My Town Monday: Library Panels, San Diego

(L to R) The suspects: me, Cindy Pon, Laura Preble, Marlene Perez, Mary Pearson. This is pretty much a local yokel panel, although Marlene actually lives a little north of here, in Orange County. Oh, and, thank you, Mary, for the photo. I remembered to charge my camera, but then forgot to put the battery back in. This is only one of many reasons why I'm not a professional photographer.


As previously mentioned, last Friday, I was on an authors' panel at the extremely cute, has-an-ocean-view Encinitas Library. It was part of the San Diego County Library's Book Festival. Very fun! And Marisa Lowe, the teen librarian from my very own branch, did a super job moderating.

There were several things I liked about this event. I think we did a good job answering the questions. We were having fun, and I think that made the experience fun for the audience as well. I'm not particularly talented at speaking off the cuff, so I'm glad I had a chance to practice this. In terms of writing, it was interesting to see what we had in common and how we differed.

And I LOVED the little personal connections I made with the other panel members. Laura Preble and I have 16 year old sons who were in the SAME class from fourth through eighth grade! Marlene Perez and I both have four kids, are at least slightly sleep-deprived and like Thai food. I'm aiming to be as thoughtful and professional and put-together as Mary Pearson. Also, I want a skirt like hers. Oh, and Mary can drink a lot of iced tea. Cindy Pon? Well, she has a wicked sense of humor, is refreshingly honest and has no sense of direction.

Andrew Smith, Cindy Pon, Laura Preble, me

This is Saturday's author panel at the Poway Library. Also a very fun time and I enjoyed meeting Andrew Smith. As the only male around, he kept us on our toes. Plus, he had some GREAT one-liners. Which I will probably steal.

I'll be at the Santee Library (9225 Carlton Hills Blvd, Santee, CA 92071, (619) 448-1863) with Cindy and Laura for a discussion on writing (informal and fun, I hope) and book signing this coming Friday, Oct. 23 @ 5:30. In fact, I have a little surprise gift for each of them.

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Thank you, Cassandra!

Today I met Cassandra. That's her in the photo above. And that's me next to her in my new orange sweater.

Cassandra came to an authors' panel held today in Encinitas.

The panel consisted of Mary Pearson, Marlene Perez, Laura Preble, Cindy Pon and myself. On Monday, I'll write more about the panel and about tomorrow's panel at the Poway Library. I'll probably reveal a few of the panelists' deep, dark secrets (not any of mine; my life's an open book!). But that Cindy Pon...

Meeting Cassandra was a wonderful opportunity for me.

Because she is an expert on Sherry and company, having read I So Don't Do Mysteries five times. And, yes, my heart did speed up just typing that.

Here's the deal. I did something very mean to Sherry at the beginning of I So Don't Do Famous, the book I'm working on. Very mean. Editor Wendy doesn't know about it. Nobody knows about it. Except for me and Sherry. And now Cassandra.

I was thrilled to be able to confide in Cassandra, a real live avid reader, and to hear how she felt about it. Cassandra said it was okay to be that mean on one condition... No problem. I'm on it.

Cassandra, it was a pleasure meeting you, and thank you for being there for Sherry and me!