2017 Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival, Day 3

March 21, 2017

Early in the morning, we headed to see Margi Preus. Preus is a 2011 Newbery Honor winner for her book Heart of a Samurai (see my review).

Preus wanted to be a movie star when she grew up. So when a starring role came up in her elementary school's musical, she tried desperately to get it. Unfortunately, she didn't get the part. But she had a realization that if she wrote her own play and scripts, she could star as the main lead. This pushed her into the writing world early in life. So she said that disappointment led her into writing.

What got her into writing books was rereading the books she loved as a child. This included the book Harriet the Spy.

She gave the advice of reading everything because you just don't know what ideas will inspire you to write. This was true about writing Heart of a Samurai. She was more interested in the friendship between Manjiro and Captain Whitfield than about Japan. But this led her to do more research and write the actual book.

Some of her writing tips were to 1) Challenge yourself to write; 2) Finish what you start; 3) Don't horde ideas because they may be plugging up other ideas from coming out; 4) Keep digging/revising; 5) Keep your eye on the prize; and 6) Just go for it!

Next we hurried across campus to see Gennifer Choldenko again. This time she was presenting to a large group of kids.

She based most of her presentation on Chasing Secrets. After talking about the plague coming into 1900s San Francisco, Choldenko did a role play with the kids on making up a fake, deadly disease. The kids got to decide the sounds you make when you have the disease, the weird treatments you do, and the cost for those treatments. The kids were absolutely enthralled and entertained by this part of her presentation.

She then talked about her Al Capone series and the facts behind writing those books.

After an early lunch, we headed to our next presenter, Janice Harrington. Harrington is a librarian, storyteller, and poet. She has mainly written picture books but recently came out with a new middle-grade book called Catching a Story Fish.

Catching a Story Fish is about a young girl who is part of a fishing family. She hates to fish, except with her grandfather. This time to fish with her grandfather is precious to her. He tells her about the story fish that is inside everyone and how when you catch it, your life's story opens up. But when her grandfather has a stroke, he loses the sweetness and humor he once had. So the girl is on a mission to help her grandfather remember who he really is through stories.

Harrington had some advice for kids on becoming a writer. She said to 1) Read; 2) Believe in yourself; 3) Write all the time; and 4) Be determined. She did two very entertaining and interactive stories with the kids. This included a story about her sister using her homework to make a rain hat; fireman's helmet, bucket, boat, and a life-jacket. Then she shared a story about an old couple and their farm animals working together to pull up a stubborn sweet potato. Awesome presentation!

Our final author for the day was Angela Cervantes. She is pretty new to the children's literature world with only two middle-grade books published: Gabby, Lost and Found and Allie, First at Last. But, she was a fabulous and polished presenter.

Animals have been an important part of Cervantes' life. Living in Topeka, Kansas, Cervantes grew up living behind a Mexican restaurant. The dumpsters of that restaurant attracted many stray animals in the area. Her mother would take these animals in, clean them up, feed them properly, and then call friends or family about adopting these animals.  

Besides loving animals, she loved to read. She labeled herself a "flashlight girl". This means she would stay up late into the night reading her favorite books--like Beverly Cleary's Ramona books and C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia--under her blankets by flashlight. Her love of reading led her at an early age to become a writer.

At the University of Kansas, she got her degree in writing and mainly wrote content for websites. During a research trip to Guatemala City, a grey and white cat followed her around the city. This inspired Cervantes to write a story about a Kansas girl who wanted to save the animals at her local shelter. This is the premise behind Gabby, Lost and Found.

Once we were done with Cervantes presentation, it was time to head home.

What a fabulous festival full of great authors and presenters! Make sure to check out any author events in your area. They can be a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.

2017 Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival, Day 1 & 2

Spring Greetings, everyone! And you know what that means....another year attending the Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival. It was a fantastic event with lots of new authors. New is good, but we did miss some friendly, familiar faces (We missed you Henry, Marie, and Obert!).

March 19, 2017

Our usual Warrensburg gang attended the author luncheon. The guest speaker was Newbery award-winning author, Gennifer Choldenko,

Choldenko discussed how she got a picture book published, but couldn't get anything else published for several years. She was about to give up on writing when she saw a news article about Alcatraz Island--a place not too far from her home. So she began her research and learned about the criminals and families that lived on the island. To bring more depth to Al Capone Does My Shirts, so she pulled from her own family background to by creating a character who has Austism, a disorder Choldenko's sister suffered from.

