Okemos Schuler's Books Signing

What a great time we all had on Tuesday evening. It was fun to see so many people there who have long had an interest in my book--and who were finally getting to really see it.

My favorite part of the evening, though, was meeting with some of my teen readers. There were some students from the high school where I teach (mostly former students of mine), and then some additional students from surrounding schools, too. I loved the questions teen readers asked me. They wanted to know which character I most identified with (Maddy--even though Tammy is my favorite character of the novel) and they asked about some of the unresolved mysteries at the end of the novel, too. What a difficult part of the writing process it was to determine which mysteries to let the reader know the answers to and which to leave the reader wondering about (especially since there are so many things that Maddy herself can't know at the end of the book.) I get a lot of questions about these unresolved mysteries. I'm always happy to have an email conversation about them, too. Visit www.amyhuntley.com and then click the email link if you'd like to discuss why some of the book's mysteries are revealed and others aren't!

Giant thanks to everyone who came to Schuler's on Tuesday evening.

Book Signing at the Alpine Avenue Grand Rapids Schuler's

My first book signing in a book store. My first attempt to give a speech about my book in front of--well, the public.  Yes, it was a little intimidating, but it was also tremendously fun. I'm grateful to family and friends who came to support me on this momentous occasion. It meant a lot to me to see you in the audience. 

It was also incredibly exciting to meet new people.  I got to meet someawesome readers and aspiring writers.  They were such fun to talk to. And what a fantastic opportunity it was to meet the bloggers who came ( The Hiding Spot and The Compulsive Reader are no longer just electronic entities!)

Thanks, Schulers, for giving me this opportunity. I especially appreciate Mark's hospitality in making me feel comfortable at my first book signing.

Being Neighborly

A bunch of great neighbors got together Saturday night to celebrate the launch of The Everafter.  I love this group! Where would we be without each other? We're there for each other at the bus stop every day. And when something important happens to one of us, it's as if it's happened to all. Special thanks to Alice for hosting. (Oh, and not everyone made it into the picture! We have to arrange another makeup picture session at the bus stop!)

Okemos High School Teachers Celebrate

Some of the teachers at school got together at lunchtime to celebrate the release of

The Everafter with me. (If you don't

 have Lunch...sorry, you missed out!)   They, too, gave me an orchid--this time a purple one to match the cover! And they also gave me a sweatshirt and a bracelet in honor of the first two episodes of The Everafter, in which Maddy uses a sweatshirt and a bracelet to travel back to her life and learn about herself. So many pictures were taken that I can't possibly include them all, but here are a few!

Critique Group Celebrates!

So many wonderful celebrations for the release of The Everafter. I can't thanks people enough for all the kind things they did to share this experience with me. My critique group celebrated with me at my house, and the amazing Ruth McNally Barshaw

 drew several pictures to help us all remember the events by. It's always fun to be anywhere with Ruth. No matter where she is, she's sketching. So there are 

lots of wonderful images of every critique group meeting, conference or party. One is, of course, the awesome image of the orchid (white--just like the one on the book cover) that the group gave me. I'm also fond of the image she drew of me opening the present given to me by the son of Deb Diessen.  Because Twinkies play a role in the book, he thought it would be great fun to give me a box of those. It was fun, and I have to admit that I tried one for the first time since elementary! (See the top right...)  

I'm also crazy about the picture of all of us. How does Ruth manage to caricature us so well? 

I always love especially the pictures Ruth 

draws for me of my daughter, and 

here you can also see her 

playing with the ribbons from my gift. She didn't give me a book release present, but she's the best present I've ever gotten for any occasion!

It's Here!

So The Everafter is finally hitting bookstore shelves.  And how marvelously fun it is to see it there.  This image comes from the Okemos Schuler's--a store that I've been shopping in for over a decade. Seeing my book there is thrilling. And, to be honest, a bit "surreal"--a word often used to describe the book itself. I'm waiting for that transition from "surreal" to "real" to take place. Meanwhile, thanks to all of you out there who already believe it's a real book that can actually be purchased and who are doing just that! And, thanks as well, to all of you who believed it was possible for this to become a real book and encouraged me through the process of getting it finished.

Interview--Inside the Audiobook Studio

I had a great time doing this interview for Mary Burkey and her audiobook blog!