Book Signing Event & Sunday Sketching -

Today was a book signing event at my close-by, independent book store. It was a fund-raiser for a small, private school in the area. They had asked me and a couple of other area authors to be on hand to sign and chat with the attendees.


Royce Buckingham was one of them. (I met him at the last event I did.) He is charming and very personable and has very interesting things to say about his experiences in entering the world of children's publishing. Fun to chat with.


I got to sit at a table covered with books. :-) They had 9 of the 12 published Fairy Chronicles and all 4 of the just-released Wind Dancer series. There were a number of fairy-loving girls in attendance so I got to chat and sign a nice number of them (and then they didn't let me leave until I had signed the remainder for the bookstore...)

One of the fairy-girls noticed me sketching in my sketchbook during a lull. She asked if I would draw *her*. I said, sure, as long as she could hold somewhat still for a few minutes.


It was harder than she had expected :-) but we managed a quickie drawing of her.

***

So after drawing in church today and the above drawing, I have now finished with my purse sketchbook and ready to move on to my shiny new Moleskine! *That* should make me draw really well, shouldn't it?

Breyerfest - Part IV

Here is the 'craft tent' where I spent most of my festival time -

-my corner of the tent adorned with large banners of my covers (as well as my Very Important fan!)

I also shared tent space with the delightful Bonnie Bryant - author of the Saddle Club books.

(Here is me signing away...)

They also had sets of 'Wind Dancer' wings for the girls to decorate - some of them had me sign those as well.

(Here is one darn-tootin' cute fairy-horse girl)

Will, Breyer employee and tent helper extrordinaire - was game for anything.

I spent every inbetween-signing moment working on a painting for the silent auction.

Painting in hot, humid, fan-blown air was also a new experience, but apparently the end result went over well... Still waiting to hear the auction results. You can also read my publisher's blog entry on the festivities (the lovely Elizabeth who wrote it, got to get around and see more than I did).

Another Fan Girl Night -

I got to spend a very wonderful hour or two tonight at a book event -

- featuring the charming, witty, incredibly talented and personable James Gurney. (If you haven't discovered it yet, he authors the best artblog out there! Somehow he finds time to make an entry daily - alternating between reports of his current book tour and pretty amazing art-related entries. Inspiring AND informative. Always worth a read).

He is on a book tour promoting his latest addition to the Dinotopia universe: "Journey to Chandara" - which I think is the most impressive and beautifully executed of his Dinotopia books. I am excited to own a now-signed copy! :-)

The talented Mr. Gurney not only gave a delightful talk about his new book and process, but allowed a Q & A and topped his presentation with 'live drawing'. Most were clever pen-play.

I took 'notes' - after a fashion. (the woman behind me mused if we were going to have a test when she saw me with my sketch book).

People who make books really are some of the nicest folks out there. And in this case - one of the most talented that I've had the honor to meet.

All Books - All Day!

I had a day full of books...

I started off the morning at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fall Trade show. It was being held in the next town over and my publishers (Sourcebooks) had a booth and wanted to know if I'd come down and sign some books.

Here's the nifty, new, stand-alone display for the Fairy Chronicles series. I signed books, and chatted with a number of relatively local, independent book sellers - which was fun. After awhile of that, I got to meander around the room of book sellers. I was pleased to see books by other POBL members - either in person, or in the catalogs on display and enjoyed conversations with the reps (Children's book makers and sellers are generally just nice people, you know?)

I was especially surprised to see *more* of my books (for another publisher) on display at a different booth. Two booths! Two publishers! Six books total! One show! Wow!

After recovering from all the trade show excitement, I headed out to yet another event - this time to see Charles Vess give a presentation on his art and influences. Another incredibly talented, incredibly personable artist who creates the type of art-subject wise- that I am the most interested in (we have pretty much ALL the same influences). The hardcover, Vess-illustrated version of Stardust, written by Neil Gaiman, has just been reissued. They didn't have any hardcover copies there for sale so we trotted over to Barnes and Noble to acquire one. It is a gorgeous book. I'll see if I can get it signed this weekend.

And while at Barnes and Noble, we checked out the children's section and there "I" was again - face out, taking up an entire shelf - with a series label and everything!

I think September 20th shall hereafter be designated Book Day. :-)