Choldenko also spoke about her inspiration for Chasing Secrets. She was reading a non-fiction book on rats and the plague when she learned that San Francisco had a plague outbreak in the early 1900s. This news sparked her imagination on what it would be like as a kid living in San Francisco during that outbreak.

After her presentation, it was off to get books signed and then have fun the rest of the day!

March 20, 2017

Starting bright and early, we attended our first presentation with R.W. Alley, illustrator of many children's books, including the Paddington Bear books. Alley and his wife, Zoe, published two "comic book" style picture books on fairytales.

Alley discussed what you need to get you started on becoming a writer or illustrator, based on what happened to him. First, you have a story idea, so then care and feed the inspiration behind it. Second, look at what inspires you. For him it's his family, living in Rhode Island, and the books he loved as a kid. Third, add words (this is Zoe's part). Fourth, add pictures to the words by sketching out ideas. Fifth, create a mock up book by placing the words and pictures together.

Alley has been illustrating the Paddington Bear books for 20 years. Michael Bond, author of the Paddington Bear books, is still alive (he's 96 years old) and sending Alley stories for him to illustrate.

Next, we saw Phil Bilder, a new face to the festival. Bilder was a high profile lawyer but realized he hated his job. So he went back to school and became a middle-school teacher in New York City. He pulled his love of sports and middle-school experiences together to create his Rip and Red series.

But along with this middle-grade books, Bilder also writes pictures books. One of his most recent was called Marvelous Cornelius. During a New Orleans' trip to help in the clean-up after Hurricane Katrina, Bilder heard about Cornelius and his inspiring efforts to clean up the city. So he wrote a folk-tale style story based on Cornelius's life.

Onward we went to see E. B. Lewis, an author who will be attending Allen County Young Author's this year.

E. B. Lewis is the illustrator of countless picture books but he considers himself as an "artistrator". When Lewis was a kid, he realized he couldn't read because of his dyslexia. To hide his embarrassment, he acted out and became the worse kid in class. Unfortunately, his behavior led lots of people to not give him a chance. That is until his Uncle Bradley, who saw his potential, brought him to a weekly art class. Lewis found himself among the watercolors, brushes, and jazz music.

Lewis pursed a career in fine art. After one of his pieces was featured on the cover of an art magazine, an editor asked if Lewis would be interested in illustrating picture books. Lewis declined thinking it wasn't fine art. However, as he looked at the artwork in picture books, he changed his mind. His first picture book was Fire On The Mountain.  

Next we saw Stephanie A. Bodeen. Bodeen is the author of several picture books and young adult novels.

Bodeen grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. She grew up to love reading and animals. In middle-school she was bitten by the writing bug after winning a writing contest. In college she wanted to pursue writing but the only major dealing with that was journalism. Later she got married and she and her husband joined the Peace Corps. From then on they lived all over the world. Their travels inspired her to write her first book Elizabeti's Doll.

For a while Bodeen couldn't get published. When she thought she was about to give up entirely on writing she remembered a story idea she had in elementary school. It was about living in a bomb shelter after a nuclear disaster, the inspired behind her Compound series. It was rejected several times, but those rejections helped her make it the best story it could be. Her writing advice is to treasure the no's because they make you a a better writer than the yes's.

The final author we saw was Meg Kearney. Meg is fairly new to the writing world. Her main style is poetry.

Kearney recently did a picture book with E. B. Lewis called Trouper. Trouper is based on her dog that she adopted. The reason why she adopted Trouper is because he only has three legs. Her story is about what she thinks Trouper's life was like before she adopted him.

With the kids in her presentation, Kearney helped them identify concrete sensory words that give off a solid image. After writing a poem together, she challenged kids to write their own poetry using their five senses.

I'll be talking about the final day of the conference in my next blog. Check out these authors and illustrators. They were fantastic!

     

Allen County Young Authors 2016

Soon after the Bentonville Youth Literature Festival, my mother's school district in Iola, Kansas, celebrated their Allen County Young Authors' event...a program that has been going strong for 17 years. Authors Deborah Hopkinson and Obert Skye were invited to present their books and past writing experiences to the kids. It was another successful year thanks to these authors, the Young Author committee, the volunteers, and the kids who wrote some awesome books!

