I know that a huge part of writing for young people is connecting with young people—classroom visits, school talks, and other touchpoint between author and reader. My publisher gave me a questionnaire to fill out to make myself available for school visits, but I haven’t jumped into that yet. I’m busy keeping all my current balls in the air. Phew.

BUT, social media gives me a chance to stay connected—even though I’m hiding out right now. (You know I’m overwhelmed when I go silent on social media. It’s not my natural mode of communication and I’m only really good at it when I’m consciously pushing myself to post on the regular, and I can only do that when I have extra energy to spare.) But social media is a two way street. So I get to see when people add my book to their booklists. I get notes when people finish reading it. The book launch date has been pushed back to February (paper supply issues), but the Scholastic Book Club is selling it and it’s been hitting classrooms.

I’ve gotten notes from teachers who are:

• reading it as a book club book with small groups
• adding it to their classroom library
• reading it with their entire class

What a thrill! It’s awesome, amazing, exciting, and encouraging to imagine my book in classroom libraries and as an impetus for classroom discussion. Writing is a solitary act, which suits me fine. But it is so lovely that it has such broad impact. This thing that you wrote in a specific and limited space and time can have limitless life and impact, living on for as long as there are readers who find the book and read it.

What a wonderful thing.

Onward!

K.