What a way to end a great week!
I just heard that Lights! Curtains! Cows! is McNally Robinson’s number one bestselling book for young people in Winnipeg for the week of January 10, 2010! What an incredible honour for me to see my name up there with so many authors I admire. WOW!
Check out the list here:
Thanks to all my readers, and those who came out to the book launch at McNally Robinson on January 10. Thanks for all of your support and excitement!
Someone, please peel me off the ceiling! I had so much fun at my book launch – my very first book launch!- for Lights! Curtains! Cows!. The event was on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 2pm at the wonderful McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg (Grant Location). The bookstore did a fabulous job setting up displays, creating AWESOME posters, and hosting a relaxed, welcoming and fun event for me and my guests. A huge thanks to the phenomenal staff at McNally Robinson, and to my publisher Formac Lorimer for co-sponsoring this event. I’ll remember it forever!
It was great catching up with all sorts of people from all over my life – family, friends I’ve known since I was four, new friends, teachers, parents of friends who I haven’t seen in, like, forever!
Best of all? I met some readers of Lights! Curtains! Cows! who came out to meet me. You really made the day special for me! I’m so glad that you liked my book, and came to say hi!
It was great chatting and signing books and shaking hands and getting hugs and reading my book and – well – just celebrating!
I hope that you all had as good a time as I did…and will come out to help me launch my next book, No TV? No Fair! (March 2010 – getting closer!)
Stay tuned for more details!
The official book launch for Lights! Curtains! Cows! will take place on January 10, 2010, at McNally Robinson (Winnipeg – Grant Ave Location), 2pm. If you’re in town, come on down!
I’m going to be doing a reading, signing books, and just generally mingling and having a good time. Hope you can be there!
I’ve actually never been to a book launch before, so it’s kind of cool that the first one I’m attending is my own.
Check out the info about the Lights! Curtains! Cows! launch here on McNally Robinson’s site:
Woo-hoo!
Got home yesterday from a terrific vacation. To my delight and surprise, I found that my forthcoming book, No TV? No Fair! is now listed on the Lorimer site and on all the major bookseller sites for pre-order. Maybe after book 55 it won’t feel as super duper cool, but I doubt it – I think it will always be a thrill to know that your story is really going to be shared with others.
No TV? No Fair will be officially available on March 25, 2010. It will be published in the Streetlights series (the same series as Lights! Curtains! Cows! – published by James Lorimer and Company). It’s the story of a family that decides to go “offline” for a month – no tv, no computers, nothing!
(I once lived a whole year without a TV, but I’ve never tried shutting off my computer and other electronic doo-dads. I should give it a try sometime, but I guess that means no blogging for a while – LOL!)
The main character is Chloe Lambert. What I love about the book is the surprising things that Chloe learns about herself when the constant distractions of TV and video games are no longer there. There are also a few super funny scenes where even Chloe’s parents are having trouble with their own rule!!!
Stay tuned to my site for more info about the book as we get closer to March -countdown starts…NOW!
On December 12, 2009, Winnipeg Free Press contributor Helen Norrie included Lights! Curtains! Cows! in her list of about 12 recommended Canadian books for young people that would make great Christmas gifts.
What an exciting honour for my book to be included in this list!
Here’s a link to the full article:
I had my first radio interview earlier this morning with the awesome Hal Anderson of Hal Anderson Mornings on CJOB Winnipeg. What a great guy! I was excited and a bit nervous about the whole thing – but then I felt totally relaxed during the actual interview. Hal was so easy to talk to – as easy-going and friendly as he sounds during his show.
It was so cool to share with Winnipeg and Manitoba listeners a bit about Lights! Curtains! Cows!. We even gave away a copy of the book on air to the first caller through. A young man named Jose won – I hope you enjoy the book, Jose. Thanks for calling in!
There’ve been a lot of exciting firsts to come along with my first book, and this is one of them. Thanks Hal for having me on your show!
The other day, it occured to me that since Lights! Curtains! Cows!, has an old-time prairie legend at its heart, a theme song with a folksy, country style is just what this book needed! I composed some lyrics, and then contacted my brother, Paul Shrofel, who is a professional musician and music producer. Paul and I have been collaborating on songs, musicals, plays and amateur radio shows since we were kids. So, in a few days of bouncing ideas back and forth, we came up with the upbeat song “The Legend of Cow Valley”. The song retells the story of Lights! Curtains! Cows! in a fun, folksy style with a rousing chorus of “Moos” that kids can sing along with. I love how it turned out and I hope you take a listen! You can find it on the Fun Stuff page of my site.
I’m thrilled to be able to finally say that Lights! Curtains! Cows!, my very first novel for young people, is finally here! It seems like a long time from the moment I began to imagine the story, to it being accepted by James Lorimer & Company for publication, to its release date – part of that though is just being so excited (like the night before Christmas, but for months on end!). I hope you will enjoy the story, and that it will make you laugh. It was fun to write, and I hope you find it fun to read!
To read more about the book itself, please click here.
I hope you’ll come back to my site to check out the latest news about this book, and upcoming books, too. I have another book for James Lorimer & Company’s Streetlights series in the works – it comes out in Spring 2010. I’ll be posting more about it here as we get closer to the release date, so stop by again soon!
And book lovers – don’t forget to download and print the free bookmarks I made just for you! (They come in a sheet of 5 – I don’t know about you, but between having several books on the go at once, and the uncanny ability to misplace little things like bookmarks, I thought 5 was a good number!)