Now, I talked in more detail about how the Young Authors' program works in last year's post, but I wanted to show you what one student's book looks like. This particular book was written by my nephew...a very gifted writer. His Young Author book was twelve chapters long and he's only in 5th grade! With the help of his teacher and parents, he typed up, edited, and illustrated this book, The A.C.E. Competitions. It's hard not to see why his book was an award winner! Great job!

The celebration begins on Friday evening with a dinner hosted at Iola's Bowlus Fine Arts Center. For all 17 years, a special local grant from the Sleeper Family Trust (which is distributed by the Bowlus) has funded this amazing program. Their investments have paid off because even though Young Authors has been around for so long, it's response by teachers and students has grown exponentially! At many schools 100% of teachers participated in supporting their students to write books. And this year showed the highest number of student submissions within all 17 years. Quite an accomplishment!

Saturday morning, bright and early, Young Author winning students flock to Iola High School to be recognized for their outstanding books. They got to see personalized presentations from Deborah and Obert and then share their books with their peers and Young Author volunteers. I have been volunteering since my mom started up the program. So here I am sitting with a group of kids as they each read aloud and show off their books. After they read aloud, we have a short question and answer period to better understand how they created their award-winning reads.

So here we are after another successful Young Authors' Celebration with both authors.

I met Deborah Hopkinson at last year's Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival (see last year's blog post). She is a gifted non-fiction and historical fiction author of both chapter books and picture books.  She loves to write books about insightful and influential people who don't always get acknowledged by society. Like her historical fiction, The Great Trouble, talks about Dr. John Snow, the doctor who discovered how cholera was really being spread in 1850s London. A fascinating read!

I have known Obert Skye for several years, again thanks to the Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival. He has become a fast friend ever since meeting him. In the near future, I'll showcase Obert's work and writing experience when I post reviews for his Pillage and Creature In My Closest series. He mainly focuses on middle-grade fantasy, but he will be publishing some teen fantasy reads soon.

Thanks for checking out my blog and PLEASE check out these authors and their books!

Bentonville's Second Annual Youth Literature Festival, 2016

Spring Greetings!

Last Friday & Saturday my husband and I took a weekend vacation to Bentonville, Arkansas, to help support the community's fairly new children's literature festival. The event was held at the Bentonville Public Library where picture book, poetry, and YA authors presented seminars to children, teens, and adults.

We knew many of the authors attending, so this felt more like a reunion with close friends than a literature event. The authors in attendance were Henry Cole, Obert Skye, Mary Casanova, Janet Wong, Cheryl Harness, Michael Spradlin, Kashmira Sheth, Karen Akins, and Roland and Marie Smith.

Roland and Marie's daughter, Bethany Culpepper, was responsible for starting up the festival. She and her staff did a fabulous job in making things run smoothly for their second annual event. Keep up the good work!

On Saturday morning, we headed to the library and started our day with Ard Hoyt. During his slideshow, he showcased a new picture book series he and Amber Harris, a Bentonville author, worked on together called Wisteria Jane. Amber was actually in attendance and Ard turned some time over to her to describe the ten book series. Their books are about a little girl who gets into hilarious trouble but tries to blame it on her dog or other people. The next book in their series, Bingo Did It!, will come out in October.

After Ard's presentation, we watched Roland Smith present. My husband had never heard Roland before, so it was a treat for him to learn about Roland's adventurous life of zoo keeping, mountain climbing, world traveling, and storm chasing that led him to becoming a successful YA author. During Roland's presentation, he showed the upcoming cover for the sequel to Beneath called Above. That will be coming out in September. I look forward with GREAT anticipation to the ARC of Above I should be receiving soon!

After a short lunch break, we headed off to our next presentation with Henry Cole. We had both heard Henry present before, but his stories, humor, and quirky character always bring us back for more! At the end of his presentation, he turned on some music and drew his Sammy Shine character from his new book The Somewhat True Adventures of Sammy Shine. So fun!

Finally, our last author of the day, Karen Akins (pictured below), was new to both me and my husband. Karen is another Bentonville author but she specializes in humorous YA science fiction. She has written two books, Loop and Twist, that are a duology based on time travel. Her presentation was more about writing than discussing her books. She compared telling a good lie to writing successful fiction. She used examples from Harry Potter and the board games, Balderdash and Monopoly, to illustrate her points. She also gave some good writing tips on what to do when you get into a writing slump. One suggestion was writing your story from the antagonist's perspective. So for a few minutes we all took some time thinking about our favorite story and then tried to write a scene from the antagonist's perspective. A very insightful and instructive presentation!

