When I set out to do this blog, I wanted to post letters from students whose classrooms I had visited. But then I could not find the stack of them. I for some reason filed them with my bill stubs. As I try avoiding looking there as much as possible, it is not surprising that I could not find them. But low and behold, I found them today. So here is one of my favorite letters form a classroom visit I did in May.
Dear Ms. Ramsay,
Thank you for coming to our class. Everybody in my class liked the book "Turtle Soup and Tiramisu." I have one question, would you put my name in one of the books you are writing? I'm not trying to be greedy but I'd like to be in the book. Also, I was the one wearing the gray sweatshirt sitting in the front right. I also want to read your new books that are coming oot.
Sincerely,
Kyle P.
I love a kid with chutzpah, so I totally named a character after him in "The Fairy Hollow."
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Crash Course in Marketing
When ever people ask me about promoting my book, I always tell them it's been a crash course in marketing. This was again true this weekend at the book signing. I needed way more signs at my table. People had no idea what I was selling, and when they did walk over, they thought I was selling a cookbook. And when they went to buy it, they were surprised at how inexpensive it is. So next time, I am going to have signs, pirate paraphenilia (sp?) and possibly some set pieces from my launch party just to make it more appealing and interesting. I will say, the people watching at the farmers market made the time go by so fast! In bookstores, I usually just stare at a wall of books.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Book Signing this Saturday!
I will be doing a signing this Saturday at the Waltham Farmer's Market from 9:30am to Noon. The market is located at the corner of Main and Moody. It will be interesting to see how many books I sell as this is the first event where I didn't do some sort of classroom visit or other event before hand. Wish me luck!
I have officially completed the first 7 chapters of "The Fairy Hollow." That means I am a third of the way done with it. Hopefully, I can say it is half done by the end of July.
I have officially completed the first 7 chapters of "The Fairy Hollow." That means I am a third of the way done with it. Hopefully, I can say it is half done by the end of July.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Fairies and Such
If you are reading this blog, you probably already read Turtle Soup, but I just want to let you know that the printed copy is temporarily unavailable for 48 hours. I'm reading the entire thing to a group of Pre-K kids (I think the book is a little too old for them, but the teacher insisted since they did a lot of author studies this year, and it was just way too exciting to have the actual author in the classroom to read the book to them.) I discovered some major typos that even my team of outstanding copy editors did not pick up on- the biggest one being that there are 2 chapter 11's, 2 chapter 15's, and no chapter 16. Even my mom who has the eyes of a hawk did not notice it, so I'm hoping not too many other people did either. I could pretend it didn't know about it, but as I know I have young aspiring writers reading my blog, I want to tell them about my mistakes as well as my triumphs. Writing is a never ending learning process, just like life!
I'm really making a lot of progress on book #2, which is tentatively called "The Fairy Hallow." This will most likely change, but I have to call it something! I'm learning some really great facts about fairies and changelings:
1) Changelings are actually a type of fairy.
2) If you cut a changelings hair, it will grow back in a day.
3) In the Catholic tradition, they believe that fairies were once angels who refused to take sides in the battle between God and Lucifer. They were banished to earth for their indecision- some to the ocean (mermaids), some to the barren countryside (leprechauns), and others underground (goblins and trolls). (Raised a Catholic, I found this one to be the most interesting. I'm pretty sure this was a compromise the priests made with the Irish. From all the stuff I've read recently, it is apparent that there was no way you were going to convince the Irish of yore that fairies weren't real, no matter how much you told them they were going to be damned for it.)
Enjoy this beautiful weather!
-AER
I'm really making a lot of progress on book #2, which is tentatively called "The Fairy Hallow." This will most likely change, but I have to call it something! I'm learning some really great facts about fairies and changelings:
1) Changelings are actually a type of fairy.
2) If you cut a changelings hair, it will grow back in a day.
3) In the Catholic tradition, they believe that fairies were once angels who refused to take sides in the battle between God and Lucifer. They were banished to earth for their indecision- some to the ocean (mermaids), some to the barren countryside (leprechauns), and others underground (goblins and trolls). (Raised a Catholic, I found this one to be the most interesting. I'm pretty sure this was a compromise the priests made with the Irish. From all the stuff I've read recently, it is apparent that there was no way you were going to convince the Irish of yore that fairies weren't real, no matter how much you told them they were going to be damned for it.)
Enjoy this beautiful weather!
-AER
Monday, July 11, 2011
On Sale at B&N!
I finally made my book available for the Nook, and as I went to copy the link, I realized they are also selling my book on bn.com! I had no idea.
This week I have my first meeting with my new writing group. I realized I need a whole team of people editing and reading, especially since I don't have my focus group aka my students to read to over the summer. It will be interesting to see what other writers think of the new book. As soon as the first few chapters are really polished, I will be posting them on here. Stay tuned.
This week I have my first meeting with my new writing group. I realized I need a whole team of people editing and reading, especially since I don't have my focus group aka my students to read to over the summer. It will be interesting to see what other writers think of the new book. As soon as the first few chapters are really polished, I will be posting them on here. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Kindle Edition Now Available
A few members of my family converted to the Kindle a year or two ago. As I absolutely love browsing libraries and book stores, I was very against this idea. I also like to look at how much I've read/how much I have left in a book. But my book club selected a book, Caleb's Crossing, that is new and only available in hard cover, and there is a huge waiting list for it at the library. So, I decided to borrow my mother's Kindle to read it, and to be quite honest, I'm hooked. I was dragging my feet about getting the Kindle version of my book live, but after reading a book on the Kindle, I decided to go ahead and do it. Plus, I'm starting to see more kids walking around with them.
It only took 2 months, but the Kindle edition is finally available on Amazon.com.
I also highly recommend Caleb's Crossing!
It only took 2 months, but the Kindle edition is finally available on Amazon.com.
I also highly recommend Caleb's Crossing!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tiramisu Cupcakes
Different friends and family have been kind enough to celebrate the launch of my book with me, and each time we've had tiramisu in some form. I am becoming quite the connoisseur of this Italian dessert. For the book launch party, my mom made these cupcakes, which come from Martha Stewart. They got rave reviews!
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Coffee-Marsala Syrup
Mascarpone Frosting
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk and vanilla-bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until melted, and let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard vanilla-bean pod.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.
Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee-marsala syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Coffee-Marsala Syrup
Mascarpone Frosting
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk and vanilla-bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until melted, and let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard vanilla-bean pod.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.
Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee-marsala syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.
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