Here is something else to be thankful for: Big & Little Questions is on Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Year 2017 list!
Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Here is something else to be thankful for: Big & Little Questions is on Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Year 2017 list!
Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Join me for a fun evening at the public library in Osseo, Wisconsin this Thursday, November 9, starting at 6:00 pm! We’ll be talking about my books and writing (bring along your big & little questions!), plus we’ll dive into buckets of beads for making super fantastic bracelets and bookmarks! I hope to see you there! 🙂
Wow! I’m so happy to share the news that Publishers Weekly has named Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd) to its Best Books 2017 list!Â
🙂
How did I come up with the names of my characters Ida, Victoria, and Wren? When do I like to write? Where do I find the inspiration for my stories? Discover the answers to these (and other!) questions in this recently released interview for a series called “Microscope: Write On”. Enjoy! 🙂
I’m excited to be taking part in a brand new feature of the Chippewa Valley Book Festival this year! Look for me at the first ever Tables of Content Book Fair taking place on Sunday, October 22, Noon-4:00pm. I will be signing copies of Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd) at Volume One (The Local Store). Please stop by and say hi! 🙂
I’m back from a trip to the Pacific Northwest where I visited with family and celebrated my niece’s wedding! Here I am on the 4th of July with both of my kids. It’s seldom that we all three get to be together in the same place, at the same time. I guess that’s why we are smiling so much!
When I started writing my first book, My Last Best Friend, my daughter was only 9 years old. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since she was a shy fourth grader, scared and worried about starting a new school year with her first “boy teacher” (as she referred to him). Mr. Eisenhuth turned out to be one of her all time favorite teachers, but the first paragraph of My Last Best Friend was certainly inspired by my daughter’s uncertain feelings leading up to her first day of fourth grade: “I’m Ida May, and there’s one thing I know. Fourth grade isn’t fourth at all. Fourth means you’ve done something at least three times before. But fourth grade is nothing like third grade. Or second grade. Or first grade.”
Now my daughter is studying to be a nurse. Soon she will be starting her 18th year of school! And in the time she grew from a shy fourth grader to a confident nursing student, I have written 14 books! That’s something else to smile about! 🙂
On March 25, 2017, family, friends & fans gathered at the Volume One Local Store in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to help me celebrate the release of my newest middle-grade novel, Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd). It was a morning filled with books, beads, sweet treats and one BIG surprise: My daughter and her boyfriend flew in all the way from Seattle, Washington! I had NO idea they were coming to the party. I was in total shock when my daughter walked up to me, held out a copy of Big & Little Questions, and asked, “Will you sign my book for me?” Oh-Em-Gee! So. Much. Fun!
Here are a few photos from my special day:
Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate the release of my 14th book for kids! 🙂
For as long as I can remember, I’ve liked to make arts and crafts. Finger painting. Macramed bottles. Thumbprints transformed into faces and animals with an ink pad and a felt-tipped pen. Silly Putty used to lift the images of Dennis the Menace and Garfield and Snoopy from comic strips, then stretched and contorted in ways that would make Picasso smile. In high school, I learned how to do calligraphy, really quite well. During college, there were painted rocks and sand candles and friendship bracelets I made as a summer camp counselor.
Making things — be it bracelets or pencil holders or mittens — makes us uniquely human. No other creature on the planet is quite as crafty as we are.
For me, writing is a kind of art too. Each little word creates something bigger… a story, that has never been told in quite the same way before. It’s as unique as a sand castle. As uncommon as a tie-dyed T-shirts. As one-of-a-kind as a thumbprint.
Perhaps that’s partly why I so often include a craft when I do book events. Because working with our hands helps us discover who we are. And writing stories helps us share what we discover about ourselves along life’s way.
This month, I’m planning a book event to celebrate the release of my newest middle-grade novel, Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd). You’ll have a chance to hear me read a little from the book and ask me some questions about it. We will eat cake. And, yes, we will make a craft! Here are the details:
Book Launch Party!
Big & Little Questions (According to Wren Jo Byrd)
Saturday, March 25
10:00 – 11:30 A.M.
The Local Story & Volume One Gallery
205 N. Dewey Street, Eau Claire, WI
I hope to see you there!
~ Julie
Welcome to my new blog where I will share my big thoughts, little thoughts, and a bunch of thoughts in between. I’d love to read your thoughts too, so comment away!
~Julie