When we finished for the day, we joined the authors in the library's "Walmart Room" to get books signed. Bethany had invited us, my mom, and my Warrensburg buddy, Linda, over to her house for a Happy Hour with the authors. Of course we don't drink, so we enjoyed our bottled water while getting to know the authors even better and solidifying friendships.

After the Happy Hour was over, we walked around downtown Bentonville. It seriously is a lovely, homey place with lots of charm, artistic flare, and character. We definitely plan on returning for next year's festival!

Stay tuned for next week's highlights of the Allen County Young Author's Celebration!     

2016 Warrensburg Children's Literature Festival, Day 3

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

After a quick breakfast, we hustled over to the campus to get our seats for Obert Skye's first presentation. We got there with plenty of time to chat with Obert about his upcoming visit to Allen County Young Authors in April....which I will be attending. Yes, we may have seen his presentation before, but he is a stellar presenter. I love his closing remarks to kids in challenging them to 1) Have courage and suppress fears that keep them from doing the things they love; 2) Think BIG by giving life to their extraordinary ideas; and 3) Be Great at whatever they decide to do and don't settle for being average. Awesome job, Bro. Skye!

Next we visited Mary Casanova. Her presentation focused on how she wasn't a strong reader when she was a kid. She would start reading a book, but would get easily distracted by the inviting Minnesota wilderness and she would leave the book behind to be outdoors. She thought there was something wrong with her, but she realized many people had the same issue. It wasn't until she read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, that she found her niche with both reading and writing. So her stories deal a lot with the outdoors whether it's her One-Dog Canoe picture books or her Wolf Tracks chapter books...all her material focuses on her love of the great outdoors. At the end of her presentation, she gave me her newest picture book, Wake Up, Island, to review. I'll be putting that up on my blog soon.

After Mary, we saw a new presenter to Warrensburg this year--Leslie J. Wyatt. Leslie is fairly new to the publishing world, but she has published a few books for young adults: River Rats and Poor is Just a Starting Place. She focused her presentation on the cliff dwellers who lived in Mesa Verde. She shared the history of finding Mesa Verde by cowboys and the evidence archeologists have discovered of the people who built and lived in the magnificent cliff palaces.

Our final presenter we saw was Stephen Johnson. Johnson is also fairly new to the children's publishing world. He is foremost a fine artist, but he has designed and written books for children. He uses his artistic abilities to create such books as Alphabet City, My Little Blue Robot, Alphabet School, City by Numbers, and A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet.

It was a fun conference! Check out these authors and their books.   

 

2015 Midwest LDS Storymakers

Good evening all! Sorry for the "radio silence" lately. Life has been extremely busy this holiday season. But not too long ago I attended the Midwest "chapter" of LDS Storymakers. It was a two day conference spent entirely on writing literature...something I am struggling to do. In this post, I'll highlight the sessions I attended and the authors I met.

First up, I wouldn't have attended this incredibly inspiring conference if it wasn't for my amazing writing friend, baking buddy, and kindred-spirit sister, Kirsten Hobbs. This past year, she recently self-published her YA/New Adult novel, The Passion and Perils of the Insatiably Hungry (great title, huh?).

Anyway, Kirsten and I attended the entire conference together. It was setup at the Johnson County Library on Antioch. And a first this year, the conference was free because of the library's participation.

The conference started with a Writer's Boot Camp. I nervously signed up for this, unsure of what other people would think of my work-in-progress YA novel. But it was a good experience. And, thankfully, I gave out some resourceful feedback to my fellow writers. That is, if you are writing a sci-fi YA book, DEVOUR sci-fi YA books! Get whatever books you can grab in your genre and READ, READ, READ! Because you'll discover your niche as you read. So, I gave suggestions to all the writers of published books that mimicked their style.

Each group was monitored by a published author. Our "YA Mystery" group was overseen by Rebecca Belliston. She gave insightful and helpful advice to improve our writing samples. I will be reviewing her YA series Citizens of Logan Pond. Thanks for an awesome review, Rebecca!

After this, we attended classes on different aspects of writing, each taught by a published author. The seminars I went to focused on world building, description, character motivation, writing fantasy, developing a deep love for writing, and fairytale re-fresh.

