Happy Fall! (Laurie Calkhoven)

For me, fall has come to mean book events. So many opportunities to connect with young readers. Fall’s a great time for writer’s conferences too—everyone’s sharpening their pencils, ready to begin a new school year even if we graduated thirty years ago.

Since mid-September I’ve been to book festivals in Princeton, Warwick, and Chappaqua. I’ve participated in two bookstore panels, and mentored at the always-fabulous Rutgers One-on-One conference.

Those of you who know me won’t be surprised to learn that I forgot to bring my camera to most of these events, or if I did, forgot to take pictures.  But I do have one, of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. Lots of kids and parents meeting authors and illustrators and excited about books outside on a sunny day, changing leaves in the background.  What could be better than that?

Next up I’ll be at NYC’s Bank Street Bookstore on November 2 talking about “The Story Behind the Story” with a host of other authors, and then back in Princeton on November 10 to present a workshop on Scene Structure at New Jersey SCBWI’s Fall Craft Weekend.

And then, finally, I fly to Rochester for the Rochester Children’s Book Festival on November 16th.

Yay fall!