Even though SOAR was released in 2020, I only recently attended my first in-person events as an author! In the past two weeks, I have been to Nook Books in Lancaster for a reading and craft, Lancaster Cupcake for a reading and craft, and the Manheim Community Library for a book fair. I didn’t realize how much I was missing until I starting making connections at these events.
As events start taking place in person again, it has added a whole new layer to this remarkable journey. Yesterday I spent the day at the Manheim Community Library speaking with several authors who were published pre-pandemic and I left feeling a sense of excitement about what’s around the corner. It was such a nice experience to speak with other people on a similar journey and learn from their successes and failures. I left the event with a list of to-do items that I am very excited to check off.
The events at Nook Books and Lancaster Cupcake were the first time I read SOAR in front of a real audience. To see the kids in person and their facial expressions as they followed Ramone on his journey was magical. It was almost overwhelming to hear them clap for Ramone and cheer as he took off in flight. It was such a special moment as a writer to see people respond to the story I spent so much time creating. I look forward to many more of these kinds of experiences and moments.
One of the main takeaways from my recent experiences is how much I enjoy connecting with people in general and feeling a part of the world again. It has been a long time coming and I look forward to the next steps on this incredible journey. For now I will keep at it, creating and revising stories for families to connect to and enjoy in the hopes they make their way to a bookshelf near you.