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Review of Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library + ARC Giveaway!

I’m super excited to share my review of book two in the Fairday Morrow series, Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library, by the talented authors, Jessica Haight & Stephanie Robinson. It’s comes out October 23rd but you can pre-order it here. I’ve been waiting for this book ever since I fell in love with book one, The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow! Read my 5-star review of that here.

PLUS, I’m giving away one print advanced reader copy of Fairday and the Talking Library! Just comment below and share why you’d like to read this book. 🙂 U.S. only please. Ends 10/19, 11pm ET.

First, here is what Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library is all about:

Eleven-year-old Fairday Morrow had no clue that moving from Manhattan to the small town of Ashpot, Connecticut, would lead to an unsolved mystery. Her parents’ dream of renovating a crumbling Victorian, called the Begonia House, into a bed and breakfast had seemed like treachery at the time. But Fairday found out that her new house kept secrets, and once inside its twisted front gates, anything was possible.

The Detective Mystery Squad is ready to investigate! Fairday, Lizzy, and Marcus take off on a sticky trail and tumble into Nowhere. Like Alice in Wonderland, Fairday finds herself in a world where nothing makes sense and the lines of reality are blurred.

The three sleuths discover amazing things about themselves as they unravel more secrets within the walls of the Begonia House. Follow along with Fairday and friends as they open the next case in the DMS files to unlock the mystery of the Talking Library.

MY REVIEW:

This new Fairday adventure will appeal to kids (and grown ups!) who love stories with mystery, friendship, and puzzles. And what an imaginative adventure book two is! Fairday lives in a house with many surprises. She never knows what will happen next but she’s up for the challenge.

Fairday jumps into a new world within her own, along with her trusty sidekick friends, and meets fascinating new characters. It’s a world of bookworms (who actually eat words!) and wordweavers (cool job!) where children are needed to save books from disappearing. Books truly live and breathe in this story – literally! What a fun place to be where ink is alive and books can talk and you can enter stories and meet characters.

There are so many magical concepts in this story to inspire kids to fall in love with reading – and words. Figuring out riddles is a big part of solving the mystery and it’s fun to follow Fairday and friends in a race to solve them before books are lost.

But not all is fun. They must beware of things that lurk in shadows and get their punctuation just right (love this!). This is Fairday’s most complicated case to solve yet in a world where she does not know who to trust, so she must trust herself – and her friends – to survive.

Kids will eat up the words in Fairday’s new adventure in this inventive, magical mystery that keeps you on your toes. Can you guess your way through to solve the puzzles? And can Fairday and her friends add up the clues in time to save books? You’ll have to read it to find out!

Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library

Jessica Haight & Stephanie Robinson, Co-authors

Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robinson have been friends since they met freshman year of high school. After discovering they both loved the same books, their friendship grew, and they went on to co-author The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow. The first mystery in the Fairday Morrow series, released with Delacorte Press in December 2015. Stephanie and Jess are excited to present the next case in the DMS files. Having the brilliant illustrations created by their close high school friend, David SanAngelo, has made bringing the story to life magical. To contact Stephanie and Jess or learn more about their journey, please visit: fairdaysfiles.com

David SanAngelo, Illustrator

David SanAngelo is an award winning illustrator, and a two-time Emmy nominated director of animated shows for children and he won a kite flying contest in the fourth grade. Dave attended high school with Jessica and Stephanie, and they’ve all been friends for a billion years. Some of Dave’s favorite things are: old monster movies, superheros and shred-a-licious rock music. Although he grew up in New England, Dave currently lives with his wife and sons in Decatur, GA. To learn more about Dave’s illustrations, please visit: davidsanangelo.com

Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library

Book 2: Fairday Morrow series

Release date: October 2017

Age Range: 8 years old and up

Grade Level: 3-9

Publisher: Willow Press

PRE-ORDER THE BOOK!

Catch the first mystery before the next case in the DMS files opens on October 23rd!

The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

Publish date: December 2015

Age Range: 8 years old and up

Grade Level: 3-9
Publisher: Delacorte Press

PICK UP A COPY OF BOOK 1

Letting Go: In Writing, In Life

By Donna Galanti

We all have to let go eventually.

Sometimes it’s letting go of a friendship. A husband. A career. A child. A parent.

The toxic friend who suffocates you and puts you down. The husband who can’t commit. The career that stresses you out. The child who needs to learn from his own mistakes. The parent who dies.

