Happy New Year + CYBILS Award Nominations!

I love the holidays but also love when they are over. Autumn has passed and the world is dead and gray, but life brims beneath. The New Year brings the promise of limitless possibilities and dreams to follow! It’s an awakening as we move toward spring when our winter’s work delivers gifts from our labor (we hope!).

I’m super excited that Joshua and the Lightning Road has been nominated for a 2015 Children’s & Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Award (CYBILS) in Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction. Check out all of the amazing titles nominated this year and written by wonderful authors.

I’m working this New Year on final line edits for Joshua and the Arrow Realm out May 31, 2016 – and I love the first comment my editor made about the opening!

Editing is not the only thing I’m working on. I’m over the moon about my new teen medieval fantasy. Here’s a snippet of what this new book is about!

The Enemy’s Prince: Blood Fable Series

Three kings.
Two sons.
One daughter.
And a secret that could break – or bond – a kingdom.

Blood rules all.

Three enemy kings rule the floating island of Lorn Rock but one seeks ultimate power. In a world where blood delivers truth, you must lie to survive. Inherited story has created a culture stuck in the past and is breaking apart as its people turn away from their determined roles and de-evolve into the wild Primals. But one prince dreams of being a soldier in a world where people are born into their destined fable. Banished from his kingdom, he forges allies with the enemy to solve the mystery of his banishment, and his past. He must convince Lorn Rock to embrace change to survive – but can he be both soldier and ruler to save his people from a conquering king and the beasts buy xanax that lure them?

Where do I get much of my inspiration? Much of it comes from biking the trails along creeks and meadows where I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Even in this mild winter, the gray calls to me. Flying solo on my bike during lovely, murky days warms my heart – and my imagination. Find me a tree house high in the mist to write in. I stop often, moved by the setting, and record scenes and dialogue that come to me.

 

I also get inspiration from travels, like a recent trip to Princeton, New Jersey. Stepping on the campus of Princeton University transports me to another time long ago. The architecture fuels the medieval landscape of my new book. And you can see why!

 

Bryn Athyn Cathedral is another setting where I lose myself in imagined olden days. Read my post about a recent visit there.

My next book to write this year is one close to my heart – a contemporary tale set at a campground in New Hampshire (where I lived as a child). Read about my trip back in time there this past fall.

Starting in January I have several author visits this winter and spring scheduled at local schools. Can’t wait to meet their students and share my love for reading and writing! Would you like me to visit your school? Check out my school visits page. I do FREE Skype visits as well to any location in the world.

And if you haven’t read Joshua and the Lightning Road yet, visit here to read the first two chapters!

And speaking of Joshua’s, I’d thought I’d leave you on a joyous note. Here is the real Joshua long ago at four-years-old, singing away at Christmas. May it bring you cheer this New Year, as it does me!