Teen Author Fest, Books of Wonder and Another Visit to Boston

March 19th-March 26th

Sure wish I could have experienced some of these events first hand! 

Courtney and Faking Normal were honored to be a part of 2014's Teen Author Fest in NYC (March 19-22), a brain child of author/editor David Levithan. She also took part in a panel of authors who visited an area middle school and the  mega signing on March 23rd at Books of Wonder in NYC. Then on to the Boston area with authors  A.C. Gaughan, Tiffani Schmidt and Victoria Schwab.

Courtney had an opportunity to panel and sign her books and meet old and new friends.

TAF sent authors into many NYC schools during the week. Court was on a panel who visited Castle Middle School. 

Courtney was part of the mega signing at NYC's Books of Wonder!

Adam was able to come, and he brought many friends from Circle on the Square Theatre to buy books!

On Sunday night Courtney and some of her author friends traveled back to the Boston area to Brookline Booksmith where she participated on a panel/book signing. 

Leah Cypess, A.C. Gaughan, Tiffani Schmidt, Victoria Schwab and Courtney C. Stevens.

Our cousin, Helen, who lives in the area came. What a pleasure to see a familiar face among so many strangers!

The following night, this panel of authors spoke and signed books at Wellesley Book Store in another area of Boston.

 

Helen returned with her family and brought Court a specially designed handbag from her boutique, Helen's Handbags!

Home again on March 26th after a busy, fun, productive and exhausting week!

March Madness! 3-29-14

Nope, this time I'm not talking about the wacky winter and "spring" we've had - as in the effects of the polar vortex and snow and snow and snow - it is a generally held opinion around here that Mother Nature has bi-polar disorder and is off her meds!

But NO. March Madness is all about NCAA basketball, basketball and MORE basketball.

And in the state of Kentucky, basketball starts with a capital UK. As in the University of Kentucky. Or alternately, it might (for SOME people, not me) start with a capital U and L, as in the University of Louisville. These two schools represent the last TWO NCAA Championships! Let me also plug my graduate school Alma Mater, Murray State University. It is riding high in the post-season as well, climbing the brackets of the CollegeInsider Invitational Tournament (CIT). At the time of this post, the news media claims that the state of KY is the only state with three colleges still in post-season play!

UK had a fairly frustrating season (for dyed-in-the-wool Kentuckians, a Big Blue Nation that EXPECTS GREATNESS EVERY TIME, ALL THE TIME from THEIR Wildcats), beginning as the pre-season Number One pick and ending with a number 8 seed for the tournament (ranking between 28th and 32nd). U of L, which began with a pre-season ranking of Number Nine, their highest to date, ended as a number 4 seed for the tourney (ranking between 12th and 16th).  Both teams had winning seasons, but depending on your perspective perhaps, did not living up to their "expected" potentials. That may be more of a statement on the value of pre-season rankings than an actual prediction on the potential of either team. Be that as it may. Add the "coach factor" (Louisville's Petino used to coach the UK Wildcats and now coaches the Louisville Cardinals) to the mix, and you have the makings of a great instate rivalry.

There are always upsets within the seedings in any tournament. The 2014 NCAA Tournament has certainly seen its share of them. Including UK. The Wildcats beat Kansas St (they were a number 9 seed so it could have gone either way), but then they beat Wichita State who was seeded number one! Now THAT was an upset! A great game with some UK frustration and then last minute scrambling and excitement and a close, heart-thumping win.

And just like that, there is light at the other end of the bracket tunnel for the few fair-weather UK fans!

So. Last night. Your late-night TV entertainment! UK vs. U of L.

It started off predictably with UK struggling and eventually ending up 13 points behind. Then ... another case of "last minute scrambling and excitement and a close, heart thumping win!" UK, on the 22nd anniversary of that infamous loss on a last second basket by Duke's He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, had to endure the Slo-Mo arch of U of L's three-pointer attempt at the buzzer ... but it bounced off the rim and the Big Blue Nation collectively screamed across cyber-space for another Wildcat win!

What's next? Oh, man, it feels like THAT one last night should have been the championship game. But on Sunday, the Wildcats must persevere. They meet Michigan, a number 2 seed, to determine which team goes to The Final Four.

I'm assured that one of my friends will be wearing his lucky pants. I've got my fingers crossed. We'll all hold our heads right and prime our hope and eat our munchies and chew our Tums ... and not even try to contain our excitement or temper our trash-talkin'.

I'll try to squelch any doubt and the little voice in my head that quotes Coach Cal, "They're still freshmen!"

 GO, UK! Let's keep that NCAA Championship in KENTUCKY!

P.S. updated post to come after April 7th!

Page By Page Courtney C. Stevens "Faking Normal"

Another book event, another signing in TN!