Or letting go of the parts of your book you’re writing that work–until they don’t work anymore.

Some people call it “killing your darlings” like William Faulkner noted. He said, “in writing, you must kill all your darlings.” He also said, “a writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.”

Your imagination lets your words fly free.
Your experience enables you to harness them.
Your observation arms you with the weapon to indeed kill those darlings.

I like to call it “letting go” .

At one writer’s retreat lakeside in Northern New York (led by editor, author, and friend Kathryn Craft) I read from my novel-in-progress. A strong theme of the novel is about finding peace in life through balance, emotional vs. physical. My fellow retreaters pointed out that several of my characters had disabilities.

A one-legged girl. A bald-headed lady. A young man with a club foot. A young woman with lopsided breasts. I was told that unless this was a novel about circus freaks, it was too much.

Uh, yeah.

I had to laugh. They were right. I needed to decide what would stay and what to let go that no longer served the purpose of the story. I had to find the one select physical character issue and let that shine throughout the story arc. And I realized that a character’s imbalance need not be physical, it could be on the inside–a flawed internal imbalance that he has to face.

I was comforted also by the fact my fellow retreaters told me that letting go of what doesn’t serve your story is the sign of maturity in a writer.

And this is what writing the draft of a novel is about. Writing it all in, and then letting go. What we start out with is not what we end up with, and it can’t stay the same to work. Like life. We must let go of what no longer serves us.

And in the creating of that which we may let go, we develop the skills needed as a writer–and we absorb these skills along our journey, often without knowing it. We’re building a bridge that may get disassembled and moved to another location, but we would never get to that final location without the first bridge.

It has to be undone–to be done. To be let go–in order to gain.

In my thriller for adults, A Human Element, my publisher sent back edits on the villain, X-10. He was too evil. He was too unredeemable. He did too many terrible deeds. It was overkill and took away from the complexity of his character and derailed the emotional scene at the end. I agreed and–I let them all go but one. And it worked. Many readers tell me that that X-10 is their favorite character and they feel sympathetic toward him, even with how terrifying he is.

In Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit she notes that “what all successful artists have in common is that they have mastered the underlying skills of their creative domain, and built their creativity on the solid foundation of those skills.”

Tharp also writes that “skill is how you close the gap between what you see in your mind’s eye and what you can produce.” And that is what letting go in writing is–closing the gap between a new idea and a refined one.

I remember the first time I let go of my son’s hand years ago and let him run out in the wide open spaces. He jogged crookedly across a vast field. His toddler legs carried him wildly as he headed into the great unknown. I knew it was time to let him go for a bit. I could still see him and that would have to be enough. But anxiety gripped my heart until his small hand was back in mine, warm and gripping.

At age ten, my son wanted to bike to school by himself. His friends were doing it. It was only half a mile. Down the path. Over the bridge and through the woods. Across the road. I could see his route in my mind. We’d taken it so many times. And I signed the school form giving him permission and I waved goodbye as he left for school. A letting go that hurt. But I discovered it wouldn’t always hurt. My son didn’t need saving anymore. I let him go to be his own hero. I hope I can too in the wide open spaces of my writing.

What we start out with is not what we end up with, and it can’t stay the same if we want to move on. In writing. In life.

I let go of my mother not long ago. I held her hand. I said my goodbyes. I cherished the time. She drifted away. And then I let go.

No regret.
Just peace.

The blessing in letting go is to let go with no regret. It makes the experience all worthwhile.

An experience that shapes you.
Changes you.
Matures you.
Makes you a better person.
Makes you a better writer.

What have you let go of recently? And did you do it without regret? What did you learn from it?

Cover Reveal: The Talking Library + an Excerpt!

By Donna Galanti

When mysterious notes start showing up warning that a librarian is in trouble and a bookworm is eating words, Fairday thinks the Begonia House has more skeletons in its closets. She notices a passage in her favorite book has been changed, and she’s certain something is dreadfully wrong. What happens to stories when their words get eaten?

The Detective Mystery Squad is ready to investigate! Fairday, Lizzy, and Marcus take off on a sticky trail and tumble into Nowhere. Like Alice in Wonderland, Fairday finds herself in a world where nothing makes sense and the lines of reality are blurred.