The conference had a keynote speaker, which was Jessica Day George. I attended her classes on writing fantasy fiction and how to find refreshing ways to re-write fairytales. It was great to see her again since our last meet up at ILA.

The conference was not all about YA literature. Most of the presenting authors write adult literature. But the few who wrote YA were Lisa Mangum (love her Hourglass Door trilogy!), Janette Rallison, Rebecca Belliston, and Jessica Day George.

It was a fun experience, especially sharing it with my dear friend Kirsten. Now I just have to FINISH my book!

Have a great week! Thanks for checking out my blog and happy holidays!  

T. A. Barron: Heroes, Merlin, and the Meaningful Life

Some of you may have noticed, that I have recently posted two reviews on T. A. Barron's books. As mentioned in my posts about ILA, I met the New York Times Bestselling author during an author "meet & greet". Recently, he invited me to attend a presentation he was giving in Omaha, Nebraska....just a short three hour drive from where my husband and I live.

Not wanting to miss the occasion, I accepted Tom's invitation. My husband and I packed our overnight bag and made the lovely trek up to Omaha.

Tom's presentation was sponsored by Center for Faith Studies and was given at the Countryside Community United Church of Christ.

Tom's presentation centered around two things that inspired him with both living his life and writing his books: heroes and nature.

Tom was born in Boston but his family moved to a ranch in Colorado. That move made him develop a strong connection to nature and helped him realize an important hero in his life, his mother Gloria Barron. Gloria worked at a school for the blind and she helped create a hands-on nature museum for the visually impaired. Her work and the quiet way she completed it, with no thought for fame or media attention, made him see the attributes of a true hero.

As he grew up, more heroes influenced his life. Some were fictional, like the character of Merlin. Tom read many tales surrounding the great and wise wizard. To Tom, Merlin seemed to understand humanity and to deeply connect with nature. But he always wondered what experiences had led Merlin to become such a legendary wizard. This question was the spark that inspired Tom's Merlin saga and gave Tom the opportunity to define Merlin's path to becoming a hero.  

After Tom became an author, he had an uncomfortable confrontation by a girl that shook him. She stated that young people could not be true heroes or change the world. Instead of being upset by her statement, Tom went to work and researched youth who were making a difference in the world. That led to The Hero's Trail and to his development of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. 

When Tom first started writing, he was the president of a successful equity firm in New York City. But living in the city was not the ideal for him or his family. When his books started to do well, he quit his job and moved his family back to Colorado.

With this move, he was able to reconnect to nature again. This interaction with nature, along with safeguarding it's creatures, is Tom's way of reconnecting with God and appreciating His handiwork. Tom argues that another of his heroes, Noah, would not have gone to all the trouble to build the ark if Noah wasn't privy to the Lord's love and need of the earth's animals.

Tom's overall message is that anyone can be a hero and everyone can make a difference in by nurturing the earth the Lord created.

A fantastic and inspiring presentation that my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for the invite, Tom!      

2015 ILA Conference: Closing Ceremony and Exhibit Hall

Monday, July 18, 2015
Day 3: Closing Ceremony and Exhibit Hall

Today was our final day at ILA. We joined the 6,000 other attendees to finish out the conference by listening to two speakers: Dr. Stephen Peters and Octavia Spencer.






Peters was a classroom teacher and administrator, but through his dedication became the CEO of The Peter's Group, a group that aids at-risk and honor students in the United States. In Peter's presentation, he talked about the educators that inspired him to become the success he is today.

But along with his background, Peters also addressed the problems students face today because of the decline of the family. From studies done by The Peter's Group, Peters talked about how the influences on children today have changed dramatically from the past. In the 1950s, the top five influences on children were Home, School, Church, Peers, and TV. Today, the top five influences on children are TV/Media, Peers, Church, School, and Home. Peters knows teachers cannot take the place of parents. He asked that parents take a stronger stand in helping their children succeed in life.

Peters also discussed how poverty is still a big problem in our society today. He has a special saying that he quotes often in his books, "Literacy is the vaccine for poverty." Once we give people an education, they can learn to rise above their monetary challenges and then give back to their communities.

The final speaker was Octavia Spencer, Academy Award winning actress and recent YA author. Marcie Post, Executive Director of ILA, had a Q&A session with Octavia where two middle school students asked Octavia questions about her upbringing, reading history, acting, and writing.

