UNHAPPY CAMPER Book Birthday Today!
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Hi, Reader, My new middle grade graphic novel UNHAPPY CAMPER releases today!! I wrote it during the first few months of 2020. Leaving the house every day to cross the driveway to enter my campervan, I worked on this story of two sisters, one who embraces her Taiwanese culture and one who realized very early on that to fit in is to reject her cultural heritage. Writing this story was my anchor. And, now Ann Xu who also illustrated MEASURING UP was kind enough to bring her brilliance to UNHAPPY CAMPER. The sky is blue, the sun shines, I will talk to readers at a Seattle Public School this morning, and later at 6 pm, I will do my book release event in conversation with Diana Ma who wrote THE UNBEATABLE LILY HONG at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA. And, best yet is seeing friends at it. In person!! Also, I have a few other events coming up:
I’d love to sign a personalized copy for you of UNHAPPY CAMPER (and of course MEASURING UP and CHLOE’S LUNAR NEW YEAR). Contact Imprint Bookstore at hello@imprintbookstore.com or (360) 379-2617. And now for something completely different. I’ve made a few small, simple baby quilts. When I saw a YouTube video from Jordan Fabrics showing the Ocean Current pattern, I knew I needed to make it. It was quite the learning process! So many mistakes both piecing and quilting the top!! Especially quilting the top. It doesn’t have a regular quilting pattern that is standard but is instead a willy-nilly sample of patterns from my sewing machine’s embroidery unit. It looked like such a mess. I found that patterns didn’t fit in the space being either too small or too big. I fumbled through it, placing patterns here, patterns there, accidentally overlapping patterns, rotated patterns, shrunk some, expanded some. In the end, I’m super happy with it. In the end, all that mess came together. In the end, it was very much like working through the chaos of writing a book and having it finally come together into a whole. Thanks so much for being a reader! I’m so grateful that you connected with my books!! ~~Lily LaMotte |
Hi, I’m a creator
Hi, Reader, Huge thanks to readers who came to my book release at Third Place Books on Tuesday. It was joyful to see so many faces and then hang out afterwards. Diana Ma is a wonderful conversation partner asking such good questions and bringing her own experiences to the dialogue. Now, I’m on my way to South Bay for my book events on Saturday with Hicklebee’s in San Jose, CA and then to Linden Tree in Los Altos, CA. Here’s the updated book events list with one correction and one add: Indie...
Hi, Reader, I’d heard my author friends talk about going to school visits and book festivals. It all sounded so exciting. Definitely something I had been jazzed about doing one day when I'd finally be published. But then Measuring Up released in October 2020 during the first year of the pandemic. I did a panel for the NY ComicCon but it was virtual. I did a panel for the Texas Book Festival but it was virtual. I did many, many school visits but they were all virtual. You can imagine how very...
Hi, Reader, Lucien and I had the most amazing whirlwind trip of a lifetime. It started out as a trip to the SLAM Festival in Tampa, FL. And, then the BAM Festival in West Palm Beach, FL asked me to go. Of course, I had to say yes. Then a school and library in Lewiston, ME asked for an author visit. We were driving from Florida to Montreal to visit my son, so of course, I had to say yes. Then the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival in the United Arab Emirates asked me. The UAE! So of course I...