The three sleuths discover amazing things about themselves as they unravel more secrets within the walls of the Begonia House. Follow along with Fairday and friends as they open the next case in the DMS files to unlock the mystery of the Talking Library.

~ ONE ~

Strange Notes

Fairday Morrow woke to a loud crack of thunder. As she bolted upright in bed, her gray eyes flew open. Rain pelted against the window. Electricity charged the air. Lightning flashed, and she saw the old willow tree in her backyard lurching wildly. A whip-like branch smashed the glass and the storm raged into her room. BOOM! The sky lit up. The wind blew in like a tornado, tossing wet leaves and sticks around. Fairday shrieked and ducked under the covers.
“Fairday! Are you okay?” her dad shouted from the hallway.
Auntie Em, the family pug, was barking her head off.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Fairday answered in a shaky voice. She peeked out from the blankets as a burst of light split the dark. For an instant, glass shards twinkled like stars across the tattered lion-and-unicorn carpet; the heavy drapes flapped, twisting in the wind. On the next lightning strike, Fairday saw a paper blow in through the broken window. But the second she glimpsed it, thunder boomed, the house shook, and everything blacked out.

Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library

Jessica Haight & Stephanie Robinson, Co-authors

David SanAngelo, Illustrator

Fairday Morrow and the Talking Library

Book 2: Fairday Morrow series

Release date: October 2017

Age Range: 8 years old and up

Grade Level: 3-9

Publisher: Willow Press

PRE-ORDER THE BOOK!

Catch the first mystery before the next case in the DMS files opens on October 23rd!

The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow

Publish date: December 2015

Age Range: 8 years old and up

Grade Level: 3-9
Publisher: Delacorte Press

PICK UP A COPY OF BOOK 1

Thank you New York City for helping a country girl feel free and safe

By Donna Galanti

It’s hard to believe 9/11 was so many years ago.

I got married the same month. Now I am reliving it with my son through footage. As the second plane crashed. As the first tower fell. Then the second. The Pentagon. The plane in a Pennsylvania field. The heroes. The dead. The shock rushing back into me as I sat home all day glued to the t.v. thinking the world had gone mad.

A trip during 1997. If you look close, you can see the Twin Trade towers just behind the Statue of Liberty. How fitting.

My son wanted to know how we felt watching it unfold. I could not find the words to explain how I felt. Sometimes you just can’t.

I love New York. All of it. I grew up on a mountain above Albany. “Upstate” as New Yorkers would say. It was when I got my first job out of college and moved to Nutley, NJ across the river from the Big Apple City that I overcame my fear of big cities. I fell in love with it. This giant, pounding alive thing. It surged with lights, noise, smells, and people.

Here I was, a country girl living just across from the big city. All alone. I forced myself to drive into its grandness. The Lincoln Tunnel sucked me up into its curved darkness. I was afraid of being swallowed up. But I wasn’t. In all that organized madness, I was free. It made me feel so alive. To walk anywhere. To see it all. And no one knowing who I was. No one knowing where I was. Free. And safe. New York City made me feel safe.

This doesn’t sound so extraordinary. But it was for me. I fought panic attacks for years. Panic of the new, of being out in open spaces, of people, of crowds. I would grocery shop at midnight when no one was there. Always parking in the same spot. It was safe.

It took me years to finish college at a large university. Each process of getting to campus was an agonizing step. First, park. Then measure the distance of walking to my class building. Avoid people. But they’re everywhere! Wear sunshades to feel invisible. Find a seat in class alongside the wall to feel safe. Try to get through class without sweating profusely or spastic coughing. It was not a safe place. Safe was home, alone between comforting walls. Safe.

Then along came a career and a big city to conquer. Only while conquering the big city, it conquered my phobias. From Times Square to the Lexington Deli to the Guggenheim to Broadway and home across the river. In a world of flowing people I felt safe. Alone and free and safe.

So thank you New York for embracing me and showing me your chaotic beauty and grandeur.
Thank you for making me feel safe when I could not before.
Thank you for helping me overcome my anxieties and find freedom in your vast and colorful landscape.
Safe.
Free.
We still feel that same way about you.
You haven’t let us down yet. The heroes of 9/11 never did.
We won’t let you down.
And we will never forget.

Meeting John Grisham

By Donna Galanti

I’ve loved John Grisham a long time. Over 25 years.

