Griffie World Happenings » young adult http://blog.griffieworld.com For thoughts and musings by author LK Gardner-Griffie Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:00:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Intriguing – Pottermore http://blog.griffieworld.com/2011/06/intriguing-pottermore/ http://blog.griffieworld.com/2011/06/intriguing-pottermore/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:09:22 +0000 LK Gardner-Griffie http://blog.griffieworld.com/?p=1791 Pottermore. I have long had a deep respect for Rowling and her abilities. She transcends author because of the long-abiding enthusiasm of her fans and has achieved icon level.]]> JK Rowling leads the way to the interactive reading experience with Pottermore. I have long had a deep respect for Rowling and her abilities. She transcends author because of the long-abiding enthusiasm of her fans and has achieved icon level, and is now pushing those boundaries out. I’m excited to see what Pottermore will entail because I’m always interested in new ways to engage readers and bring them into the world of my characters. Will Pottermore be the next generation in publishing? Or will it take time to catch on because of the potential expense involved in the interactive experience?

In addition to the interactive reading experience, Rowling promises not only audio books, but Pottermore will be the only place to obtain Harry Potter ebooks, which have been long awaited. Anyway, check out the video below, and join in the excitement for the release of Pottermore in October.

]]> http://blog.griffieworld.com/2011/06/intriguing-pottermore/feed/ 0 Hangin’ Out at The Retreat http://blog.griffieworld.com/2010/09/hangin-out-at-the-retreat/ http://blog.griffieworld.com/2010/09/hangin-out-at-the-retreat/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:24:58 +0000 LK Gardner-Griffie http://blog.griffieworld.com/?p=1433 LK Gardner-Griffie will conduct an author reading at The Retreat, Monday, September 6, 2010. Time: All day long]]> LK Gardner-Griffie will conduct an author reading at The Retreat, Monday, September 6, 2010. Time: All day long
Opening the door, the heady scents of coffee and hot cocoa greet you. Chocolates are spilled on every table and a hint of cinnamon from the freshly baked rolls wafts through the air. Every where you look, people are either reading or are in little clusters discussing young adult books. For the lover of young adult books, you have reached nirvana. The place is The Retreat, a virtual coffee house for kids and YA authors and readers.

The Retreat is a thread started by R. G. Cordiner in the Kindle forum on Amazon.com. Discussions are not limited to books on Kindle, but are open to all YA books. Here’s a snippet of the opening posted by R. G. for The Retreat:

Welcome to The Retreat. This is a virtual coffee house and chocolate shop. A place for people to meet, read and chat about books aimed at kids and young adults. The unlimited coffee, relaxing music and delectable Lindt chocolate should ensure that this remains a positive place. Heated debates and drive by spamming have no place in The Retreat.

We are neither a bar nor a bookstore for adult focussed books (although I’m sure plenty of adults do read our books :) ) – I can personally recommend Al’s Place and The Spinning Wheel as two fine establishments for those discussions. Unfortunately we do not serve alcohol as there can be quite a few kids around at times!

I welcome all readers and authors – I would love to invite all authors of work suitable for kids or young adults to come along and chat to your readers at one of our author readings – a great chance for authors and readers to get to know one another.

R. G. Cordiner is the author of Treasure Lost and Candy Wars: The Tooth Fairies vs. The Candy King which are both suitable for Middle Grade readers. He deserves a big thanks for putting together the retreat and being so hospitable to everyone who enters. One of the features of The Retreat, apart from discussion of some of the most awesome books around, is author readings

How does an author reading work? Well, Mr. Cordiner invites authors to select a day, and on that day, post a bio and a selection from their book, and then anyone visiting comments and interacts with the author. I love the concept because it provides one more avenue to talk about books, get feedback, gives us an opportunity to interact with other authors and readers, and best yet, it’s all about young adult books.

As I posted above, I will be conducting a reading of Misfit McCabe on Monday, September 6, 2010, so stop by The Retreat and have some chocolates and coffee and let’s talk books.

While the reading at The Retreat has concluded, you can still stop by, read the posts and ask any questions or make comments. Hope to see you there.

]]> http://blog.griffieworld.com/2010/09/hangin-out-at-the-retreat/feed/ 1 Misfit McCabe Goes to the Library http://blog.griffieworld.com/2008/09/misfit-mccabe-goes-to-the-library/ http://blog.griffieworld.com/2008/09/misfit-mccabe-goes-to-the-library/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:59:10 +0000 http://blog.griffieworld.com/?p=52 Today a co-worker, Mary Ellen, and I went over to the Cerritos Library during our lunch hour. Our goal was to try and see whether or not we could get the library to agree to stock Misfit McCabe on their shelves. If you happen to live in the area, the Cerritos Library is definitely worth a look. I could have stayed for hours in the children’s section alone. I think if we weren’t on our lunch hour and had a mission to accomplish, Mary Ellen and I would have spent hours there just gawking at all of the areas. We did our fair share with the short time we had.

Anyway, we were first directed to the children’s section, but then re-directed to the young adult librarian, Padmini. When we first arrived at the desk, Alfonso was the only one working the desk, but he told us that Padmini would be returning shortly, which gave us an opportunity to wander around a little bit more. Mind you, if I had actually started looking at the books themselves, we’d have been sunk. It would have taken a crow bar and a crane to get me out.

As we were wandering around, Alfonso actually came to look for us to let us know that Padmini had returned. Both Mary Ellen and I thought that was extra especially nice of him. I let Mary Ellen take the lead with the talking. . .it’s not that I don’t know how to talk in public, in actual fact, public speaking doesn’t bother me much, but I do get tongue twisted when trying to find the words to ask people to look at my book. Hence, my spokesperson, Mary Ellen. She and Padmini hit it off right away and developed a rapport as Padmini explained how difficult it was to have events for the young adult age group and have a reasonable turn out.

Padmini did take a copy of Misfit McCabe and is going to review and then get back to us. She is thinking about having a group of several independently published authors down to the library to give a talk (about 15 minutes per author), which I would love to take part in. One thing was clear, was that we will need to come up with an idea where I can partner with the library and come up with some scheme to get some behinds in the chairs. So, if anyone has any ideas on how to target the young adult age group so that they attend a function at a library, please send them on in.

The library has an acquarium that is going to be installed as well, so Mary Ellen and I will definitely be going back to see that.
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LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com or purchase at Amazon.com
Own a Kindle? Download Misfit McCabe in an instant.

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I am now trying out various software to assist me in putting the trailer together. I ran into a little bit of a snag because Windows Movie Maker is only importing 3:08 seconds of the video that I put together, but it may be due to the fact that the software used to create the video is a demo software. I will have to do some further testing.

The next step is to come up with the music to underscore the project and then I will be well on my way. Since it is late, that is all for now. I will continue to work on the trailer so I can get it completed and launched.

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LK Gardner-Griffie
Visit me at Griffie World
To buy Misfit McCabe, visit my store at Lulu.com

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