This morning I went to my writing group friend Phyllis Perry's book signing for her brand-new picture book, Pandas' Earthquake Escape, a fictionalized account of the plight of two pandas fleeing from the destroyed Wolong Panda Reserve after the massive Chinese earthquake of 2008. The book flap says that Phyllis has written over 70 books. I don't remember how many she wrote before she joined our writing group, but I know that she wrote the vast majority of them during her time with us, everything from this picture book, to a collection of poetry, to adorable library mysteries, to nonfiction for children and adults on subjects ranging from ocean animals to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Our group has been meeting together for 18 years: originally with eight members (I was the eighth) and now with five; the other three remain dear friends and join us for our annual Christmas dinner. Among the five of us, I think we have close to 150 books published. When we began, we had hardly any. At least three of us were completely unpublished when we began; now all of us are published, and some, like Phyllis, as published as you can be.
From our group, Annie and her husband and I were in attendance this morning, to cheer Phyllis on and come away with our very own signed copy of a book we watched Phyllis create. Congratulations, Phyllis, on another wonderful book.
Where would we be without the support of our writing groups? Congratulations to Phyllis and to you, Claudia! Your blog is my favorite!
ReplyDeleteI want to read your book called 7x9=Troble.
ReplyDeleteI read GUS AND GRANDPA.
I hope I'll see you again
From
Colt
P.S. I like your books.