He came into my turbulent life with The Firm. I stayed up all night reading it, my heart racing and on the run with Mitch McDeere. I didn’t want the story to end and return to my uncertain life.

In John Grisham’s stories, the characters were pushed into uncertainty. But, unlike me, they always found their way. I, too, was seeking answers after failing out of college (panic attacks hinder getting to class!), a failed marriage, and a stint in the Navy – I landed in limbo. Like John Grisham’s characters, I had been on the run a long time. Running from my depression, from my dark childhood, from my anxiety, from my uncertainty – from not believing I had any worth.

Reading and writing were my only escapes then where I could have purpose, have strength, have confidence, and change my life.

John Grisham was there for me.

I fought for justice and the truth in The Last Juror. I faced my demons and overcame then in The Testament. I returned to my childhood and found solace from it in The Painted House. I sought a champion by my side in The Client.

Just some of my John Grisham books!

So, when my husband passed along the ad that John Grisham was coming to our town’s bookstore, The Doylestown Bookshop, for his first book tour signing in 25 years to celebrate the release of his 30^th book, Camino Island, I rushed to get a ticket.

Giddy with delight, I fan-girled in line waiting to get my book signed with another lady as giddy as me. And he was all I dreamed. Gracious, inviting. He shook my hand, looked me in the eye, asked me about my books. He was a true southern gentleman. I couldn’t breathe! He’d been my rock star author for decades.

This man had given me hope in desperate times. Times when I knew I wanted to be an author but didn’t even know myself yet. I could only dream of writing a book and getting it published. And at times, the hope of fulfilling this dream was all I could cling to.

But my time with him wasn’t over. I sat in the front row for over an hour and listened to him in discussion with author Lisa Scottoline. His conservative wit crackled alongside her unbridled humor.

You can listen to the podcast here from each stop along his book tour (his 6/29 date I sat in on should be up the first week in July. I got to ask a question too!).

He told us that he wrote his first book, A Time to Kill, without any outline. It came out to 1,000 pages! He said he would never do that again as the editor cut over 1/3 of it. He said, “That third was a year of my life!” He always uses an outline ever since then and knows the end first.

Just like me.

He shared how he rose at 5 a.m. each morning to write for hours on his first novel at his office before his lawyer job started.

Just like me.

He said how he was rejected for years but never gave up.

Just like me.

He persisted. He kept writing.

Just like me.

John Grisham knew what he wanted to write. He’s forged the top niche in legal thrillers. He’s written a book a year for 30 years. I didn’t always know what I wanted to write. I just knew I must.

My uncertain years. Here as a Navy photographer in Hawaii.

I’m not that young woman I was decades ago when I first fell in love with him. I am no longer uncertain about my path. I am no longer paralyzed with fear and depression. I am worthy. But I didn’t take the straight road to get here. I took the road of his characters. I wandered. I stumbled. I ran into walls. I ran away. I wrote my first novel from grief when my mother passed away, a dark thriller. I wrote my demons out with that series. I wandered then to writing middle grade and then for teens and now picture books. My writing path has been a crooked twist.

It took me longer to get here but I. AM. HERE.

John Grisham made it all clear to me in a time now when my life is filled with so many project details – business and teaching – that flood my day. I was born to be story teller. That’s what I do. That’s what I need to get back to. The simplicity (and complexity) of telling a story, sinking myself into it, and not tearing its claws from me until I am done. Share my awareness of the world around me. Share the human condition. Explore our purpose. Take readers on a journey to find themselves. Just like John Grisham did for me.

He made it clear to me that all this messiness of life can’t get in my way of doing what I was born to do. And if one way doesn’t work out, I will find another. And another.

And I have finally found my way in my writing. To write for kids and weave stories in that magical place with one foot in the dream world of endless possibilities and one foot grounded in the grown-up world. A place where I dwell as well. I took a roundabout path to get here. But I. AM. STILL. HERE.

The next 30 years look splendid.

Thank you, John Grisham.

Meeting John Grisham from Donna Beckley Galanti on Vimeo.

***

Are you a debut author or writer looking to get published? I’ve just launched a free training series on writer platform building and am giving away an info-packed cheat sheet on how to connect with readers before your first book even comes out. Subscribe to my YouTube channel Your Awesome Author Life and Writers Facebook Group and get tips on craft, marketing, and a dash of inspiration! Happy writing!

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