Morris Winner

Congratulations to L.K. Madigan, author of Flash Burnout and winner of the 2010 Morris Award. I highly recommend this book. It is the story of a teenage boy, Blake, who loves one girl, but discovers a strong sense of commitment to a friend in great need. He isn't quite mature enough to handle the difficulties such a situation presents to him, and struggles to make the right choices, then struggles to deal with the fallout from some of his wrong choices. This book has a wonderful message for teenagers, and the content is dealt with honestly and in a true teen voice. Blake's family members (a hospital pastor mother who suddenly throws off her shirt during hotflashes, a medical examiner father, a brother who doesn't quite know when and how to be a mentor to Blake) make an excellent and fun supporting cast. The story is original and the characterization, for the characters who ultimately matter, is excellent.

A Book Trailer for the Yalsa Contest

YALSA did me the extreme honor of nominating The Everafter for the Morris Award (which is given to a previously unpublished author). I am, of course, excited that tomorrow morning the winner will be announced. All the books on the short list are so good and well written that I'm incredibly grateful to be on the short list no matter who wins.

Meanwhile, YALSA also decided to have a trailer contest. Readers could make a trailer for one of the five nominees. 0Talie0 made this trailer for The Everafter. It's so fun to see what one reader thinks of my book as it's rendered into this new form. Thanks for making this.

Pearl North and Helen Frost are Awesome

I had a great time at the Baldwin Public Library this past weekend doing a triple author event with Pearl North (Libyrinth) and Helen Frost (Crossing Stones). Thanks so much to Colleen of The Book Beat for organizing this opportunity, and to the staff of the Baldwin Public Library for hosting us. I learned so much from those two more experienced authors, and had a great time meeting people. Then there was the fantastic opportunity I had to reconnect with two different friends from my childhood who were there. It's an amazing experience to see someone after twenty years (or more) and to remember so much about our childhoods together. I loved getting to meet once again, too, one of the wonderful students I met at the Greenrock Writing Workshop last summer.

I highly recommend Libyrinth and Crossing Stones. They are both beautiful works.

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!