ALIEN PARTY

Around 30 kids showed up last night for my "Alien Party" at the Galt Library -- including Emily and Brittany from the reading club I had at my house. They're in 8th grade now and very pretty, mature girls. And they were REALLY helpful when I needed assistants for the activities at the library. While I showed little kids how to bend pipe cleaners into alien antennas, they helped older kids fill out a fun "Create Your Own Planet" worksheet.

This event went really well! I raffled off three free books and the young boy who won a copy of OH, NO! UFO was so excited he jumped up and hugged the book. Wish I'd had a picture of that!

Another cool thing -- a newspaper reporter showed up at the library. She took pictures and plans on doing an article in the Galt Herald.

Well I better go write on SEA SWITCH. Over 100 pages now.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY IN 1984 & 1994

Currently Reading: ABARAT by Clive Barker

Last night I watched the latest episode of Survivor and Apprentice.
I also made up a "Create Your Own Alien World" worksheet to
hand out to kids at a library talk I'm doing in Galt on Tuesday.

Not much going on today. So checking my journals, here's what
happened to me on this date 10 and 20 years ago.

Sept. 24, 1984 - Monday (Weather: 80's)
I hope the weather stays this way.
All the sudden, today, Melissa is close to being potty trained.
She even pooped in the potty. She has made a game of going
pee all day. I have only used a diaper once, and that was
during her nap.

Sept. 24, 1994 - Saturday (at Series Book Conference)
5:30PM - In Beuna Park Hotel, Los Angeles, getting ready
for informal banquet. Kids are swimming. Hoping to get
David a ticket into the banquet.
6:00PM - David got into nice buffet banquet ($25 ticket).
I couldn't talk much (sore throat), but still did. They had
an auction of books, signed author letters and pictures.
Hope my signed letters and unpublished stories or
manuscripts are of interest to collectors someday.

Life sure changes in ten years!
Wonder what today will bring.

P.S. The answer to the Tri-Bond question
in my last post is:
Radio station
Gas station
Station wagon

TRI-BOND ?

Have you ever played that game Tri-Bond? Where you take three words and guess what they all have in common.

My favorite Tri-Bond question is: Superman, Moses and Cabbage Patch Dolls.
Can you guess what they have in common?

Anyway, I was driving today and thought of some words with something in common, so I made up a new Tri-Bond question.

Gas
Radio
Wagon

Did you guess yet?

Well the answer to the Superman -Moses-Cabbage Patch Tri-Bond is: They're all adopted.

And I'll share the answer to the gas-radio-wagon one in my next entry. Hint: each one goes together with the same word.

And aside from play word games today, I did write. I added two more pages of SEA SWITCH.

BOOK BABY IS BORN!

For the last few days I've been waiting for my copies of THE SEER #1. DON'T DIE, DRAGONFLY. I knew it was coming by UPS. But days passed without a delivery.

Yesterday I had to leave for my mom's house in Sacramento, but told my son to call if the books arrived. He called at 5PM. I was going to see a sister-in-law at 6:30 at a bunko game in Sacramento, so my son drove to her house FAST to give her my books, which she delivered to me.And while everyone else at bunko oohed and ahhed over Mandy's newborn baby (Elsie is very cute), I admired my new book.

I knew what the cover of DON'T DIE, DRAGONFLY looked like, but I hadn't seen the spine or back. It's shiny and pretty and I love it.

I have a reading ritual with my books. Usually it's so long since I last read them, I can read them anew when they come out. So after bunko (I came in 4th place), I stayed up till almost midnight reading my book; pretending I'm a fresh reader, trying to imagine how others will see it, and what sort of things readers/reviewers will like or dislike (I found a few typos the copywriters missed). The pacing is really fast with lots of conflicts and paranormal elements. I'm proud of my new baby and hope readers treat her well. She can be seen on my website with her future sister (#2. LAST DANCE) at www.LindaJoySingleton.com under books link.

LAST DANCE

Today I got the cover for THE SEER #2. LAST DANCE in the mail. It's done in the same style as DON'T DIE, DRAGONFLY, but with a gold wedding ring instead of a dragonfly.

I was surprised my publisher decided to use the wedding ring for the cover as that's a very small scene in the book. But when I think about the plot, that ring led to a girl's death and a ghostly haunting which psychic Sabine Rose investigates.

I'm going bowling tonight and am at my daughter's place right now. There are peacocks strutting outside, four dogs and a barn with around 40 pigs. Our own future home is in the early construction stage and just a short walk up a nearby hill. When our house is finished next year I'll have a 2nd story office with a view of a distant lake, hundreds of oak trees and my favorite towing pine tree I named Big Red.

I'll be posting the new cover to my website. Let me know if you like it.

Best Friend & Baby

My best friend Lori became a grandmother today. Little Olivia Ann Craine was born 10:37am, weighing 6 lbs 8 ozs. Lori and I used to do things together when we were kids, but she beat me on this one. My daughter is engaged, but doesn't plan to get married till next May and then wait a few years to have kids.

Yesterday my daughter and I had a good time seeing PRINCESS DIARIES #2. It was fluffy and fun. Then we celebrated her birthday more that evening with dinner out. We started our bowling league in Stockton. My average is only 130, but I had one game of 180. I've still NEVER gotten a 200 game.

I was asked for an interview by kidmagwriters.com . I agreed and will answer the questions soon.

I'm reading a REALLY good book called PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It answers the question: How did Peter Pan meet Captain Hook? And so far it's fast-paced, creative, exciting and FUN.