Octavia admitted she has dyslexia and ADHD. These two problems made her life difficult when it came to reading. But the books that helped her become a reader were mystery books. She said that knowing there was a problem she could solve helped her continue reading even though it was a struggle. So with her new series, Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective, she wanted to make it a mystery to help other struggling readers to learn to like books.

With her acting, she credits her mother for her success. When Octavia admitted she wanted to become an actress, her mother didn't like the idea, but still supported Octavia in any way she could. But before Octavia pursued an acting career, her mother gave Octavia some guiding advice. She said Octavia should never give into the pressures of changing who she is personally, morally, or physically to suit the needs of others. That if she stayed true to herself she would be rewarded for it. At first it was a struggle getting acting jobs and staying true to herself, but eventually she was rewarded by her performance in the movie The Help.

Octavia is an advocate for those who deal with dyslexia and ADHD. She wants the world to know that you can still be successful while dealing with these mental challenges.

When the ceremony was over, we joined the flood of conference goers towards the Exhibit Hall. This time, however, we didn't see many authors. Only a few were doing book signings. But on this day, most of the booths were giving away or cutting prices on their goods. Brand new hardcover books were $10 to $5, while paperbacks were $2 or free. This is when our stash of books REALLY grew (as seen by the photo on the right). In the end I brought home SEVEN book bags full of awesome reads!

Thanks for checking out my time at ILA! I hope I conveyed what an incredible experience it was to attend. Check out the authors I mentioned in previous posts and keep an eye out for the books they will be publishing soon. Lots of amazing reads ahead! 

2015 ILA Conference: Exhibit Hall Authors and Meg Cabot Luncheon

Sunday, July 19, 2015
Day 2: Exhibit Hall and Luncheon with Meg Cabot

Soon after our Scholastic Breakfast was finished, we headed to the Exhibit Hall to catch more autographing authors and free ARCs. Here are some of the authors we saw and the books they were promoting:

Matt de la Pena--The Hunted
Andrew Smith--Stand-Off
Pam Ryan Munez--ECHO
Dan Santat--Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot
Lisel Shurtliff--Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk; Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
Jessica Day George--Silver in the Blood
Sharon M. Draper--Stella by Starlight
T. A. Barron--Atlantis in Peril; The Hero's Trail
Jacqueline Kelly--Calpurnia Tate series
Tommy Greenwald--My Dog is Better Than Your Dog (Crimebiters #1)
Alex London--Guardian

In the midst of this literary chaos, we booked it to our YA Literature Luncheon with Meg Cabot, author of the bestselling Princess Diaries series.

When Meg was a young girl, she saw Star Wars and was intensely drawn to the character of Princess Leia. She loved how Leia was not only a princess, but she could lead a successful rebellion against the evils of the universe. From that point on, Meg began writing her own spin-off stories with Princess Leia. Unfortunately, her stories were about Leia and Luke getting together and having kids. When she saw Empire Strikes Back, Meg was absolutely devastated. She cried all the way on the car trip home telling her mother that George Lucas would never accept her spin-off stories to make into movies. So after that devastating blow, Meg left her writing skills behind and began to focus on her artistic skills.

Fast forward to college, Meg got her degree in Art at the college where her father worked. But a fellow classmate warned Meg she wouldn't get any jobs with her degree. So she moved to New York City and took the only job she could get, which was managing a college dorm. While Meg was overseeing the dorm, she went back to school, this time majoring in Creative Writing. That same classmate that warned Meg earlier was also going back to school to get his degree in Creative Writing. Later the two were married.

After Meg graduated she began submitting her work to be published. Unfortunately, everything she submitted was rejected. In the midst of this, her father passed away. With her husband's and Princess Leia's help, Meg kept up writing and submitting her work.

A few years later, her mother broke the news that she was dating one of Meg's past professors...someone Meg did NOT like. So to cope with her mother's love life, Meg began writing about a teenage girl, Mia, whose mother starts dating her teacher. But since she loved princesses so much, Meg added the twist that Mia was a princess. These, of course, became Meg's Princess Diaries books.

Meg said that she was excited for her two new books set in her Princess Diaries world: From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess (story about Mia's unknown step-sister who is actually excited to become a princess, illustrated by Meg Cabot) and Royal Wedding: A Princess Diaries Novel (she stated that this is NOT a YA book).

A hilariously heartwarming presentation that showed Meg Cabot was a pro at expressing herself!

Next post up, the last day of ILA.