Frannie and the Great World

Just some of the famous readers

Thanks to all ladies who turned out for The Beresfords' first launch party! It was a lovely afternoon together--good food and good fun--all in the beautiful setting of Margo's house. Speaking of Margo, take a good look at her on the far right of the picture so you can say, "I knew her when. I ate her cupcakes. I sat on her chairs. Yeah, we go way back"--because the last guests right before us book-launchers happened to be a television crew, there to film a possible reality-tv show pilot. Uh-huh. Will it fly? We'll see, but you've been warned. In the pic you might also recognize (1) a germ-fighting nurse; (2) a kickbox instructor; (3) a champion sailor and First-to-Finish winner of last year's Vic-Maui race. And then--wait a second--I think I spot noted debut YA author Delaney Berggren, whose tale Breakers just landed on Planet Earth a short while ago!

My fabulous checkers-in

Book launches are team efforts, and I deeply appreciate all who helped make it a go--hosts, checkers-in, food-providers, heavy-lifters, and of course my faithful readers. Thank you so much. Getting together with you all--at parties, at book clubs, online--is really the best part of writing. That, and watching characters come to life because other eyes than mine are seeing them.

Me, having issues--check out the patented pen-grip

Despite my ergonomic pen-grip, I wrote some oddball things in your books. For one thing, I didn't seem to be able to form exclamation points. They all came out as almost-question-marks. As in, "Thank you for your friendship?" and "Thank you for reading?" and "Happy summer reading?" No wonder Suzanne Collins resorted to a signature stamp when my 12YO went to her Hunger Games book "signing"! With her gabillion copies to "sign," that would have been a lot of "May the odds be ever in your favor?"

Two church "librarians" I haven't yet alienated

Since I seem to have Young Adult books on the brain, I'm happy to report that The Beresfords is probably the most YA- and church-library-acceptable book I've written to date. Frannie does witness one--ahem!--interaction of an R-rated nature, but it's light on the details. You never know, though--there was one church librarian who objected to the scene in Mourning Becomes Cassandra where Daniel's adventures interrupt Cass's scrubbing routine, so, again, be warned. But I can assure you, there is not one single ghost (as in Everliving) or one single F-bomb (as in Mourning and The Littlest Doubts). There are, however, several references to high-calorie foods (as in Mia and the Magic Cupcakes).

Reading Chapter One and thinking I really shouldn't have used the word "detritus"

Now that I've given you all the caveats, I do hope you enjoy the book. And don't worry if you missed the party--there will be others this summer, and, if you miss all those, too, there's always my next book!