Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Well, my partner teacher and I had the great idea to have the students create book trailers based on science fiction and fantasy books they'd read. After discussing it with the local librarians (librarians are wonderful resources:) we decided on Animoto. Of course, we needed to become experts on these before we shared them with our students. Soooo, to make a long story short here's one I put together for my own book. Check it out. Let me know what you think.  Ribbons of Moonlight by Rebecca L. Frencl

A year ago I was giddy with the knowledge that my book was going to be published. Nothing had happened yet other than I'd signed the contract and done a happy dance around the living room. I hadn't yet started the rather arduous process of editing. Or the agonizing wait to actually see my baby in print--either the e-version or even longer the print version. I think when the print version came out I grinned for a full week. It's been a surreal year. Part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop, to wake up and realize it was all a dream. I think that's the Catholic Midwestern upbringing speaking there. We never seem happy to just take good fortune and the results of hard work as is, we need to expect something to go wrong. Wonder what Sister Patrick Mary wold have had to say about that? So, I suppose it's fitting to take a few moments to reflect and give thanks for all the good things that have come my way this past year. I'm thankful not only for the jour

I spent a great weekend getting in touch with my inner geek. I was at WindyCon this weekend. I try and hit at least one sci-fi con a year, as many as three. I think that I have to save my pennies for ChiCon in the summer--the world con is coming to Chicago over Labor Day weekend and I am bound and determined to get on a panel. What is a WindyCon? Well, how to describe fandom . . .  Many year ago, when I was a sophomore in high school I was killing time and flipping through Dad's Analog . In the back they had advertisements. One of them was for a convention in the area called WindyCon. What a remarkable thing! A place where people who loved science fiction and fantasy got together to celebrate the books, movies and television shows we loved? I was so there! Dad and I ventured into the ranks of fandom for the first time that year. We've been going almost every year since then. I won't tell you how long it's been, but let's just say that I've seen several young f