On March 27th, 2014, Courtney was invited to speak at the Maury County (Columbia, TN) Public Library. There was a small crowd - certainly not the huge one that came to The Grille in Mt. Pleasant (also in Maury County) - but a nice number for a second event located very close to The Grille. It was an opportunity for Courtney to discuss Faking Normal and to answer questions about the purpose of the book and what inspired her. There were teens and there were "middlers" and there were seniors there, a nice following, which I found interesting. Faking Normal is a YA book, written to target teens who are 14 and up. But it has found a substantial adult market. The questions were insightful and interesting. Courtney's talk about getting past pain and finding hope on the other side resonated with a senior member of the audience. He said he needed to hear her message and that he knew he was supposed to be there! It is so amazing and special when an author's work and words are affirmed, we we're allowed to glimpse the effect of our purpose.

This library is the main county library, not the smaller branch in Mt. Pleasant that I loved from childhood, but it is rich in history and has a wonderful following. Including a resident "ghost" who claims the Director's desk as her own! Though the "modern" building was built in the early 60's, those in the know wisely preserved the original neon sign!

It is always great to run into (unexpectedly) old friends.

Our family had before and after "eats" at Puckett's on the square in Columbia. It is conveniently located by The Old Curiosity Book Store, who sponsored book sales at the nearby library.  Check out the bookstore, a wonderful "bookish" atmosphere in which to browse and buy your favorite books! Go "local" when you can!

Prior to the panel at the MCPL, Courtney was the guest on the library's cable show, Page By Page. The show, whose purpose is to promote literacy, airs on a local cable channel several times a week (check the Maury County Public Library's Facebook page) and is posted on YouTube, as below. Enjoy!

A Hometown Blessing!

There was probably no one more excited and happy when Courtney's book sold than her nana (okay, maybe except for Court's mother). We accused my mother of running up and down the beach telling anyone who would listen that HER GRANDDAUGHTER is an author!

It's exactly what we all felt like doing!

So it was only natural that Nana offered to host a book signing in Mt. Pleasant at The Grille, a local eatery located on the square. A wonderful book store, The Old Curiosity Book Shop in nearby Columbia, agreed to sponsor the sale.

The day before the signing, Courtney made an author visit to Mt. Pleasant High School. Originally, she was invited to speak to the school's book club, but the visit was moved from the library to the auditorium and expanded to include any of the student body who wanted to come. Between two and three hundred students came to hear Courtney encourage them to dream and to work hard - "Channeling their Brave" - to make their dreams come true. It was a lively event! Though I didn't attend, I enjoy an unexpected connection with the teacher who sponsors the book club. Her mother graduated from high school with me. Not from the present Mt. Pleasant High School, but the older Hay Long High School that closed about 1980.

A book signing is an uncertain event. There can be anywhere from "ten to ... a lot" of people to attend. An author might sell three or four books or many, many more! A lot of Mom's friends were excited to come, so we hoped for good weather and no last minute conflicts.  I hoped my old friends would come, too. The bonus would be a chance to visit with people I hadn't seen in a long time. Courtney has no personal ties in the area other than through her mother and grandmother. So in the end, we just hoped and kept our fingers crossed.

Our expectations succeeded beyond the wildest dreams! At four-thirty on the dot friends began to come, and there was a steady stream for two hours - and a loud buzz that filled the back room at The Grille with laughter and excitement. A line formed and the books flew off the table. The book store owner, the grandmother, the parents, and the author herself inhaled one big sigh of relief! And enjoyed!

Mt. Pleasant supported it's "own" and we are so thankful!

 DREAM BIG!

 Three generations of "Book Love."

Hay Long High friends!

Friends who came from "afar" to chat and have a book signed.

 Court's "Nana," who hosted the signing at The Grille.

 James and Heather provided copies of Faking Normal from The Old Curiosity Book Shop.

The signing line was long!

Faking Normal Debut Week

It's hard to put into words what the week of February 25th, 2014, means to me as a mom and as a lover of words. It's the partial culmination of Courtney's print journey, the proverbial crooked path from draft to publication, from dream to reality, from doubt to certainty. In many ways, it still feels as if I should pinch myself just to test the reality! But Courtney C. Stevens did it. She did it, and I'm thrilled and blessed and so happy for her. And that's Real, but it's also the stuff that dreams are built on.

Courtney wrote a little picture poem when she was six or seven, and I thought "Wow, that's pretty good, baby girl." I sent it off to a contest, and it was published. She wrote poems, scribbled short stories and essays and non-fiction articles over her  high school years. She earned the highest mark on her writing portfolio and won a national short story contest. In college she wrote songs and skits for youth to perform and did a lot of public speaking. In her career as a youth minister, she wrote Bible studies and more songs and poems and skits. She wrote all kinds of things, some for herself and some that were required. Always, in the back of her mind, she wanted to write a novel. She'd written that down as a goal in high school. Someone wrote about her in the high school newspaper during her senior year that she'd one day become a published author. Wow. Prophetic.

The stuff of dreams.

