The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for this normally reclusive, stay-at-home writer.
It’s May and in Ontario that means it’s Forest of Reading season. This year, my monster-filled detective adventure Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Slime Stampede was honoured to be a Silver Birch Express nominee.
Since late April, I’ve been visiting schools around Southwestern Ontario, meeting young readers and having a slimetastic time. Last Wednesday, thousands of children from schools around Toronto gathered at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, for the big final celebration and announcement of the winner.
Tank & Fizz did not win. 🙁
But that doesn’t matter! Seriously. With these these “tree awards” getting nominated is the same as winning because it means thousands of new readers discover your books, which is what this writing thing is all about.
And I had the chance to meet many of these readers, talk about goblins and sign a whole bunch of autographs:
And I even did this:
I’ll admit now that I was working hard at not freaking out about doing that.
I also gave a short workshop, where I stood behind a lectern like someone who knows what they’re talking about. Here’s proof:
It was an absolute blast. I had so much fun meeting young readers who loved Fizz Marlow and Tatanka Wrenchlin and all the monsters in Rockfall Mountain.
I’m now diving back into my own cave to finish writing Tank&Fizz 4! All I can say is that this one is a real doozy!
Happy reading!