Ah, vacation time, when I can at last have time to pause and read my submissions and prepare my presentations!

No, really, I’m going home to farm country later this week, and I’m going to be out of touch and just hang out with my sister and nephews and maybe a parent or three. I got an AMAZING deal (like, when was the last time you saw a $127 round-trip fare cross-country? Well, NYC to Chicago, so half-cross-country). Then my grandma turns 95 on Friday, and I can tell you because she never goes on the internet—I’m going to surprise her!

But next week, while I’m still on vacation, I’ll be doing some remote work, and it’s all for writers. Here are the details:

Monday, Sept. 18, 8pm ET #DVPitLive video chat: follow the hashtag on Twitter to get the link to the live video chat and join in to ask editors, agents, and writers questions about writing diverse books for children!

Tuesday, Sept 19: I’ll be doing a presentation with SCBWI Carolinas on synopses. If you’re a chapter member, look at your email list or chapter website for details. If you’re not in the chapter, I’m happy to share the presentation again with a different group—let me know!