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Today was the second day of school in my house. I think this best encapsulates the mood...  It's kinda surreal to see your book appear on an Amazon Top Ten Best Seller list alongside authors like James Patterson. But when you get the alert that he likes it, that's the dopamine rush. Thank you to everyone that helped me get here today. I really do appreciate it. It's no state secret: Kids want to read books that are FUN! As the experts at Scholastic say, "Letting children choose what they want to read helps foster a lifelong love for reading." So to find out if my book #LASTWORDING: BEDTIME JUST GOT REAL is any fun, I took it to Middletown Elementary School in Virginia for its very first public reading. Now here's where things really get interesting... THEY DIDN'T BOO ME! Not even once. It kinda threw me off - totally expected to get pelted with rotten tomatoes. In fact, I may have even gotten a few laughs. Check out the video, good times for sure... Huge THANK YOU to everyone at Middletown Elementary School for treating me like a rock star today during my #authorvisit! It was the first time I've ever read #LastWording in public...and they didn't even boo me. In fact, I may have even gotten a few laughs! Good times. Thanks again, Middletown Elementary! Here's a live look at the chapters in my upcoming book, #LastWording.  Here are a few illustrated pages I'm currently working on for my second book.
National Selfie Day is June 21. So, seems pretty normal to post this on June 22. 
This Saturday (May 20th) from 12:00 to 12:30 I'll be hanging with the Handley Library @ KidzFest! They tell me we'll be located right in front of The Floor Shop on the Old Town Mall....so prepare to be "floored!" <Insert your groan here>
Stop by if you get a chance! 
Transcript
Silly Turkey Silly turkey, get out of that field. Silly turkey, get out of that butcher shop. Silly turkey, get out of that oven. Haha. What a silly turkey!  Transcript Silly Cow
Silly cow, get out of that field. Silly cow, get out of that trailer. Silly cow, get out of that butcher shop. Silly cow, get out of that hamburger. Haha, what a silly cow.  Transcript
The Snirk There is a Snirk that shadows me and whispers, "You will fail." He's followed me throughout my life he's always on my tail. I play it safe and stay in line he rarely says a word, but step outside my comfort zone he makes himself quite heard... "You're gonna fail! And folks will laugh! You FOOL! This will not work." And nothing great has come to me while list'ning to the Snirk.  A SUPER HUGE thank you to everyone at Emerick Elementary School for the red carpet treatment they gave me as their visiting author! Had a BLAST! One highlight included meeting a 2nd grader who was having a birthday and was so excited to tell me that his first words of the day were... "Goodbye seven! Hello eight!" Another highlight included this wonderful follow-up email I received from Emerick's school principal Ms. Haddock...
"Thank you so much for visiting Emerick. At the PTO meeting last night, I was sharing with the parents about your visit and one of the parents shared how their child came home and got right to work writing a book. The child shared how they were going to sell the books to make some money for Christmas. I am sure that after your visits you don’t get to see the impact you have on children, but this is one good example of the power you have in making our children know they can do anything they want in life. Thank you for your visit."
I'm still smiling from my visit to Round Hill Elementary School! A special thanks to Mr. Davis, Ms. Doherty, Ms. Ayotte, and the Round Hill PTA for making this happen!
Revealing the school's principal as a 3rd grader is always gold...
I also had a great time working with Ms. Doherty's and Ms. Carpenter's 2nd grade students. Definitely some future author/illustrators in this bunch.
 Hey! I posted my first children's book on my website. You can Read the Whole Thing Here!
No tissue? No problem! I've been informed this is the best way to rid yourself of gross playground boogers. Presented in limerick fashion...  I've posted my first (and only) children's book on my website. If you'd like, click here to read it.
 Quick! It’s game day and you're the head coach of a youth soccer team made up of NINE first graders. Only FOUR of your players can play at any one time. A game lasts 40-minutes, and each child must play at least 50% of the game. How much time should each child play, and how often should you schedule your substitutions?
Ugh! :) And this is why, as a coach, my ‘first words of the day’ on game days were often → “No coach should have to do math!” So after many years of struggle, I finally decided to develop my own online ‘Equal Playing Time Calculator.’ Now I can concentrate on being a youth coach, and leave all that math stuff to the rocket scientists. If you get a chance, check out the calculator over at www.PlayingTimeCalculator.com. And if you know someone you think it can help, please feel free to share. Thanks! Recently I had the pleasure of visiting HM Pearson Elementary School in Fauquier County, VA. After the author visit was over, In that brief moment between "getting into my car" and "turning the ignition," I couldn't help but utter aloud the following 'first words' before heading home → FANTASTIC KIDS! WONDERFUL TEACHERS! GREAT SCHOOL! AWESOME TIME! |
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