Banana Peelin' with Kathryn Fitzmaurice

I am so lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky. In celebration of my first year writing for children, this month has been nothing short of amazing with the authors of my favorite books on the blog. Today, my luck continues with the warm and generous, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, author of The Year the Swallows Came Early and A Diamond in the Desert.

 I fell in love with the characters in The Year the Swallows Came Early on page one and therefore was extremely excited when Kathryn agreed to share her experiences with us. I was even more excited to receive my very own copy of A Diamond in the Desert in the mail, (Still glowing. Thank you, Kathryn!) Not surprisingly, I ADORED it. And I now anxiously  await the release of her third novel, Destiny Rewritten. This woman has talent! (And she is SO nice, which is just icing on the cake!)

Additionally, on this glorious September day, Kathryn and I have a two-for-one deal going on. If you ever get that nagging feeling, like you  can never really get enough of Bananabeth, Kathryn has actually interviewed me over on her blog! So if you want,  you can just flip-flop between us. Kathryn, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, Kathryn. I suddenly have the urge to sing... It's raining blogs! Hallelujah! ...Oh yeahhhhhh....Heeeee...

Eh hem.

 I feel just so honored to have her on the blog today. Please welcome the lovely, Kathryn Fitzmaurice!

Thank you, Elizabeth, for asking me to participate in your banana peelin series.  I am delighted to be included and could share many different moments where I was caught off guard, but one in particular stands out. 

 

In August of 2009, after my first middle grade novel, THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY, was released, I received an email from my wonderful editor at HarperCollins informing me that the book had been nominated by SCIBA (Southern California Independent Booksellers Association) for their annual book awards.  I was so excited to be included in the nominations along with Michael Grant for his book entitled, HUNGER, and DJ MacHale, for his book entitled, PENDRAGON BOOK 10.  The awards ceremony was to be held the last weekend in October, on the exact same day as a Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators conference in Ventura, CA, where I was scheduled to speak as a spotlight presenter.  As a spotlight presenter, I was to give a ten-minute speech about my road to publication, my personal experiences about writing, etc. etc. There were four authors giving spotlight speeches, all fit neatly in between editors and agents.  

 

Just so you know, and for those not familiar with southern California freeways, to get to Ventura from my home in Monarch Beach is at least a two-hour drive (without traffic).  Then to drive back down to Los Angeles after my speech was another one and a half hours (again, without traffic).  I had committed to giving the speech months before I knew about the awards ceremony, and was looking forward to being a part of the conference, so I did what any writer would do: I left at five am to get to Ventura before the traffic hit, gave my ten minute speech, (a PowerPoint, entitled Dear Ghost of Eleanor Robinson, about the influence my grandmother, an author of science fiction novels, had on me), and then at lunch time, I left in order to have enough time to arrive in Los Angeles for the awards ceremony. 

 

I checked into the hotel so I could change my clothes and waited for my amazing agent, Jennifer Rofe, to knock on my door so we could attend together.  When she arrived, we decided to have a quick drink at the bar, (I had water, of course), and we got to talking about this and that, when I realized we were a bit late.  So we immediately rushed to the ceremony only to walk in AS IT WAS STARTING!  Someone (I think a woman) was welcoming everyone at the podium, talking into a microphone, there was applause, and then everything sort of stalled in my mind.  I was SO COMPLETELY and TOTALLY EMBARRASSED.  I had to thread my way through the huge crowd, through tables with fifteen people seated at each one, as everyone in the room watched (at least if felt like everyone).  When I finally found my seat, which seemed to take several minutes, I settled in and waited, listening to the other awards being named.  When the award for the middle grade book came up, Michael Grant was chosen as the winner.  I remember Jennifer turned and gave me sort of a sad face, but deep inside, although I was disappointed, I was really okay.  I got to sit back and listen to his very funny speech, (Michael Grant is a funny guy), and the whole time I kept thinking what an honor it was to be nominated, even though for those few minutes as I walked into that huge room with what felt like hundreds of people watching me find my seat, I completely wanted to disappear!

Kathryn is so incredibly kind and generous, she has agreed to give away a signed copy of The Year the Swallows Came Early ! Please leave a comment below indicating you are interested. The winner will be chosen through random.org and will be announced next week!