I used to want to write a novel. Or something. A million years ago. Because I also wrote all kinds of stuff when I was young. I still have the handwritten poems and stories on notebook paper; Court read through them (and giggled. A lot.) long ago. I even took a writing class a few years ago. But what it, and Courtney, showed me, was that I know where periods and commas go, but I don't have the guts, the skill, the plot, or the magic needed to string words together page after page ... to actually write a novel. Nor the willingness to test it, to put myself out there, or to risk rejection (an accepted "given" when it comes to the writing world).

 Courtney has all of that and more. And an ability to learn from her experiences. She made the investment in herself and strapped on the commitment it took to help make HER dreams come true. Hard work. Learning her craft. Joining a professional writing guild. Learning the trends and the market. Reading. And more reading. Learning to write. And rewrite. And REWRITE.

And I'm so thankful that she allowed me a tiny bit in the process.

So, February 25th.
Courtney's first novel, Faking Normal (HarperTeen) appeared in bookstores and in particular, at Parnassus Books in Nashville, where the book launch party would be The Nashville writing community supported its own, and so did our family. A wonderful, exciting evening for all of us.

So many images from that night -way too many to put here- but it was awesome! Thanks to close family - Matt and Angela, Nana, Barbara and Mike, Lex and Lynn, Jeff and Kim and kids, Matt and Pat, Kristen and Destin and kids, and Adam -plus friends, Kathy and Pitts, Mary B., Adam K., Bruce H., Eric M. and so so many from the SCBWI writing community!

Two days later, on February 27th, Court revisited her hometown high school, Ballard Memorial (Ballard County, KY) for an author visit. These wonderful ladies from the school invited her and made her (and her family) feel very welcome.

Gayle ( curriculum supervisor, Courtney, Kristin ( librarian) and Charlotte (writing teacher).

Courtney spoke to groups of selected students all day - a Channel Your Brave topic - and enjoyed a wonderful reception by her home community that night. Thank you, Ballard County teachers, friends and family, for coming to support a hometown gal.

 Thanks to Carla and Brooke. You did all the work (and made cookies) and sold books and sold tees. You are amazing friends; you made it so much easier on Courtney. I love you both!

The above photos - just a few of the many treasured people in Courtney's life.

It was a very long day for Courtney, but a wonderful one!

On to Bowling Green High School for an assembly during the afternoon on February 28th.

And afterward, off to the BG Barnes and Noble that evening (where Court actually wrote a lot of Faking Normal). State Street UMC came in droves and supported their former youth minister. The crowd was tremendous, and B&N sold out of books! So great to see so many of Court's former students both at the church and at LWC.

There were so many people at Barnes and Noble that the store ran out of chairs!

The STORY CRUSH TOUR:
On Saturday morning, March 1st, Courtney flew to South Hadley, MA, for the first leg of The Story Crush Tour (Harper Collins) with fellow authors Katie Cotugno (How to Love), Melissa Kantor (Maybe One Day) and Robyn Schneider (The Beginning of Everything) at Odyssey Books.

March 2nd - Oblong Books, Rhineback, NY. Adam Potter was there!

March 3rd Fairless Hills, PA, Barnes and Noble, joined by Lauren Oliver (Delirium trilogy).

Courtney is signing with a special pen made for her by hometown craftsman. He made it with olive wood from the Holy Land.

On March 4th, the authors flew to Decatur, GA, for a stop at The Little Shop of Stories.

A particularly special visitor to Little Shop of Stories - Courtney's high school writing teacher.

Also, on March 4th came the release of Courtney's first Harper Impulse novella: The Blue-Haired Boy. This is Bodee's story, the co-star of Faking Normal. It is a prequel to the novel.

Last stop on The Story Crush Tour - Blue Bicycle Books in Charleston, SC- March 5th.

 Authors: Courtney C. Stevens, Robyn Schneider, Katie Cotugno, Melissa Kantor, Lauren Oliver.

Each store event began with a reading and/or a panel discussion before selling/signing books.

A special fan! He and his wife made a great effort to come from Hilton Head to Court's signing event, not because they knew HER, but because he worked for Court's grandfather and grandmother (and also helped babysit Court's mom when she was a toddler) as a teenager and had great love and respect for them. How amazing is that!

The first few days of the release of Faking Normal has come and gone (so excited that Faking Normal is doing well!). There were so many "firsts"  for Courtney.
First published novel.
First debut release party and signing event.
First ebook novella.
First OFFICIAL AUTHOR school visit (Court's alma mater).
First hometown signing (thank you for SOOO much support!)
First tour with other authors.

What have I left out? That Courtney's message in Faking Normal is one of hope. It's more than a tee shirt, more than a silicone bracelet, more than a phrase in a book, more than a topic of conversation. And it is EVERYWHERE! Classrooms, libraries, social events, at home, and pep talks between friends ... even at the beach.

So Go Channel Your Brave!

It was so exciting as Courtney's mom to see all this unfold. I'm blessed and thankful and amazed.
I close with this last picture ...

... and this thought: "Sometimes we only see the shadow of things." Courtney C. Stevens

But Faking Normal is REAL.

Go forth and BUY!