.  Her best advice? "Never give up.  Never stop writing, and never throw anything away."  Well said Mrs. Salerni, well said.

So everyone- GO READ THIS BOOK NOW!  It is a riveting read about how two young girls inadvertently started the Spiritualism movement in America.  I didn't realize the historical scope of this novel until I came across social reformer Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and suffragette Amy Post, and New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, all people who interacted with the Fox sisters in real life! Of course, no story would be complete without a love interest.  Find out if the dashing Elisha Kane of Arctic Exploration fame gets the girl!  Salerni's storytelling doesn't disappoint.

ALSO: if you are a teacher, I HIGHLY recommend skyping with Dianne.  The students had a blast, and it was really very easy!  Email her, I know she'd love to hear from you!

*I had cool pictures, but then I realized that they were all of my students, and for privacy reasons I couldn't post them on my personal blog.  So- just imagine 2 classes of teenagers sitting in a media center- watching Dianne Salerni on the big screen projector- and using a Britney Spears microphone to ask her questions.

** yes, the students had a little too much fun trying to actually wear the microphone rather than just hold it while they were talking to her.  It was entertaining.

I HAVE A PITCH- to be revised...

Yes, I know that I originally posted the pitch to my current work in progress, ELEMENTALS, here- but I am revising it.  I attended a webinar with the lovely agent Kristen Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency and she had quite a few FABULOUS comments about my pitch.

I promise that when I finish revising my pitch- I will repost the original, the one I sent to Kristen (including her comments) and the NEW pitch so everyone can hopefully learn as much from this experience as I did!

Road Trip Wednesday with the YA Highway

The YA Highway is an awesome blog comprised of authors from all over the world.  Every week they host Road Trip Wednesday: asking a question for bloggers to respond to and link back to their blog.  This week's question is

If you could travel back to any historical era for research purposes, which would you choose?


My answer: I pick TWO SWEEPING ERAS- 
Regency England and Victorian England, because I am obsessed with these time periods. (And here's where I go all nerd-girl on you). If I had a million dollars and didn't have to chase down old college transcripts, I would go to The University of Oxford and get my Masters in Victorian Literature. Just for the love of learning. 

a bit of light reading

Because I read books like this for fun. *side note: I actually almost did apply to Oxford a few years back, until I saw the OUT OF COUNTRY FEES! Yikes. I am still paying off my undergrad student loans- ten years after the fact!

Jane Austen- the woman, the legend

So if I had my magical time machine, first I'd go chill with this chick, my home girl Jane.

I Gotta Feeling (Writers Mix Spoof)

This is a HILARIOUS video by writer Jen Hayley.  You can see more of her by visiting her website here.  Jen is a member of the vlogging group YA Rebels

And the Award Goes To:

Answer: Share the Love
Question: What is?


A.  A bumper sticker adage plastered to the fender of a VW bus. 


B. Something your mother warned you about when she recalled those days of wanderlust and a man named Paul...


C. What led to the demise of Henry VIII


D. What I get to do as a recipient of the "ONE LOVELY BLOG" Award


*If you answered A-C, I applaud your imagination.  We should be friends.  Let's have tea shall we?


So, I get to pass on this award to FIFTEEN blogs that I have NEWLY discovered, that I think are lovely, (or as Eliza Doolittle says, loverly).  Again, a shout out to Virgin Sheets, the blog of Lisa M. Potts: she is the woman who granted me this fabulous award to begin with.  *bravo Lisa!*


And the award goes to: 
1. The English Teacher's Friend- the blog component of an INVALUABLE resource for teachers. You should check it out.  Oh, and did I mention Tamara is my crit partner? Yeah she's pretty much DA BOMB! 


The Founders of WriteOnCon: 
2. Literary Rambles- A forum for all things children's literature, hosted by Casey McCormick  (a plethora of information!) 

My first blog award, and an ANECDOTE!

A wonderful thank you goes out to the illustrious blogger Lisa M. Potts over at Virgin Sheets for giving me my very first BLOG AWARD!  How fabulous!  How tremendous!  *snacks on tea and crumpets, inspired by the lovely pictures on the "One Lovely Blog" award*


As a bonus, I get to pass this award on to 15 other blogs that I have recently discovered! (see below)

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to fifteen other blogs you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen. 

Now, as you all know, this is the beginning of school for me and I am a little swamped, so check back tomorrow for my list of blogs that I have deemed "LOVELY" enough to get this snazzy award. 

Before I go, I will leave you with an ANECDOTE OF AWESOME:

At the high school where I teach, our administration decided to have the second period class count as a sort of "homeroom" this year.  Since our mascot is the wolf, we are to call it our "Wolf Den" and our students in second period are our "Wolf Pups." We will go over things like dress code, code of conduct, business-y type things in second period.  I told my students that I was now their "Wolf Mom," and that this was a bit like Scouts, only... not. (Second period is one of my creative writing classes, I have to add). While I was explaining this, one student jumped up and said, "Can't we rename this? Like instead of the Wolf Den, can't we be the Wolf Assassins?"  Another student in the corner piped up, "Yeah, or just drop the wolf and be The Assassins, and you could be Mom Assassin!" 

And that is how I became the MOM ASSASSIN on my first day of school.  This is going to be a great year. I can feel it. 

Mom Assassin

Bring me your tired, your poor, your teachers...

Image via Wikipedia

How many hours have YOU wasted trying to create the perfect lesson?  You know the drill.  The school board is breathing down your neck with new regulations and mandates.  Your lesson templates MUST match the brand new benchmarks that are only slightly different from last year, but are numbered as such that you cannot copy and paste them AT ALL.  The state achievement test scores have been raised, and now it seems that the fate of the WORLD AS WE KNOW IT rests on your ability to get your students to pass that test! 


With all the red tape, political agendas, and paper trail BUSY WORK, even an idealist like me can get sucked into the quagmire of Educational Cynicism.  But, I'm here to tell you folks, THERE IS HOPE.  THERE IS A SOLUTION.  (And I'm not even getting paid to say any of this).