The Weekly Peek

Hello, and Happy Monday! How was everyone’s weekend? I had SO MUCH FUN at ILA16 on Sunday. After a brief travel delay (thanks AGAIN, Amtrak), I attended a great lunch hosted by Abrams, where I rubbed elbows (and talked about The Bland Sisters) with some esteemed educators and amazing Abrams authors — shout-out to Erica Perl and her new picture book Ferocious Fluffity, and Jonathan Auxier and his latest tour de force, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard.

After lunch, I hustled over to the convention center, where I had my signing for The Infamous Ratsos at the Candlewick Press booth. You guys, I signed EIGHTY BOOKS. A pretty great turnout, considering my signing wasn’t on the official ILA schedule — many thanks to the good folks at Candlewick for getting the word out! As I signed, I got to meet some wonderful educators from all over the country. And it was my first Candlewick event I attended as an author — pretty surreal, and pretty great!

When my signing ended, I grabbed some coffee and found some time alone to recharge. Then I hopped in a cab and met up with my former picture book partner-in-crime Scott Magoon, renowned (and hilarious) author-illustrators Ryan T. Higgins and Matt Tavares, and literacy wunderkind Dylan Teut. As you might imagine, the jokes (and puns) were flying — much to the delight, I’m sure, of the other restaurant patrons. Later, we met up for drinks with local super-librarian Jennifer Kelley Reed, and the hilarity continued. Whew! I barely made the last train home, and fell into bed just after 1am.

I think I might go and take a nap now — but not before I share a few things happening with me this week:

I’ve combed through my editor’s notes on the second Bland Sisters story, and am now making my way through revisions.

We are attempting to nighttime train our toddler. It’s a soggy process, but we persist, as ever.

Over the weekend, WE BOUGHT A GRILL! I don’t know why we’ve put off this purchase for so long, but I am SO EXCITED to take summer to the next level. Got any great grilling recipes to share?

That’s it from me.What are you up to this week?