January 19th is UP TO THIS POINTE's pub date, and it seems like forever away - except for when my impending deadline for the first draft of my third novel makes January feel like it's showing up tomorrow. In the meantime, it has been a whirlwind autumn stirring up buzz and sharing the galleys of UP TO THIS POINTE with librarians, book sellers and reviewers. And SIX FEET OVER IT was named a finalist for the WASHINGTON STATE BOOK AWARD - such an amazing surprise, and a wonderful evening was spent celebrating with all the finalists and winners in the beautiful Seattle central library. I was honored to be a featured speaker at the annual WASHINGTON LIBRARY MEDIA ASSOCIATION conference, where I giddily mingled with the greatest people in the world - school librarians! I signed a ton of galleys of UP TO THIS POINTE for a crowd of hilarious, smart book sellers at the PACIFIC NORTHWEST BOOKSELLERS TRADE SHOW. More events are on the horizon, but here are some moments captured at these conferences and ceremonies where authors are lucky to meet people who share our love of yammering on and on about our favorite topic - books!

With Washington State Book Award Finalists Mary Cronk Farrel, Maureen McQuerry and Winner, Jennifer K. Mann at University Books, Seattle.